How do societies change in response to contact with other cultures? And what roles do objects play in mediating these connections over time and place? Organized by Dr. Neil Safier of the UBC History department, this two-and-a-half-day symposium brought together anthropologists, geographers, historians, Indigenous artists and activists, and literary scholars whose research focuses on cross-cultural encounters and material exchange in a global context. Invited speakers shared works-in-progress and critically assessed their own approaches toward the study of cultural exchange between peoples, places, and things.
The inaugural Global Encounters Initiative symposium, the “Itineraries of Exchange: Cultural Contact in a Global Frame” took place March 4-6, 2010 at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. Webcast recording sponsored by the Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, the entire series of the Global Encounters Initiative Symposium can be viewed online. Hosted by MOA, “From Noble Savage to Righteous Warrior: Regenerating and Reinscribing Indigenous Presences” by Dr. Taiaiake Alfred (Indigenous Governance, UVic) is the keynote speaker of the symposium. Dr. Taiaiake Alfred is an author, educator and activist. Alfred is an internationally recognized Kanienkehaka intellectual, political advisor and he is currently a professor at the University of Victoria (UVic).