Deadline for submission is this Sunday March 1st! Don’t miss the opportunity to spend time with scholars and community advocates in the Rocky Mountains at the Banff Centre. May 22 – 25th, 2015!
Click here to view the poster as a pdf – Scope of Eugenics p
The Scope of Eugenics
Call for Submissions
Eugenics Archives (eugenicsarchive.ca) is pleased to announce a four-day workshop at the Banff Centre, May 22nd-25th, 2015, in Banff, Alberta. To acknowledge the significant contributions made by students to the Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada project over the past four years, we invite submissions from early career scholars—students and those within three years of completing their doctorates—from any discipline on topics related to eugenics and its contemporary significance.
Submissions should consist of a single document that includes a (i) summary abstract (<150 words), (ii) longer description (<750 words) outlining the presentation and explaining the relevance of the topic to eugenics, (iii) short biographical statement (<100 words), and (iv) CV. Possible topics include, but are in no way restricted to, the following :
Apologies to eugenics survivors Child welfare
Collective memory Human diversity
Nationalism Quality of life
Queer sexuality Roma peoples
Schizophrenia World Health Organization
Whiteness Particular Countries / Geographic Regions
The project director is happy to provide feedback to potential participants on these and other suggestions (e.g., on particular countries or regions of the world). Participants are expected to attend the whole workshop and to contribute a short article to eugenicsarchive.ca, ideally based on their presentation, within one month of the workshop. Articles accessible via the Encyc or Around the World modules at the site indicate the type of article we have in mind.
Accommodation and meals for all workshop participants will be covered by Eugenics Archives. Participants will also be notified upon acceptance if we are able to cover in full, or contribute to in part, additional travel expenses. The workshop will allow for substantial opportunities to enjoy the Banff surrounds and will encourage networking, mentoring, and informal discussion between junior scholars interested in eugenics and Eugenics Archives team members.
Scope of Eugenics Poster with Mountains
Deadline for submissions : February 15th, 2015 EXTENDED to March 1, 2015 Acceptances : March 15th, 2015
Questions and submissions to the project director, Professor Rob Wilson : scopeofeugenics@gmail.com
Website: https://scopeofeugenics.wordpress.com/
Hosted by the Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada 
Eugenics Archives (eugenicsarchive.ca) is pleased to announce a four-day workshop at the Banff Centre, May 22nd-25th, 2015, in Banff, Alberta. To acknowledge the significant contributions made by students to the Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada project over the past four years, we invite submissions from early career scholars—students and those within three years of completing their doctorates—from any discipline on topics related to eugenics and its contemporary significance.
Submissions should consist of a single document that includes a (i) summary abstract (<150 words), (ii) longer description (<750 words) outlining the presentation and explaining the relevance of the topic to eugenics, (iii) short biographical statement (<100 words), and (iv) CV. Possible topics include, but are in no way restricted to, the following :
Apologies to eugenics survivors / Child welfare /
Collective memory / Human diversity /
Nationalism / Quality of life /
Queer sexuality / Roma peoples /
Schizophrenia / World Health Organization /
Whiteness / Particular Countries / Geographic Regions
The project director is happy to provide feedback to potential participants on these and other suggestions (e.g., on particular countries or regions of the world). Participants are expected to attend the whole workshop and to contribute a short article to eugenicsarchive.ca, ideally based on their presentation, within one month of the workshop. Articles accessible via the Encyc or Around the World modules at the site indicate the type of article we have in mind.
Accommodation and meals for all workshop participants will be covered by Eugenics Archives. Participants will also be notified upon acceptance if we are able to cover in full, or contribute to in part, additional travel expenses. The workshop will allow for substantial opportunities to enjoy the Banff surrounds and will encourage networking, mentoring, and informal discussion between junior scholars interested in eugenics and Eugenics Archives team members.
