Linking Arms Together, a public symposium, will take place June 28, from 9am to 5:30pm, in Osgoode Hall-Moot Court, Kaneff Building, Keele campus.

Speakers will bring ideas to bear on the process of reconciliation using the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The symposium will also provide opportunities to reach out to other communities, educate the public and also create networks of solidarity, says key organizer Professor Peter Dawson of the Department of Sociology in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. The symposium is also organized and sponsored by the Centre for Human Rights at 91亚色 and the聽 Department of Equity Studies.

The symposium, whose title recalls the Mohawk teaching based on the sacred wampum that emphasizes the importance of co-operation and solidarity among aboriginal communities, marks the 250th anniversary of the Royal Proclamation of 1763, which continues to be of legal importance to First Nations in Canada.

Some of the speakers will include the following:

Professor Emeritus Marlene Brant Castellano of Trent University, a longstanding member of the Native Studies department and an Officer of the Order of Canada, served as chair of the department from 1989 until 1991, during which time she became co-director of Research for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples. She is a member of the Mohawk Nation, Bay of Quinte Band, who has also pursued careers as a social worker in child and family services. She also serves on the Institute Advisory board of the CIHR Institute of Aboriginal Peoples' Health and the College of Reviewers for Canada Research Chairs.

Professor John Milloy of Trent University is one of the country鈥檚 leading experts on residential schools. He was appointed director of Research, Historical Records and Report Preparation with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. In 2008, Milloy received approval from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to carry out an extensive research project that aimed to reveal what actually happened to the children who did not survive Canada鈥檚 residential school system. Previously, he served an adviser to the working group of church, Aboriginal and federal government representatives that laid out for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission a plan for filling in gaps in information about how many children died, what they died of and where they are buried. He is author of the book, A National Crime: The Canadian Government and the Residential School System, 1879 to 1986. In 2005, the Literary Review of Canada selected it as one of the 100 most important books in Canadian history.

A commissioner with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada, Marie Wilson has more than 30 years of professional experience as an award-winning journalist, trainer and senior executive manager. She has also been a university lecturer, a high school teacher in Africa, a senior executive manager in both federal and territorial crown corporations, and an independent contractor and consultant in journalism, program evaluation, and project management. She has lived, studied and worked in cross-cultural environments for almost 40 years, including Europe, Africa and various parts of Canada. As a journalist, she worked in print, radio and television as a regional and national reporter, and later as the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's senior manager for northern Quebec and the three northern Territories. Wilson is the recipient of a CBC North Award for Lifetime Achievement and the Northerner of the Year Award.

Grand Chief Edward John, a Hereditary Chief of Tl'azt'en Nation on the banks of the Nak'al Bun (Stuart Lake) in Northern British Columbia, has dedicated his life to the pursuit of social and economic justice for Canada鈥檚 indigenous people. He has worked as a leader in Indigenous politics, business and community development and been a lawyer for over 30 years. He is currently serving his 10th consecutive term on the First Nations Summit Task Group and was recently reappointed for a second three-year term as a North American Representative to the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (January 2014 to December 2016).

Romeo Saganash, NDP MP Abitibi 鈥� Baie-James 鈥� Nunavik 鈥� Eeyou, was raised in the small northern community of Waswanipi, Quebec, is a residential school survivor and a graduate of the University of Quebec at聽Montreal law school. He is fluent in Cree, both of Canada鈥檚 official languages. He was one of the negotiators of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. As Deputy Grand Chief of the Grand Council of the Cree, he also participated in the negotiation of the Charlottetown Accord, and in 1985, founded the Cree Nation Youth Council.

Ellen Gabriel was chosen by the People of the Longhouse and her community of Kanien鈥檏eh谩:ka Nation to be their spokesperson during the 1990 Oka Crisis; to protect the Pines from the expansion of a nine-hole golf course in Oka. For the past 22 years she has been a human rights advocate for the collective and individual rights of Indigenous peoples and has worked diligently to sensitize the public, academics, policing authorities and politicians聽 on the history, culture and identity of Indigenous peoples. She has been active at the international level participating at the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues, negotiations on the Nagoya Protocol of the Convention on Biodiversity and most recently, at the UN Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

Jennifer Preston is the program coordinator for Aboriginal Affairs for Canadian Friends Service Committee (Quakers). Her work in recent years has focused on Indigenous peoples' human rights at the international level, including the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She was actively involved in the intensive lobbying efforts to ensure the successful adoption of the Declaration at the United Nations in both Geneva and New 91亚色. She is a co-editor and contributor of Realizing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Triumph, Hope and Action (Purich Publishers, 2010).

