Ever challenging and eye-opening, the annual Vanier College Humanities Symposium, running February 3-7, 2025, will explore authority, power and knowledge, under the title of "Says Who?" Guest speakers will focus on the power and authority derived from knowledge in various sectors such as science, theatre, art, Indigenous cultures, modern media and more.
The highlight of the week will be Keynote Speaker Mark Kingwell, on February 5th, with his talk Question Authority, inspired by the 1960s slogan that commanded that you, "Think for yourself." Sixty years later, such individual freedom has resulted in a crisis of authority and chaotic public discourse. Mark Kingwell will discuss how to reclaim the democratic spirit of questioning authority and thinking.
Other speakers include Heidi Grasswick who kicks off the symposium on February 3rd with a Zoom talk on Oppression and the Authority of Science that examines how oppression can undermine the authority of scientific institutions and their practices.
Following her, author Jonathan Matheson and Vanier English teacher Timothy Budde will discuss Why It's Ok Not to Think for Yourself. The afternoon will feature a Panel Discussion: Disability and Poverty with Special Education Techniques student Kathleen Gosselin and teacher Francine Cytrynbaum, and Paul Tshuma, disability advocate, poet/musician and wheelchair user, representing the welfare rights committee exploring limitations placed by disability and poverty.
On February 4th, Joliane Allaire will present a Workshop: Embodied Exploration of Authority and Power using games and movement to understand concepts such as authority, in an engaging and experiential way.
On February 6th, K.C. Adams will present Asiiniwag: Revival of Indigenous Pottery from Aestheticized Object to Relational Creation and discuss how Indigenous pots were not just utilitarian objects but animated and imbued with Indigenous epistemologies and pedagogies.
Next up, Mark Carnes will present The Glass Bead Game 2025, an Adventure in AI based on the game conceived by novelist on Herman Hesse. The final presenter of the day will be Ashley Vu exploring Media and Knowledge, which will look at the critical role media plays in shaping public knowledge and discourse, particularly in the digital age.
On February 7th with Jana Bacevic will give a Zoom presentation entitled What does it mean to think for ourselves? Epistemic Autonomy, Solidarity, and Democracy, which will look at how we judge others' knowledge and what this tells us about the ability to think for ourselves and think with others.
In the afternoon, Lili Petrovic and Janet Foyle will present: Peering in from the Outside: A Look at Authority and Power in the Context of Deprivation of Liberty. Lili Petrovic will engage Janet Foyle, an international lawyer, in a talk about what goes in inside prison walls and compare European and Canadian approaches to regulating what goes on behind closed doors.
Presentations will take place in the Vanier Auditorium, A-103. See the detailed Program: Humanities Symposium "Says Who?" - Vanier
