Climate, Complexity & Decolonization Speaker Series
The Deans' office is excited to present our speaker series on Climate, Complexity, and Decolonization. Thanks to funding from the Gaines and Shaw Educational endowment and the Musagetes Foundation, we have been able to bring together another diverse lineup of speakers to the Faculty of Education at UVic.
Upcoming events
Upcoming events in this series will be announced soon - please stay tuned!Past events
Laura François is a socio-environmental impact strategist and the Director of the nonprofit laboratory, Awe Exchange, where she develops opportunities for the emotion of awe to support changemaking. She is also the co-founder of ANEWKIND, a studio for regenerative leadership and design, supporting family offices and companies across Asia in building cultures of regeneration within their organizations and communities. Her approach is grounded in a decade of work in Southeast Asia, where she led organizations including Fashion Revolution Malaysia and Singapore, advancing supply chain transparency and ethical labor, new mentoring startups on responsible scaling at global incubators like Fashion for Good. Laura is also editing her first book, IMAGINE, exploring creativity as a renewable resource for changemakers reimagining systems.
Awe-Based Changemaking & Systems Feeling
Tuesday, May 6
1:00 - 2:30 pm PST
MAC D282 WȻENEṈISTEL and virtual via Zoom
Awe, from the wonder of a starlit sky to the terror of natural disasters, has the power to radically shift how humans think and act. In this presentation, we explored how awe—in contrast to conventional guilt or shame-based narratives—cultivates humility and curiosity while deepening our understanding of our place within interconnected systems. Building on this foundation, the concept of Systems Feeling transcends traditional systems thinking by embracing the full spectrum of interconnectedness, including its inherent complexities and contradictions. However, awe's dual nature—encompassing both the awesome and the awful—demands critical examination. How might we harness awe's transformative potential while remaining cognizant of its complex implications for navigating uncertainty in systemic change?
Kazu Haga is a trainer and practitioner of nonviolence and restorative justice, a core member of Building Belonging, the Ahimsa Collective and the Fierce Vulnerability Network, is a Jam facilitator and author of 'Healing Resistance: A Radically Different Response to Harm'.'He works with incarcerated people, youth and activists from around the country. He has over 25 years of experience in nonviolence and social change work. He is a resident of the Canticle Farm community on Lisjan Ohlone land, Oakland, California, where he lives with his family.
Fierce Vulnerability: Healing from Trauma, Emerging from Collapse
January 17, 10 am - 11:30 am
HSD A250 and on Zoom
This presentation imagines a movement that sees injustice as a manifestation of collective trauma and therefore understands that we can’t “shut down” injustice any more than we can “shut down” trauma. We imagine building such a movement at a time of social, ecological and economic collapse. In this session, Kazu Haga helps us hold the question, 'How do we encourage educators, learners and activists to rethink their roles not as ones responsible for creating change, but as active participants in a larger, earth-centered process of transformation?'
Dr. John-Tyler Binfet is a professor at UBC's Faculty of Education. He researches kindness in schools and the positive impact of canine-assisted interventions on student well-being.
Presentation for Teacher Education students:
Cultivating Kindness in the Classroom: Benefits for Students, Teachers & School Communities
October 17, 1:00 pm
MAC D282 - WȻENEṈISTEL and on Zoom
In this presentation, Dr. Binfet shared findings from over 4,000 elementary, middle, and high school students about how students enact kindness within the school context. As a former classroom teacher and counselor, Dr. Binfet shared applied takeaways for students keen on creating classroom climates where kindness can flourish.
Presentation for Faculty of Education faculty, staff & alumni:
Canines, Kids & Kindness: Positioning Joy at the Forefront of Research
Rosina Kazi and Nicholas Murray are LAL, the Toronto-based protest electronic duo that has built a career out of daring audiences to be their best selves, loudly. Coming from the worlds of hip hop, punk, electronic and experimental music, LAL blends those influences into the smoothest, richest shake that will enliven the mind, body and soul. Their beats and melodies can charm the most cynical club head, softening them up so that the lyrics of anger, sadness and possibility can worm their way deep inside.
