About

On 16-18 May 2019, the Humanities, Arts, Science, and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory (HASTAC), in partnership with the Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Department of English at the University of Victoria (UVic), will be guests on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) people, facilitating a conference about decolonizing technologies and reprogramming education.

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• Conference Theme
• Conference Logo
• Organizers
• Volunteers
• Partners and Sponsors
• License
• Questions

Conference Theme

The conference will hold up and support Indigenous scholars and knowledges, centering work by Indigenous women and women of colour. It will engage how technologies are, can be, and have been decolonized. How, for instance, are extraction technologies repurposed for resurgence? Or, echoing Ellen Cushman, how do we decolonize digital archives? Equally important, how do decolonial and anti-colonial practices shape technologies and education? How, following Kimberlé Crenshaw, are such practices intersectional? How do they correspond with what Grace Dillon calls Indigenous Futurisms? And how do they foster what Eve Tuck and Wayne Yang describe as an ethic of incommensurability, unsettling not only assumptions of innocence but also discourses of reconciliation?

With these investments, HASTAC 2019: “Decolonizing Technologies, Reprogramming Education” will engage topics such as:

• Indigenous new media and infrastructures,
• Self-determination and data sovereignty, accountability, and consent,
• Racist data and biased algorithms,
• Land-based pedagogy and practices,
• Art, history, and theory as decolonial or anti-colonial practices,
• Decolonizing the classroom or university,
• Decolonial or anti-colonial approaches involving intersectional feminist, trans-feminist, critical race, and queer research methods,
• The roles of technologies and education in the reclamation of language, land, and water,
• Decolonial or anti-colonial approaches to technologies and education around the world,
• Everyday and radical resistance to dispossession, extraction, and appropriation,
• Decolonial or anti-colonial design, engineering, and computing,
• Alternatives to settler heteropatriarchy and institutionalized ableism in education,
• Unsettling or defying settler geopolitics and frontiers,
• Trans-Indigenous activism, networks, and knowledges, and
• Indigenous resurgence through technologies and education.

Conference Logo

Musqueam (xʷməθkʷəy̓əm) artist, Diamond Point, designed the conference logo. She writes:

As an emerging artist, I intend to create artwork that connects the old with the new and is constantly changing the more life experience I gain. I wanted to represent that idea with this piece. I describe my artwork as contemporary because my designs are current but also respectful of traditional design elements. I wanted the logo to convey the conference’s theme, “Decolonizing Technologies, Reprogramming Education.” The Thunderbird not only represents UBC, but also represents the theme of the conference. Thunderbird is known to be highly intelligent, carries out protocol, and asserts justice into communities in need. I thought this fit well with the concept of decolonization. Within the Thunderbird design I have incorporated Coast Salish design elements in order to showcase the beautiful artwork our ancestors have created for thousands of years. In a contemporary aspect, I decided to make the circles within Thunderbird pixelated. The circle represents the symbol of life. Today, technology has become such a big influence within day-to-day life. Technology connects all of us. In saying that, sometimes being so technologically connected can come with cautions. Thunderbird is able to protect us and give us strength moving forward for the future generations to come.

Organizers

The Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia (UBC) and the Department of English at the University of Victoria (UVic) are organizing HASTAC 2019: “Decolonizing Technologies, Reprogramming Education” with the following members of the programming committee:

• Jeffrey Ansloos (Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto),
• Candis Callison (Graduate School of Journalism, University of British Columbia),
• Karrmen Crey (Stó:lō, Cheam Band; School of Communication, Simon Fraser University),
• David Gaertner (First Nations and Indigenous Studies, University of British Columbia),
• Michelle Habell-Pallán​ (Gender, Women, and Sexuality Studies, and Public Scholarship, University of Washington),
• Autumn Schnell (Gwich’in Nation; First Nations and Indigenous Studies, University of British Columbia),
• Gerry Lawson (Oral History and Language Lab, University of British Columbia),
• Debra Martel (First Nations House of Learning, University of British Columbia),
• Megan Meredith-Lobay (Advanced Research Computing, University of British Columbia),
• Deanna Reder (First Nations Studies and English, Simon Fraser University),
• Daisy Rosenblum (First Nations and Endangered Languages, University of British Columbia),
• Alana Sayers (Hupacasath and Alexander First Nations; University of Victoria),
• Jentery Sayers (English, University of Victoria),
• June Scudeler (Métis; First Nations Studies and Gender, Sexuality, and Women’s Studies, Simon Fraser University), and
• Robina Thomas (Indigenous Academic and Community Engagement, University of Victoria).

