UNews - ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar

Doolittle wraps up Scholars Series

trevor.kenney — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 15:50:49 +0000

Lisa Doolittle presents the third and final lecture in the 2010 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars Public Presentations series Tuesday, Mar. 23.

Dr. Claudia Malacrida, Dr. Brian Titley and Doolittle are the featured speakers in this year's edition of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars Public Presentations. Covering topics from the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities to the attempted reformation of female public sinners by the Catholic Church to an examination of the role that dancing and spectacle helped define the identity of the Blackfoot people of southern Alberta, the three ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professors cover a wide range of topics.

On Tuesday, Doolittle presents Performing Negotiations: Blackfoot Dance/Spectacle, the Colony, and Multicultural Canada 1870-2010. The lecture is open to everyone and takes place at 4 p.m. in AH100. Admission is free.

– Performing Negotiations: Blackfoot Dance/Spectacle, the Colony, and Multicultural Canada 1870-2010, Mar. 23

The Blackfoot people of southern Alberta use dancing/spectacle to express identity and their ongoing negotiations with settler populations. In the late 19th Century, dancing among aboriginal peoples was banned. Beginning in the early 20th Century, aboriginal dance was showcased in corporate sponsored 'white' events like the Calgary Stampede and Banff 'Indian Days'. Near the end of the 20th Century, the Canadian government passed the Multiculturalism Act, "to recognize all Canadians as full and equal participants in Canadian society."

Promoting culture-specific dance was fundamental to the multicultural agenda. Doolittle (theatre and dramatic arts) describes how representations of culture as performed in dance uncover the shifting policies concerning national identity and destabilize notions about the role of dance performances in Canadian multiculturalism.

The Board of Governors established the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars Program in 2007 to recognize the excellence of faculty members in the areas of research, scholarship and creative performance. Each ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar must give a public lecture or performance as part of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars Series at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge during the two-year term of their designation as a ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar.

The presentations will highlight the ongoing research interests of U of L faculty and how they contribute to their course teachings.

Titley presents ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars lecture

trevor.kenney — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:56:40 +0000

Dr. Brian Titley presents the second of three lectures in the 2010 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars Public Presentations series Tuesday, Mar. 16.

Dr. Claudia Malacrida, Dr. Brian Titley and Lisa Doolittle are the featured speakers in this year's edition of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars Public Presentations. Covering topics from the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities to the attempted reformation of female public sinners by the Catholic Church to an examination of the role that dancing and spectacle helped define the identity of the Blackfoot people of southern Alberta, the three ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professors cover a wide range of topics.

On Tuesday, Titley presents Penance, Prayers, and a Happy Death: Convents and Moral Rehabilitation of 'Wayward' Women. The lecture is open to everyone and takes place at 4 p.m. in AH100. Admission is free.

– Penance, Prayers, and a Happy Death: Convents and Moral Rehabilitation of 'Wayward' Women, Mar. 16

Late in the Middle Ages the Catholic Church established convents to reform female 'public sinners' who were mainly, though not exclusively, prostitutes. The institutions, known as refuges or asylums, were usually named after Mary Magdalen.

In this presentation, Titley (education) provides a general history of Magdalen asylums as representations of the Catholic Church's assumed authority in sexual morality. He examines types of discipline in the institutions; the role of surveillance and isolation in preventing sinful relapses; and the practices of self-mortification that could lead to semi-religious status for the penitents and ultimately a happy death. He also looks at the transformation in North America of the asylums into private reformatories for 'incorrigible' adolescent girls.

The presentations will highlight the ongoing research interests of U of L faculty and how they contribute to their course teachings.

Malacrida opens Scholars lecture series

trevor.kenney — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 20:46:59 +0000

A trio of diverse educators from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will participate in the 2010 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars Public Presentations series, beginning this week.

Dr. Claudia Malacrida, Dr. Brian Titley and Lisa Doolittle will present free admission lectures Mar. 9, Mar. 16 and Mar. 23 respectively, covering topics from the treatment of people with intellectual disabilities to the attempted reformation of female public sinners by the Catholic Church to an examination of the role that dancing and spectacle helped define the identity of the Blackfoot people of southern Alberta.

The presentations will highlight the ongoing research interests of U of L faculty and how they contribute to their course teachings. All lectures offer free admission, are open to anyone and take place at 4 p.m. in AH100. Today, Malacrida begins the series.