SPECTACULAR
Thursday, September 19
Doors at 7 pm, show at 8 pm
Vertigo (UVic Student Union Building)
$10-15 (pay what you can)
LAL are celebrating their 25th year as a duo with a new album and short film called SPECTACULAR. The show is a beautiful intimate and cathartic show with projection images from the film that was filmed across Canada with Jose Garcia (projections) and lighting and show design by Yann Gracia. With guest musicians Ian de Souza and Vee Kee.
Watch a LAL music video on YouTube
This tour and project was supported by the Canada Arts Council, the Ontario Arts Council and the Toronto Arts Council.
Psychologist, advocate, and educator, Dr. Wendi Williams applies her work at the intersection of education and psychology to her scholarship and leadership praxis. Williams completed undergraduate studies at the University of California, Davis where she majored in psychology and minored in African and African American Studies. She completed graduate study at Pepperdine University (MA in Psychology) and Georgia State University, where she earned a doctorate in counseling psychology, with an emphasis in multicultural psychology and family systems. Williams began her career as an assistant professor in counselor education at Long Island University - Brooklyn and has served as an academic administrator for progressive, justice-focused higher education institutions, like Bank Street College of Education and Mills College, School of Education. She joined Fielding Graduate University as provost and senior vice president in October 2022. Dr. Williams is an accomplished scholar in the areas of Black women and girls leadership and development, most notably with her recently published book 'Black Women at Work: On Refusal and Recovery.'
Through Liminality: Transformative Leadership in VUCA Times
Wednesday, September 18
Abstract: For Dr. Wendi S. Williams, leading in “these” times is a formulation layered with complexity and opportunities for generativity grounded in legacies of abolition and liberation first articulated by our ancestors and elders. In her talk, “Through Liminality: Transformative Leadership in VUCA Times”, Dr. Williams complicates the notion of “these” times by exploring the experience of VUCA through Afro-Indigenous lenses of persistent precarity when in relation with settler-colonial violences. How does a framework, such as VUCA which amplifies the pervasive sense of volatility, uncertainty, complexity, and ambiguity and was crafted through a militaristic lens at the end of the Cold War, frame the context of leadership for her, a Black American woman, higher education and disciplinary leader in the field of psychology?
Leading in contexts that carry the legacy of disproportionate dominance, oppression, and harm, Dr. Williams will address the nature of the continuity of VUCA for Afro-Indigenous peoples as a framework for preparing leaders to be responsive to the contemporary needs of our institutions and organizations grappling with the necessity and inevitability of change today.
Wendi presented three separate, invitation-only sessions throughout the day, each tailored to different groups within the UVic community: leadership, faculty and staff, and students.
Steffi Bednarek is a climate psychology consultant and psychotherapist. Her work is at the intersection between climate change, complexity thinking and trauma-informed change and aims to go beyond linear correctives and what is visible on the surface. For 25 years she combined her clinical work in trauma-informed practice with roles in social transformation and policy change. She is the founder of the “Centre for Climate Psychology and Change,” an associate member of the Climate Psychology Alliance, 'Firekeeper' at the World Ethics Forum and Associate of the American Psychological Association’s Climate Change Group. She has been Head of Mental Health in higher education and has worked as an international consultant and trainer for several sectors, including government ministries, the World Health Organization and the Council of Europe.
Climate, Psychology and Change: Reimagining Psychotherapy in an Era of global disruption and climate Anxiety
Wednesday, August 28, 2024
4:30 pm - 6 pm
MAC D110 (in-person and virtual)
In this session, Steffi Bednarek offered an overview of the anthology "Climate, Psychology, and Change," which explores how power, colonialism, capitalism, and our everyday perceptions shape our numerous crises and the field of Western psychology. The book highlights how Western society’s ‘normal’ is deeply unhealthy, reflecting the same unsustainable systems that damage the ecosystems we depend upon, accelerate global destabilization, and diminish our humanity. This collection of texts emphasizes the need to rethink who we are and how we interact with the world to move toward healing, offering practical insights and compassionate perspectives on how to care for ourselves and others in turbulent times.
Nora Bateson is a filmmaker, writer, educator, and the President of the International Bateson Institute in Sweden. She created the documentary An Ecology of Mind about her father, Gregory Bateson, and wrote Small Arcs of Larger Circles and Combining. Her work, which blends various disciplines like biology, psychology, and information technology, focuses on understanding the complexities of living systems to enhance human interaction with the world.
