Vancouver Institute – Mohamed Fahmy Lecture
Mohamed Fahmy is an award-winning journalist and author. He covered the Iraq war in 2003 for the Los Angeles Times, and published Baghdad Bound based on his experiences. He has done extensive work in the Middle East for CNN, Dubai TV, and Foreign Policy. In 2011, he received the Peabody award for his coverage of the Arab Spring and the Tom Renner Investigative Reporting Award for producing the documentary Death in the Desert. In 2013 he accepted the title of Al Jazeera English Bureau Chief in Egypt, where he was arrested along with two other Al Jazeera English journalists. Mr. Fahmy was sentenced to seven years of incarceration, but was granted a retrial and release in June of 2015 but reconvicted in August of this year. Earlier this year, he founded the Fahmy Foundation for Free Press to help journalists imprisoned world-wide. In 2014, Fahmy received the Canadian Commission World Press Freedom Award and a certificate from UNESCO.
About the Vancouver Institute
The Vancouver Institute, a free public educational forum, has been in existence since 1916. Lectures are held on the campus of the University of British Columbia during the fall and spring academic terms. The lectures are in Lecture Hall No. 2 in the Woodward Instructional Resources Centre, University of British Columbia. When necessary, neighbouring overflow halls in the Centre, with closed-circuit TV, are used, and the speaker visits each hall during the question period.
Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library
Cohen-Almagor, R. (2001). Speech, media, and ethics: The limits of free expression : Critical studies on freedom of expression, freedom of the press, and the public’s right to know. New York;Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire;: Palgrave. [Available at Koerner Library stacks – KM204 .C645 2001]
Committee, P. J. (2013). Attacks on the Press: Journalism on the World’s Front Lines Bloomberg Press [Imprint]. [Link]
Kesterton, W. H. (1967). History of Journalism in Canada McGill-Queen’s University Press. [Link]
Seib, P. M. (2012). Al Jazeera English: Global News in a Changing World (1st ed.). New York: Palgrave Macmillan. [Available at Koerner Library stacks – PN1992.92.A393 A43 2012]
UBC Library Research Guides
Earth’s Astonishing Climate History
Watch this Brock Talk online:
Title
Earth’s Astonishing Climate History
Talk Abstract
Since the time of the French Revolution, physicists and geologists have challenged each other to understand the inner workings of the climate system. The unexpected discovery of the Pleistocene Ice Ages prompted the recognition of global warming, the radiative energy balance and the greenhouse effect. The nonsensical distribution of Carboniferous glacial deposits led to the theory of continental drift. Recently, the implausible theory that the Earth is susceptible to total glaciation, reversible only through tens of millions of years of greenhouse-gas buildup, has been stunningly confirmed by geologists and climate dynamicists. As the 82 million year pan-glacial period corresponds with the first appearance of multicellularity in animals, the challenge of Earth’s astonishing climate history must now engage more deeply evolutionary biology.
Speaker
Professor Paul F. Hoffman, Harvard University and University of Victoria. Paul Hoffman is a known as “one of the most inspiring and charismatic geologists of our time, inspiring a wealth of new research fields…” (Wollaston Medal citation, 2009). Hoffman’s academic career spans nearly half a century. Paul is best known for his penetrating work to verify Snowball Earth, an enigmatic period between 600 and 800 million years ago during which Earth was entirely covered by glacial ice. He has demonstrated that forerunners for the diverse and complex life, which characterizes our planet today, emerged when Earth thawed. His current work explores a connection between snowball Earth and the biodiversity of our current world. Paul’s career has made seminal contributions to our understanding of plate tectonics, Earth’s climatic and glacial histories, the origins of complex life and the philosophy and history of science including elucidating key ingredients for scientific revolutions in Earth science.
Vast Ocean, Vast Heaven: A multi-site exhibition at IKBLC, Asian Centre/Library, Rare Books & Special Collections
December 3, 2015 – January 31, 2016
As part of the Nitobe Memorial Garden Concepts and Prospects symposium, the research curators of the Collective for the Advanced and Unified Studies in the Visual Arts (CAUSA) present a multi-site exhibition at UBC. Locations include:
- Irving K. Barber Learning Centre (Level 2, Main Foyer art gallery)
- Rare Books and Special Collections (IKBLC level 1)
- Asian Centre and Library
Developing from affiliations with the Free International University for Creativity and Interdisciplinary Research (as initiated by Joseph Beuys and Heinrich Böll), CAUSA – Collective for Advanced and Unified Studies in the Visual Arts – aims to develop autonomous scholarly analysis and interpretation of visual culture (including problems of intelligibility) within specific historical contexts. CAUSA functions in association with a ‘global village’ network of independent and institutional scholars – in tandem with a pluralistic community of socially engaged contemporary artists.
In its affiliation with the University of Manitoba Asian Studies Centre, CAUSA sustains a continuative process of philosophical reflection by connecting its programme of research to an expansive glimmering that was first formulated by Marshall McLuhan. He advises us, assuredly: “We may be drowning. But if so, the flood of experience in which we are drowning is very much a part of the culture we have created. The flood is not something outside our culture. It is a self-invasion of privacy. And so it is not catastrophic. We can turn it off if we choose, if we wake up to the fact that the faucets of change are inside the ark of society, not outside.”
– CAUSA Curators
Upcoming Events
About
CAUSA (Collective for the Advancement of Unified Studies in the Visual Arts) has functioned, since 2003, with the aim of opening channels of communication concerning aspects of cultural memory in relation to independent curatorial research. CAUSA strives to develop autonomous scholarly analysis and interpretation of visual culture (including problems of intelligibility) within specific historical contexts. Recent curatorial initiatives have been realized by CAUSA in collaboration with the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery (University of British Columbia), Walter Phillips Art Gallery (The Banff Centre), Presentation House Gallery (North Vancouver), the West Vancouver Museum, Artspeak, Vancouver and North Vancouver City Library
Curatorial Component from the multi-site exhibition VAST OCEAN / VAST HEAVEN –a CAUSA research project.
” … ‘VAST’…”. [Image: M. Cynog Evans.]
IAIN BAXTER& / CAUSA … UNTIL THE AND OF TIME …. [Photo: M. Cynog Evans.]
Public Talk: Personal Health Data Sharing for Personalized Medicine
Personal Health Data Sharing for Personalized Medicine:
Facts, Opportunities, Security and Ethics
Leaders come together for conversations about types of personal health data, opportunities that arise from integrating these data for health and economic benefits, and issues in secure and ethical storage and sharing of these data.
‘Conversationists’
- Dr Elodie Portales-Casamar, Clinical Informatics Specialist, Child & Family Research Institute
- Dr Nancy Meagher, Executive Director, Population Data BC
- Dr Larry Lynd, Professor, UBC Collaboration for Outcomes Research and Evaluation (CORE)
- Dr Zsuzsanna Hollander, PROOF Centre
- Dr Paul Terry, President & CEO, PHEMI Health Systems Inc.
- Dr Alice Virani, Clinical Ethicist, Children’s and Women’s Hospital of BC
Moderator:
Dr. Jehannine Austin – Associate Professor, UBC Psychiatry/Medical Genetics
Discussion Document: Roadmap for Bringing Personalized Medicine to British Columbians available for download here {PDF} for those interested. Not required reading for Public Talks attendance.
Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library
Bartlett G, Bartlett G, Rahimzadeh V, Longo C, Orlando L. Personalized medicine: The future of genomic testing in primary care: the changing face of personalized medicine. Future Medicine; 2014;11:477. [Link]
Cullis, Pieter. The Personalized Medicine Revolution: How Diagnosing and Treating Disease Are about to Change Forever. Vancouver: Greystone, 2015. Print. [Available at Biomedical Branch Library – QZ50 .G88 2015]
Mapping BC’s path to personalized medicine. Marketwired. 2015. [Link]
UBC Library Research Guides
"Just Google it": Algorithms of Oppression
Dr. Safiya Umoja Noble discusses her research into Google, a technology commonly thought of as a public resource free from commercial interest, and the ways in which it mediates public access to information in biased ways and permits problematic racial and gender misrepresentations.
Speaker bio
Safiya Noble is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Education and Information Studies at UCLA. Her research focuses on socio-cultural informatics, and feminist, historical and political-economic perspectives on computing platforms and software in the public interest. Her research is at the intersection of transnational culture and technology in the design and use of applications on the internet. She is currently writing a book about Google and Information bias (forthcoming from NYU Press).
This event took place on December 8, Tuesday 2015 | 2:00-4:00pm at Douglas College.
Select Articles and Books Available at UBC Library
UBC Library Research Guides
Sponsored by the Douglas College Faculty Professional Development Committee
Asian Canadian & Asian Migration Studies Community Project Showcase
Are you interested in learning about some of the amazing research that Asian Canadian & Asian Migration Studies (ACAM) students are doing? Do you want to see what collaboration looks like between students and Asian Canadian communities? Thinking of taking an ACAM course next term but not sure what kind of projects you can do? Join the Asian Canadian & Asian Migration Studies faculty, staff, and students at the Community Project Showcase event where you can chat with ACAM students, community members, and professors and learn about current projects. This is your chance to see what kinds of research is happening!