The organizers and programming committee are collaborating with HASTAC’s administrative team:

• Cathy Davidson (co-director of HASTAC; Graduate Center, CUNY),
• Brinker Ferguson (Dartmouth College),
• Elizabeth Grumbach (Institute for Humanities Research, Arizona State University),
• Katina Rogers (Graduate Center, CUNY), and
• Jacqueline Wernimont (co-director of HASTAC; Gender, Women’s and Sexuality Studies, Dartmouth College).

As well as the conference communications and curatorial team:

• Kailey Fukushima (English, University of Victoria),
• David Gaertner (First Nations and Indigenous Studies, University of British Columbia),
• Stephanie Harrington (Humanities, University of Victoria),
• Autumn Schnell (Gwich’in Nation; First Nations and Indigenous Studies, University of British Columbia),
• Jodi Litvin (English, University of Victoria),
• Hector Lopez (English, University of Victoria),
• Sam Postuk (Commerce, University of Victoria), and
• Jentery Sayers (English, University of Victoria).

Volunteers

We would also like to thank our amazing team of HASTAC 2019 volunteers, led by volunteer coordinator, Tracey El Hajj (University of Victoria): Janni Aragon, Natalie Boldt, Kailey Fukushima, Stefan Higgins, Ashley Howard, and Sam Postuk (University of Victoria); Kashema Hutchinson, Gustavo Jimenez, Christina Katopodis, Sujung Kim, Adashima Oyo, and Siqi Tu (City University of New York); and Caolan Barr, Rachael Bullock, Janet Calderon, Jennifer Cameron, Patricia Derbyshire, Ben Dixon, Jaymyn La Vallee, Jessie Lackstein, Parboti Roy, Autumn Schnell, and Eric Zheng (University of British Columbia).

Partners and Sponsors

HASTAC 2019 is supported by a Connection Grant from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) as well as by the following partners and sponsors:

• First Nations House of Learning at the University of British Columbia
• The Aboriginal Housing Management Association
• The Institute for Critical Indigenous Studies at the University of British Columbia
• The Faculty of Arts at the University of British Columbia
• University of British Columbia Conferences and Accommodation
• The Department of Political Science at the University of British Columbia
• The Department of History at the University of British Columbia
• The Faculty of Forestry at the University of British Columbia
• The Department of Linguistics at the University of British Columbia
• The Department of Theatre and Film at the University of British Columbia
• The Department of Geography at the University of British Columbia
• The Department of Creative Writing at the University of British Columbia
• The Department of English Language and Literatures at the University of British Columbia
• The University of British Columbia School of Public Policy and Global Affairs
• The University of British Columbia Centre for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
• Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies at the University of British Columbia
• The University of British Columbia Library
• The University of British Columbia iSchool
• The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia
• CiTR 101.9 FM and Discorder Magazine
• The Department of English at the University of Victoria
• The Faculty of Humanities at the University of Victoria
• Cultural, Social, and Political Thought at the University of Victoria
• University of Victoria Libraries
• The School of Arts, Technology, and Emerging Communication at the University of Texas at Dallas
• First Nations Studies at Simon Fraser University
• The School of Communication at Simon Fraser University
• Lifelong Learning in Leadership and Community Building at Simon Fraser University
• The Simpson Center for the Humanities at the University of Washington
• The Sound Women Collaboratory at the University of Washington
• Arizona State University
• City University of New York
• Dartmouth College

License

This site and all HASTAC 2019 conference materials are licensed CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0, with the Traditional Knowledge O (TK O) label. This label asks you to respect the designated circulation conditions for this material and, where possible, to develop a means for fair and equitable reciprocal exchange for the use of this material with the relevant TK holders. This exchange might include access to educational or other resources that are difficult to access under normal circumstances.

Questions

Please email info@hastac2019.org with any questions you have about the conference. Please email registration@housing.ubc.ca with any questions about registration and accommodations.

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We would like to acknowledge that the University of British Columbia is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. We thank the Musqueam Nation for its hospitality and support of our work.

We would also like to acknowledge with respect the Lkwungen-speaking peoples on whose traditional territory the University of Victoria stands and the Songhees, Esquimalt, and WSÁNEĆ peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.

HASTAC wishes to express our deep gratitude to the Musqueam people for allowing us to engage digital territories on this unceded land. Changing the way we teach and learn means challenging the colonial foundations of education and technology. We are grateful for the opportunity to do this work here. Thank you.

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