Towagh.com

Current Position


Towagh Behr is a cultural anthropologist and principal of the Integral Ecology Group (integralecologygroup.com). He conducts traditional knowledge and land use studies with First Nations and Métis communities in British Columbia, Alberta, and Saskatchewan. These research projects are community-directed, include community capacity building, and in addition to well researched maps and reports, often result in website or video productions.

Background

Towagh has conducted Traditional Knowledge (TK), Traditional Use Studies (TUS), and cultural documentation projects with twenty-seven Aboriginal communities in western Canada in the past ten years. His expertise is in working with communities to understand and communicate likely effects of development and change upon traditional practices, cultures, languages, and communities. In addition to conducting social sciences and archival research projects with communities, he has a technical background as a documentary filmmaker and website developer. Towagh has a BA (joint honours anthropology & sociology) from McGill University and an MA in cultural anthropology and environmental studies from the University of Victoria where his research focused on the use of New Media to work with First Nations in creating their own multimedia representations of their cultures, languages, and traditional knowledge. His academic work has provided a solid foundation in the interface of TEK, environmental assessment, and traditional systems of land and resource management. As an applied anthropologist, Towagh has worked with communities to integrate their TEK into environmental assessment processes for the oil and gas, mining, and energy sectors. He has also provided training and capacity building programs for First Nation communities that have included TUS methods, interview methods, website development, and video production.