April 8, 2022

Indigenous Knowledge Public Lecture Series continues April 14

Join Willie Ermine in a discussion on ethical spaces and their role in the university
Indigenous Strategy
University of Calgary files

Ethical spaces and engagement will be the topic of the second and final webinar of this semester’s Indigenous Knowledge Public Lecture Series on Apr. 14.

This session features Willie Ermine, an assistant professor in the First Nations University of Canada, a traditional health co-ordinator for the Sturgeon Lake Traditional Health Program, as well as a Knowledge Keeper and ceremonialist who has published numerous academic articles. Willie will be joined by moderator Dr. Adam Murry, PhD, assistant professor in the Department of Psychology at the University of Calgary.

The presentation will start by defining ethical spaces and their role in encounters between not only humans, but other sentient beings (plants, animals, etc.). This will be followed by a discussion of the colonial outlook and the incompetency of these ethical spaces to build meaningful relationships.

“We live in a discursive world, especially in the university community where colonial thinking is still prominent, which perpetuates incompetence and staged thinking,” says Ermine. “Instead of this, we need more people to be ‘experiencers,’ not ‘experiencees.’”

The Indigenous Knowledge Public Lecture Series, presented by UCalgary’s Office of Indigenous Engagement, is hosted by Elissa Twoyoungmen, Indigenous cultural education and protocol specialist. The series highlights Indigenous leaders, scholars, artists and Knowledge Keepers, and aims to spark key community conversations as we all work together to increase intercultural capacity and build good relations through awareness and knowledge

Registration is now open for this virtual Indigenous Knowledge Public Lecture Series event.   

Event Details

  • April 14, 2022
  • 12 – 1:30 p.m. MT - Online
  • Register

ii’ taa’poh’to’p, the University of Calgary’s Indigenous Strategy, is a commitment to deep evolutionary transformation by reimagining ways of knowing, doing, connecting, and being. Walking parallel paths together, ‘in a good way,’ UCalgary is moving toward genuine reconciliation and Indigenization.