Past Events
October 3, 2019
Awakened Villages: Liberation and Exclusion at the place of Buddha’s Enlightenment in North India
The state of Bihar (the “land of vihara”) is frequently lauded by Indian political leaders and Buddhist teachers as the “land of origins” and/or homeland of Buddhism that has given rise to a pan-Asian, if not, global religious movement. Outside of the obvious economic…
October 1, 2019
Mapping the City: Public Histories and the Shifting Landscape of Vancouver
(This is a invitation-only workshop) These workshops are intended to bring together scholars from the UBC community interested in thinking through the changing landscape of Vancouver’s public histories and to generate ideas for research partnerships both within and beyond the…
September 28 - September 29, 2019
Research Through Practice and Collaboration
(This is a small workshop by invitation only) This workshop will explore how traditional research scholarship, the scholarship of teaching and learning, and the work of university-based artists can engage with community-based theatre groups and theatre artists. Guided by London(UK)-based…
September 23, 2019
“The Great Hydraulic Transition: Colonial engineering and the making of modern rivers in South Asia”
The immense flowing rivers of South Asia ─ from the sprawling Indus system in the West to the volatile Irrawaddy in the East ─ were turned into modern rivers through the course of British colonial rule in the nineteenth century. This ‘great hydraulic transition’,…
September 17, 2019
‘Futures without a Past’, Are Environmental Histories of South Asia still possible in the Epoch of the Anthropocene ?
As a genre, environmental histories of South Asia have been largely occupied by efforts to explain the complicated and troubled relationships between dramatic ecological change and British colonial rule. The first framework ─ widely referred to as the ‘colonial- watershed thesis…
September 12, 2019
Camera Consciousness: Mirroring the Other
A reflection on the camera as a consciousness device, and the ways in which it informs a cross-platform, inter-disciplinary, expanded cinema practice. Ethnographic by nature, cinematographic in intent, the practice entails an intense engagement with the Other seeking to transform both as…
August 22, 2019
Nomadic Bouncs: intersections in art, technology, and traditional knowledge
Nomadic Bouncs: intersections in art, technology, and traditional knowledge Toronto-based Jason Baerg is a Cree Métis artist and educator whose practice serves optimistic futurities. The work presented in this talk speaks to the creative exploration of how indigenous ways of Knowing have…
August 21, 2019
The Poetics of Fragility: A Film by Lata Mani & Nicholás Grandi
A video contemplation on the texture, vitality and aesthetics of fragility. Film screening (63 min) and discussion with Nicholás Grandi. The Poetics of Fragility is a kaleidoscopic exploration of the texture, vitality and aesthetics of fragility. It interweaves stories of bodily…
August 21 - August 23, 2019
Intersections: Historical Practice and Creative Arts
(Small closed workshop) This workshop provides the opportunity for brain-storming and planning for projects at the intersection of the contemporary arts and historical practice, to build a set of principles and practices, and a kind of test "lab" for arts/historical integration. Outside guests…
April 2, 2019
Performing Punjabi and Punjabi Canadian Heritage: Critical Commemoration and Creative Practice
The Department of History & Sociology Presents Dr. Anne Murphy, Asian Studies, UBC Vancouver Performing Punjabi and Punjabi Canadian Heritage: Critical Commemoration and Creative Practice This talk discusses interventions in critical heritage practice at intersection with the…