The Balsillie School of International Affairs (BSIA) is hosting an exciting public lecture by Dr. Kim TallBear, Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience and Environment at the University of Alberta.
In defining Indigeneity, scientists privilege genetic ancestry while Indigenous people emphasize political status along with biological and cultural kinship constituted in dynamic long-standing relations with living landscapes. But scientific articulations, with their greater truth-governing power, may undermine tribal and First Nations’ self-determination and global Indigenous anti-colonial movement.
About the speaker
Dr. Kim TallBear, Associate Professor & Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Peoples, Technoscience & Environment (University of Alberta). She is a leading scholar in biopolitics, indigenous studies, and science and technology studies. Her research examines the racial politics of “gene talk” in science and popular culture. Amongst her numerous research, policy, and opinion publications, TallBear is best known for her ground-breaking book Native American DNA (2013) where she analyzes the powerful and problematic ways indigenous groups use technoscience to determine their biological relations. She argues the reliance on DNA testing for claims to land, resources, and sovereignty undermines practices that have taken generations to ratify.
Book Sale – Wordsworth Books will be selling copies of Kim TallBear’s Native American DNA, books by members of Technē, and other key texts in biopolitical theory outside the auditorium.
This talk is part of the “Politics of Life: Rethinking Resistance in our Biopolitical Economy” events taking place at CIGI (March 2-4, 2017).
We acknowledge the traditional territory of the Neutral, Anishnawbe and Haudenosaunee peoples, on whose land these events will take place.
We are also committed to being inclusive and accessible to all, accommodation requests should be made by February 15 to Sahver Kuzucuoglu.