Gradzette The university of mANITOBA’S GRADUATE STUDENT Magazine September 2014
Gradzette THE UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA’S GRADUATE STUDENT MAGAZINE
September 2014
3-6 UNIVERSITY OF MANITOBA GRADUATE STUDENTS’ ASSOCIATION
2014-2015
UMGSA ORIENTATION All graduate students are members of UMGSA, orientation is a great oppurtunity for all new and returning graduate students to get involved with UMGSA. Come join us, and get connected!!!
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UMGSA Orientation Schedule 2014-2015 Fort Garry Campus, University of Manitoba September 9 - 11, 2014 UMGSA Lounge, 217 University Centre University of Manitoba
DAY1 Tuesday Sept 9 10:00am UMGSA Welcome + Services
DAY2 Wednesday Sept 10 Student Support
10:30am Faculty of
-Student Advocacy and Accessibility - Career Development
11:30am Students Sharing their Experiences
Students Sharing their Experiences
12:00pm -1:00pm Free Lunch
Free Lunch
Graduate Studies
DAY3 Thursday Sept 11
UMGSA Roundtable Discussion on Graduate Student Priorities, New and current students, issues and solutions
Free Lunch
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Gradzette c/o The Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation 105 University Centre University of Manitoba Winnipeg, MB, R3T 2N2 General inquiries and advertising Phone: (204) 474.6535 Fax: (204) 474.7651 Email: editor@gradzette.com Editor: Ryan Harby Copy Editor: Bryce Hoye Designer: Marc Lagace Contributors: Leila Mostaço-Guidolin, Katy MacKinnon, Mary Horodyski Cover: Beibei Lu
The Gradzette is the official student magazine of the University of Manitoba’s graduate student community and is published on the first Monday of each month by the Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation.
The Gradzette is a democratic student organization, open to participation from all students. It exists to serve its readers as students and citizens. The magazine’s primary mandate is to report fairly and 1 1 9 Sep t0 1 4 objec¬tively on issues and events of importance and inter2 C U 2 17 est to the graduate students of the University of Manitoba, to provide an open forum for the free expression and If you have a passion for writing, jourexchange of opinions and ideas, and to stimulate meannalism, photography, or illustration ingful debate on issues that affect or would otherwise be the Gradzette is looking for individuof interest to the student body and/or society in general. als to get involved with the produc tion process of the U of M’s graduate The Gradzette serves as a training ground for students instudent paper. terested in any aspect of journalism. Students and other interested parties are invited to contribute. Please contact The Gradzette currently offers 10 the editor listed above for submission guidelines. cents per word for freelance articles, $7 per photo/graphic used, and $30 The Gradzette reserves the right to edit all submissions for images used on the cover. Freeand will not publish any material deemed by its editorilancers will be added to a contact al board to be discriminatory, racist, sexist, homophobic pool and emailed with potential aror libelous. Opinions expressed in letters and articles are ticle, photo, or graphic assignments solely those of the authors. when they become available. The Gradzette is a member of the Canadian University Interested applicants please send Press, a national student press cooperative with members your resume and at least two (2) refrom St. John’s to Victoria. cent work samples to editor@grad zette.com. All contents are © 2014 and may not be reprinted without the express written permission of the Manitoban Newspaper Publications Corporation. 1:00pm
Academic Success Student Engagement - Academic Integrity - Student Life - Academic Learning - Aboriginal Student Centre Centre - Library Services - Recreation Services
2:30pm
Students Sharing their Experiences
City Tour in Winnipeg (please RSVP to gsa@umgsa.org)
Students Sharing their Experiences
3:00pm Office Open House -4:00pm 221 University Centre
Wine & Cheese
Orientation Social
Freelance 4:00pm-5:30pm
University of Manitoba Graduate Students’ Association 221 University Centre, University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba R3T 2N2 www.umgsa.org Tel. 204-474-9181 gsa@umgsa.org
5:00pm-8:00pm
Gradzette
September 2014
Researcher and farmers survey. Photo by Laura Husak.
Food insecurity and small millets Researcher Profile: Laura Husak Leila Mostaço-Guidolin
F
ood insecurity, says Laura Husak, is a complex issue that can only be addressed by taking the (sometimes painful) step of crossing disciplinary boundaries. Husak accepted this challenge when she started her master’s studies at the department of anthropology.
that may improve productivity and improve the status of nutritious small millets, a traditional coarse grain grown in rainfed regions of South Asia. Finger millet is one of six species collectively labelled small millets that have been cultivated for over 3,000 years in Africa and South Asia. These species have been socially constructed as “poor people’s food” and their contribution to the food and nutritional security in rainfed agriculture is under-recognized by the formal agriculture research sector.
