October 15, 2009. We live in a global village. The environment, the economy, and the equilibrium between rich and poor are interconnected in unprecedented ways. Looking for imaginative solutions to global problems is the theme of the annual 2009 Vanier College Social Science Festival: Thinking outside the box – economic innovation, environmental sustainability and social justice, running from October 19-23, 2009. Throughout the week a variety of professionals will highlight critical issues around the world that urgently need to be addressed, as well as current innovative approaches that provide practical solutions to some of these issues.
One of the highlights of this year’s festival is Hélène Tremblay, world traveler, writer and photographer, who will kick off the week on Monday with Families of the World: Travels into the Heart of Humanity, her incisive and sensitive work on families from 116 countries. Hélène Tremblay’s talk is co-sponsored by the International Baccalaureate Program at Vanier.
On Tuesday, October 20, Canadian author and journalist, Daniel Sekulich, promises surprising insights into the world we live in with his talk on Modern-day piracy on the high seas: new perspectives on a global crisis.
On a more popular note, anthropologist Matthieu Sossoyan will explore a central question for Montrealers: Are the Montreal Canadiens a Religion? The Place of Hockey in our Society. His talk on Wednesday, October 21, will use religious concepts such as faith, symbolism, sacredness and mythology to understand what the Habs represent to people, and how the team works as a business, an institution and a social force.
Following him will be author Peter Brown from McGill University’s Geography Department. His keynote address: Economics without Ecocide: Building a Whole Earth Economy will examine how the current economic order presents a danger to life on Earth. Professor Brown proposes to re-envision the place of humans on our planet and develop an economic approach that supports life.
Thursday, October 22, author Elizabeth Abbott will deliver the Ron Charbonneau Memorial Lecture when she talks about The Dark Side of the Sweet Stuff, a troubling account of the role of sugar in socio-economic history and of the effects of sugar cultivation on biodiversity.
Then on Friday, October 23, Vanier students who travelled to Malawi in June 2009 will talk about universal access to education in Africa and share their observations and experiences with the audience. Later that day, the festival will close with a captivating Modern Times Theatre puppet show by Rose Friedman and Justin Lander: The Wonderful and Gruesome Drama of Punch and Judy, a wacky look at modern food habits and production.
In all, the festival will offer an exciting and eclectic mix of more than 20 talks, films, and presentations by psychologists, anthropologists, geographers, economists, sociologists, historians, journalists, authors, performers, and photographers. Other topics will include: the problem of solid garbage disposal, how the Third World got to be Third, young people dealing with hardships and poverty, how to reduce procrastination, how Florence became the perfect Renaissance city, raising babies: facts vs. fiction, and the findings and adventures of fieldwork in anthropological research.
Most events take place in the Vanier Auditorium (A103). For a complete schedule consult:
http://www.vaniercollege.qc.ca/social-science/events/festival/2009/schedule-whole-event.html
