An important part of the activity of the What Sorts Network is connecting members of the network with the broader community of stakeholders, activists, community organizations, and other interested individuals and groups. One way we have done this, since 2007, is through the organization of public and community-based conferences and forums on specific topics related to the question “What sorts of people should there be?” These forums invite dialog either through short talks by experts in the topic area followed by audience discussions, or via panels that function as roundtable discussions. These public dialogues, workshops, and conferences aim to create an open space for discussion of at times difficult topics and to invite public reflection on themes of relevance to decisions we make as individuals and as a society concerning the sorts of people there should be.
Past events are listed below with short descriptions and links to any additional materials (e.g., videos, transcripts) that were produced in association with the event. With the exception of the most recent event (we’re still working on it …) and the two keynote addressess from the “Families and Memory” workshop, all videos have been closed captioned in English for accessibility, and transcripts for those videos are also posted. Thanks to Jackie Ostrem for her work on the closed captioning; transcriptions provided by John Simpson, Rob Wilson, and Jackie. We are working to complete the captioning in English and provide closed captioning in French as well to improve accessibility.
Please note that all videos from all events are available from a single YouTube account by clicking here.
Upcoming Events
We are planning an event in Spring 2010 but have no details to share with you at this time.
Past Events
All past events are listed below with short descriptions and links to any additional materials that were produced in association with the event.
Human Kinds - Invited Symposium, American Philosophical Association, Pacific Division
April 11, 2009
This was an invited symposium presentation on Human Kinds at the American Philosophical Association Pacific Division meetings, held in Vancouver in April 2009. It features short (20 minute) talks from What Sorts Network members Gregor Wolbring, Edward Stein, Nick Agar, and Natasha Vita-More, and is introduced and moderated by Rob Wilson. Topics included the idea of disability as sub-normalcy, transhumanist views of technology and human advancement, and the nature of human variation.
Videos are already available and we are currently completing the captioning.
Thinking In Action - Reflections on “Cognitive Disability: A Challenge to Moral Philosophy”
Winter 2008 - Spring 2009
In September 2008, an important conference on cognitive disability and moral philosophy in New York pulled together some of the leading thinkers on these two topics. In the interests of furthering some of these discussions, the What Sorts Network decided to host a series of blog posts using clips from these talks and discussions, starting in December 2008 and running on the blog over the following few months. We looked for short, relatively self-contained clips about which one or more of us thought we had something to say, aiming to create posts that would stimulate some immediate discussion, as well as serve as resources for teaching and community discussion in the longer run.
Philosophy, Eugenics, and Disability in Alberta and Places North
October 25, 2008
This was a special invited session of the Western Canadian Philosophy Association’s annual general meeting. This discussion was grounded in the existence of the Sexual Sterilization Act of Alberta from 1928 until 1972 and similar practices in Scandinavian countries over the same time. Dick Sobsey (Varieties of Eugenics Experience in the 21st Century), Simo Vehmas, (Preventing Disability: Nordic Perspectives), Martin Tweedale (Ethical Dilemmas in Eliminating the MacEachran Prizes in Philosophy), and Rob Wilson (Building Inclusive Communities Through Practices of Collective Memory: The Case of Eugenic Sterilization in Alberta) shared their ideas and research within the broad framework fo reflecting on the past with the hope of improving the future.
Captioned videos of this event are available.
Families and Memory
October 24, 2008
This public symposium centred on the stories and experiences of those who have suffered sterilization, institutionalization, and other aspects of marginalization or exclusion from family life as a result of real or perceived disabilities. Keynote presentations were given by Professor Simo Vehmas, University of Jyväskylä, Finland, a specialist in the intersection of bioethics, eugenics, and disability, and Professor Dick Sobsey, Director of the John Dossetor Health Ethics Centre, University of Alberta, who is a specialist on violence, institutionalization, and disability.
The Modern Pursuit of Human Perfection: Defining Who is Worthy of Life
October 23, 2008
This free public dialogue by the Values and Ethics Task Force explored the above critical questions and others, such as: Is genetic information neutral? Who should decide what constitutes valued human life? What values should govern bio-ethics and medical ethics? What does it mean to imagine a world without people with disabilities? How does the modern approach to bio-ethics and medical ethics differ from past eugenic practices?
Captioned videos of this event are available.
Understanding Human Variation
September 21-22, 2007
This was the second event run by the What Sorts Network. The event explored human behavioral, phenotypic, and genetic variation, how these are or have been conceptualized, and how these conceptions manifest themselves in everyday and scientific practices.
Speakers included Anita Silvers and Emmanuel Eze. Abstracts are available.
Eugenics and Sterilization in Alberta: 35 Years Later
April 27-28, 2007
This event was offered by the What Sorts Network to examine and reflect on eugenics and sterilization in Alberta, looking back on the historical period in the middle half of the 20th-century, as well as at the 35-year period since the repeal of the Sexual Sterilization Act in Alberta. Mr. David King, MLA and Cabinet Minister in the Province of Alberta from 1971 – 1986, who was instrumental in the repeal of the Act, and Dr. Geoffrey Reaume, co-founder of the Psychiatric Survivor Archives in Toronto were feature speakers.
An audio recording was made of this event and the majority of the lectures are available.
Wikipedia Articles on Eugenics and Sterilization in Alberta
Ongoing
ver the past few years, a small cluster of related articles relating to the history of eugenics and sterilization in Alberta have appeared on Wikipedia. Many of these were written, in part or in whole, by students at the University of Alberta. As Wikipedia articles, their content is subject to continual update; here are links to some of them: