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Michelle Francett-Hermes

Michelle Francett-Hermes is a Doctoral Researcher in Sámi Culture at the Sámi Research Institute Giellagas Institute, at the University of Oulu. Her doctoral research “Mattering the Sámi: Making space for inclusion of the Sámi in teacher training in Finland” intersects with decolonial thought, Indigenous research, posthuman and education sciences. Her research focuses on the processes and agential powers of de-coloniality, providing understanding on the practical aspects involved in the processes of decolonizing education.

The first two publications of her thesis provide insight into relationality and ethics in allyship within Indigenous research in the Nordics (see first publication _ Relational Ethics in Indigenous Research: A reflexive navigation of whiteness and ally positionality _ here), and processes of negotiating, in non-Indigenous-Indigenous collaboration, for inclusion of Indigenous knowledges in euro-western teacher training (see second publication here). In addition to finalising her doctoral degree, Michelle works as a University Lecturer at the University of Oulu, teaching Sámi Culture.

Her engagement in collectives both within and outside the academic sphere challenge social constructs and aim at developing ethical and socially just ways of being and producing knowledge together, for example as part of the Fostering Intra-activist Research in and around Education (FIRE) research collective and the Finnish Free Palestine collective. She was elected as a board member of ETMU in January of 2024.