Wellness Conference (2008)

The 8TH WORLD INDIGENOUS WOMEN & WELLNESS CONFERENCE

The 8th World Indigenous Women & Wellness Conference was a success! Thanks to all those who attended and to our volunteers who lent their time for this wonderful event.

Welcome to the website for the 8th World Indigenous Women & Wellness Conference: Building on Traditional Knowledge & Wisdom - 2008

We are currently making arrangements for this exciting opportunity bringing our global communities together for cultural and wisdom sharing.

The Awo Taan Healing Lodge is privledged to host the auspicious 8th World Indigenous Conference:  The Women & Wellness conference is an opportunity for international communities from around the world to share research and best practices on Family Violence and Indigenous Peoples.  The conference will provide participants the opportunity to network and share best practices, build on tradition knowledge and wisdom on Family Violence, Health & Wellness and Indigenous peoples.

Being held on the Treaty 7 Nation traditional land in Calgary, Alberta Canada, from September 29th, - October 1st, 2008.  The 8th World Indigenous Women & Wellness Conference will be an excellent opportunity for participants from across the globe to share information, innovative initiatives, models, research and best practices on Family Violence and Indigenous Peoples suitable to our individual and unique communities.  The conference will also provide participants with the opportunity to network and rejoice in our strengths and capacity to uphold our traditions and knowledge.

It will also be a chance to consider how we, as Aboriginal/Indigenous people, would like to see our cultural and history embraced and shaped into the future to meet the needs of our future and our youth.

This conference has the potential to impact positively on the outcomes and lives of Aboriginal/Indigenous people around the world. Awareness provides us with a broad set of options to shape our own futures and with tools to tell our own stories to a wider community; our challenge is to balance the learning’s from mainstream systems within our own traditions. Awo Taan Healing Lodge “Building on Traditional Knowledge & Wisdom”  will explore some of the questions raised by living within competing systems and look beyond the horizon where complementary knowledge can be used to shape our futures.

Expecting up to 500 delegates the  8th World Indigenous Women & Wellness Conference will be held at the Westin Hotel in Calgary Alberta Canada from September 29th – October 1st, 2008.  Cultural events and entertainment will be held as well as being honored by many prominent Indigenous Keynote Speakers.

The Awo Taan Healing Lodge is proud to be hosting this prestigious event. We look forward to welcoming you to our beautiful country and making your time in Canada an exciting and memorable experience.

Conference Themes:

Conference papers will address at least one of the following conference sub themes:


Healthy and Positive Futures for our Communities
Papers should highlight research that:

• Contributes to promoting wellness in home environments for Aboriginal and/or Indigenous communities
• Strengthens the generations.

Papers must address the aims of the conference and may include discussion about:

• Aboriginal and Indigenous priorities and dilemmas
• Academic priorities and dilemmas
• The research process.

Effective Strategies:

Papers should highlight research that:

• Is geared towards improving the lives of Aboriginal and/or indigenous peoples regionally and/or globally.

Papers must address the aims of the conference and may include discussion about:

• Aboriginal and indigenous priorities and dilemmas
• Academic priorities and dilemmas
• The research process.

Frontiers of Knowledge:

Papers must address the aims of the conference and may include discussion about:>

• Traditional knowledge and widsom
• Transforming academic examples.

We are looking for contributions on, but not limited to, the following topics:

• Traditional knowledge of Indigenous communities
• Culture and the role of community relationships
• Language, environment and indigenous traditions
• Health and well-being research initiatives in Aboriginal and indigenous communities
• Violence and indigenous peoples
• Cultural identity, resistance and research.

Conference Objectives and Outcomes:

Indigenous populations around the world face rapid social, political, environmental and economic change in the face of challenges of cultural identities and tradition.  Academic scholarship must keep pace if it is to remain relevant to indigenous communities and societies.
Research methods and academic practices have begun to evolve within indigenous communities, which in turn present new questions and challenges for academic scholarship and practice.

Aims of the Conference:

This conference aims to bring together people from a range of disciplinary fields and nations who are engaged in developing responses to global challenges of Aboriginal and/or other indigenous peoples. The purpose is to identify common themes and key issues, and explore ideas for the future.
The conference is intended to help professionals, practitioners and researchers to locate themselves within a range of intellectual forums that are closely engaged with emerging issues. The conference will allow a sharing of knowledge, expertise and insight between both established and newly emerging networks of aboriginal and indigenous professionals and community researchers.

Guidelines:

• Maximum length of 300 word summary
• Submissions in English only
• All Presenters must provide brief (one page) biographies.

Presentation Process:

Only submissions completed by the deadline will be considered. The Conference Presentation Selection Committee reserves the right to combine presentations into Oral Presentations of similar topics.

Special Considerations:

Special Consideration will be given to the following:

• Indigenous youth presenters and organizations or presenters working directly with Indigenous youths.
• Indigenous Elder presenters and organizations that work with Indigenous Elders and
• Indigenous community member presenters.

UNITED NATIONS FACT SHEET

• Who are indigenous peoples?
• Understanding the term “indigenous”
• A question of identity
• Culture and Knowledge
• Political participation

Click here to view the article.

DEFINITION OF INDIGENOUS
A Synthesis of Ideas Presented by:
Andy Blackwater and Corolla Calf Robe

To be Indigenous means to have a stable and harmonious relationship and identification with a particular place.  In fact, this relationship and identification is so strong, that it is impossible to completely distinguish one’s self apart from one’s place. Such affinity to place derives from an occupancy that is timeless. In other words, we as Indigenous people are members of families that have always lived where we do today. We cannot recount a migration from somewhere else to the place we now reside. Similarly, there are animals, plants, rivers and mountains, the Sun and the Moon, who have always lived in place with us, and they too are therefore Indigenous. Our collective relationship, that which is shared among Indigenous beings, is characterized by our conscious perception of interconnection and interdependence. We all respect each other’s inherent right to life, and we cannot take from one another without giving something as an offering in return. As Indigenous beings, we understand that we are not separate entities. Rather, we are all one together. All of our spirits continue to occupy our place even after we've passed-on, and they can communicate with the living. To this extent, “Indigenous knowledge” is the ability to interact and communicate within this collective relationship. These are skills learned through guided experiences with our elders, and through an embodiment of the stories and songs that have come from our shared life in place. As Indigenous people, we collect and synthesize the stories, songs, and training of our elders into our own understanding. And with this understanding, with our Indigenous knowledge, we are able to hear and comprehend what our fellow beings are saying… whether this means predicting the weather and other events from behavioral signs of the plants and animals, or whether this means interpreting the dream encounters we have when our spirits travel our territories and visit with our ancestors. Claiming and living this identity, this relationship, is what it means to be indigenous.

SPONSORSHIP

Awo Taan Healing Lodge - gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Conference sponsors:

 

 

 

 

 

Former Alberta Premier
Colleen Klein





'ANONYMOUS DONORS'