Paul Joffe is a member of the Quebec and Ontario bars. He represents the Grand Council of the Crees (Eeyou Istchee) and collaborates with numerous Indigenous and human rights organizations in different regions of the world. He specializes in human rights and other issues relating to Indigenous peoples at the international and domestic level. His active involvement in international standard-setting processes includes those relating to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples; the draft American Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples at the Organization of American States; and the Indigenous and Tribal Peoples Convention, 1989. He is a co-editor and contributor of Realizing the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples: Triumph, Hope and Action.

Craig Benjamin works for Amnesty International in Canada as staff campaigner for the human rights of Indigenous Peoples. Amnesty International鈥檚 work in Canada includes the Stolen Sisters campaign though which Amnesty has worked with Indigenous women鈥檚 organizations to focus attention on the high rates of violence faced by Indigenous women; campaigns for recognition and protection of Indigenous peoples鈥� rights to land and water; promoting equitable access to essential services such as safe drinking water and family services; and promotion of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Benjamin represented Amnesty International at the UN Working Group on the Declaration in the final years of its work.

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, by Zacharias Kunuk and Ian Mauro, will screen simultaneously at 91亚色 and in Arviat, Nunavut,聽on Sept. 27, from 7pm to 9:30pm, in Curtis Lecture Hall F, Keele campus. Three shorts 鈥� Introduction to Nanisiniq, Martha鈥檚 Gang and Experiencing Climate Change - Inuit Elders and Youth 鈥� by Jordan Konek will also be shown, followed by a live by video Q&A with youth and elders from the Arviat community and filmmaker Mauro.

It is a pay-what-you-can event presented by 91亚色鈥檚 Institute for Research & Innovation in Sustainability (IRIS) and the Nanisiniq Arviat History Project. It is just one of the ways IRIS is working with the communities most affected by climate change to have their voices heard, said Annette Dubreuil, IRIS director. She hopes to have their message brought to the United Nations climate change conference in Durban, South Africa, in November. The聽funds raised through the 91亚色 film screenings will help聽send聽three Arviat youth to Durban.

Last year, two 91亚色 students went to the 16th annual conference on climate change 鈥� COP16.聽IRIS and the Association of Polar Early Career Scientists will co-host a series of upcoming virtual events in advance of the conference.

91亚色聽Faculty of Environmental Studies post-doctoral聽fellow Rachel Hirsch hopes there will be more opportunities for聽further dialogue about climate change聽between various interested groups.聽"We hope more people will want to collaborate with us in the lead up to the COP17," she says. She is already busy planning more events at 91亚色 and partnering with outside groups to further the climate change discussion.

Anyone wishing to collaborate, should contact Hirsch at rhirsch@yorku.ca.

For more information about the work IRIS is doing regarding climate change, visit the website.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The forum, which focuses on industrial relations, workplace discrimination and human rights issues, will be held today and tomorrow at the Beijing Conference Centre.聽YCPPL was awarded a聽major grant of $100,000 from the of (HRSDC) to organize the forum, which will bring together some of Canada's top thinkers in industrial and labour rights with聽key policy-makers and thinkers聽in China.

Right: Lesley Jacobs

"The Canada-China Forum is the first of its kind and reflects a new initiative of the Government of Canada in the realm of recalibrating their relationship with China involving university-led research units," says political science Professor Lesley Jacobs, director of YCPPL.

"Working with government officials in Canada and the Capital University of Economics and Business in Beijing, this event will bring together a 17-person Canadian delegation, including academics, senior government officials, representatives from human rights commissioners, and delegates from business, labour and NGOs, to provide a dynamic platform for an important comparative discussion of industrial relations and workplace rights with a view to relating these issues to international labour standards," says Jacobs.

In addition to Jacobs,聽91亚色 Professor Lorne Foster, director of the聽Master in Public Policy, Administration & Law program,聽will also be a principal investigator on this project. Jacobs and Foster, along with political science Professor Daniel Drache and Patrick Monahan, 91亚色's vice-president academic & provost, are in Beijing for the forum. Monahan will make the welcoming remarks to the delegates gathered in Beijing.