– Dehumanization as a Way of Life: Alberta's History of 'Treating' People with Intellectual Disabilities, Mar. 9

In 1928, with hopes of improving services for people deemed in the language of the time to be "mental defectives," the province of Alberta opened the Provincial Training School (eventually renamed The Michener Centre) outside Red Deer. At one time housing over 2,300 inmates, the school operated hand in glove with the province's Eugenics Board.

Residents of Michener were the largest single group of Albertans to experience involuntary sterilization. Based on interviews and archival materials, Malacrida (sociology) describes daily life in the institution and the ways that space, time and care were organized to dehumanize and devalue the people who lived there.

"Understanding the history of places like Michener Centre is important," says Malacrida. "Institutionalization is not dead, and Michener survivors can tell us why this approach is one we should not continue."

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ scholars public presentations on tap

trevor.kenney — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 18:06:43 +0000

A trio of diverse educators from the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge will participate in the 2010 ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars Public Presentations series beginning in March.

– Dehumanization as a Way of Life: Alberta's History of 'Treating' People with Intellectual Disabilities, Mar. 9

– Penance, Prayers, and a Happy Death: Convents and Moral Rehabilitation of 'Wayward' Women, Mar. 16

– Performing Negotiations: Blackfoot Dance/Spectacle, the Colony, and Multicultural Canada 1870-2010, Mar. 23

Rethinking history

trevor.kenney — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 16:50:23 +0000

On June 11, 2008, Prime Minister Stephen Harper issued a long-awaited formal apology to the Canadian Aboriginal community for the abuse suffered in the government-funded church-run residential schools that were phased out in the 1970s after more than a century of operation.

It also proved to be a day of personal significance for U of L education professor Dr. Brian Titley, who has spent the last three decades researching and writing about Aboriginal history.

"I was very moved when I watched the national apology on residential schools because I realized that 30 years ago a government apology could not have happened because nobody had written a thing about it. History needed to be rewritten and reinterpreted," says Titley.

His book, A Narrow Vision: Duncan Campbell Scott and the Administration of Indian Affairs in Canada (1986), was among the first to be written in Canada about Indian policy.

"Up until the 1970s, our history in Canada had been very much about nation building, great men, railways and Vimy Ridge," says Titley. "Historians then began writing about the history of women, the working class, minority groups and Aboriginal people. These writings played an important role in educating the public."

A critical historian, Titley has devoted his career to challenging conventional wisdom. His list of published books and articles reads like an epic story that journeys through time, exploring the cultural fabric, political climate and religious circumstances of numerous countries at different points in history.

In addition to the administration of Indian Affairs in Canada, he has covered many controversial topics, including the role of the Catholic Church in the Irish education system and that of France in its former African colonies.

As a newly appointed ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar, Titley has chosen the history of Magdalen asylums in North America as the subject for his next line of research.

First and foremost, however, Titley considers himself an educator – a teacher of teachers who aims to inspire his students so that one day they'll inspire their own.

"I've always tried to explain to my students that as historians we must go back and understand origins to realize why the present is the way it is."

Titley recognized with Ingrid Speaker Medal

trevor.kenney — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:02:35 +0000

The Ingrid Speaker Medal for Distinguished Research, Scholarship, or Performance is bestowed every year to recognize outstanding research.

This year's winner is Dr. Brian Titley, Faculty of Education.

Over a period of three decades, Professor of Education and ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar Dr. Brian Titley has produced major works of historical inquiry that influence our understanding of institutions and politics in Canada and abroad.

Titley, who was profiled in the March 2009 issue of the Legend, has authored five books, all of which make singular contributions to several distinct areas of scholarship. His selection as the 2009 Ingrid Speaker Medal winner is testament to his research acumen and the furthering of scholarship in his field.

A native of Cork, Ireland, Titley earned his undergraduate degree abroad before coming to Canada to study at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Manitoba where he received his Bachelor of Education degree as well as his master's degree. He would then earn his PhD at ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta and spend 10 years teaching at U of A before joining the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge in 1991.

His books have critiqued church power in Ireland, investigated the Canadian Indian Department and its policies, studied dictatorship in sub-Saharan Africa and offered a biographical portrait of immigrant adventurer Edgar Dewdney. His latest offering, The Indian Commissioners, examines the careers of those who directed the Indian Department on the prairies during a critical historical era.

Titley is also the author of more than 40 articles and essays and has served as president of the Canadian History of Education Association.

In 2008 he was appointed the Faculty of Education's first ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar.