Deadline for submissions : February 15th, 2015 Acceptances : March 15th, 2015
Questions and submissions to the project director, Professor Rob Wilson : scopeofeugenics@gmail.com
For 116 years, thousands of Aboriginal children in Alberta were sent to Indian Residential Schools funded by the federal government and run by the churches. They were taken from their families and communities in order to be stripped of language, cultural identity and traditions.
Canada’s attempt to wipe out Aboriginal cultures failed. But it left an urgent need for reconciliation between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal peoples.
There were more Indian Residential Schools in Alberta than in any other province. The Truth & Reconciliation Commission of Canada (TRC) is holding its Alberta National Event in Edmonton this year.
Come and share your truth about the schools and their legacy. Witness and celebrate the resilience of Aboriginal cultures.
(excerpt from TRC.ca)
Alberta National Event – March 27 – 30, 2014 will be held in Edmonton at the Shaw Conference Centre 9797 Jasper Avenue. No registration needed to attend. Those wishing to provide a statement to the Commission may register onsite during the event.
You can download the program click here
On Thursday March 20 from 3:00 pm – 5:00 pm at the University of Alberta, Lister Centre, Maple Leaf Room
Understanding the TRC: Exploring Reconciliation, Intergenerational Trauma, and Indigenous Resistance featuring:
Commissioner Dr. Wilton Littlechild
Dr. Rebecca Sockbeson
Dr. Ian Mosby
James Daschuk
Dr. Keavy Martin
Tanya Kappo
Moderated by Jodi Stonehouse
Reception 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm – Tea, bannock and berries. Event is free.
Gala Reading featuring:
Marilyn Dumont
Daniel Heath Justice
Eden Robinson
Gregory Scofield
Anna Marie Sewell
Richard Van Camp
Friday, March 21 from 7:30 pm – 9:30 pm in Humanities Centre L-1 (111th Street and Saskatchewan Drive)
Giveaways. Books for sale. Free Admission
You find this information and links to campus maps here
Future Past: Disability, Eugenics, & Brave New Worlds. A public symposium on the history and ongoing implications of eugenics ideologies and practices for people with disabilities.
Why do these issues matter? How can we address them in teaching and pedagogy, in policy and activism, and in art?
On November 1, 2013 at San Francisco State University, Seven Hill Conference Center from 9:00 am – 8:00 pm.
The Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada is co-sponsoring a conference, dinner and reception plus the screening of FIXED: The Science/Fiction of Human Enhancement. Conference organizers include: Paul K. Longmore Institute on Disability, Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada, and the Center for Genetics and Society.
Registration is free: geneticsandsociety.org/futurepast
Future Past is the result of a cross-national collaboration among advocates and academics interested in gaining a deeper understanding of the long and tangled relationship between disability and eugenics, and the contemporary implications of genetic technologies to the lives and futures of people with disabilities.
Program – November 1, 2013
9:00 – 9:15: Welcome
9:15 – 9:30: Table Introductions
9:30 – 11:30: What? Eugenics and Disability: Past and Present
Many people are unaware of the history of eugenics movements in North America, yet they are disturbingly relevant today.
Presenters:
Table Discussions
11:30 – 12:30 : Lunch
12:30 – 2:30: So What? The Consequences of Misremembering Eugenics
What are the social and ethical consequences of omitting eugenics from historical memory or misrepresenting it? What is the price of the pursuit of “human betterment” for reproductive and disability justice?
Presenters:
Table Discussions
2:30 – 3:00: Break
3:00 – 5:00: Now What? Looking Ahead to Brave New Worlds
What is being done – and what can be done – to increase public and student understanding of the legacies of eugenics through teaching, activism and art?
Presenters:
Table Discussions
5:00 – 6:30: Dinner and Reception
6:30 – 8:00 Sneak-preview screening
FIXED: The Science/FIction of Human Enhancement
Producer/DIrector Regan Brashear will answer questions
This year Alberta Eugenics Awareness Week (AEAW) will take place October 16 through October 22, 2013.