Format: This is similar to a science fair where students are the main presenters of their work.
Presenters
Dominique Bautista – ACAM Centennial Alumni Project: Retelling UBC’s History from an Asian Canadian Lens
Born and raised in Vancouver, Dominique proudly calls this city her home: a place with intersecting spaces that continuously challenge her to consider who she is and where she’s “really from”. As a cultural hybrid, she has always been intrigued by identity politics complicated by experiences of migration, largely based on her family’s narrative and ties to the transpacific. Growing up engulfed by diversity and difference have inspired her guiding passions and principles of learning from various communities and uncovering untold stories.
Dominique completed her undergrad from UBC in 2015 with a background in English Literature and Sociology to compliment her ACAM degree. As she begins her journey as a humanities educator, she looks forward to continuing to engage with local and global communities. If not desperately seeking sunshine, she loves to share stories over a cup of tea! (Twitter: @_DBAUTISTA)
Christy Fong – ‘Save Chinatown, Support Chinese BBQ Meat Products’: Racialised Legislation, Community Activism, and Oral Histories in Vancouver’s Chinatown
Christy Fong is an English Literature Honours student in the last year of her undergraduate degree, which has been supplemented by the ACAM program. She works at the academic journal Canadian Literature as the web and communications assistant and at Arts ISIT as content editor and help desk staff. These experiences have increased her interest in digital humanities and new information technologies, which informs her research on social justice movements in Vancouver’s Chinatown. As a literature student, Christy is inspired by narrative medicine and embodied discourses, especially those centered around marginalised bodies and diasopric/migrant experiences.
Eleanor Munk – The Pacific Canada Heritage Centre – Museum of Migration (PCHC – MoM) Society
Eleanor Munk is a recent graduate from Mount Allison University with a degree in Honours English Literature. In the years following her graduation, she has worked and volunteered with Pan-Pacific and Asian-Canadian communities and organizations such as Ricepaper Magazine and the Asian Canadian Writers’ Workshop. She is currently Marketing and Event Coordinator with the PCHC-MoM Society and Coordinator with the Vancouver Asian Heritage Month Society.
Nicole So – #ThisisChinatown campaign
Nicole So is a UBC alumni (2015) with a BA in English Literature and a minor in Asian Canadian and Asian Migration studies. Her recent work and involvement in Chinatown began with making the video “4 Reasons Why You Should Care about Vancouver’s Chinatown” for class. Since the launch and positive receptions of the video, Nicole has committed her summer to working on the Hong Kong-Canada Crosscurrents Project with Dr. Henry Yu, helping Heritage BC organize workshops to assess the intangible heritage of Vancouver’s Chinatown, and interning at Hua Foundation, a non-profit start up organization for Chinese-Canadian youth. She is also a Chapman & Innovations Grant 2015 recipient, for co-founding and directing “Project Young and Classy” in partnership with Strathcona Community Centre. Nicole enjoys indulging in good films and travelling in her spare time, and is a self-proclaimed bubble tea connoisseur.
Joanna Yang – Canadians that Never Arrived: The Komagata Maru and Our Absent History (documentary film)
Joanna is a first-generation Canadian born Chinese settler on the traditional and ancestral lands of the Coast Salish First Nations peoples. She graduated from the UBC Human Geography and Migration/Globalization Studies program in 2014 – just one year before the UBC ACAM program was approved. An aspiring visual storyteller, Joanna considers herself to be a life-long learner, constantly curating her storyboard.
+ more TBA
Event Details
When: November 20, Friday 2015 | 12:00-1:00pm
Where: Irving K. Barber Learning Centre, Lillooet Room (301), unceded Musqueam territory
Registration: RSVP now to save your seat as there is a limited capacity
Accessibility info: From East Mall, enter the Learning Centre through the main doors. The Lillooet Room is on level three in the Chapman Learning Commons.
There are two good-sized elevators on the lobby level (East Mall entrance) that access all levels of the Learning Centre.
Washrooms are located on all levels near the elevators. Each washroom has a modified stall, although they are not labelled. The designated washrooms on levels 3 and 4 can be accessed by contacting campus security (604-822-2222). The designated disabled washroom on level 2, which is equipped with a specialized lift and harness, can be accessed by contacting Access & Diversity (604-822-5844).
Lunch: (meat and vegetarian options) will be provided for those who RSVP. Please let us know if you have any special dietary needs.
If you have any questions, please email acam.events@ubc.ca
We hope to see you there!
This event will be taking place on the traditional, unceded, ancestral homelands of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) First Nation