Dr. Audra Simpson, Professor, Department of Anthropology, Columbia University
Savage States: Settler Governance in an Age of Sorrow
Tuesday, March 20, 2018 / 2 - 4 pm
DIAMOND ALUMNI CENTRE (NEW LOCATION)
SFU, Burnaby Campus
Biography
In what world do we imagine the past to be settled in light of its refusal to perish and allow things to start over anew? What are the conditions that make for this imagining, this fantasy or rather, demand of a new start point? In this piece I consider the world of settler colonialism which demands this newness, and a world in which Native people and their claims to territory are whittled to the status of claimant or subject in time with the fantasy of their disappearance and containment away from a modern and critical present. In this piece I examine how the Canadian practice of settler governance has adjusted itself in line with global trends and rights paradigms away from overt violence to what are seen as softer and kinder, caring modes of governing but governing, violently still and yet, with a language of care, upon on still stolen land. Here an oral and textual history of the notion of "reconciliation" is constructed and analyzed with recourse to a subaltern strata of Indigenous criticism of this affective project of repair.
Co-sponsored with the Department of First Nations Studies and with funding from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, SFU
Poster
Indigenous Women and Intellectual Traditions in Anthropology
Wednesday, March 21, 2018
7 pm, SFU Goldcorp Centre for the Arts
Room 2555/149 West Hastings, Vancouver
Indigenous women are among the under represented voices in contemporary anthropology, and throughout its history. They were more likely to be the subjects of research into an ethnographic present, always portrayed in exotic terms and without agency. Perhaps in reaction to earlier studies Indigenous people are among the critics of the work that anthropologists produce. Despite this troubled relationship Audra Simpson has adopted a discipline that exists to explore the human condition.
The current generation of anthropologists accept that research does not occur independent of the researcher’s perspective. Thus, indigeneity will inevitably direct the course of inquiry for anthropology conducted by Indigenous people. In this conversation, Dr. Simpson will reflect upon her career as an anthropologist. She will discuss the tropes, trends and themes that inform her research and how she contributes to the discourse of modern anthropology.
Audra Simpson will be in conversation with Eldon Yellowhorn.
Co-sponsored with the Department of First Nations Studies, Indigenous Research Institute, Office for Aboriginal Peoples, Woodward's SFU's Vancity Office of Community Engagement, and with funding from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, SFU
Poster
Free and everyone welcome! No registration required.
Light refreshments served