WGSI Research Seminar | In Consideration of “The Sacred” Reflection on Purity, Traditionalism and Futures with Dr. Vanessa Watts

Join the Women and Gender Studies Institute for another event in our ongoing Research Seminar series. We will be joined by Dr. Vanessa Watts, Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies & Sociology in the Faculty of Social Sciences at McMaster University.

More information and free registration here: uoft.me/watts-seminar.

Abstract: This talk will provide reflections on what is held as “sacred” in our origin stories and communities, and how Indigenous knowledges are formed in relation to this term. As Indigenous thought continues to expand into academic and intellectual spaces, a concomitant tension emerges around what forms of knowledge become permissible. Further, once arriving in these spaces, which are often abstracted from place, the question of can or should Indigenous knowledges be interrogated remains uncertain. In convening “the sacred” as an orienting frame, issues connected to Indigenous forms of purism and traditionalism will be examined.

Co-sponsored by the Department of Sociology’s Gender Research Area and Colonialism, Racialization, Indigeneity Research Area