Examining the Indian Commissioners

trevor.kenney — Tue, 10 Mar 2009 15:24:59 +0000

Dr. Brian Titley spends a good portion of his research time delving into the past. That doesn't mean his findings are short on relevance today.

A Faculty of Education professor at the U of L since 1991, Titley just authored his fifth book, The Indian Commissioners: Agents of the State and Indian Policy in Canada's Prairie West, 1873-1932. The themes he explores, such as the implementation of policy through the Indian Act, political patronage, and the manipulation and fraud of treaty settlements still resonate today.

"If you're trying to get at the roots of present-day circumstances, whether it's poverty or unemployment or even patterns of abuse that have been learned in residential schools, I think you have to go back and start at the beginning and ask how did we get here," Titley proposes.

"These issues that are still going on, you can go back and see their roots right here."

Titley tells his story through a series of biographical portraits of the individuals who held the position of Indian Commissioner – the men in charge of operations in what are now the Prairie Provinces between 1873 and 1932, with the exception of one decade. By sketching their lives, what they did and how they implemented policy, he creates a portrait of the blueprint from which many of today's issues stem.

"I'm not sure most people understand how we got into the present situation. Why are reserves there and what is their purpose," Titley asks. "Treaties, a lot of people don't know what they are all about. Residential schools are another topic that has been in the news in recent years, but how much do people really know about them other than they were 'bad'?"

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge has a unique understanding of Aboriginal issues. As Titley's book was being released, the campus was celebrating Native Awareness Week and with a vibrant and growing Native American Studies Department, there continues to be a thirst for knowledge of Aboriginal culture. He says his research greatly adds to his ability to teach.

"I think it's just a different level of understanding when you've actually done the research," Titley explains. "You just understand things so much more completely than if you simply read someone else's work."

He's able to apply this research knowledge in a variety of ways but his work is most apparent in a required Professional Semester II course he instructs, Education 3603, Social Context of Schooling. Exploring the social and cultural influences that affect learning, teaching and the process of schooling, Titley says teaching must adapt itself to students and take into account the societal influences that shape their behaviour.

"The Aboriginal population is the fastest growing young demographic group in the country," he says, noting more than half of the country's status Indians are now living off reserves.

"Our (education) students are increasingly going to encounter them in the classroom, so what does that mean? How do you relate to them; how do you relate the curriculum to them? I try to emphasize the notion that traditional schooling can work but they have to be a little bit creative, they have to find a way to understand the young people of today and find a meaningful learning experience for them so that students have a sense of success."

With a basic understanding of what has shaped a student's culture and values, a teacher is therefore better equipped to connect with that student.

GET THE FACTS

• Titley, a native of Cork, Ireland, spent 10 years teaching at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta before coming to the U of L in 1991

• He was appointed the Faculty of Education's first ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar in 2008

• The Indian Commissioners is published by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Alberta Press. Two of Titley's earlier books were published by McGill-Queen's ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Press, and two others by the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of British Columbia Press

• Titley has served as a historical consultant on Aboriginal issues for a number of media outlets, including CBC's The Fifth Estate

• His latest research is on the history of Magdalene asylums in North America

Rethinking history

trevor.kenney — Mon, 27 Oct 2008 16:28:30 +0000

It also proved to be a day of personal significance for U of L education professor Dr. Brian Titley, who has spent the last three decades researching and writing about Aboriginal history.

His book, A Narrow Vision: Duncan Campbell Scott and the Administration of Indian Affairs in Canada (1986), was among the first to be written in Canada about Indian policy.

As a newly appointed ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar, Titley has chosen the history of Magdalen asylums in North America as the subject for his next line of research.

First and foremost, however, Titley considers himself an educator – a teacher of teachers who aims to inspire his students so that one day they'll inspire their own.

"I've always tried to explain to my students that as historians we must go back and understand origins to realize why the present is the way it is."

UNews - ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ Scholar

Doolittle wraps up Scholars Series

Related Topics

Titley presents ��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ Scholars lecture

Related Topics

Malacrida opens Scholars lecture series

Related Topics

��Ѹ�����Դ���߿�Ƭ scholars public presentations on tap

Related Topics

Rethinking history

Related Topics

Titley recognized with Ingrid Speaker Medal

Related Topics

Examining the Indian Commissioners

Related Topics

Rethinking history

Related Topics

UNews - ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholar

Titley presents ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Scholars lecture

��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ scholars public presentations on tap