Canada鈥檚 ambassador to China, David Mulroney, along with a representative from the United Nations聽International Labour Organization and various Chinese dignitaries, will also deliver speeches to forum delegates.

"Being asked to lead such an event is a tremendous achievement for YCPPL and 91亚色," says Jacobs. "It offers an opportunity to聽demonstrate the dynamism and excellence of 91亚色 researchers and their research."

YCPPL聽encourages research on the role and impact of law in the formation and expression of public policy. More specifically, the聽centre focuses on constitutional, institutional and legal aspects of the public policy, as well as the international and transnational dimensions of law and public policy.

For more information, visit the website.

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The conference will take place Thursday, May 5, from 8am to 8pm,聽and Friday, May 6, from 8am to 8:30pm, in the Assembly Hall, 152 Founders College, Keele campus. On Saturday, May 7, sessions will take place from 9:30am to 3:30pm in 001 Winters College, Dining Hall, Keele campus.

One of the round tables will look at revolutions in northern Africa, while another, chaired by Curto, will explore Angola under the Weight of the Slave Trade during the 18th and 19th centuries. 鈥淲e鈥檙e doing the past, but we鈥檙e also doing very contemporary issues,鈥� says Curto. The first session of the conference will be a round table via the web with presenters from Brazil looking at the present and future perspectives of African studies in Brazil.

The three plenary speakers will tackle a range of topics. Political science and Islamic studies Professor Khalid Mustafa Medani of McGill University will talk about 鈥淚nformal Institutions and Identity Politics: The Evolving Political Economy of Transnationalism in North East Africa鈥�, sociology Professor Imed Melliti of the Institut Sup茅rieur des Sciences Humaines at the University of Tunis el-Manar will address 鈥淛eunesses maghr茅bines: religiosit茅, enjeux identitaires et enjeux de reconnaissance鈥� and Donald G. Simpson, who leads Innovation Expedition, will speak about 鈥淎frica 鈥� Here and There in the Sixties: A Canadian Perspective鈥�.

Left: Khalid Mustafa Medani

Medani was named a Carnegie Scholar on Islam in 2007 by the Carnegie Corporation of New 91亚色, Melliti is the author of several books, while Simpson is the former director of the International Development Research Centre and the Centre for International Business at the Ivey School of Business at the University of Western Ontario. For more biographical information on the plenary speakers, visit the website.

The conference theme, Africa Here; Africa There, is in recognition of the United Nations General Assembly proclaiming 2011 as the International Year for People of African Descent. The meeting will be hosted by 91亚色鈥檚 and will have sessions in both French and English.

Right: Donald G. Simpson

鈥淲hat we are doing is not only focusing on the continent itself, but outside the continent,鈥� says Curto. 鈥淭hrough the conference we are highlighting the bridge we鈥檙e making between the diaspora and the homeland.鈥�

The second round table of the conference, Africa Here: Commemorating the Early African Canadian Experience, will be chaired by 91亚色 Professor Michele Johnson, co-author of the book They Do as They Please: The Jamaican Struggle for Cultural Freedom after Morant Bay (University of West Indies Press), which will as part of the conference. Taking part in this round table panel will be 91亚色 Distinguished Research Professor in African history Paul Lovejoy looking at 鈥淎frica Here: Itineraries of African Canadian Memory and the UNESCO Slave Route Project鈥�, Hilary Dawson of the Harriet Tubman Institute discussing 鈥淟ocating Sites of Memory: Tracing an Itinerary of Memory for the African Canadian Experience鈥� and Karolyn Smardz Frost, a research associate with the Harriet Tubman Institute, talking about 鈥淪lavery, Resistance and the Underground Railroad in Toronto鈥�.

There will be presenters from Canada, the United States, Australia and Africa at the conference. 91亚色 history PhD candidate Jeff Gunn will discuss 鈥淐hild Soldiers and Modern Slavery in the 21st Century鈥�, while 91亚色 Professor Emeritus John S. Saul will discuss a 鈥淣ew Counter-Hegemonic Project in Contemporary South Africa: Moeletsi Mbeki, Zwelinzima Vavi and the Democratic Left Forum. Some of the other sessions will examine topics such as: Africa in Canada, Border Security in African Contexts, Governance and Management of Natural Resources in Africa鈥檚 Great Lakes Region, Perspectives on Gender in Africa, Urban Unrest in South Africa and Africans on the Move.

Lovejoy, director of the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples, will also chair the sessions examining The Central Sudan in Nineteenth & Early Twentieth Centuries and Aspects of the Slave Trade in the Atlantic World. In addition, there will be screenings of several documentaries, including Behind the Rainbow by Jihan El-Tahri, Sembene! By Jason Silverman and Escape from Luanda by Phil Grabsky.

For more information, including a detailed listing of speakers and sessions, visit the conference website or the website.

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Last week, 91亚色 law Professor Obiora Okafor was elected to the advisory committee of the United Nations Human Rights Council.

The Nigerian-born professor brings his expertise in international law, human rights law,聽 and immigration and refugee law, especially as it relates to Africa, to the .

鈥淭he committee is the think tank of the Human Rights Council,鈥� says . 鈥淚t鈥檚 where the thinking begins.鈥� He sees participating on the committee as a form of public service and an opportunity to make an impact at a relatively high level.

Okafor (left) was nominated by Nigeria to represent Africa on the 18-person committee for the next three years. The Geneva-based committee meets twice a year.

The son of an Ibo lawyer concerned about social justice, Okafor studied, practised and taught law in Nigeria before coming to Canada. He won a scholarship to the University of British Columbia, earned two graduate degrees and joined Osgoode Hall Law School in 2000.

鈥淗uman rights gave me a language and framework for expressing my concerns about social justice,鈥� says Okafor.

At Osgoode, the award-winning teacher lectures on international human rights law, human rights in Africa and the international law of south-north relations.

His most recent research projects include a study of human rights activism in Nigeria and a comparison of refugee rights in Canada and the United States post 9/11.

He is also affiliated with 91亚色鈥檚 , the and the Graduate Program in Socio-Legal Studies.

Okafor has served as an expert panellist for the UN Working Group of Experts on People of African Descent and a human rights consultant for the British Department for International Development. He has been a visiting scholar at the International Institute of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France, and in Harvard Law School's Human Rights Program.

鈥淚鈥檓 interested in a full range of issues, but the preponderance of my work is on human rights in Africa,鈥� he says.

He has written three books: ; ; and .

He has also co-edited three books: ; ; and .

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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The launch for Writing Justice (Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 2011) will take place on Thursday, April 14, from 5:30 to 7:30pm at the Columbus Centre, 901 Lawrence Ave. W., Toronto. Everyone is welcome to attend. Light refreshments will be served.

The book was published in recognition of the United Nations General Assembly鈥檚 proclamation of 2011 as the .

鈥淚 want the book to serve as both an historical example of ethno-racial media in the tradition of Mary Ann Shadd and Henry Bibb, and as a critical analysis of some of the most important issues impacting the lives of people of colour in the last decade,鈥� says Foster.

The aim of the International Year for People of African Descent is to strengthen national actions and regional and international cooperation for the benefit of people of African descent in relation to: their full enjoyment of economic, cultural, social, civil and political rights; their participation and integration in all political, economic, social and cultural aspects of society; and the promotion of a greater knowledge of, and respect for, their diverse heritage and culture.

Left: Lorne Foster

鈥淒r. Foster illustrates how, over the greater part of a decade, he has used his analytical skills and erudition as weapons for progressive social change. Despite covering a very wide range of topics 鈥� from leadership, human rights and race in the workplace through the language of culture and power, social problems in the city, health, urban poverty, and the immigration system聽鈥� Dr. Foster keeps a steady eye on the roots, reasons and results of the issues he analyzes and provides a picture of the vitality of the communities, the hurdles they face and the efforts made to overcome these hurdles,鈥� says Carl Thorpe, executive director of the .

Foster has written more than 200 articles for community and knowledge mobilization publications and was nominated for two media human rights awards, 鈥渇or alerting, informing and sensitizing the public with regard to the nature and value of human rights in Canada鈥� in 2001.

He is the author of and the co-editor of the forthcoming Balancing Competing Human Rights Claims in a Diverse Society, published by the .

