Keynote speakers
The conference program will feature three exciting keynotes. More information will be posted as events are confirmed.
Linda Tuhiwai Smith
Pro Vice-Chancellor Māori, University of Waikato
Linda Tuhiwai Smith is Professor of Education and Māori Development, Pro-Vice Chancellor Māori and Dean of the School of Māori and Pacific Development as well as the founding Director for Te Kotahi Research Institute at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. She is the President of the New Zealand Association for Research in Education, is a member of the Marsden Fund Council and Convener of the Social Sciences Assessment Panel, and is also a member of The Royal Society of New Zealand. Linda was also recently a member of the New Zealand’s Health Research Council and Chair of the Māori Health Research Committee. Last year Linda was made an American Educational Research Association (AERA) Fellow and in 2013 was honoured in the New Zealand New Years Honours List – (CNZM) Companion of the Said Order for services to Maori and education. She has worked in the field of Māori Education and Health for many years as an educator and researcher and is well known for her work in Kaupapa Māori Research. Professor Smith has published widely in journals and books. Her book “Decolonising Methodologies Research and Indigenous Peoples” has been an international best seller in the indigenous world since its publication in 1998. Professor Smith was a founding Joint Director of New Zealand’s Māori Centre of Research Excellence from 2002-2007 and a Professor of Education at the University of Auckland. She is well known internationally as a public speaker. Professor Smith is from two tribes or iwi in New Zealand, Ngāti Awa and Ngāti Porou.
KEYNOTE
Friday, June 12 at 7 pm
Disappeared, banished, murdered and displaced
Climate change or neoliberal capitalism? What is happening to indigenous communities in the 21st Century?
In the indigenous world it is difficult to ignore the scale and pervasiveness of on going colonialism, continuing displacement, the physical, social and cultural death of our women, our men and our children, our communities, languages and cultures. From Disappeared and murdered women, to high suicide rates, to forced closures of communities and environmental exile, many indigenous communities are struggling to stay alive while governments never seem to learn the lessons of past mistakes. This talk identifies a series of major displacements of indigenous populations across the Asia Pacific region, as well as discusses the policies of neoliberal indigeneity and how these policies and alliances across jurisdictions are leading to a new wave of displacement and exile of indigenous peoples.
Sandro Mezzadra
University of Bologna, Department of Political and Social Sciences
Dr. Mezzadra is a foremost researcher on Late Capitalism and how it relates in Western Europe. Dr. Mezzadra's experience with migratory labour and how it relates to borders will provide insight into deep seeded issues surrounding the mobility of migrating populations.
KEYNOTE
Friday, June 12 at 11 am
What's at stake in the mobility of labor?
Borders, Migration & Late Capitalism
The talk will start with a short discussion of some influential works on the mobility of labor in historical and contemporary capitalism. Drawing upon a book I recently published with Brett Neilson, Border as Method, or, the Multiplication of Labor, I will then discuss the significance of the proliferation of borders in the global age from the point of view of "late" capitalism. In the last part of the talk I will focus on the subjective stakes of the politics of migration, providing instances from many parts of the world (including the Asia-Pacific region).
Tings Chak
Multidisciplinary Artist and Author of Undocumented: The Architecture of Migrant Detention
Ms. Chak is a multidisciplinary artist and architect based in Toronto. She holds a Master of Architecture from the University of Toronto, where she was awarded the Kuwabara-Jackman Thesis Gold Medal for her research on immigration detention centres. Her work draws inspiration from anti-colonial, migrant justice, and spatial justice struggles, and she is an organizer with No One is Illegal – Toronto and the End Immigration Detention Network.
Ms. Chak's participation relates to Policy Advocacy, Activism and Mobility conference themes and her presentation will examine banality of existence in Canadian migrant centres and the people who occupy them.
KEYNOTE
Thursday, June 11 at 7 pm
Undocumented:
The Architecture of Migrant Detention
In the past six years, over 80,000 people have been jailed indefinitely in Canada, without charge or trial. This is the reality of immigration detention in Canada, a reality that is mostly invisible. Migrants are incarcerated because they are undocumented. Likewise, there is little trace to be found of these sites of detention — drawings and photos are classified; access is extremely limited. The detention centres, too, are undocumented. This presentation will highlight the graphic novel, Undocumented: The Architecture of Migrant Detention, which details the banality and violence of sites and contrasts them with stories of daily resistance among immigration detainees. This work is grounded in grassroots organizing in solidarity with immigration detainees through No One Is Illegal - Toronto and the End Immigration Detention Network.