Wednesday, March 11, 2015

Exploring the Academic Core of UBC

There are a lot of things to do on a university campus that don’t cost money to do them.  Universities are centers of knowledge production and exchange. Living as we do, right along side of one of the most amazing universities in North American, it just seems like a good idea to see what is out there.  Most readers will know about the regular things, the Museum of Anthropology, the Belkin Art Gallery, the Beaty Biodiverstiy Centre, or all of the various recreational opportunities. What about all the many special talks, performances, film screenings, seminars, and lectures that cost nothing to attend?  Starting with this issue of the Campus Resident we’ll provide an irregular heads up on some intriguing informative events that are open to the public, free to attend, and well worth our while to check out. Here are five upcoming events in March and April that reflect the diversity of some of the best UBC has to offer.
UBC Archaeology Day. All Day, March 21. AnSo Building (6303 NW Marine Drive). This year’s event highlights the ongoing problem of obliteration, destruction, and looting of global heritage sites.  Case studies range from the worn torn regions of the middle east (were insurgents recently sacked a museum in Mosul) to areas undergoing industrial redevelopment on British Columbia’s north coast.  UBC Archaeology Day 2015 is open to anyone with an interest in, and concern for, the protection of our endangered cultural heritage, archaeological resources, and indigenous culture here in British Columbia as well as across the world. Further information can be found c/o UBCDepartment of Anthropology.
Eco-Poethics and Community Engagement. 3pm-5pm, March 23. First Nations Longhouse (1985 West Mall). This event has a playful structure of performance and sharing that is highly interactive.  It draws from the Faculty of Education’s strategic emphasis of community engagement.  Participants will be able to select from three sharing tables: local and global; equivalency of epistemologies and methodologies, and; social and eco-justice. If you attend this event plan to be involved! Participants will join “in collaborative performances and companion-planting of ideas” (don’t ask, I’m not really sure what that means).  RSVPhttp:ce.educ.ubc.ca/rsvp-march23/
Eighth Annual International Festival of Anthropology Film. 10am - 5pm, Sunday, APRIL 12. [NOTE: revised date] AnSo Building (6303 NW Marine Drive).  This small local festival screens a thematically linked series of outstanding international and rare films. This year’s theme is work and solidarity.  Films from Asia, Europe, and the Americas explore bizarre, intriguing, and even perplexing forms of work.  Each film is carefully selected from a pool of new films to showcase the best the world of global anthropology has to offer.  More info can be found @ anthfilm
What Canada Needs to Know About China, a book launch. 4pm-5:30pm, March 31. CK Choi Building. (1855 West Mall).  China’s rise is having a direct impact on our prosperity, our health and well-being, and our security here in Canada. We need to start paying closer attention, says David Mulroney, author of the new book Middle Power, Middle Kingdom. China has become our second largest economic partner, not as important as the US is, but far bigger than all the rest.  The author served as Canada’s ambassador to China from 2009 to 2012.  RSVP: http://tinyurl.com/ubcDavidMulroney
It’s About Time: Reflections on a Career in Geography. 3:30pm-5:00pm, April 9.  Rm 229, Geography Building.  (1984 West Mall).  Featuring Professor Graeme Wynn, this talk “offers a series of reflections, near the end of [Prof Wynn’s] (remunerated) UBC career, on almost forty years in this institution.”  Professor Wynn is one of the foremost practitioners of historical geography.  His talk promises an exciting examination of fate and chance in the shaping of academic production among other things. This is the sort of academic talk that is always worth the effort to attend as one doesn’t quite know what to expect!
All of these five events provide a slice of the ongoing world of the academe that lies inside the institutional core of UBC.  From the vantage point of the University Neighbourhods we often only see the PR face of UBC, or the problems, or the marketing.  Take up the challenge to engage in the core mission of the university, the site of knowledge production and exchange.  Enter into the world of the lecture and the seminar.  You might be surprised at what you find!


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