Our bi-annual Team Meeting will be held at the University of Alberta in Assiniboia Hall 2-02A (our regular room) on Saturday October 19th from 9:00 – 4:30 (time will be confirmed closer to the date). Please save the date and plan to attend.
We will also be holding an event on Friday October 18th to mark Person’s Day. Living Archives Team Member Dr. Joanne Faulkner from the University of New South Wales will be giving a talk along with other team members.
We are currently planning other events and talks with the Faculty of Native Studies and the Department of History at the University of Alberta throughout the week.
Sunday October 20 we will be showing FIXED, a movie that features Team member Dr. Gregor Wolbring. Gregor will be on hand following the film for discussion and questions. You can see a short trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84TaYi15vps
Location and time will be announced shortly!!
On Monday October 21, 2013 we will be presenting the premier of our interview videos in a short film presentation called: “Surviving Eugenics in the 21st Century: Our Stories Told” . This will be held at Metro Cinema 8712 109 St, Edmonton. More details will be forth coming.
On Tuesday October 22, 2013 we will be holding An Evening of Performances (still working on the title) at the Arts-based Research Studio (4-104, Education North). CRIPSiE (formerly iDance) will be performing and Leilani Muir will be reading from her book. We have several artists that will be performing – one team member will be showing us her skills with hula hoops (yes that’s correct hula hoops!). Rumor has it that a Belly Troupe made of up of all ages, sizes and abilities will be performing, but you will have to attend to find out if this is only a rumor. We have other performers who have expressed interest but are not finalized yet so more details will be announced soon.
If you plan to attend from out of town please contact Moyra. For those of you in Edmonton and planning on attending we need volunteers throughout the week, please contact Moyra: (moyra@ualberta.ca)
All events are FREE and OPEN to the PUBLIC. Save the dates and plan to attend! Bring your friends and families and spread the word. Posters will be distributed soon!
The website heading for the CAIS – ASCI conference, where the Living Archives Project presented.
On June 6th, 2013, the Living Archives presented the paper “Living Archives on Eugenics in Western Canada: Oral History & Technology as Public and Academic Resources.” This presentation was given at the 41st annual conference of the Canadian Association of Information Science (CAIS-ASCI), at the University of Victoria in British Columbia, as part of Congress 2013 for the Humanities and Social Sciences. The purpose of CAIS is to promote the advancement of information science in Canada, including the exchange of information relating to use, access, retrieval, organization, management, and dissemination of information. Members include information professionals such as archivists, librarians, compter scientists, psychologists, etc.
The theme for CAIS 2013 was “Tales from the Edge: Narrative Voices in Information Research and Practice,” and showcased leading edge research and practice revolving around narrative. The Living Archives Project deals strongly with methods of narrative, as the project involves capturing not only archival documents related to eugenics and its history in Western Canada, but the oral history of eugenics in Western Canada as well. Further, LAE seeks to bring the narrative of eugenics in Western Canada to the public and academic researchers alike, through initiatives such as the development of high school modules, and an interactive, multimedia website, which showcases these materials in new, accessible, and innovative ways.
Led by Moyra Lang, Project Co-ordinator, the talk covered a brief history of eugenics in Western Canada, some information about the formation of the project, and an overview of the research methods used in producing the project deliverables, described above. These methods include an interactive and phenomenological framework, with auto-ethnographical approaches, in the creation of oral history video interviews (which are edited by interviewees themselves); and grounded theory in the use of “memo-ing,” a process of recording thoughts and ideas immediately after conducting an interview, in order to help improve the process. Special attention was give to efforts on the part of the project to provide a safe environment for these oral interviews to take place, and of the development of accessible materials (both digitally and physically through physical spaces used for events). The talk was co-developed with technical team research assistant, Colette Leung.
For a full list of conference proceedings, including a short abstract, see the CAIS Programme here.
Call for Papers for a Special Issue of the Peace Studies Journal
www.peacestudiesjournal.org
Theme: “Disability Studies and Ability Studies: Two Lenses to Investigate Peace
Guest Editor:
Gregor Wolbring, Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies,
Dept. of Community Health Sciences, University of Calgary
The Peace Studies Journal is an international interdisciplinary free online peer-reviewed scholarly journal.