His next book will deal with the foreign credentials gap in Canada.

For more information, call the at 416-979-2973. Attendees are asked to register in advance at mhso.mail@utoronto.ca.

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Left: Karl Schmid

The award recognizes Schmid's participation in Public Anthropology鈥檚 Community Action online project as well his wider activities in the public sphere. According to Robert Borofsky, director of the Center for Public Anthropology and a professor of anthropology at Hawaii Pacific University, less than one per cent of faculty teaching聽introductory anthropology courses across North America聽receive this award.

"Professor Schmid is to be commended for how he takes classroom knowledge and applies it to real-world challenges, thereby encouraging students to be responsible global citizens," says Borofsky. "In actively addressing important ethical concerns within anthropology, Professor Schmid is providing students with the thinking and writing skills needed for active citizenship. Congratulations to Professor Schmid, the Department of Anthropology and 91亚色 on this honour."

Seven of Schmid's students .

Schmid鈥檚 research focuses on southern Egypt, especially Luxor, a city which is being rapidly transformed into a transnational tourism zone. Luxor (site of ancient Thebes) has been reconfigured as a World Heritage Site visited by more than five million tourists each year. Schmid documents how the rapid transformation of the city centre has been accomplished聽by tearing down dozens of public and residential buildings to recreate a 3,500-year-old "avenue of the sphinxes" between two major ancient Egyptian temples.

He is also a collaborator in supported by through the Social Sciences & Humanities Research Council of Canada鈥檚 Major Collaborative Research Initiatives program. The project involves聽a team of international researchers conducting the first comprehensive, comparative analysis of urban expansion and the creation of suburbs in diverse locales around the world.

Among聽Schmid's recent publications is the article "Doing Ethnography of Tourist Enclaves: Boundaries, Ironies, and Insights" published聽in the journal Tourist Studies.

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If you pass a law to prevent discrimination against persons with disabilities, how do you know whether it鈥檚 being enforced, let alone making a difference?

Marcia Rioux (right), director of the 91亚色 Institute for Health Research (YIHR) and professor in the Faculty of Health鈥檚 School of Health Policy & Management, is working internationally, particularly with countries with limited resources, to develop a unique and innovation solution for the reporting requirements set out in the United Nation鈥檚 .

The United Nations requires all governments that have ratified its Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities 鈭� as Canada did on , 2010 鈭� to provide information on the measures they have taken to integrate persons with disabilities into their societies. But this reporting is often limited to cataloguing laws, policies, and programs that may have little impact on the day-to-day lives of the people they鈥檙e intended to help.

Disability Rights Promotion International (DRPI), a multi-year international collaborative project, is establishing a global monitoring system to address disability discrimination. The research project, based in YIHR, is led by Rioux and Bengt Lindqvist 鈭� a former Cabinet Minister in Sweden, former UN Special Rapporteur on Disability, and long-time activist on disability rights. The team includes a group of 91亚色 researchers and international colleagues who are creating a roadmap that will allow countries to evaluate their laws, policies and programs to comply with the United Nations鈥� standards.

鈥淐ollecting and reporting on evidence-based data forces governments to acknowledge that the challenges people with disabilities face are not just anecdotal,鈥� says Rioux. 鈥淥ur project allows evaluation to happen within the context of the experiences of people with disabilities to objectively measure where discrimination is now while developing and tracking solid trend data to determine if and how things are getting better.鈥�

In September, the Africa Regional Monitoring Centre opened its doors in Kigali, Rwanda and will act as a focal point for disability monitoring and reporting in the region. Agreements with centres in Asia Pacific, Eastern Europe and Latin America are expected in the near future. The (SIDA) awarded the research team over $2 million in 2009 to open the four regional centres.

Each centre will act as a focal point for monitoring disability rights in that region, and will play a key role in empowering local people with disabilities to lead disability rights monitoring projects. 鈥淩egional monitoring is most sustainable when local people are involved since it puts long-term roots into the community,鈥� says Rioux. 鈥淭he vast majority of disabled people around the world face endemic poverty 鈭� many don鈥檛 have jobs or go to school or have basic literacy skills. Engaging people with disabilities to lead this process is a more holistic approach to addressing the challenges they face, both as individuals and a collective.鈥�

When all four centres are operational, Rioux anticipates that hundreds of people with disabilities will be engaged in disability rights monitoring activities. The centres will host training on what disability means as a human right, how to collect data and conduct evidence-based research, and how to write and file human rights reports. Groundwork is also being laid to connect monitors with disabilities to other local rights-seeking groups, such as religious-based, race-based and gender-based, to get them coordinating their efforts together instead of separately.

