Boosting our collective brain power
By Suelan Toye
What happens when you bring researchers from all walks of life, academic disciplines and areas of study together for one night? You get CRAM, the first-ever free learning festival featuring Ryerson, University of Toronto, York University and OCAD. For one evening on April 5th, Toronto’s universities will throw open their doors and hold interactive workshops on a dizzying array of topics that touch our every lives.
Here is how the Faculty of Arts’ participating experts will showcase their big ideas, in their own words:
9 PM | EngAGE: Find Your Fountain of Youth
Alexandra J. Fiocco, Associate Professor, Department of Psychology
Aging is inevitable, and these days we are living longer than ever before. With years added to our lives, we need to learn how to add life to our years. Complicating this task is our culture, which equates ageing with decline rather than viewing it as an opportunity for continued growth. I will interact with the audience to explore factors that contribute to healthy aging, and show how actively engaging our minds and bodies every day can make our longer lives much more vital.
9 PM | Welcome to My Territory, Please Leave: Politics of a Land Acknowledgement
Hayden King, Executive Director, Yellowhead Institute, and Advisor to the Dean of Arts on Indigenous Education
“Toronto is on the territory of the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee…” The land acknowledgement, recited on university campuses, provincial legislatures, even NHL games, has become commonplace in much of the country. However, with its growth, there are lingering questions: why do we do this, am I doing this right, is this reconcili-ACTION, or just a hollow gesture? I will consider the history of the acknowledgement, its evolution, when people get it right, but also when they get it wrong.
10 PM | Undressing Gender | Art Blake
Associate Professor, Department of History, and ECI Faculty Chair in the Office of the Vice-President, Equity and Community Inclusion
As a transperson who has lived as a woman, a man, a lesbian, and a gay man, I’ve struggled with finding clothes that match who I am or how I want you to see me. Trans models and TV characters are trendy now, but "cross dressing" and being trans have gotten people arrested, attacked, even killed. Why? How are dressed bodies so central to our social and legal systems? Who are my trans-dressing ancestors and how did they navigate the pleasures and dangers of dressing? Through photos and writings they left behind, I'll answer these questions by inhabiting their histories, bodies and clothing.
For more information and to register for this free event, visit: www.CRAMtoronto.com (external link)