Disability Studies is an interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary academic discipline that investigates the situation disabled people face [1] involving activists, teachers, artists, practitioners, and researchers [1]. Ability studies is linked to disability studies in the sense that disability studies covers people who are impacted by body related (physical, mental…) ability expectations and that the term ableism (the cultural dynamic that one perceives certain abilities as essential) was coined by disabled people to highlight the negative situation disabled people experience because they are labeled as not having the required ability expectations. However ability studies goes beyond body related ability expectations. Ability Studies investigates in general how ability expectation (want stage) and ableism (need stage) hierarchies and preferences come to pass and the impact of such hierarchies and preferences [2-3]. Ability Studies investigates: (a) the social, cultural, legal, political, ethical and other considerations by which any given ability may be judged, which leads to favoring one ability over another; (b) the impact and consequence of favoring certain abilities and rejecting others; (c) the consequences of ableism in its different forms, and its relationship with and impact on other isms [2-3].Peace is an ever evolving concept whose relation to disabled people and to ability expectations is so far under-investigated. We accept any peace related topic as long as it engages with it through an ability studies lens or disability studies lens or both.
We invite potential contributors (scholars, activists, and community leaders to submit
articles of 3000-5000 words (excluding figures and tables) of original research and scholarship (empirical, theoretical and conceptual)that engage with the concept of peace through the disability studies lens, the ability studies lens or both.
Please submit full article to the Guest Editor via e-mail at:
gwolbrin[at]ucalgary.ca by 15 July, 2013
Every submitted article will be subject to anonymous peer review and recommendations arising.
As to possible areas linked to the theme the below is a sample list of possible topics”
Concept of Peace;
Peace between human and nonhuman animals;
Peace between humans and the environment;
Peace and eco-ability;
Peace and eco-ableism;
Peace and disabled people;
Peace and ability expectations;
Peace and active citizenship;
Peace and law
Peace and community;
Future of Peace
Peace and activism and social movements
Peace and science and technology;
Peace and human enhancement;
Peace and subjective well-being;
Peace and body image;
Peace and Disablism;
Peace and medical and social health policies
Peace and elderly people, youthism and ageism
The ethics of Peace;
Peace and resolution of ability expectation conflicts
Peace and transformative ability expectations;
Peace and social change discourses
Peace and ability privilege
Peace and resilience
Peace and adaptation
Peace and transformative justice
Peace and energy insecurity
Peace and climate change insecurity
Peace and water and sanitation insecurity
Peace and human insecurity
Peace within families
Transformative peace
Peace and sport
Reference List
1. Society for Disability Studies. Guidelines for disability studies programs Society for disability studies [Online], 2012. http://disstudies.org/guidelines-for-disability-studies-programs/.
2. Wolbring, G., Why NBIC? Why Human Performance Enhancement? Innovation; The European Journal of Social Science Research 2008, 21 (1), 25-40.
3. Wolbring, G., Expanding Ableism: Taking down the Ghettoization of Impact of Disability Studies Scholars. Societies 2012, 2 (3), 75-83.
Cheers Gregor
Dr. Gregor Wolbring
Associate Professor Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies
Dept. of Community Health Sciences
TRW Building, 3d31
3330 Hospital Drive NW
T2N4N1
Faculty of Medicine
University of Calgary
Calgary, Canada
Email: gwolbrin[at]ucalgary.ca
Phone: 1-403-210-7083
Deadline for Abstract submission July 15
1st Annual INSPIRe Virtual Symposium September 22nd, 2012
International Network of Student Perspectives In Research
Illuminating the world through student research, networking and discussion
“Exploring ability expectations through diverse disciplines and topics”
Last week, on March 23, 2012, Joshua St. Pierre, one of the summer interns from the Living Archives Project who is currently working on his MA in Philosophy at the University of Alberta, gave a presentation entitled, “Haraway and the (Im)possibility of Cyborg Eugenics.”
