Allison Hargreaves and David Jefferess have organized the AfterKnowledge Discussion Series with the intent of encouraging public discussion about a number of topical events. The series opens this Friday at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art in Kelowna.
Public encouraged to attend events that encourage debate and shared ideas
Keeping the spirit of intellectual conversations alive, two faculty members with UBC’s Okanagan campus Faculty of Creative and Critical Studies are planning a series of speaking events that encourage audience dialogue.
The AlterKnowledge Discussion Series, organized by Allison Hargreaves and David Jefferess, is a series of free, expert-led talks designed as lively and participatory conversations where people learn, share, and produce meaningful dialogue, says Hargreaves, assistant professor of Indigenous Literatures.
“AlterKnowledge was initiated as a way to foster community-based knowledge-making, bringing people together to discuss, share, and unlearn,” she says. “The goal is to bring faculty and students affiliated with UBC’s Okanagan campus together with members of the wider community and tackle topics of debate that concern all of us in the Okanagan and beyond.”
This year’s first AlterKnowledge Discussion event takes place Friday, September 6, at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art in downtown Kelowna, and will be an open discussion on Canada’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s (TRC) upcoming national event in Vancouver.
“The project of reconciliation urgently requires our critical engagement,” Hargreaves says. “And the upcoming national event is a good opportunity for us to have conversations about the work of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and the meaning of reconciliation in the Okanagan.”
The TRC’s BC event takes place in Vancouver, September 18 to 21. These national events are meant to engage the public and educate Canadians about the history and experiences of the residential schools system, while also honoring survivors, their families, and their communities.
Hargreaves says the AlterKnowledge event will offer an overview of residential schools and the establishment of the TRC, and will discuss what to expect at the BC National Event. Greg Younging, former TRC Assistant Director of Research, will join Hargreaves to facilitate a discussion about reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples in the Okanagan, in BC, and in Canada.
This is the second year for the AlterKnowledge Discussion Series. This year, the series focuses on two thematic areas: Reconciliation and/as Decolonization in the Okanagan, and Global Ethics and Decolonization. Each event takes place at the Alternator Centre for Contemporary Art, 421 Cawston Ave, Kelowna.
Upcoming events include:
- Saturday, October 26, 11 a.m. to 4 pm —Symposium on Misrepresentations of Indigenous peoples
- Friday, November 22, 7 to 8:30 pm — Reconciliation as Land, Ecology, and Health
- Friday, December 13, 7 to 8:30 pm — Do they know it’s Christmas? The Question of Global Poverty
- Friday, January 10, 7 to 8:30 pm — What does it mean to be a Global Citizen?
- Friday, February 14, 7 to 8:30 pm — Reconciliation as Gender Justice
- Friday, March 14, 7 to 8:30 pm — Schooling the World: The White Man’s Last Burden
- Friday, April 11, 7 to 8:30 pm — Reconciliation as Revitalization in Language, Literature, and Art
- Friday, May 9, 7 to 8:30 pm — Imagining Kelowna’s History (and Present)
More details about each session can be found at: www.ubc.ca/okanagan/fccs/news-events/ongoing/alterknowledge
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