The Geographies of Indigenous Futures Collaboratory — nicknamed the GIF Lab (pronounced jif) — is a research group and community that works alongside Indigenous peoples to explore Indigenous geographic thought, with a particular focus on futurisms, resurgence, and Indigenous relationships to place and space.

Beginning in fall 2026, the Lab is housed in the School of Humanities at Bemidji State University, where its director teaches in the Indigenous Studies program.

The Lab’s members collaborate with researchers across North America. This includes ongoing work with colleagues at the University of British Columbia, the University of Guelph, and the University of Toronto through funded research partnerships, as well as informal collaborations with colleagues at institutions such as the University of Minnesota Duluth and Trent University.

We work alongside Indigenous communities in diverse geographic contexts on projects that support community-identified goals. These projects span a wide range of areas, including Indigenous responses to climate change, ecological resurgence, and Indigenous art-based research and resurgence.

At the heart of the Collaboratory’s mission is a commitment to returning control of geographic research to communities themselves. For far too long, research involving Indigenous peoples has been extractive, with little benefit or even access to data returned once projects end.

We are committed to doing things differently. Our work is grounded in respect for community autonomy and self-determination. We engage only in projects to which we are explicitly invited, and we take no action on behalf of a community without their clear and informed consent.

A successful Collaboratory project is one in which community priorities are met, or in which the research is fully transferred to the community to continue on their own terms, supporting their capacity to shape their futures.

Interested in working with us or learning more? We’d love to hear from you — reach out to join, collaborate, or simply connect with our work.

Lab Values

Our Lab values govern how we work: a set of principles developed by Lab members to guide how we work with communities and with one another. These values include:

Working Together

We work with many Indigenous communities and do not view communities or their members as research subjects. They are collaborators and partners in our work. Communities are central to every project; without them, our work would not be possible. Entering into research relationships carries responsibilities, and we hold ourselves accountable to the communities we work with.

We also understand the Collaboratory itself as a community. We actively strive to maintain an accessible, respectful, and supportive environment for all members.

Learning Together / Flexibility

We recognize that learning is ongoing, both as scholars and as people. While we bring research experience to our work, we understand that projects in Indigenous communities are often shaped by changing needs, priorities, and contexts. We approach this uncertainty with flexibility and courage, and with the humility to recognize that communities are the most knowledgeable partners in any project.

Supporting One Another

Although we are an academic research lab, we value and incorporate non-academic skills, knowledge, and perspectives. We are committed to using all available resources — research capacity, institutional access, time, and labour — to support Indigenous peoples and initiatives, whether through formal research or direct contributions to Indigenous causes.

Mutual Exchange

Our work is grounded in reciprocal relationships. Communities contribute their time, knowledge, labour, and energy to our projects. In return, we offer our own time, labour, research support, institutional resources, and assistance in creating opportunities that benefit communities. Acknowledging the institutional privilege we carry as university-trained researchers, we work intentionally to ensure that the greatest benefits of our work flow to community partners.

Relationships

Indigenous geographies centre relationships: between people, land, water, air, more-than-human relatives, and the interconnected systems that sustain life. These relationships are foundational to our understanding of place.

Relationships between people are equally important. We strive to foster respectful, constructive relationships within the Collaboratory and with the communities we work alongside. Because these connections may last a lifetime, we treat them with care, responsibility, and long-term commitment.

Land and Place

Geography is rooted in the study of space and place. As an Indigenous geographies–based research group, we recognize the central importance of land and territory to Indigenous communities. We acknowledge our responsibilities as uninvited guests on the lands where we live, work, and conduct research.

This commitment extends beyond land acknowledgements. We actively work to uphold and make visible Indigenous relationships to land and territory in all aspects of our collective work.

Being Open

Academic research has often been opaque and exclusionary for Indigenous communities, particularly around consent, funding structures, data ownership, and data sovereignty. We reject these practices. Transparency and open communication are core to our work.

We do not withhold information from communities. We are committed to answering questions, clarifying processes, and explaining all aspects of a project at any stage, for any community member, at any time.