Virtual Graduate Conference
May 12-13, 2022
Failure: Systems at their Limit is a student-run conference organized by first-year MA students in the Media Studies program at Concordia University in Tio'tia:ke/Montreal.
Territorial Acknowledgement
We acknowledge that Concordia University is located on unceded Indigenous lands. The Kanien’kehá:ka Nation is recognized as the custodians of the lands and waters on which many of us gather today. Tiohtià:ke/Montréal is historically known as a gathering place for many First Nations. Today, it is home to a diverse population of Indigenous and other peoples. We respect the continued connections with the past, present and future in our ongoing relationships with Indigenous and other peoples within the Montreal community.
As we gather from across the web and around the world, we also wish to recognise the material and territorial implications of this context. Following the Arts Libraries of North America, We acknowledge the Ohlone family of tribes as the traditional Indigenous inhabitants of what is now called San Jose, California where Zoom is headquartered. The Ohlone - a collective of around 50 separate tribes with related languages that are collectively recognized under this umbrella term - have been living in the Bay Area for 10,000 years. The Ohlone are still here today fighting to keep their culture alive despite the legacy of Spanish missions and Mexican and American colonization.
We encourage each participant joining us from across the globe to look up the lands they are situated on - past, present and future - and to reflect on their relationship to these lands: https://native-land.ca/
We would also like to acknowledge the relationship between failure and colonialism. Settler state have failed to recognize and uphold their treaties with Indigenous Nations as well as their responsibility to the land and its people. Simultaneously the colonial project itself fails to maintain control through every intervention and act of resistance.
We stand in solidarity with Palestine and people everywhere engaged in anti-colonial struggle.
This document is a work in progress as we continue to learn about the work of decolonization and our role within it. Suggestions are always welcome.
Virtual Graduate Conference
May 12-13, 2022