She has developed educational curricula in Northern California and directed multimedia projects aimed at fostering intercultural and ecological understanding. Nora’s approach facilitates cross-disciplinary dialogue, aiming to reveal broader patterns and insights across diverse fields. She frequently speaks on topics including ecology, education, and anti-fascism at international venues.
An Ecology of Mind - documentary film screening
Friday, August 9
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
HSD A240 (in-person only)
In anticipation of the session with Nora on August 12, we screened Nora Bateson's acclaimed documentary, "An Ecology of Mind" on August 9. Nora, who wrote, directed, and produced the film, offers a captivating portrait of her father, Gregory Bateson, delving into his profound insights and contributions to the fields of anthropology, systems theory, and ecological philosophy. The film not only delves into his life and work but also explores how his ideas can be applied to understand complex systems within our own lives and the environment.
“Combining”: Nora Bateson in conversation with Vanessa Andreotti
Monday, August 12
4:30 pm - 6:00 pm
HSD A240 (in-person and virtual)
In her recent book "Combining," released in November 2023 by Triarchy Press, Nora Bateson invites us into an ecology of communication where nothing stands alone, and every action sets off a chain of incalculable consequences. She challenges conventional fixes for our problems, highlighting the need to tackle issues at multiple levels, understanding interdependence, and embracing ambiguity. Insisting on our collective responsibility to confront the looming threats to humanity‘s survival, she advocates change through interconnectedness and challenges us to rethink our perspectives on relationships, community, and the very essence of being human.
In this session, Nora highlighted key aspects of the book and engaged in conversation with Vanessa Andreotti, Dean of the Faculty of Education at UVic, and author of “Hospicing Modernity: Facing humanity’s wrongs and the implications for social activism”.
Dr. McConville’s work explores the potential of art, media, and storytelling to explore how worldviews shape worlds. He is co-founder and lead cosmographer of Spherical, a strategic design and integrative research studio working to regenerate the health and integrity of Earth’s living systems. He is also a founding member of the RIVER collective, where he co-facilitates their Illuminating Worldviews offering designed to contrast the Western cosmovision with other ways of being, knowing, and doing. Primarily of Scottish settler ancestry, he lives in the territory of xučyun (Huichin), aka the Lower Bottoms of West Oakland California, the ancestral and unceded land of the Chochenyo-speaking Ohlone people.
The WEIRD River: Navigating the Western Cosmovision
Date: April 23, 2024
Time: 1:00 pm - 3:00 pm PST
Location: ECS 104 and on Zoom
Abstract:
The anthropocentric worldview at the heart of modernity is rarely examined on its own terms. Its alleged universalism makes it challenging to scrutinize, especially since it has been labeled with many different names. Dr. David McConville, drawing on recent studies into Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic (WEIRD) populations, encourages participants to envision this worldview as a river that has shaped the modern world. By illuminating its internal contradictions, paradoxes, and limitations, he explores the ongoing effects of this WEIRD river on the health and integrity of Earth’s living systems. In this presentation, Dr. McConville shared a series of five short educational films and held space for discussion and feedback from the audience between each film.
Dr. Sereana Naepi, a Pacific researcher based in Aotearoa New Zealand, is deeply committed to improving education and research systems. With a rich academic background that includes Waipapa Taumata Rau | University of Auckland, the University of British Columbia, Thompson Rivers University, and Matada Research, Dr. Naepi now shares her knowledge by teaching sociology at both undergraduate and graduate levels. Her research focuses on promoting equity in higher education, using a blend of quantitative and qualitative data to uncover challenges within academia. Dr. Naepi's extensive knowledge and experience in Pacific research methodologies further enrich her work, allowing her to approach complex issues from multiple angles.
