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September 12, 2025

We acknowledge and respect the Lək̓ʷəŋən (Songhees and Xʷsepsəm/Esquimalt) Peoples on whose territory the university stands, and the Lək̓ʷəŋən and W̱SÁNEĆ Peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day.

POLITICAL SCIENCE ANNOUNCEMENTS

POLI 2025 LANSDOWNE VISITOR
ALISON BRYSK, Chair and Distinguished Professor of Political Science and Global Studies, UC Santa Barbara
Department Seminar: “Abortion Rights Backlash: The Struggle for Democracy in Europe and the Americas"
Tuesday, September 16, 2:30 pm, HSD A264

Public lecture: “Reinventing Human Rights in a Post-American World”
Wednesday, September 17, 7 pm, DTB A102
In a time of worldwide humanitarian crisis and democratic backsliding, how can we imagine a future for human rights? Does the loss of American leadership of the liberal world order--however limited and uneven--undermine global governance or open new possibilities? And how can a renewed vision of human rights guide us towards the next era of global cooperation?

Dr. Alison Brysk is the author of eight books on human rights, democracy, globalization, social movements, gender and Latin American politics. She is the author of Abortion Rights Backlash: The struggles for Democracy in Europe and the Americas (Oxford University Press). Brysk has been a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center; Fulbright Professor in Canada, India and at Oxford.

POLI UGRAD MEET & GREET
Wednesday, September 24, 4-6 pm, VERTIGO LOUNGE, SUB
Mark your calendars for the annual POLI Undergrad Meet and Greet. This event is a great opportunity to share information about the department as well as build a strong connection with our incoming students.

POLI-CAPI SEMINAR: SIYUAN YIN, School of Communication, SFU
“Contesting Inequalities: Mediated Labor Activism and Rural Migrant Workers in China”
Friday, September 26, 2:30-4 pm, .
Over the past decades, China’s rapid economic growth has created the world’s second-largest economy, yet social inequality has deepened, particularly for rural migrant workers. Harsh labor conditions have fueled rising worker protests, but in China’s authoritarian context, strikes often face suppression and receive scant mainstream coverage. As a result, alternative mediated practices have become crucial and complex elements of worker resistance. In Contesting Inequalities, Siyuan Yin examines the historical and structural forces shaping the experiences of migrant workers, especially women, and the interplay between media and collective action. Drawing on long-term, multi-sited, and digital ethnography, and informed by feminist methodologies, Yin analyzes mediated labor activism through theater, advocacy music, and digital community media. She shows how these practices foster new subjectivities, counter-discourses, and informal networks and demonstrates that the rise in Chinese working-class resistance underscores the deep connections between class struggles and feminist activism.

COLIN BENNETT JOINS INITIATIVE TO SAVE CANADA'S "DIGITAL SOVEREIGNTY"
Colin Bennett joined a group of 70 leading Canadians and civil society groups to ask Carney to protect Canada's "digital sovereignty". From the CBC coverage: "Dozens of experts, academics and organizations have urging Prime Minister Mark Carney to swiftly "defend Canada's digital sovereignty" and protect the country from the whims of the Trump administration. The letter says Carney has argued Canada must become an energy superpower and get big projects built, but not spent enough time talking about the need to secure Canada's digital economy." .

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UVIC ANNOUNCMENTS

LINGUISTICS, LANGUAGES & CULTURES: LANSDOWNE LECTURE
“Remembering, Restorying, and Reclaiming in the Wake of Erasure”
Saturday, September 13, 4:30 pm, First Peoples House
Organized by Colonial Injustices and Current Realities
What becomes possible when remembering histories are led by Indigenous communities and accountable to Indigenous homelands? Drawing from California-based examples, this lecture offers a guide for how the decolonial practices of remembering, restorying, and reclaiming can reimagine archival work, institutional accountability, and public memory by centering Indigenous knowledge, sovereignty, and ceremonial care to construct prosperous Indigenous futures. 

Theresa Jean Ambo is an Associate Professor at UCLA in the Departments of American Indian Studies and Education. Her primary research examines historical and contemporary relationships between Native Nations and public universities. She also collaborates with community members and colleagues to examine settler land acknowledgment statements and histories of universities.

Kelly Leah Stewart is a Chancellor’s Postdoctoral Fellow in the American Indian Studies Center at UCLA and Assistant Professor at California State University, Long Beach in the American Indian Studies program. Her primary research examines the intergenerational legacy of Catholic-run mission boarding schools in California. In addition to being collaborators, Theresa and Kelly are sisters. They are the daughters of Lane and Dolores Stewart. Through their maternal lineage, they are Gabrielino/Tongva and Luiseno/Payómkawichum, descending from the villages of Wa’aachnga, Jaibepet, and Toibingna. Along with their older sister, Ramona Rodriguez, and younger brother, Lane “Buddy” Stewart, they were born and raised in Awiingna.

JURSIDICTION BACK: RESTORING INDIGNENOUS GOVERNANCE THROUGH AN ETHIC OF CARE
September 25 & 26 9 am – 5 pm
Co-organized by Heidi Kiiwetinepinesiik Stark, Sarah Hunt /Tłaliłila’ogwa and Sarah Morales, this symposium will consider how we speak to, think about and do the work of law and governance when we center ethics of care. The symposium will be held in the Ceremonial Hall at the First Peoples House, University of Victoria. Registration is free and lunch will be provided. Jurisdiction Back is part of the SSHRC-funded project Infrastructure Beyond Extractivism: Material Approaches to Restoring Indigenous Jurisdiction. For more information, visit  

CSPT COLLOQUIUM SERIES 2025-26
We are delighted to invite UVic graduate students and faculty members to present at the Cultural, Social, and Political Thought (CSPT) colloquium series. These conferences are designed to provide a friendly space for us to get together, exchange ideas and share our thoughts. 

Event Details

• Dates: Last Thursday of each month (Sept 25, Oct 31*, Nov 27, Jan 29, Feb 26, March 26)
• Time: 4:00–5:30 pm
• Location: Grad House, Room 108 (unless otherwise noted)
• Presentation format: 20-minute presentation + 15 minutes for Q&A
• Proposal deadline: 2 weeks prior to your preferred session

*Please note: The October colloquium will take place on Friday, October 31, as part of the “What Can/Should Be Done?” roundtable series, organized in collaboration with the Kariz Association. It will be followed on Saturday by the Fall of Theory program. Further details will be shared soon.

More details on proposals and presentation guidelines are attached. If you are interested in presenting, please contact csptcolloquium@gmail.com at your earliest convenience and be prepared to submit your proposal (PDF format. For any questions or clarifications, feel free to reach out. We look forward to seeing you and to another enriching year of conversations together.

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