"The Faculty of Health鈥檚 worldwide research aims to help people live healthier lives while co-creating rejuvenated health systems,鈥� says Harvey Skinner, dean of Health. 鈥淧rofessor Rioux's research is an excellent example of how 91亚色 University is on the front line of our increasingly complex, simultaneously global and local world."

Previous phases of this project focused on developing and piloting tools and methods to monitor disability rights. In 2006, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada ()鈥檚 Community-University Research Alliances program provided Rioux and her team with just under $1 million to fund Monitoring the Human Rights of People with Disabilities in Canada, which is currently in its last of five years.

In 2008, Rioux also received a two-year $40,000 grant from to research disability and social, economic and cultural rights. She has also received funding from the , and been invited to consult with governments and disabled persons associations around the globe to discuss disability rights. Recently, she and her team wrote the chapter on disability rights monitoring for the .

鈥淧rofessor Rioux鈥檚 disability rights research reflects both the value 91亚色 places on social justice and her expertise in leading large-scale collaborative research projects of international significance,鈥� says Stan Shapson, vice-president research & innovation. 鈥淭his type of knowledge mobilization is a crucial step in making governments more accountable for the social policies they set, and reflects the social input that鈥檚 possible when expertise is globally shared.鈥�

By Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer.

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If you are lucky enough, you might get a chance to see the dynamic circle dance that the (UNESCO) has called "a masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage" 鈥� the samba de roda. It is here in Salvador and its surrounding countryside that 91亚色 dance Professor Danielle Robinson (right) engages with the music, dance and culture of samba de roda, the history of which is rooted in rural Brazil and its plantation past. Robinson is drawn to the improvisational character of samba de roda "as a way of moving, thinking, adapting and living."

In this practice, "the music and dance are held together by shared syncopated rhythms, a collective history of colonization and an overall ethos of joy," said Robinson. "People switch between dancing, playing, singing and clapping as the spirit moves them.聽No one can just watch, everyone eventually ends up in the circle, which is a powerful, inclusive community space."

搁辞产颈苍蝉辞苍鈥檚 -funded research aims to emphasize samba de roda鈥檚 improvisational character and the consequent diversity of movements. Throughout her research, Robinson seeks to understand how participants imagine and embody their relationships with the "roots" of samba, how they distinguish themselves from other movement and dance practitioners and how increasing cultural tourism is changing the practice profoundly, thanks to the recognition from UNESCO.

All of the original materials, including music recordings, music scores, interview transcriptions and translations, video documentation and still images, will eventually be held in the Clara Thomas Archives聽& Special Collections聽in order to promote further research. A parallel collection will also be placed at the Federal University of Bahia in the new Brazilian Popular Culture Research Centre (Centro de Estudos das Tradi莽玫es Orais Brasileiras) that is currently being planned.

Robinson adds that the people she is working with in Salvador da Bahia want to collaborate and contribute, not be treated as passive research subjects. For this reason, the culminating book, with its numerous forms of writing by lifelong sambadores, includes interviews, song lyrics and essays, as well as writings by local Brazilian researchers.

Although 搁辞产颈苍蝉辞苍鈥檚 research aims to speak to ethnographers, especially those working in dance and music of the African diaspora, Robinson also hopes "to offer another model of decolonizing research to other scholars working cross-culturally."

Throughout her academic career, Robinson has focused on experiences of identity, industry and appropriation as lived by participants in popular African diasporic dance practices like samba de roda. In particular, she is interested in "community-based dancing and its ability to construct, navigate and contest social divides and stereotypes." Growing up in the southern United States just after segregation ended, she is especially invested in understanding race relations and their manifestations in expressive culture.

