Explanation & Key Questions
Kei muri i te awe kāpara, he tangata kē: Recognising, engaging, understanding difference
This conference addresses the question of difference.
- What are the costs to communities and society of failing to understand others?
- Can we reflect on our own assumptions and practice, our shared past and present and imagine and pursue a better future for individuals and the greater collective?
The conference will provide opportunities to discuss strategies for engaging, understanding and accommodating difference in order to build relationships that address social, economic, resource, and environmental risks associated with failure to understand sufficiently the differences among indigenous and non-indigenous communities and societies.
Given the diversity present in those attending the conference there will be many opportunities to learn from diverse contexts around the world about efforts to engage across the inter-face between indigenous and non-indigenous communities, across all disciplines, from individuals to societies, governments and nations.
The intention is to move beyond identifying and understanding problems toward creative solutions that meet the needs of present and future generations.
The conference provides the opportunity to develop a broader understanding by seeing and hearing things outside our own scope, to make connections across boundaries, and to formulate partnerships across new interfaces.
Key Questions
- Where and when does difference become an issue?
- What and where are the sites of conflict or hostility?
- What are the main points of contention?
- How can we live with difference?
- What solutions can we offer?
- What futures can we imagine?
Strands
- Science & Knowledge
- Society, Culture & Language
- Health
- Education
- Law & Justice
- Economic Development & Business
- Resources & Environment
- Alterity & Difference
- Communities: past, present & future
Target Groups
- Academics
- Emerging researchers & graduate students
- Community groups, workers & activists
- Local & national government representatives
- Elders