Nov. 14-15-16...
a busy week at Island Studies!
Sustainable Agriculture and the Island's Food System: A Public Symposium
Featuring Dr. Mark Lapping, Mark Bernard, Barry Cudmore, and Dr. Colleen Walton
Chaired by Diane Griffin
WHEN: Monday, November 14, 2016 | 7-9 p.m.
WHERE: Duffy Science Centre Amphitheatre
The Island’s “food system” will be the topic of a Public Symposium to be held at UPEI’s Duffy Science Centre Amphitheatre (in the centre of campus), Room 135, on Monday, November 14, beginning at 7:00 p.m. In particular, the discussion will focus on a move toward a more sustainable agriculture, with a stronger emphasis on local food and food security.
This event is one of a regular series of Public Symposia sponsored by UPEI’s Institute of Island Studies, in conjunction with UPEI Research Services.
The main speaker will be distinguished author and public policy specialist Dr. Mark Lapping, long associated with the Edmund S. Muskie School of Public Service at the University of Southern Maine. Dr. Lapping has held many academic leadership posts, including that as founding Dean of the prestigious School of Rural Planning and Development at the University of Guelph. Throughout his career, he has maintained a strong interest in land issues in Prince Edward Island, and has published several papers and studies on the topic.
In recent years, Dr. Lapping has focused his work on food systems and has written extensively on the subject. He was the leader of an ambitious undertaking at the Muskie School which developed a food plan and strategy for the state of Maine.
“To most people,” says Dr. Lapping, “food is about growing and consuming food. But a food system,” he continues, “is a large set of processes and it is critical to take a wider, systems perspective. Only then might we have a more robust understanding of the ways by which a sustainable agriculture can become part of a larger process of change toward a more nutritious and just life for individuals, families and communities.”
Responding to Dr. Lapping’s talk will be a Panel comprised of two Island farmers and a researcher in public health nutrition. Barry Cudmore of Brackley Beach farms seed potatoes, soy beans and grains. A Nuffield scholar and member of the Atlantic Agriculture Hall of Fame, he is a proponent of seeking farm sustainability in moving from commodities to branded products, and reconnecting consumers with producers.
Mark Bernard and his wife Sally operate Barnyard Organics in Freetown. As the fourth-generation Bernard on this family farm, Mark has moved away from potato production. The objective of Barnyard Organics is “to bring the farm back to its original state as a self-sustaining mixed farm, using traditional methods combined with some of the efficient technologies of our time.”
The third Panelist is Dr. Colleen Walton, Associate Professor in Applied Human Sciences at UPEI. She has over 20 years of working experience within the Island’s food system. Her research interests lie in the area of building capacity among groups and individuals toward strengthened livelihoods and greater household food security.
Stratford Town Councillor and IIS Advisory Committee member (and recently appointed Senator of Canada) Diane Griffin has agreed to serve as Chair.
Members of the public are cordially invited to attend. Admission is free. Following the presentations, there will be ample time for discussion and questions from the floor.
Stories of Weathering Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu -
Leaf-houses, Flying Foxes, and Body Bags:
Island Studies November Lecture
Featuring Dr. Jean Mitchell
WHEN: Tuesday, November 15, 2016 | 7 p.m.
WHERE: Faculty Lounge, SDU Main Building, UPEI
The November Island Studies Lecture will be Tuesday, November 15, at 7 p.m. in the SDU Main Building Faculty Lounge on the UPEI campus, featuring Dr. Jean Mitchell sharing Stories of Weathering Cyclone Pam in Vanuatu: Leaf-houses, Flying Foxes, and Body Bags.
With winds up to 300 kph, Cyclone Pam was the largest cyclone to make landfall in the South Pacific islands since recordkeeping started. It struck the island of Vanuatu on March 13, 2015, leaving in its wake enormous losses of infrastructure, housing, animals, and food gardens. But why did so few islanders die during the cyclone and its aftermath? Drawing on recent interviews with Islanders from the southern islands of Erromango and Tanna, which were literally in the eye of the storm, this presentation recounts stories from those Islanders about the cyclone and its aftermath. How social relationships, the gift/kastom economies, local knowledge, and the ways in which nature and culture are entangled in Vanuatu offer powerful insights into how to survive a cyclone.
Jean Mitchell, an associate professor of Anthropology at UPEI, has been working in Vanuatu for 20 years and has also conducted research in Kiribati and Solomon Islands. In Vanuatu she started the Young People's Project at the Vanuatu Cultural Centre. Her research interests include post-colonialism, youth, gender, health and urbanization. She has co-edited several volumes of essays on L.M. Montgomery and has been researching the Presbyterian Missionary history that connects Vanuatu and Prince Edward Island. She has, together with Vanuatu Cultural Centre, recently started a project on local knowledge, youth and the ecologies of gardens in Tanna and Erromango.
Admission to the Lecture is free and everyone is welcome to attend.
Watch for details for another lecture about islands – near and far – December 6! For more information, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or (902) 894-2881.
"OPEN PAGES" highlights new book on PEI’s
Quaker settlement
Featuring John Cousins
WHEN: Wednesday, November 16, 2016 | 7 p.m.
WHERE: Robertson Library, UPEI
This month’s edition of “Open Pages” at UPEI’s Robertson Library happens Wednesday evening November 16, at 7 pm and highlights the book New London: The Lost Dream by John Cousins.
Open Pages features local authors speaking about their books: what inspired them, what they learned, what they shared. The public is warmly invited to this evening, which takes place in the common area on the second floor of UPEI. Light refreshments will be served, and books will be for sale, and signing by the author.
New London: The Lost Dream is the true story of the brave Quakers from London, England who settled along PEI’s north shore in 1773. If you’ve ever wondered what it was like for our first settlers on the Island, this book is an excellent recreation of how they arrived, survived, and occasionally thrived in the “new world” that was PEI in the mid-1700s.
 
This e-mail is distributed by the Institute of Island Studies. If you'd like more information about any of the items, please contact Laurie at iis@upei.ca or (902) 894-2881.
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