I will be presenting the Techno-Tamaladas as part of the Artistic Expression, Activism & Technological Imaginaries panel at the Un/Predictable Environments: Politics, Ecology, Agency conference, co-hosted by the Public Humanities Hub at UBC-Vancouver and the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics at Queen’s University Belfast, in collaboration with the University of Allahabad.
Scheduled over two days, the conference will hold more than 20 panels, roundtables, keynotes, and other events, with more than 60 presenters from 11 different countries, all detailed in this conference program.
In the past year, unstoppable wildfires, devastating floods, powerful hurricanes, and the deadly Coronavirus pandemic have resulted in widespread death, despair, and destitution. The very terrain of global environmental action has been riven by political dramas and realignments played out on the international stage. Such un/predictable environments remind us not only of the interconnectedness of human systems with more-than human ecologies, but also how multiple crises can converge and accumulate to produce intersectional impacts.
Our capacity to respond to environmental calamities depends upon how we understand the uncertainties associated with precipitous changes, the nature of vulnerabilities, and our ethical commitments to anticipatory and ongoing care and repair of the natural world. To foster transformative debate across three continents, we have proposed a digital conference at the convergence of critical and emancipatory practices around research, scholarship, art, and activism. The conference aims to explore how we undertake to predict and avoid socioecological harm and disasters. How do we frame the issue of ‘un/predictability’ in our narratives, solutions and practices, and how un/predictable are the intended outcomes?
All Keynote events and sessions will be held online. To accommodate the various time zones of each of the organizing partners, who are located in Vancouver, Belfast, and Allahabad, the conference will begin at 1:00am (PST); 9:00am (BST) and 1:30pm (IST) on Thursday, May 20, and end on Friday, May 21 at 6pm(PST), 2am (BST), and 6:30am (IST). The Artistic Expression, Activism & Technological Imaginaries panel will be on Thursday, May 20 at 6pm(PST), 2am (BST), and 6:30am (IST).
While this conference is virtual, UBC-Vancouver is located on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the Musqueam people. The land it is situated on what has always been a place of learning for the Musqueam, who for millennia have passed on their culture, history, and traditions from one generation to the next on this site.