His abstract from the conference is as follows:
While the discourse of so-called “new eugenics” is becoming increasingly popular in cyberculture, I argue that new eugenics is discussed as a mere technological overlay of pre-existing eugenic ideologies, ideologies undercut by “A Cyborg Manifesto.” Donna Haraway’s cyborg resists the natural and essential properties (racial, class or genetic purity, normalized categories such as “feeble mindedness,” or binaries like primitive/civilized) which made twentieth century eugenic programs, and by extension new eugenics, possible. However, Haraway’s politically and eugenically resilient cyborg opens the possibility for a “cyborg eugenics” proper.
Instead of essential properties, Haraway argues that human diversity and biotic components must be conceived of in terms of “design, boundary constraints, rates of flow, systems logics, costs of lowering constraints” (162). Thus, the Harawaian cyborg translates the modern concepts of ‘eugenics’ and ‘perfection’ to the concepts of ‘population control’ and ‘optimization’ (161). While the terms ‘optimal’ and ‘population control’ lack the totalizing ideological overtones of a “master race” or the “feeble minded,” such categories force the choice of what sorts of people there should be, fragmented or not, and therefore what sorts of people there should not be.
Paralleling Hannah Arendt’s account of the banal holocaust logistician Adolf Eichmann, I argue that cyborg eugenics arise indirectly from the non-reflective fixation of the cyborg on optimizing technical problems. The Harawaian cyborg thus resists forms of eugenics rooted in claims of nature, telos or purity, but is seemingly unaware of the dark eugenic possibilities latent in the language of instrumentalization and optimization.
Improving Feminist Philosophy and Theory by Taking Account of Disability
Guest editor: Shelley Tremain, PhD
Submissions should be no more than 8,000 words in length, inclusive of notes and bibliography, and should be prepared for anonymous peer review, with no identifying elements in the text or reference material, and accompanied by an abstract of 200 words. Submissions and all inquiries about the issue should be sent to Shelley Tremain at: s.tremain@yahoo.ca with the subject line “DSQ FEMDIS”.
DEADLINE FOR SUBMISSIONS: September 1, 2012.
NOTIFICATION OF ACCEPTANCES: on or before November 30, 2012.
DATE OF PUBLICATION: Projected for late 2013.
A growing body of literature demonstrates that disabled people confront poverty, discrimination in employment and housing, sexual violence, limited educational opportunities, incarceration, and social isolation to a far greater extent than their non-disabled counterparts and furthermore that disabled women experience the impact of these disabling social and political phenomena even more severely than do disabled men. Although feminism is purported to be a social, political, and cultural movement that represents all women, disabled feminists have long argued that the concerns, political struggles, and socio-cultural issues that directly affect disabled women (and disabled people more generally) remain marginalized, and often ignored, within mainstream feminist movements.
Feminist theorists and researchers in the university produce and reproduce this marginalization and exclusion through a variety of mechanisms, one of which is Continue reading
Some might be interested in a conference session being held in Sydney, Australia this year titled Perlous Relations: Bioaesthetics and Eugenics. The session, which takes place July 12-14, will be part of the Together<>Apart conference—a conference which focuses “on the very broad idea of relations and relationships as well as allied terms such as collaborations, networks and partnerships.”
More about the conference can be found here.
And the abstract for the Perilous Relations session can be found after the break. Continue reading
For anyone interested, there will be a series of talks on the topic of disability and sport in various locations on the University of Alberta campus on Tuesday (February 14) and Wednesday (February 15) as part of the Disability, Sport, and Ableism Conference. Here is a quick run-down of talk titles, locations, and times:
1. From Pistorius to Para-Olympism: Contentious Paralympic Issues
(Panelists listed below)
Feb 14, 12:30 to 2 pm, PE E-120
2. What Can One Do With Ableism?
Lecture: Dr. Gregor Wolbring
Feb 15, 3 to 4:30 pm, ETLC ELO18 Followed by social at Leva Cafe
3. Albeism, Obsolescence & Body Technology
Seminar with Dr. Gregor Wolbring
Feb 15, 11am, Tory 14-28 (rsvp peers@ualberta.ca)
Featured Panelists & Speakers:
David Greig MHK, ChPC is a National Talent Development Coach for Para-Athletics, Athletics Canada.
