The women known as Madan Sara in Haiti are on the forefront of the battle for a more robust, inclusive economy.

Darrell Hillaire presents the book Jesintel, bringing the cultural teachings of nineteen elders. Coast Salish culture is bound together by shared values and relations that generate a resilient worldview. Jesintel illuminates the importance of ethical reciprocal relationships and the interconnectedness of places, land, water, and the spirit within all things.

Wednesday, October 4th, 2023
12:00 - 1:20 PM
Fairhaven Auditorium or on Zoom

For more information about other speakers for the fall quarter, previous presentations, and recordings, see here.

Event Information:

For readers of All Things Consoled by Elizabeth Hay and They Left Us Everything by Plum Johnson, Kiss the Red Stairs is a compelling memoir by award-winning journalist Marsha Lederman that delves into her parents' Holocaust stories in the wake of her own divorce, investigating how trauma migrates through generations with empathy, humour, and resilience. Marsha was five when a simple question led to a horrifying answer. Sitting in her kitchen, she asked her mother why she didn't have any grandparents. Her mother told her the truth: the Holocaust. Decades later, her parents dead and herself a mother to a young son, Marsha begins to wonder how much history has shaped her own life. Reeling in the wake of a divorce, she craves her parents' help. But in their absence, she is gripped by a need to understand the trauma they suffered, and she begins her own journey into the past to tell her family's stories of loss and resilience. Kiss the Red Stairs is a compelling memoir of Holocaust survival, intergenerational trauma, divorce, and discovery that will guide readers through several lifetimes of monumental change.

"Meticulously researched, Kiss the Red Stairs is a potent mix of personal, familial, and world history; raw emotion and brutally honest self-reflection; and psychology and science, written with the confidence and clarity of a seasoned journalist and the frankness and vulnerability of a dear friend. [...] Kiss the Red Stairs is a fascinating read filled with depth, complexity, and even humour. "—Stir

"Kiss the Red Stairs is Marsha Lederman's memoir of her journey as the daughter of Holocaust survivor parents. It's an enormous achievement—harrowing yet ultimately uplifting. I wept and I also laughed—sometimes on the same page." —Ann-Marie MacDonald, author of Fayne

"Art can provide an element of witness on the killing fields of history and help redeem the human experience. This book [Kiss the Red Stairs] does just that, and does it in shapely, well-crafted prose. Highly recommended."—Vancouver Sun

"Kiss the Red Stairs is a complex and compelling memoir where Lederman weaves the strands of current and past traumas."—Pique Magazine

Marsha Lederman is the Western Arts Correspondent for the Globe and Mail. Before joining the Globe, Marsha worked for CBC Radio, mostly in Toronto, where she held a variety of positions, including National Arts Reporter. Marsha also worked in commercial radio as a reporter, newscaster and talk show host. Born in Toronto, she now lives in Vancouver.

Event Speaker: 

Cedric Johnson, Professor, University of Illinois at Chicago

Wednesday, November 15, 2023, 12:00 - 1:20pm PT

For more information about other speakers for the fall quarter, previous presentations, and recordings, see here. 

Event Speakers:

Bryn Lane, Part-time Lecturer, Master of Digital Health Program, Savonia University of Applied Sciences

Liisa Klemola, Lecturer/ Savonia Univesity of Applied Sciences

Elisa Snicker, Lecturer / Savonia University of Applied Sciences Wednesday, November 8, 2023, 12:00 - 1:20pm PT

For more information about other speakers for the fall quarter, previous presentations, and recordings, see here. 

Event Speaker:

David Leblang, Professor of Politics & Public Policy, University of Virginia Wednesday, November 1, 2023, 12:00 - 1:20pm PT

Event Speaker:

Dr Eki Yemisi Omorogbe, Lecturer in Law, University of Leicester School of Law, England, UK. Wednesday, October 18, 2023, 12:00 - 1:20pm PT

For more information about other speakers for the fall quarter, previous presentations, and recordings, see here. 

Event speaker:

Shilla Adyero, Founder/Director Lutino Adunu-Children Loved NGO, Nwoya, Uganda Wednesday, October 11, 2023, 12:00 - 1:20pm PT

For more information about other speakers for the fall quarter, previous presentations, and recordings, see here. 

This discussion will explore the role of educational systems and their underlying ideology in Nazi Germany and the United States as they each sought to create a specific national identity during the 1920s through the 1940s.

After Adolf Hitler was appointed German Chancellor in January 1933, the new Nazi government began an effort to completely reorder public and private life in Germany. It quickly targeted German universities - among the most elite in the world at the time - for restructuring according to Nazi principles. These forces, along with increasing antisemitism under Nazi rule, transformed everyday life at German universities, from the curriculum that was taught, the instructors that the university employed, and the type of community that students sought to build.

During this same period, indigenous boarding schools in the United States (in existence since 1819) thrived on principles that also defined if - and how - Native American children could be part of American society.

Using a curriculum that sought to violently “civilize” and “assimilate” these children, these schools too drew upon racist ideology. While these policies had very different outcomes, they were both based on shared ideas of “racial” hierarchy and national belonging.