Atlantic Canada Studies Centre
samaqan nit kpomawsuwakonon — “water is our life.”
Artwork by Wolastoqey artist Emma Hassencahl-Perley,
honouring the central role of the Wolastoq in the life of this territory.
Who we are
The Atlantic Canada Studies Centre (ACSC), housed within the Faculty of Arts at the University of New Brunswick, Fredericton, is an interdisciplinary research centre that broadly focuses on the study of Northeastern North America.
This region is defined in part as the space that is covered under the Peace and Friendship Treaties and the territories of the Wabanaki Confederacy—Mi’kma’ki/ Mi’gma’gi, Peskotomuhkati, and Welastekwihkok more generally, as well as Nitassinan and Nunatsiavut, and therefore extends beyond settler-state borders and other such colonial demarcations of space.
Our approach
The ACSC is organized around a community-engaged research model. The explicit mandate of the ACSC is to, in partnership, identify the research priorities of communities in the region and in turn to have these priorities guide the work of the ACSC. In other words, we look to support community-engaged research as a decolonial research practice.
This model seeks to support communities made marginal in Northeastern North America. These communities already have their own research initiatives, and the ACSC will work to provide institutional support for community research goals to further justice and social transformation engaged actions.
About the artwork — samaqan nit kpomawsuwakonon
In the words of the artist, Emma Hassencahl-Perley:
"The artwork, samaqan nit kpomawsuwakonon, translates to 'water is our life,' reflecting the central role of the river in Wolastoqiyik governance and knowledge.
The Wolastoq—meaning 'beautiful river' — is the central waterway in Eastern Canada, known to the Wolastoqiyik as Chuwaponahkik, or 'the place where the light first looks our way.'
The Wolastoq has long supported trade, diplomacy, and travel for Wolastoqiyik, Mi’kmaq and Peskotomuhkati nations, and later between various Indigenous peoples and settlers.
The river, within Wolastoqiyik worldview, is not only a physical resource but a living relative, an ancestor, and a central axis of Indigenous knowledge. Therefore, she (the beautiful river) is deserving of agency and respect.
samaqan nit kpomawsuwakonon was created for the Atlantic Canada Studies Centre broadly focusing on the study of Northeastern North America.
The program emphasizes community-engaged and decolonial research, grounded in the places and relationships that shape the region.
This artwork invites researchers and students to consider the river as a source of knowledge and connection, and to recognize its ongoing role in the life of the territory."
About the artist
Emma Hassencahl-Perley is a Wolastoqey visual artist, curator and arts writer from Neqotkuk (Tobique First Nation) in New Brunswick. Her multidisciplinary practice—painting, murals, beadwork and digital illustration—reflects her identity as an ehpit (woman) and a Wolastoqiyik citizen of the Wabanaki Confederacy.
Her work explores themes of water, the cosmos, Wabanaki feminisms, and the double-curve motif— a recurring design element in Wabanaki beadwork, porcupine quillwork, birchbark etching and textiles.
This iconography is a visual language symbolizing life cycles, kinship and nationhood. The Wabanaki double-curve forms the cultural and aesthetic foundation of Emma's practice, bridging ancestral Wabanaki material culture with digital storytelling.