Under supervision of Dr. Derek Johnson, Husak is examining how interdisciplinary collaboration for food security initiatives takes place in an international development project funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development and the International Development Research Centre (IDRC). Increasing the productivity, value, and status of The project involves researchers from five small millets is the objective of the ‘Revalorizing Canadian universities, five South Asian NGOs, Small Millets in South Asia’ (RESMISA) project, and two South Asian agricultural universities funded by the IDRC and the Department of who are using participatory agricultural research Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development. methodologies to test local and new technologies If food security is defined as physical and
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Gradzette
September 2014
Laura Husak at IDRC office in Delhi.
“The key message is that we need to look beyond the simple story that ‘technology will solve the sustainability issue’” — Laura Husak economic access to food, then raising incomes and productivity of the more than 500 million smallholder farmers in the world is key to meeting food production needs for the growing global population and for food security at the household level. Husak is researching how perceptions of technology for farmers, scientists, and development practitioners differ and how they seek to bring different knowledge together to address a complex problem like food security. “Lack of appropriate technology is often blamed for the lower productivity of subsistence and smallholder farmers,” says Husak. “I wanted to understand the role of technology in addressing food security, technology being the innovative material, immaterial, and methodological ways we adapt to changing conditions around us.” 4
Even as the project seeks to address the technical challenges of cultivating small millets and bottlenecks in connecting smallholding farmers to markets, the contribution of anthropology is in connecting the micro and macro perspectives. “This is done both by taking into account the site-specific impacts of the project and by framing the project within a wider policy context in which food security projects are designed,” says Husak. “This contribution is essential for defining what is the ‘big picture,’ as quantitative indicators cannot fully explain the diverse reasons people take up or reject particular technologies or the cultivation of particular crops.” Husak conducts her fieldwork in the foothills of the Annapurna range of the Himalayas in Nepal, where the drastic changes in elevation has created many niche micro-climates and farmers are able to grow a diverse range of crops on terraced hills, including rice, corn, small millets, legumes, and vegetables. Farmers in the area are also rearing animals such as buffalo, goats, and chickens. There, men and women smallholding farmers play an important role as food producers, not only for their own households but as entrepreneurs as well.
Gradzette
September 2014
Agriculture is inherently site-specific. In the context of Nepal, “agricultural technologies” are totally different than what we may think of in Canadian agriculture: a variety of seed, a planting or harvesting method, a hand-operated tool or machine.
initiatives provided her an introduction into studying where our food comes from and the values associated with it: “I’m an avid labelreader, but my favourite meals are the ones where I have procured as many ingredients as possible directly from producers, garden or the wild.”
“While a single variety of canola grows tens of thousands of acres of farmland in Western Canada, in the foothills of the Himalayas one community may cultivate over 50 varieties of rice alone,” says Husak. “Diversity is central to agriculture in Nepal where maize, wheat, small millet, vegetables, and fruits are cultivated.
Researching small millets was linked to her interest in the ‘farm to fork’ food systems. Husak wanted to see how a traditional food could be considered a disadvantaged crop by some and at the same time be a highly nutritious and underexploited crop to others. According to Husak, “technology is an entry point between these two, either as a ‘lack’ of appropriate technology or as a potential space for innovation.”
“In rainfed areas where irrigation cannot be counted on—making up two-thirds of cultivated land in Nepal—a traditional cereal called finger Husak has graduated from the global political millet (Eleusine coracana) is grown alongside or economy program at the U of M, which trains between maize.” students in inter-disciplinary approaches to Husak’s experience in Manitoba local food global challenges. When asked about how exactly she got into this field, Husak does not hesitate.
Nepali women and researcher evaluate varieties of finger millet. Photo by Lise Bjerke.
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Gradzette
September 2014
The RESMISA project is part of the Canadian International Food Security Research Fund (CIFSRF), a 124 million dollar fund supporting 22 food security projects around the world. The fund supports partnerships between Canadian researchers and researchers in developing countries to support Canada’s official development assistance priority of improving food security.
