People can attend the Colloquium Series lectures from the comfort of their own homes this spring and gain an appreciation of how important the arts and humanities are to understanding today’s world.
Vancouver Island University’s (VIU’s) Arts and Humanities Colloquium Series returns this spring with a thought-provoking lecture lineup that delves into the intricacies of language; re-evaluates dominant narratives of historical figures and events that celebrate colonial power and privilege; and explores efforts to introduce Indigenous literature in classrooms in ways that respect traditional ways of knowing and being.
“We are really looking forward to the spring lineup of the Colloquium,” says Dr. Cathryn Spence, Chair of the Colloquium Committee. “These talks demonstrate the exciting range of research undertaken by our faculty, and it’s exciting to be able to showcase that research and connect with those in our faculty, our university and the wider community.”
All lectures are free, held between 10-11:30 am, and will be live streamed via Zoom. To attend a lecture or learn more about the series visit the Colloquium Series website.
The spring lecture series kicks off on Friday, January 22 with Beyond Multilingualism: How Linguists Think and Talk about Language, presented by Dr. Yoichi Mukai, a VIU Modern Language Studies Professor. In the lecture, Mukai will explore how linguists think and talk about language and what kind of analysis they conduct to understand pieces of language. He will also present his research looking at the effect of pronunciation-to-spelling inconsistency in the recognition of spontaneous Japanese speech for first and second language speakers.
“After talking about fundamental components of linguistic analysis, I will present two key topics of my research: first, that speech is highly variable,” says Mukai. “This variability often results from instances of phonetic reduction as in the realization of words with approximated articulation, resulting in deletion and/or incomplete articulation of sound segments. And second, that literacy skills change the way we comprehend speech. Inconsistencies between the ways in which words are pronounced and spelled have been shown to affect the recognition of spoken words.”
On February 12, Dr. Kelly Black, a VIU Adjunct History Professor and Executive Director of the Point Ellice House Museum and Gardens, presents The Rooms Where It Happened: Practicing Public History at Victoria’s House Museum. Black’s lecture reflects on the last 60 years of public history at Point Ellice House, one of British Columbia’s oldest residences. The visitor experience at the historic site, which featured afternoon tea on the lawn, has remained largely unchanged, but as historians and the public re-evaluate dominant narratives of historical figures and events questions arise about how a museum founded on the celebration of colonial power and privilege can challenge one of its most enduring associations. Black’s presentation will explain more recent efforts to go “beyond the tropes of tea and roses.”
On March 12, Joy Gugeler, a VIU Creative Writing, Journalism and Media Studies Professor, and Stephanie Johnson, a member of School District 68’s Syeyutsus Family, which was formed to develop reconciliation policy and framework of reconciliation across the school district, present Unsettling Fiction: Reconciling Novel Partnerships with Traditional Practices to Teach Indigenous Literature in the Classroom. Gugeler and Johnson will discuss efforts to introduce more Indigenous literature into high school and undergraduate university classrooms and develop teaching approaches that respect traditional ways of knowing and being. They are proposing and modeling respectful and equal partnerships between Indigenous Elders, leaders, experts and settler instructors.
Gugeler and Johnson will present pedagogical best practices gleaned from their research that align with the Truth and Reconciliation Committee and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The Colloquium Series began in 2009 with the aim of creating reflective and intellectually engaging presentations that demonstrate how important the arts and humanities are to understanding today’s world. To watch videos of previous Colloquium Series’ lectures, please visit the VIU Media Studies’ YouTube channel.
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MEDIA CONTACT:
Rachel Stern, Communications Officer, Vancouver Island University
C: 250.618.0373 l E: Rachel.Stern@viu.ca | T: @VIUNews
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