'Navigating Complexities: Teaching Modernity, Colonization, & Climate Crises in the Pacific'
Event date: April 3, 2024
Time: 10:30 am - 12 pm
Location: Cornett B143 and on Zoom
Abstract:
In the Pacific, teaching modernity, colonization, and climate crises is a daunting task steeped in historical trauma and present-day struggles. Modernity's introduction through colonisation disrupted traditional Pacific ways of life, leading to cultural erasure and economic exploitation. Colonisation's enduring legacy manifests in systemic inequalities and environmental degradation, exacerbating vulnerability to climate change impacts. Teaching about modernity, colonisation and the ongoing climate crises requires confronting uncomfortable truths about power dynamics, exploitation, and loss. It involves acknowledging the ongoing effects of colonisation on Indigenous communities, from land dispossession to cultural assimilation. Moreover, it demands reckoning with the harsh realities of climate change, from rising sea levels displacing entire nations to extreme weather events ravaging livelihoods. Teaching about colonisation, modernity, and climate crises in the South Pacific demands a nuanced understanding of the diverse experiences of students in the classroom. While some have long grappled with the direct repercussions of climate crises, others may possess limited awareness of the ongoing impacts of modernity's crises. This dynamic creates a delicate balance between acknowledging collective trauma and avoiding a patronizing saviour mentality.
Dr. Sharon Stein is an Associate Professor in the Department of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia. As a white settler scholar, her research asks how higher education can prepare people to respond to ‘wicked’ social and ecological challenges in more relevant, responsible, and reparative ways. She is the founder of the Critical Internationalization Studies Network, a founding member of the Gesturing Towards Decolonial Futures Collective, and author of Unsettling the University.
Beyond the Usual Debates; Creating the Conditions for Academic Freedom to Flourish
Thursday, March 21, 2024
2:30 pm -4 pm
MacLaurin D283
Abstract:
Protecting academic freedom is an important element of protecting higher education as a site for rigorous, multi-voiced, and socially and ecologically accountable inquiry about contemporary crises. Yet the current polycrisis also presents many challenges that confound inherited modes of academic freedom and make it difficult to maintain generative conversations about contentious issues. These challenges include hyper-polarization, intergenerational tensions, complex struggles for social justice and epistemic authority, and more. In this session, we considered how we might reframe the practice of academic freedom, including:
- How do inherited modes of academic freedom both enable and limit the conversations we can have in and about the university?
- How might our approaches to academic freedom be more responsive to the context of the polycrisis and its multiple layers of complexity and complicity?
- How can members of the university community expand our individual and collective capacity to have difficult conversations about social and ecological challenges?
Please note, this session was not recorded.
Chief Ninawa Huni Kui is a hereditary leader of the Huni Kui Indigenous People and the elected President of the Huni Kui Federation of the State of Acre, in the Amazon region. He represents 118 communities and a population of more than 16,000 people. The Huni Kui Indigenous People are part of the Amazon rainforest and risk their lives to protect it. Chief Ninawa has been a strong voice against false solutions to the climate crisis and a global advocate for placing the rights of nature and Indigenous rights and lives at the centre of the agendas of climate change and biodiversity loss. On February 22, 2024, he visited UVic as an ambassador of the University of the Forest and delivered two presentations:
Healing the Dis-ease of Separation: Embracing Reverence, Respect, Reciprocity and Responsibility
In this virtual presentation, Chief Ninawa offered new insights for navigating the complex challenges of our time, fostering a deeper understanding of our entanglement with nature.
University of the Forest: From Narrow Intelligence to Embodied Quantum Wisdom
In this in-person presentation, Chief Ninawa discussed an ongoing collaboration between UVic and the University of the Forest, focusing on the type of climate education that invites us to remember our embeddedness in nature.
Dr. Dwayne Donald visited UVic in January, having conversations with faculty, staff and students about shifting learning from “about” Indigenous peoples to learning “from” Indigenous peoples.
Many current teaching practices have become inadequate in preparing students to face complex challenges, such as the climate emergency. As Dwayne shared, one of the ways we approach education is to be informational, loading brains with knowledge so that our bodies follow. When integrating Indigenous wisdom in our teachings, we can teach informationally AND how to relate to one another, the planet, and ourselves differently. Unlearning past patterns may help us find new ways to face complex challenges and a relational approach creates new opportunities to do so.
We invite you to watch "ôtênaw", a film documenting the oral storytelling of Dwayne Donald. Drawing from nêhiyawak philosophies, he speaks about the multilayered histories of Indigenous peoples’ presence both within and around amiskwacîwâskahikan, or what has come to be known as the city of Edmonton. Watch ôtênaw on YouTube.
Watch a recording of Dwayne's presentation to UVic students on YouTube.