Dr. P. David Howe is a former Paralympian, a coach, a journalist and a sport anthropologist who studies social theories of embodiment.
Jean Laroche, ChPC is the Lead Coach for Para- Athletics at the Sherbrooke (QC) High Performance Centre.
Danielle Peers, M.A. (U of A) is a former Paralympian, a coach, a Ph.D student and a Trudeau Scholar who studies disability, sport & human rights.
Dr. Gregor Wolbring (U of C) is an Assistant Professor in Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies, who studies ethics and governance of science and technology with a focus on issues faced by disabled people.
Living Archives team member, Gregor Wolbring, will be speaking on the body and prosthetics at the “Frontiers in Research: Our Post-Human Futures” conference at the University of Ottawa on November 15, 2011.
The University of Ottawa is pleased to present the thirteenth annual Frontiers in Research lectures. This year’s theme is Our Post-Human Future .
During the past decade, human perfection and even immortality have become topics of renewed interest due to groundbreaking scientific advancements, and are now much more tangible and potentially achievable goals. The quest for human improvement through biomedical means appears to be unstoppable in the developed world. But this drive towards the “post-human” has also given rise to discussion, debate, conflict and a great deal of research on where to take the human species.
Frontiers in Research: Our Post-Human Future will explore these questions in light of developments in the fields of genetics, neuroscience and prosthetics, and their social, political, economic, ethical and religious implications.
For more information on the conference, click here.
Call for Papers
“Breeding the Nation: Eugenics, Culture, and Science in the United States, 1900-1940”
Workshop 13 of the 2012 Biennial EAAS Conference
The Health of the Nation
26–29 March, Izmir, Turkey
for more information about the conference, see the EAAS site at
http://www.eaas.eu/conferences/eaas-biennial-conferences/information-izmir-2012
Chair Bob Rydell, Montana State University rwrydell@gmail.com, and Jaap Verheul, Utrecht University j.verheul@uu.nl.
The 20th Annual History of Medicine Days Conference takes place on the 11th and 12th of March at the University of Calgary.
The History of Medicine Days is an annual two-day Nation-wide conference held at the University of Calgary in which undergraduate and early graduate students from across Canada give 10-12 minute presentations on the history of medicine and health care. The topics generally tend to include areas from Classics, the History of Public Health, Nursing, Veterinary Medicine, Human Biology, Neuroscience, etc. Prizes are awarded and there are associated receptions and an awards banquet.
The Seattle Children’s Hospital will hold the seventh annual pediatric bioethics conference in July. This year’s theme is “Who’s Responsible for the Children? Exploring the Boundaries of Clinical Ethics and Public Policy.” On the conference page of the hospital web site, they lay out some of the issues that will be discussed. One of them goes, “Should care to children be prioritized based on social, physical or mental health status?” and there are some examples of children such as:
Children who have expensive technology-intensive care needs, such as ventilators, dialysis or transplants?
Children with intellectual disabilities who require special resources, yet will remain dependant on society?
Children who have mental healthcare needs?
American Society for Bioethics and Humanities
Call for Proposals
ASBH 13th Annual Meeting
October 13-16, 2011
Minneapolis, MN
The American Society for Bioethics and Humanities‘ 13th Annual Meeting is scheduled for
October 13-16, 2011, in Minneapolis, MN at the Hyatt Regency Minneapolis. Sleeping rooms at
the Hyatt can be secured at the ASBH group rate of $199 beginning in August. Reservations will
be taken on a first-come, first-served basis.
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