Understanding Serpent Mounds: An Introduction
A program of:
Mounds & Memory: Understanding the Serpent Mounds at Hiawatha First Nation
Friday, November 13, 2025
Seeley Hall, Trinity College
The Mounds Research Collective is a SSHRC-funded research network focused on re-storying mounds heritage sites by centring Indigenous knowledge and priorities. The project is based at the University of Toronto, led by Pamela Klassen in collaboration with Mikinaak Migwans and Chadwick Cowie.
In this panel, Klassen, Migwans, and Cowie introduced “Mounds & Memory: Understanding the Serpent Mounds at Hiawatha First Nation,” the fourth in a series of gatherings connected to the ongoing collaborative relationship between members of the Mounds Research Collective and Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre of Rainy River First Nations, site of the Manitou Mounds in Treaty #3 Territory. Centring the knowledge and priorities of Hiawatha First Nation as they envision new priorities for their stewardship of Serpent Mounds Park, this event facilitated the flow of knowledge among Indigenous communities, university researchers, artists, and museums.
Presented in partnership with the Faculty of Arts and Science and the Department of Art History.
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About the Panelists
Chadwick (Chad) Cowie is from the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg community of Pamitaashkodeyong (also referred to as Hiawatha First Nation) and is of the Atik (Caribou) Dodem (Clan). After graduating High School, Chad attended Western University, earning his Bachelor of Arts (Honours) Degree in Political Science and First Nations Studies (2008). Upon finishing his undergraduate studies, Chad served as a Junior Researcher and Policy Analyst for the Chiefs of Ontario (COO). Following his time at COO and a return to Western University, Chad then went on to obtain his Master of Arts Degree in Political Science at the University of Manitoba (2013) and is his Doctor of Philosophy (Political Science) at the University of Alberta (2024). In addition to his research interests, Chad also assisted, and continues to assist, with research and knowledge gathering on behalf of the Michi Saagiig Nishnaabeg communities and Nation.
Pamela Klassen is Professor of Study of Religion at the University of Toronto. Her books include The Story of Radio Mind: A Missionary’s Journey on Indigenous Land and the forthcoming Making Promises: Treaties, Oaths, and Covenants in Multi-Religious and Multi-Jurisdictional Societies, co-edited with Benjamin L. Berger and Monique Scheer (U of Toronto Press). Her digital storytelling project “Kiinawin Kawindomowin Story Nations” is in collaboration with Kay-Nah-Chi-Wah-Nung Historical Centre of Rainy River First Nations, in Treaty #3 Territory. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Mikinaak Migwans, a member of Wiikwemikoong Unceded Territory, is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Art History and Curator of Indigenous Art in the Art Museum at the University of Toronto. His research focuses on the politics of placemaking from the land to the museum, with special emphasis on textile arts in Anishinaabe territory. Migwans has worked with the Great Lakes Research Alliance for the Study of Aboriginal Arts & Culture at Carleton University, the Ojibwe Cultural Foundation in M’Chigeeng First Nation, and the National Gallery of Canada in Ottawa.