Canadian anthropologist Wade Davis, officially the explorer-in-residence with National Geographic, is considered one of the pre-eminent experts on indigenous people.
Through his research, he’s spoken out on cultures and languages that are vanishing from society — 50 per cent of the world’s estimated 7,000 languages are no longer taught, he says, identifying language as akin to old-growth forests of the mind.
Through 15 books, several films and an eight-hour documentary series, Davis has examined the world’s indigenous cultures — and he brings that insight and expertise to the annual International Days at Thompson Rivers University this month.
Davis is the keynote speaker at the event’s opening ceremonies on Tuesday, March 10, taking the stage at the Grand Hall on campus during the 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. part of the program.
This year, International Days is focusing on the indigenous, internationalization and online and global learning as it showcases many of the 70 countries represented in the university’s student body, along with 1,485 aboriginal students.
The four-day festival touches many aspects, from food entertainment to political realities like the crisis in Congo. There are workshops on making pine-needle baskets, knitting and quilting, making an aboriginal drum and beading, among other crafts.
Sylvia Dantas, a Brazilian academic, will give a talk on migration and gender roles on Wednesday, March 11, at 2:30 p.m. in the International Building’s Panorama Room.
Later that day in the same room, Peter Cunningham, senior academic researcher at Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University in South Africa, will speak on that country’s transition to democracy.
On Thursday, March 12, again in the Panorama Room, Valmaine Toki, a law professor at the University of Waikato in New Zealand and vice-chair of the United Nationals Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues, will speak on the 170-year history of the Maori in that country and the steps they took to obtain the right to govern themselves.
There are many other sessions planned throughout the campus.
The schedule can be downloaded at tru.ca/internationaldays/schedule.html.
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