“My degree in global political economy was fantastic preparation in understanding ‘big picture’ issues like food security. I have been able to bring together my curiosity about why my generation is facing particular challenges with an applied research project. I get to make policy recommendations and be a storyteller.” The overall message that Husak is helping to spread is: “[that] despite of our efforts to control the variables, there is a level of uncertainty and complexity that often foils our efforts to find consistency and explain linear processes. Farmers, fishers, and others who rely on natural resources for their livelihood may be quick to acknowledge this element of chaos. But something that is potentially difficult to reconcile for policymakers, scientists, or managers of natural resources.” Debates will continue over the role of technology in agriculture — whether about GMOs, inorganic fertilizer, fossil fuels, water, or climate change. Food security is an issue facing different communities in different ways, and not always bound by national or provincial borders. When we ask the big question of how to feed the world, it is not just a technical problem of increasing the rate of productivity growth in agriculture – It is linked to specific places and to the people who grow.
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As a final thought, Husak emphasizes: “technology is not a panacea, but it can be leveraged! The key message is that we need to look beyond the simple story that ‘technology will solve the sustainability issue.’ Every technology will have unintended impacts (whether positive or negative) and we need to go beyond the tangible and intangible technologies to the social relationships that are behind technology.”
Gradzette
September 2014
2014 GSA orienation
UMGSA and HSGSA plan info sessions, social Katy MacKinnon
T
he University of Manitoba Graduate Student’s Association (UMGSA) and the Health Sciences Graduate Student’s Association (HSGSA) are gearing up for their 2014 orientations, held Sept. 9-11 and Sept. 5, respectively.
In previous years, UMGSA has provided a city bustour that has been well received. Students who are new to the city or who just want to learn more about the city they live in can attend the tour at 1 p.m. on Sept. 11. The tour group will meet in the UMGSA The Fort Garry campus events will take place in the lounge. Seating will be limited based on RSVPs to UMGSA lounge (217 University Centre) and will gsa@umgsa.org. be comprised of information sessions, a roundtable New to this year’s orientation, the UMGSA will be discussion, and opportunities for socializing and making a concerted effort to attend departmental networking. orientation sessions, where they will provide The theme for this year’s orientation is information about their available services, and how students can participate in the UMGSA. “interdepartmental connection and collaboration.” “The executive is committed to increasing participation of graduate students throughout the year so we can be more relevant in representing graduate student needs,” said Laura Rempel, UMGSA president. Graduate students can attend information sessions on the first two days of orientation.
“We realize not all students will be able to make the scheduled events, so executive members will go to where the new students are,” said Rempel. The UMGSA has planned entertaining events to allow for networking and socializing. From 4 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Sept. 10, there is a wine and cheese event.
On Sept. 9 at 10:30 a.m., the morning info session is titled, “Faculty of Graduate Studies,” and at 1 p.m. Finally, to wrap up the orientation there will be a free social on Thursday, Sept. 11 from 5-8 p.m., held in there is an “Academic Success” session. the UMGSA lounge. On Sept. 10 at 10 am, the morning info session is titled “Student Support” info session, and at 1 p.m. HSGSA Orientation there will be a “Student Engagement” info session. Student Life will kick off the information sessions During the last half hour of the info sessions, students on the Bannatyne campus at 9 a.m. in Theatre A. will have the opportunity to hear advice and tips from Following an “Intro to HSGSA” session at 10 a.m. is a “Career Services” session at 11 a.m. existing graduate students. On each day of orientation there will be a free lunch from 12 p.m. to 1 p.m. The UMGSA will have tables set up during this time for students who are not able to attend the information sessions. Those who do attend, however, will have priority for the free lunch.
At 11:30 a.m. students can hear “Options and Resources for Dealing with a Difficult Advisor.”
Other information sessions throughout the day include “Student Services at Bannatyne” at 1:30 p.m., and “Human Rights and Advocacy Services” at 2:15 The roundtable discussion, “Grad Student Priorities,” p.m. will begin on Thursday Sept. 11 at 10 a.m. Students Students who attend the HSGSA orientation on can bring up issues that they feel need to be addressed: Sept. 5 will have first priority for free breakfast and for example, affordable public transit and graduate lunch, served on a first-come first-serve basis. student housing.
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Gradzette
September 2014
A truly unique Canadian archive Researcher Profile: Jesse Boiteau
Mary Horodyski large bentwood box shaped from a single piece of red cedar was created by Coast Salish artist Luke Marston as a lasting tribute to the students of Canada’s former residential schools. This box, representing all the indigenous people affected by the schools (First Nations, Inuit and Métis), travelled with the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) throughout Canada during their five years of statement gathering.
