The City Institute at York University (CITY) presents:
The City Seminar

An interdisciplinary series of presentations and discussions on urban landscapes, past and present.

Karl Schmid

Anthropology, York University

“The Vast Suburbs of Cairo:
Slums, Desert Studios and Tarnished Dreamlands”

Karl Schmid is a contract faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at York University. He has conducted research in Egypt on inequality and spatial control, included ethnographic, corporate, and archival analyses of tourism development, as well as the respatializations of the city of Luxor by the Egyptian government, World Bank, UNESCO, and the UNDP. He has published on methodologies of enclave-based ethnography and tourist imaginaries involved in the control of public space.
His new research projects include grasping the diversity of suburban Cairo and the relationships between its highly segregated areas, and the potential social and cultural implications of peak oil and an energy transition within the Greater Toronto Area.

Time: Friday April 9, 2010
12:30-2:00 pm
Location: 142 HNES Building
York University

For more information see the attached poster.
Everyone is welcome.

Project Coordinator / Research Assistant, Centre for the North

The Conference Board of Canada recently launched a new five-year initiative called the Centre for the North. The Centre brings together Aboriginal leaders, businesses, governments, communities, educational institutions, and other organizations to achieve a shared vision of sustainable prosperity in the North. We are seeking a Project Coordinator / Research Assistant to act as a prime liaison with project partners and to support the numerous research initiatives that are under way.

Reporting to the Director, the Project Coordinator / Research Assistant will work closely with members of the project team, as well as with external partners and stakeholders. This position is a 6-month contract to start (potentially renewable for up to four years), is available immediately, and is located in Ottawa.

Characteristics
We are seeking a bright, energetic individual who will represent the Centre for the North and the Conference Board in a professional manner. A significant portion of this role involves liaising with key external stakeholders and their contacts.

Just a quick note to say registration is now open for our May 3 credit course UBC LFS302 Int’l Field Studies in Sustainable Agriculture Cuba. Open to international students and other interested parties through ACCESS UBC, the course runs from April 30th to May 22nd. I have some discount air seats held till March 31.

Here is the UBC link. Be sure to click on the videos of Brittany Buchanan (former student), Gregory Biniowsky and Mavis Alvarez.

Interested? Call me at 604-947-2893. Its a GREAT experience!

Calling all students with an interest in food issues!

Here is your chance to participate in the consultation process for the Toronto Food Strategy’s consultation report – Food Connections: Towards a Healthy and Sustainable Food System for Toronto – (www.toronto.ca/foodconnections).
Members of Toronto Public Health’s Food Strategy team will facilitate a consultation session on March 19, 2010 from 9AM-11AM. Light refreshments will be provided. Location to be confirmed (later this week).

Come prepared with your suggestions and questions regarding the strategy to be presented to Toronto City Council.

CHANGING THE WORLD BY CHANGING OUR ORGANIZATIONS

Time: Friday, March 19
3:00pm – 4:30pm
Location: Centre for Social Innovation
Alterna Savings Boardroom
Free

Presented by Organization Unbound and the Centre for Social Innovation

Many of us involved in social service and social change work have been frustrated by the incoherence that can exist between our organizations’ overarching visions and their internal cultures and practices. How many community organizations have we encountered that don’t feel like communities? How many advocacy groups that forget to practice the things they themselves advocate?

Our experiences and early research suggest that the distinction between serving the world and nurturing our organizations is a false one. Some of the most vibrant and socially catalytic organizations we have seen are places where there is a promising confusion about who is serving whom – schools where teachers learn and grow, food banks where staff and volunteers are nourished, hospitals where doctors are healed, social justice groups where activists are surprised to find their vision of a better world taking root in their own offices.