Position

Adjunct Professor (Memorial University)
Assistant Professor, Dallaire Centre of Excellence for Peace and Security, Canadian Forces College

Academics

Ph.D. (Early Medieval Studies), Centre for Medieval Studies, University of York, UK, 2005

Contact

Email:  smlewis[at] mun.ca

Research Interests

PERIODS OF STUDY: medieval, post-medieval, Indigenous-Settler interactions

SUBJECTS AND THEMES: formation of social identities, naval material culture, reception and medievalism, racism, Viking-Age archaeology, gender, identity, intersectionality, heritage interpretation, cultural property protection, human security

GEOGRAPHIC AREAS: Newfoundland and Labrador, North Atlantic, Northern Europe, Iraq

Dr Shannon Lewis-Simpson currently researches aspects of Cultural Heritage Protection, Women, Peace, and Security, Human Security, and the intersection of CPP, WPS, and future learning within the Canadian Armed Forces. A medievalist, archaeologist, and serving Naval Warfare Officer in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve, she deployed as a Gender Advisor to NATO Mission Iraq in 2020 and was appointed to the Historic Sites and Monuments Board of Canada from 2017-2022. She has published on aspects of naval history, experiential learning, militarization of Viking-Age society, Newfoundland and naval history, and how identity is formed and perceived in past and present.

Student Supervision

Co-Supervisor, Ian Pretty, PhD (Interdisciplinary); “The Historic Logging Industry in Newfoundland: 1880-1950”, co-supervisor with Drs Sean Cadigan and Carissa Brown (2021-Present).

Co-Supervisor, Robyn Lacy, PhD (Archaeology); “Sic Finis: 17th-century Burial Places and Spaces in northeast North America and Newfoundland”, co-supervisor with Dr Barry Gaulton (2020-present)

Research Tutor, Frida Arlon, MPhil (Humanities); “Lady with a Mead Cup" (2021-2022)

Co-Supervisor, Elsa Simms, MA (History); “Byzantine and Islamic Artefacts in Scandinavian Burial Contexts”, co-supervisor with Marica Cassis (2019-2021).

Courses Taught

ARCH 1001: Critical Reading and Writing in Archaeology

ARCH/HIST 1005: Critical Reading Writing in Aboriginal and Indigenous Studies

ARCH/GDRS 2494: Game of Genders: Sex and Society in the Medieval North

ARCH/HIST 3520: Indigenous History to 1763

ARCH/MST 3592: Norse Archaeology

Publications

Lewis-Simpson, S. “Inclusive Interpretations”. In Sara Ellis Nilsson and Stefan Nyzell (eds), Vikings! A Public History. Museums, Recreations and Reenactments. London: Routledge, 2024.

Lewis-Simpson, S. “Harbour Main-Bell Island”. In Sonja Boon and Vicki Hallett (eds), Dear Mr Smallwood: Confederation through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It. St. John’s, NL: Memorial University of Newfoundland and Labrador Press, in progress.

Lewis-Simpson, S. and S. Meharg (eds). Evolving Human Security: Frameworks and Considerations for Canada’s Military. Évolutions de la sécurité humaine : cadres et considérations pour les forces armées du Canada. Kingston, ON: Canadian Defence Academy Press, 2023.

Okros, Alan, Emmanuelle Caucci, Shanel Feller, Melissa Hollobon, David Hughes, Shannon Lewis-Simpson, Heather Low, Melinda Mansour, Shannon Smith and Stefan Wolejszo, “Applying Human Security to Understand the Russian Invasion of Ukraine”, Canadian Military Journal 22, 4 (Fall 2022). http://www.journal.forces.gc.ca/cmj-article-en-page62.html

Lewis-Simpson, S., Maria Mayr and Isabell Woelfel. “Memorial’s German Program on the East Coast Trail: An Opportunity in Community-Engaged and Experiential Learning”. In Andrea Speltz, Nikola von Merveldt and Gaby Pailer (eds), From Far and Wide: German Studies in Canada. Jahrbuch für Internationale Germanistik. New York: Peter Lang, 2021, 123-25.

Lewis-Simpson, S., M. Lear, Rita Uju Onah & Elsa Anastasia Simms. “An Early European Burial Ground at Bloody Point, New Perlican ClAi-12 Bloody Point 2, New Perlican, NL.” Provincial Archaeology Office 2020 Archaeology Review. St. John’s, NL, 2021, 139-45.

Lewis-Simpson, S., “Vínland Revisited, Again: On ‘theories, scuttlebutt, and next steps’”. In A. Pedersen and S. Sindbæk (eds), Proceedings of the 18th Viking Congress, Århus, Denmark Århus University Press, 2021, 565-83.

Lewis-Simpson, S. “Response to Ben Raffield, ‘Playing Vikings: Militarism, hegemonic masculinities, and childhood enculturation in Viking-Age Scandinavia’”, Current Anthropology, 60/ 6 (2019). https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/full/10.1086/706608

Klein, S., Lewis-Simpson, S., and Schipper, W. (eds). The Maritime World of the Anglo-Saxons. Tempe: Arizona Center for Medieval and Renaissance Studies, 2015.

Pope, P. and Lewis-Simpson, S. (eds). Exploring Atlantic Transitions: Archaeologies of Transience and Permanence in New Found Lands. Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2013.

Lewis-Simpson, S. “Assimilation or Hybridization: A Study of Personal Names from the Danelaw’”. In W.M. Hoofnagle and W.R. Keller (eds), Other Nations: The Hybridization of Insular Mythology and Identity, Britannica et Americana 3: 27. Heidelberg: Winter, 2011, 13-43.

Ó Corráin, D., Lewis-Simpson, S., and Sheehan, J. (eds). The Viking Age: Vikings in Ireland: Proceedings of the XVth Viking Congress. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010.

Lewis-Simpson, S. “Viking-Age Queens and the Formation of Identity”. In D. Ó Corráin, J. Sheehan, S.M. Lewis-Simpson (eds), The Viking Age: Vikings in Ireland: Proceedings of the XVth Viking Congress. Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010, 217-26.

Lewis-Simpson, S. (ed.). Youth and Age in the Medieval North. Leiden: Brill, 2008.

Lewis-Simpson, S. (ed.). Vínland Revisited: Selected Papers of the Viking Millennium International Symposium. St. John’s: Historic Sites Association, 2003.

Lewis-Simpson, S. “Old Age in Viking-Age Britain”. In S.M. Lewis-Simpson (ed.), Youth and Age in the Medieval North. Leiden: Brill, 2008, 243-64.

Lewis-Simpson, S. “The Challenges in Quantifying Youth and Age in the Medieval North”. In S.M. Lewis-Simpson (ed.), Youth and Age in the Medieval North. Leiden: Brill, 2008, 1-15.

Lewis-Simpson, S. “The Role of Material Culture in the Literary Presentation of Greenland”. In J. McKinnell, D. Ashurst and D. Kick (eds), The Fantastic in Old Norse/Icelandic Literature. XIII International Saga Conference, vol. 2. Durham, England, 2006, 575-82.