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The bentwood box now safely rests at the National Research Centre for Truth and Reconciliation (NRCTR), housed at the University of Manitoba. This Centre will safeguard records relating to residential schools, including statements of school survivors, historical documents from the government of Canada and the church organizations involved in the schools, research documents created by the TRC, and the bentwood box and other works of art and artifacts presented to commission during the TRC’s travels across Canada. Among all these valuable remembrances, there is none more treasured and important than the school survivors’ stories. That all the records are kept safely and respectfully is central to the National Research Centre’s contribution to understanding the legacy of residential schools and to reconciliation. Jesse Boiteau, a Métis student in the Archival Studies master’s programme at the U of M, has been closely following the development of the NTC. Jesse’s master’s thesis examines three key areas integral to the operation of the NRC: transparency, trust, and participation. The fulfillment of these elements will make the centre, as Boiteau says, “a truly unique Canadian archive.” To promote the goals of transparency, trust, and participation, Boiteau is using social media to build a public forum for discussion about the NRC. As part of his thesis research, Boiteau created a blog following the progress of the centre. This blog, titled “Jesse’s Thesis,” has generated interest and discussion across the U of M and Canada. 8
“It is important to have the NRC’s establishment documented in a way that outlines and highlights the key elements that make it such an important archival institution,” Boiteau says. He is using his blog to help lay bare the archival structures that support the preservation of the gathered material and to further the aims of the NRC in sharing an understanding about its work. “People’s comments and support have helped me realize that this subject is worth exploring further,” says Boiteau. “Jesse personifies the Archival Studies program’s commitment to Indigenous archiving,” says Dr. Tom Nesmith, founder and director of the U of M’s master’s program in Archival Studies. The internship section of the program gave Boiteau “the unique opportunity as a student to participate in planning activities for the arrival of the TRC archives.” As Boiteau’s blog describes, the process of creating the NRC ranges from the practicalities of a server that can handle 200 terabytes of data to discussions on how the centre can best balance access to the records
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September 2014
while protecting privacy needs. In all facets of its Shelley Sweeney, head of the UM Archives & Special development, the NRC is committed to a high level Collections, states that “Jesse led the effort to create of participation from stakeholders. an aboriginal transfer agreement that would ensure An integral part of the NRC is the governing circle, indigenous ownership was not given up when whose majority will be composed of indigenous materials are deposited with the Archives.” members. Three of these members will represent survivors of the residential school system or their families. As Boiteau states, the governing circle will “ensure that future decision making regarding residential school records be done respectfully and as inclusively as possible.” Boiteau has a clear vision of the necessity for community participation in archives. “I strongly believe that if archives wish to remain relevant, they must open up to a more transparent way of documenting archival processes and allow room for user participation to not only improve the contextual information associated with records and improve the overall accessibility of records, but to also share with users something that archivists have been withholding for far too long: archival authority,” Boiteau states in a post on his blog. Boiteau recently had the opportunity to work with the Urban Aboriginal History project, which he describes as “a good example of participatory archiving.”
Ry Moran, director of the National Research Centre, says “Jesse’s work has clearly demonstrated the strength and benefits of having students involved in the processes of the NRC. Each student that engages with this topic, that helps others learn about it and contributes their own original thought to the issues of the Truth and Reconciliation is one more important step towards healing the legacy of the Residential Schools in this Country.” Boiteau originally planned to become a teacher, but he caught the archiving bug during summer employment at the Archives of Manitoba. With his blog, Jesse gets the best of both careers: his blog gives him the opportunity to engage in community education about the subject of archives that he feels is not well understood. “If I could change anything it would be for archives to be well known and appreciated by mainstream Canadians,” says Boiteau. “This would lead to more funding, more jobs, and more complete sets of records.”
This project collected the records of Winnipeg organizations such as the Indian and Métis Friendship Visit Jesse’s blog to learn more about archives and Centre and Aboriginal Council of Canada. the National Research Centre: http://jesseboiteau. Aboriginal students were involved in the archival wordpress.com/. work of processing these records and conducting oral history interviews with indigenous organizers.
Get your research featured in the Gradzette Are you a graduate student eager to promote your research and provide exposure for your work in the master’s or doctoral program? The Gradzette is looking for individuals interested in participating in our ongoing “Researcher Profile” column, which seeks to showcase important and exciting U of M research for a larger audience. If you would like to be featured in an upcoming “Researcher Profile,” please contact editor@gradzette.com with details regarding your field of study, a short blurb about your current research, and any pertinent contact information for interview purposes. 9