Before joining 91亚色鈥檚 Dance Department in 2005, Robinson taught at the Federal University of Bahia聽 in Salvador, Brazil, as well as at the University of California, Riverside and the University of Texas, Austin. Her articles have been published in Dance Theatre Journal, Dance Research Journal, Dance Chronicle and Dance Research. At 91亚色, she is cross-appointed to the 91亚色 & Ryerson Joint Graduate Program in Communication & Culture. She is a Fellow of 91亚色鈥檚 Centre for Research on Latin America & the Caribbean, the Harriet Tubman Institute for Research on the Global Migrations of African Peoples and Winters College. Her varied research and teaching experiences have led to what she considers one of the high points of her career so far. In 2009, she received the Faculty of Fine Arts Dean鈥檚 Junior Teaching Award.

By Jacquelin Chatterpaul, Faculty of Fine Arts research officer aide

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Organized by the , the (IRIS) and the United Nations Educational, Scientific & Cultural Organization (UNESCO) Chair聽for Reorienting Teacher Education聽Towards Sustainability, the Leadership for Sustainable Communities Symposium will focus on learning, leadership and climate change.

Leading experts from Canada, the United States and the United Kingdom will gather at 91亚色鈥檚 Keele campus for the symposium. They will share their experiences and expertise in the area of climate change with students enrolled in summer courses that address issues of sustainability. The focus of the symposium will be a shared dialogue to examine the intersections between education, leadership and climate change.

91亚色 Faculty of Education Professor Charles Hopkins (right) will open the conference. As the UNESCO Chair聽for Reorienting Teacher Education聽Towards Sustainability聽, Hopkins has developed and continues to coordinate an international network of institutions from 38 countries working on the reorientation of teacher education towards the issues inherent in sustainable development. Hopkins is also an adviser to both UNESCO and the United Nations University regarding the United Nations Decade of Education for Sustainable Development, which began in 2005 and continues until 2014. A major contributor at previous UN summits on sustainability in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil in 1992 and in Johannesburg, South Africa in 2002, he聽authored聽Chapter 36聽of Agenda 21 of the Rio Earth Summit Action Plan on Education, Public Awareness & Training. Previously, Hopkins was a superintendent with the Toronto Board of Education.

Following Hopkins' opening comments, David Greenwood (left), a professor in the Department of Teaching & Learning at Washington State University, will deliver the keynote address, titled 鈥淣ature, Empire, and Paradox in Environmental and Sustainability Education鈥�. Greenwood conducts research on the relationship between environment, culture, and education; environmental, place-based and sustainability education; and alternative education. He has published widely in journals such as: Harvard Educational Review, Educational Researcher, American Educational Research Journal, Curriculum Inquiry, Educational Administration Quarterly, Environmental Education Research, Canadian Journal of Environmental Education and a host of other publications. Greenwood聽is working on his second book, which will聽examine place and education.

After聽Greenwood's address, a panel of scholars from聽IRIS, the Faculty of Environmental Studies and will present their work as it relates to climate change.

Particpating in the panel are:

(left)聽is聽a professor of biology in 91亚色's , an ecologist and聽the director of IRIS.聽Bazely has聽conducted field research in many ecosystems, including arctic tundra, sub-arctic and temperate salt-marshes, deciduous forests, temperate managed grasslands and prairies, and her research findings on white-tailed deer and lesser snow geese have informed wildlife and conservation management in Canada. In 2003, she published a book on the ecology and control of invasive plants with Professor Judy Myers of the University of British Columbia. She is currently leading an interdisciplinary project based in Canada, Norway and Russia on human security in the Arctic, specifically the impact of oil and gas development on people and ecosystems.

Patricia (Ellie)聽Perkins (right)聽is a professor and聽program coordinator for the Faculty of Environmental Studies at 91亚色. An聽economist who is concerned with the relationship between international trade, the environment and local economies, Perkins聽is interested in globalization and how local economies may grow as an antidote to international trade. She also looks at international means of controlling air pollution in the Arctic and at the metals and minerals resource industries.聽Perkins is the primary investigator of a (SSHRC) funded research project聽titled "Collaborative Research for Equitable Public Participation in Watershed Governance:聽Canada, Brazil, Mozambique, South Africa, Kenya". In 2008, she was awarded the 91亚色 Knowledge Mobilization Course Release for Community Engagement Award. Currently, she is editing a book on feminist ecological economics.

