Carleton University’s Department of History will host the Shannon Lecture, As I Remember it: Building Digital Space to Share the Life History and Teachings of an Indigenous Elder, delivered by guest speakers Davis McKenzie, Harmony Johnson and Prof. Paige Raibmon.
When: Friday, Nov. 29, 2019 at 1 p.m.
Where: Room 2017, Dunton Tower, Carleton
Info: This event is free and open to the public. A campus map is available online.
Media are invited to attend the event.
Attempts to bring Indigenous knowledge and life history to the Internet carry the potential for great promise and enormous pitfalls.
In this lecture, guest speakers will discuss a groundbreaking digital book that challenges common assumptions about the biographical form. As I Remember It: Teachings (Ɂəms tɑɁɑw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder aims to share the teachings and life history of Elsie Paul, ɬaʔamɩn (Sliammon) Elder and knowledge keeper who has dedicated her life to community service.
Written with the particular needs of ɬaʔamɩn community members and students from kindergarten through university in mind, this open access book is aimed at a broad audience. The product of a deeply collaborative process, the narrative structure seeks to represent ɬaʔamɩn ways of knowing and being in the world.
The authors invite ɬaʔamɩn readers to experience this digital space as an extension of their traditional territory, while inviting non-ɬaʔamɩn readers to “come ashore” as guests. The digital space can be accessed online.
Paul is an Elder of the ɬaʔamɩn people and a mother-tongue speaker of the Sliammon language. She is the recipient of the Canadian Historical Association’s Lifetime Achievement award and received an honorary doctorate from Vancouver Island University.
About the Lecture’s Guest Speakers
McKenzie, of the Tla’amin Nation, is Paul’s grandson. He serves as executive director of communications and public affairs at the First Nations Health Authority.
Johnson is of ɬaʔamɩn ancestry and is Paul’s granddaughter. She has served in a number of policy and executive roles in B.C. First Nations organizations and is the vice-president of Policy, Planning and Quality at the First Nations Health Authority.
Raibmon is a mother, scholar of settler descent and professor of history at the University of British Columbia. She lives on the unceded ancestral territory of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people. Her previous books include Authentic Indians: Episodes of Encounter from the Late-Nineteenth-Century Northwest Coast.
About the Shannon Lecture Series
The theme for the 2019 Shannon Lecture series is “Rebooting Biography.” Historical biographies have always been a popular avenue into the past, but with the facts about the famous and not so famous available at the tap of a keyboard, today’s historians and biographers are reshaping the genre. The conventional chronology of a life is giving way to group biographies, micro-histories and previously unheard voices. Increasingly, authors are embracing the freedom offered by digital publishing.
Lecturers will discuss the subjects of their recent biographies and the choices they made in presenting their material.
Media Contact
Steven Reid
Media Relations Officer
Carleton University
613-520-2600, ext. 8718
613-265-6613
Steven_Reid3@Carleton.ca
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Monday, November 25, 2019 in Media Advisories
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