Events

Hacia una producción científica inclusiva: La agenda pendiente en una América Latina intercultural | Towards an inclusive scientific production: The pending agenda in an intercultural Latin America

Friday 25^th March at 3 pm Calgary | 6pm Santiago de Chile

The event will be in Spanish with simultaneous interpretation in English.

The link for registration is: https://bit.ly/DrDorador

Guest Speaker:

Dr. Dorador is a Chilean scholar with 15 years of research experience in Microbiology, Microbial Ecology, Limnology, Geomicrobiology and Multidisciplinary research. She has supervised undergraduate and graduate research and has led relevant initiatives such as the Extreme Environmental Network (NEXER). Dr. Dorador has also led Chilean and international research projects and has published more than 50 articles. She has been the scientific advisor of the Explore PAR program in Antofagasta and has participated in many socialization activities such as Puerto de Ideas, Future Congress and TEDx. During 2019, Dr. Dorador was a member of the Scientific Council in Chile (CONYCIT) and since 2020 she is part of the board of the International Microbial Ecology Society. She is currently a member of the Chilean Constitutional Convention.
 

Urban Farming and Black Land Sovereignty

Wednesday, 3 November 2021 (Zoom online, 12 noon - 1pm MST)

In racially segregated American cities, Black community organizers and urban farmers are reimagining local urban economies for their communities. Sistas in the Village, a black women owned urban farm in Chicago, IL, is one of several in a seven-acre collective of farms managed through an urban agriculture organization called Urban Growers Collective. Leading through principals of welcoming, care, and collectivity, the owners of Sistas in the Village grew their farm into a space that heals – both through food and a care that addresses the ancestral trauma that many Black women feel as decedents of enslaved Africans.

We have invited the owners of Sistas in the Village, Bweza Itaagi and Mecca Bey, to discuss the development of their farm, the community that supports them, the local economy they have developed, and the role Black growing plays in Black land and food sovereignty. Please join us for an afternoon of discussion and reflection on alternative urban spaces.

Limited seats, please register: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/urban-farming-and-black-land-sovereignty-tickets-191373863377 

This chat is led by Joyce Percel, a PhD student in the Department of Geography.

About our speakers:

Mecca Bey’s extensive background in the medical industry and her passion to help empower people led her to begin her journey to the dedication of helping rebuild communities through a healthy lifestyle and social and economic change. She also pursued her other passion of learning how to farm organically so that she could teach our children the importance of growing your own food organically and teach communities about a sustainable life with urban farming. Mecca volunteers her time talking to seniors about cooking recipes and indoor gardening, in addition to teaching children how to grow their own food. Today, Mecca is living her purpose as a healing circle keeper, community outreach leader, urban farmer and co-creator of a farming business, and a speaker about health and wellness as it relates to farming and community. She is also a writer and is currently pursuing her other dream of becoming a board-certified Holistic Nutritionist with a concentration in life coaching.

Nyabweza “Bweza” Itaagi is an urban farmer, food justice advocate and horticulturist. Bweza moved to Chicago from Denver in 2015 to pursue a master's degree in Sustainable Urban Development at DePaul University. In both Denver and Chicago, she has worked with a range of organizations focused on urban agriculture, community empowerment and land sovereignty. Upon completing her master’s degree, she joined the Grow Greater Englewood staff as the Sustainable Program Steward. In her role she co-convenes the Urban Stewards Action Network (USAN) and supports the development of the Englewood Nature Trail and Englewood Village Plaza. She is passionate about bringing together Black and Brown communities to build solidarity and resilience.

Art as Resistance and Revelation in Academia

15 October 2021
(Zoom online, 7pm - 8pm MST)

A conversation organized by d.talks + Esker writer-in-residence Suzanne Chew

How might art uplift the voices of communities with whom student researchers work, within the framework of academia today? Join Suzanne and Romani in a conversation on their experiences in graduate student research, and how they have used art as a means to tell new stories, rooted in strength and self-determination.

Registrants are encouraged to watch Romani’s “Wounded Healers” short film online, and read Suzanne’s short story “Country Food, Soul Food”, and poem "Notes on a Caribou Hearing" prior to the talk.

Limited seats, please register: 
https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/art-as-resistance-and-revelation-in-academia-registration-174501938997

About our speakers

Romani Makkik is an Inuk film director who produced “The Wounded Healers”, an intensely powerful film based on her Master’s research with a counsellor training program in Kangiqtugaapik (Clyde River), about the powerful story of how one community transforms lives by drawing on its strengths.

Suzanne Chew is an international student at the University of Calgary who has published poetry and short stories as part of reflecting on her role and responsibility as a doctoral researcher. Her research focuses on inclusive participation and environmental decision-making, learning from Inuit communities in western Nunavut. Suzanne also co-convenes a research working group led by graduate students called "Voice and Marginality at the Nexus of Racism and Colonialism."