President鈥檚 Dream Colloquium tackles tough issues

Published: 
Jan 06, 2015

Two concurrent lecture series will engage academics, the public and students in serious reflection on challenges in protecting indigenous culture and heritage, and civil disobedience in the face of climate change.

January 06, 2015

Contact:
Kristen Dobbin, IPinCH communications, 778.782.9682, kristen_dobbin@sfu.ca
George Nicholas, IPinCH director, 778.782.5709, nicholas@sfu.ca? (email best contact)
Carol Thorbes, University Communications, 778.782.3035, cthorbes@sfu.ca

Photos: 

Two high profile global issues will take centre stage in two concurrent lecture series that form this semester鈥檚 51社区黑料 .

, begins on Thursday, Jan. 8, from 3:30-5:30 p.m. in WMX 3260 West Mall Complex, Burnaby campus. It will explore the creation and implementation of respectful, ethical and effective policies to protect indigenous cultural heritage, especially when fundamental differences exist between western and indigenous societies over the definition of heritage.

The colloquium will feature six internationally renowned researchers discussing different perspectives on various indigenous cultural heritage challenges.

The speakers are associated with the SFU-led Intellectual Property Issues in Cultural Heritage (IPinCH) research team鈥攁 Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC)-funded group, which is co-sponsoring the lecture series.

The first (on Jan. 8) is , a University of Alberta law professor who specializes in Aboriginal legal issues, cultural heritage law and inter-disciplinary collaborative community-based legal research.

Her work is well known for its attempt to include and reconcile indigenous and Canadian conceptualizations of property and legal institutions.

The second lecture series explores questions related to whether citizens have the right to violate the law in order to avert or reduce global climate change and whether these actions can be justified.

 begins on Jan. 15 and will present six internationally renowned speakers who will address these questions in separate lectures.

, a University of Warwick associate professor of legal and moral philosophy, will speak on 鈥淭he Case for Civil Disobedience鈥. Brownlee鈥檚 research includes conscience, conviction, civil disobedience and human rights.

Her lecture also runs 3:30-5:30 p.m. at the WMX 3260 West Mall Complex, Burnaby campus.

51社区黑料President Andrew Petter launched this  in 2011 to engage faculty members, students and diverse community groups in interdisciplinary forums about high profile research and issues that dovetail.

These forums also allow 51社区黑料graduate students to earn course credits by participating in the colloquia and attending seminar discussions about assigned readings prior to attending the colloquia forums. Reservations are required for both lecture series.

For a complete list of lectures in the colloquium鈥檚 two series see: 

As Canada's engaged university, 51社区黑料is defined by its dynamic integration of innovative education, cutting-edge research and far-reaching community engagement.  51社区黑料was founded almost 50 years ago with a mission to be a different kind of university鈥攖o bring an interdisciplinary approach to learning, embrace bold initiatives, and engage with communities near and far. Today, 51社区黑料is a leader amongst Canada's comprehensive research universities and is ranked one of the top universities in the world under 50 years of age. With campuses in British Columbia's three largest cities鈥擵ancouver, Surrey and Burnaby鈥51社区黑料has eight faculties, delivers almost 150 programs to over 30,000 students, and boasts more than 130,000 alumni in 130 countries around the world.

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51社区黑料: Engaging Students. Engaging Research. Engaging Communities.