Conference: GIS, Culture, and Change in Canada's "Little North"

Friday and Saturday, April 16-17, 2004
University of California, Berkeley

Sponsored by:
The Canadian Studies Program and Geographic Information Science Center

Description:
Once at the heart of economic exchange and cultural encounter between the First Nations and the early European traders in the Americas, the “Little North” region of Canada may be again at a crossroads in its history.

This conference seeks to take stock of the past significance and contemporary dynamics of the “Little North,” its First Nations people, and the issues facing its inhabitants as Canada seeks sustainable development.

The conference will highlight the upcoming publication “The Canoe Atlas of the Little North,” detailing the intricate network of trade routes that criss cross the region, and the cultural life they sustain.

The conference foregrounds the potential of GIS, such as the supplemental GIS developed for the Atlas by UC Berkeley's Geographic Information Science Center, in the context of historical and cultural research.

Conference Schedule

Friday April 16, Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology, 5:00 pm:

Reception, followed by keynote speech.
Keynote speaker: Harry Bombay (Executive Director, National Aboriginal Forestry Association)

Saturday April 17, Goldberg Room, 297 Simon Hall, 9 am:

Panel 1: Background, History, and Culture of the Little North (Chair – Richard Rhodes, Linguistics)
Thomas G. Barnes (History and Law, University of California, Berkeley; Co-Chair of Canadian Studies Program)
“In the Wake of Harold Innis' Canoe”

Mary Black-Rogers (Anthropology, University of Alberta)
”Life with the Crane Indians, Past And Present, In Mid-Little North: Did Their Geography Mould Their Culture And Their Acceptance Of Change?”

Kathryn Molohon (Anthropology, Laurentian University)
"Culture and Adaptations of Swampy Cree Residents of the West Coast of James Bay"

Panel 2: “The Canoe Atlas of the Little North”: GIS in the Study of History and Culture (Chair – John Radke (Director, Geographic Information Systems Center)

John Radke (Director, Geographic Information Science Center, UCB)
"Why GIS? The Potential of GIS Applications in the Humanities"

Jon Berger (President/CEO of Expert Information Systems, Inc.)
"The Creation of the Canoe Atlas of the Little North"

Weimin Li (Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning, UCB)
"From Spatial Data to GIS Data: The Goals of the Canoe Atlas GIS"

Dan Cole (GIS Coordinator and Research Cartographer, Smithsonian Institution)
"Digital Atlas of American Indians: Changes Through the Centuries in Population and Land Tenure"

Panel 3: The Present and Future of the Little North (Chair – Nelson Graburn, Anthropology; Curator for North America, Hearst Museum of Anthropology; Co-Chair of the Canadian Studies Program)

Fred P. Wesley (Deputy Chief, Attawapiskat First Nation, Attawapiskat, Ontario)
“The Impact of Mega-Project Resource Development on the West Coast of James Bay”

Adrian Tanner (Anthropology, Memorial University, St John's, NFLD)

Lillian Trapper (Policy Analyst and Coordinator, Lands and Resources, Moose Cree First Nation)
"First Nations and GIS in the Little North"

This conference is made possible through the generous support of the Government of Canada, with additional support from UC Berkeley’s Doreen B. Townsend Center for the Humanities, International and Area Studies, Anthropology Department, and the Phoebe Hearst Museum of Anthropology.