[nativestudies-l] Possible guest speakers - Kirstie Parker and Greg Younging

[Alice Nash]

Dear Colleagues,

The Fall 2012 Feinberg Family Distinguished Lecture Series, sponsored by 
the University of Massachusetts Amherst, will focus on the "Truth and 
Reconciliation, History and Justice."  The opening event on October 2 is 
a symposium on "Indigenous Peoples and Truth and Reconciliation."  The 
morning session will focus on established processes in Canada and 
Australia.  The afternoon session is on "Reconciling with the Doctrine 
of Discovery and Domination," following up on this year's special theme 
of the U.N. Permanent Forum on Indigenous issues, 11th session.

Two confirmed speakers are traveling a long way so before we book their 
flights, let me know asap if you would like to piggyback on this event, 
since we are paying their major travel expenses.

Journalist *Kirstie Parker*is a Yuwallarai Aboriginal woman from New 
South Wales, Australia. She is Managing Editor of the /Koori Mail/ and a 
member of the Board of Directors of Reconciliation Australia .

*Greg Younging*(Opaskwayak Cree) is Assistant Professor of Indigenous 
Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan and Assistant 
Director of Research for Canada's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

(Longer bios are included below fyi.)

At present we plan to have the speakers arrive on Monday, Oct. 1 and 
depart on Friday, Oct. 6.  They might be available to speak elsewhere on 
Wednesday, Oct. 3.  They will participate in a full-day symposium at 
UMass Amherst on Tuesday, Oct. 2 and attend the keynote address for the 
series by James Anaya, U.N. Special Rapporteur on Indigenous Peoples, 
the evening of Thursday, Oct. 4.

Please contact me if you want further details about the series and this 
event.  I will announce both to this list once all details are confirmed.

All the best,
Alice

Journalist *Kirstie Parker* is a Yuwallarai Aboriginal woman from New 
South Wales, Australia. She has more than 20 years experience in 
journalism and communications. Since July 2006, she has been the Editor 
of the national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander newspaper, the 
Koori Mail. Prior to this, she was Media and Communications Manager at 
the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
Studies (AIATSIS) in Canberra, ran the award-winning Australian 
Indigenous Leadership Centre (AILC), and was the Director of the 
National Aboriginal Cultural Institute - Tandanya in Adelaide. She was 
Director of Public Affairs for ATSIC for two and a half years, and media 
adviser to a Federal Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 
Affairs for two years. She has also worked for ABC Radio and the West 
Australian newspaper, and was Editor of a weekly regional newspaper in 
far north QLD.  In 2003, she received a Centenary Medal for her 
contribution to the Indigenous community and Australian life. Kirstie 
Parker is currently a member of the board of Reconciliation Australia, a 
national organization promoting reconciliation between Aboriginal and 
Torres Strait Islander peoples and the broader Australian community.  
For further information about this project see 
http://www.reconciliation.org.au/home.

*Greg Younging* (Opaskwayak Cree), Assistant Professor of Indigenous 
Studies at the University of British Columbia Okanagan, has a Ph.D. in 
Educational Studies from the University of British Columbia.  He has 
worked for the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, the Assembly of 
First Nations, the Committee of Inquiry into Indian Education and the 
Native Women's Association of Canada. From 1990 to 2003, he was Managing 
Editor of Theytus Books, a First Nations owned- and operated publisher.  
He has been a member of the Canada Council Aboriginal Peoples Committee 
on the Arts, the British Columbia Arts Council, and the Indigenous 
Peoples' Caucus of the Creator's Rights Alliance.  In 2011 he was 
appointed as Assistant Director of Research to the Truth and 
Reconciliation Commission (TRC) of Canada, which addresses the history, 
legacy and inter-generational impacts of the residential school system 
on Indigenous peoples in Canada.  Starting in the 1840s, up to 95% of 
the children in some areas went through the residential school system, 
experiencing ruptured family relationships, language loss, and in many 
cases physical, emotional and/or sexual abuse.  The survivors later sued 
the Government of Canada and the churches who ran these schools.  The 
TRC was established in 2008 with a five-year mandate as part of the 
Indian Residential Schools Settlement Agreement, the largest 
class-action settlement in Canadian history; see 
http://www.residentialschoolsettlement.ca/English.html.  The final 
report will include major recommendations to the Government of Canada 
about how to heal the country and the survivors, and how to bring 
reconciliation between indigenous and non-indigenous peoples in Canada.  
For further information on this Commission, see http://www.trc.ca.


Alice Nash
Associate Professor of History
University of Massachusetts
Amherst, MA 01003
anash at history.umass.edu
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