Memoir (21) by Professor Joe Watkins, University of Arizona, USA
For three days in June, GSI/GI-CoRE was pleased to host researchers and administrators from the University of Melbourne in Sapporo for a series of workshops/symposia on a variety of topics. The visitors from Melbourne included professors and program managers for the Indigenous Studies Program, the Indigenous Knowledge Institute, the Indigenous Data Network, and Indigenous Collections, as well as University of Melbourne Vice Chancellors for Global Culture and Engagement, Indigenous Programs, and the Indigenous Knowledge Institute. From Hokkaido University, professors and program managers of the Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies, GSI-GI-CoRE, the Center for Environmental and Health Sciences, the Faculty of Health Sciences, and others programs were represented in the sessions.
Presenters in the June 27 University Management and Indigenous People joint workshop offered information on various ways that Hokkaido University is trying to increase its involvement with and programs concerning Ainu issues on the Sapporo campus. University of Melbourne Program managers of the Indigenous Knowledge Institute, Indigenous Collections, and the Indigenous Data Network discussed the mechanisms in place at their university and the ways that such programs worked to increase Indigenous involvement in academic and administrative programs.
The June 28 program was opened by remarks by Hokkaido University’s Executive Vice-President for International Affairs and the University of Melbourne’s Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Global Culture and Engagement. Participants listened as well to opening remarks by Counsellor Janine Pitt (Education and Research) of the Australian Embassy in Tokyo. The Conference on Indigenous Studies featured presentations on collaborative programs operating under the Hokkaido University’s GSI and GI-CoRE umbrellas and in the University of Melbourne’s Indigenous Knowledge Institute.
The conference on June 29 focused on Indigenous Health and community-based approaches to health and well-being. The first session focused on research conducted by Hokkaido University in Zambia and Cameroon (Africa), while the presenters in the second session spoke on work being done in Australia.
But all was not work, as the Melbourne visitors visited the Ainu community in Nibutani, the newly opened Nokapira Iwor (Biratori Dam) Visitors Center, and the Nokapira Iwor (Biratori Dam) Specimen Garden on Friday, June 23rd, Upopoy on Saturday, June 24th, and the Nikka Distillery and Otaru on June 25th (Happy Custer Day!). Members of the Melbourne group met with members of the Sapporo Ainu Association at the Center for Ainu and Indigenous Studies on Monday, June 26th, to discuss issues of importance to local Ainu people. The discussions continued into the evening over traditional Ainu food (especially venison sashimi!) at Kera Pirika, a local Ainu restaurant.
Most of all, however, the program participants gathered for a reception on the 23rd floor of the ANA Crowne Plaza in downtown Sapporo to toast each other and to view the post-solstice sunset.
At the Nokapira Iwor Specimen Garden (photograph by Sumie Hirose).
The group at Upopoy (photograph by Sumie Hirose).
The group at the reception photograph by Taena Uemura).