Celia Haig-Brown, Professor Emerita and Senior Scholar at York University in Toronto, will lead this workshop for those interested in respectful research. Drawing on her work over the years with Indigenous peoples and more recently with women involved in producing rodeo, she will present some of what she continues to learn. Whether working with print or film, whether creating or reading research, respect for those involved is integral to being in good relation to the work. From initial connections to creating an archive after the completion of the work, Celia will share her current thinking on working with people in respectful ways. Writers, readers, teachers and other interested community members should bring their work and their questions to the session.
In the second half of the workshop, Celia will be joined by Ann Cvetkovich, Roderick and Ann’s granddaughter, and Valerie Haig-Brown’s daughter, who is a writer and professor of gender and sexuality studies. Drawing on how Celia’s research has informed her own practices in oral history and personal narrative, Ann will facilitate writing exercises focused on place and family histories.
Location: Museum at Campbell River
Saturday, April 5, 10:00am to 4:00pm
Cost: $55
About the Presenters:
Ann Cvetkovich is Professor of Women, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at the University of Texas at Austin and Professor Emeritus in the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation at Carleton University. She is the author of Mixed Feelings: Feminism, Mass Culture, and Victorian Sensationalism (Rutgers, 1992); An Archive of Feelings: Trauma, Sexuality, and Lesbian Public Cultures (Duke, 2003); and Depression: A Public Feeling (Duke, 2012).
Celia Haig-Brown grew up beside the Campbell River and graduated from Carihi in 1964. She completed three degrees and teacher education at the University of BC. She taught high school in Kamloops, worked for UBC, Simon Fraser University and recently retired from York University in Toronto.
An Anglo-Canadian, she credits Indigenous people across the continent for continuing the education her Campbell River family started. She is the author of one of the first books on Indian Residential schools which focused on Indigenous perspectives. Resistance and Renewal: Surviving the Indian Residential School won the 1988 Regional BC Book Prize. In 2022, following the recovery of the 215+ and with input from the original people involved, she published Tsqelmucwílc: KIRS, Resistance, and a Reckoning. Author and editor of three other books, she is a member of the Royal Society of Canada and Professor Emerita/Senior Scholar at York University in Toronto.
Beyond her writing, she has turned to filmmaking. She is currently in post-production for her fifth, a feature length documentary based in the lives of women involved in rodeo production. Celia spent 12 years in the rodeo business with her late ex-husband. Her next book is to be auto-ethnographic fiction based in the film interviews and her own experiences. She lives beside the Humber River marsh in Toronto with her partner and their black Labrador. She is the proud mother three grown children and grandmother to six.