Professor (left)聽is director of Osgoode Hall Law School鈥檚 Mooting Program as well as its LLB/MES Program.聽He is actively involved in the work of the Standards Council of Canada and the International Organization for Standardization in the field of environmental management standards. He has published on numerous topics related to environmental and international affairs, including the ISO 14000 environmental management standards, global environmental governance, sustainability, regulatory reform, corporate social responsibility, Canadian forest law, international relations theory and international fisheries regulation. His current research focuses on the role of voluntary standards for environmental management and corporate social responsibility in the governance of corporate conduct.

In the afternoon, 91亚色 film Professor Brenda Longfellow, award-winning filmmaker, writer and theorist, will screen her 2008 feature-length documentary Weather Report to symposium participants.

As the world reels from a series of unprecedented weather events, it is clear that climate change is forcing a fundamental re-evaluation of our most basic assumptions about energy, progress and values. Produced with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation and the National Film Board of Canada, looks at the dramatically evolving impacts and social implications of climate change. Travelling through North America, the Canadian Arctic, India and China, the film explores how the battle against climate change is implicated in the larger movement for sustainability and global justice.

Winner of the Sundance Channel's Green Award and the Bronze Remi Award at the 2008 WorldFest-Houston Independent International Film Festival, Longfellow's film has earned high praise from climatologists, educators and others in the field.

"Weather Report is a beautifully filmed documentary that travels the globe and is one of the first films to put a human face on the myriad impacts of climate change. Highly recommended,"聽said Professor Anthony Leiserowitz, director of the聽Yale Project on Climate Change in the聽School of Forestry & Environmental Studies at聽Yale University.

Left: Brenda Longfellow

"Weather Report masterfully accomplishes something scientists have not been very good at 鈥� putting a real, human face on the consequences of global warming and the resulting climate change," said Cindy聽Parker, co-director聽of the Program on Global Sustainability聽& Health in the聽Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Following the screening, there will be an informal聽round-table discussion on climate change and education with a focus on translating knowledge into action. The discussion will feature contributions from:

Professor Tony Shallcross is聽a visiting scholar from Manchester Metropolitan University (MMU). Shallcross聽is teaching聽ecology, ethics and education in the Graduate Program in Education Summer Institute at 91亚色. He has聽more than聽20 years of experience working in schools and is a former deputy head and head of department. Before taking up his post at MMU, he was a lecturer in environmental studies at the University of Edinburgh.

is a professor in聽91亚色's Faculty of Education where he coordinates the 91亚色/Seneca Institute for Mathematics, Science聽& Technology Education聽and the Graduate Diploma in Environmental/Sustainability Education.聽Alsop has taught in primary and secondary schools in inner-city London and coordinated the Centre for Learning & Research in Science Education聽at the Roehampton Institute at the聽University of Surrey. He has published widely in science and technology education and his recent books include and [co-edited with Larry Bencze and Erminia Pedretti]. He holds affiliated scholarly positions at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California, Mexico; the Roehampton Institute;聽and the Centre for Science, Mathematics &Technology Education at the聽Ontario Institute for Studies in Education,聽University of Toronto. He is associated with a number of activist organizations including The Project for Altruistic Science and Technology Education.

Soni Craik is the acting executive director of EcoSource and has worked for the organization for over four years to extend its educational programming.聽Craik links her academic background聽with her interest in education for sustainability through child rights.聽She has聽worked for the International Institute for Child Rights聽& Development and the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade in South Africa as a facilitator of a participatory programs evaluation, specializing in working with elementary-aged children.聽Craik has also worked as an environmental education consultant for the Packard Foundation in Ethiopia and for the Child Welfare League of Canada in Cuba on a joint study of Havana鈥檚 social systems.

Rebecca Houwer is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Education at 91亚色.聽Prior to returning to university, she worked for several years with community-based organizations committed to educating youth.聽Her academic interests include: ethics and critical place-based education in urban contexts; participatory action research as praxis; ethical community-university relations; ecology without nature; and, collaborative place-making and place-recovery with, and by, forced migrants.聽She聽is a research assistant for the $1-million Community-University Research Alliance (CURA) grant by SSHRC led by 91亚色 social work Professor聽 in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies.

The symposium will conclude with a wrap-up and pledge that will be delivered by Hopkins.

For more information, visit the聽 Web site.

Republished courtesy of YFile鈥� 91亚色鈥檚 daily e-bulletin.

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