Research Interests

Dr. Fettes was first drawn to education through his work with First Nations organizations around issues of language maintenance and revitalization, which stemmed in turn from his long-standing involvement with the international language Esperanto. This has led him to focus his scholarship and teaching on how individuals, schools and communities—Indigenous and non-Indigenous alike—can build flourishing relationships embedded in land, culture and community.

A long-term Director of SFU's Centre for Imagination in Research, Culture and Education, he has worked with teachers at all levels of the formal education system with a focus on helping them find more imaginative and engaging ways of teaching the mainstream curriculum.

He has also been involved in several community-based research projects focused on school district-First Nation partnerships and decolonizing place-based education. Internationally, he is known for his work on approaches to language policy and planning that go beyond the usual state-centric assumptions of the field.