Fall 2013 Faculty Lecture Series to feature Ashraf, Timmermann, Delormier

University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa
Contact:
Teri Skillman, (808) 956-8688
Events & Communications Coordinator, Library Services
Posted: Oct 4, 2013

The hermit & the hut
The hermit & the hut
Treena Delormier
Treena Delormier
Axel Timmermann
Axel Timmermann

The University of Hawai’i at Mānoa Library announces its Fall 2013 Faculty Lecture Series: Sharing Our Work and Knowledge, which will take place in Hamilton Library.  The series is presented by the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and the UH Mānoa Library.  Each month during the academic school year, a faculty member is invited to present a lecture in Hamilton Library Room 301.  The lectures, which begin at 3:30 p.m., give faculty an opportunity to share their research with the broader academic community.

This semester, the following faculty have been invited to present lectures.

Tuesday, October 8, 2013
3:30 p.m.

Kazi Ashraf,  Architecture
The Hut in the Forest: Asceticism and Architecture

"Asceticism is a paradoxical project, and is deeply implicated with its fundamental object of renunciation: architecture. In the talk, using primarily Buddhist materials, I will flag themes that have recurrent presence in ascetic thoughts either in the institutional environment of asceticism or in its clandestine presence in architecture. The primary ascetic practice of renouncing, of the goal of arriving at 'nothing,' will be set next to the other manifestations: modern minimalism and primitivism. Asceticism is sociological in its operation, which is most apparent in the preoccupation with the notion of home, the intense desire for its dissolution or reformation. And where is home there is an occupant. Ascetic praxis thus gives evidence of a deep relationship between the dweller and dwelling, whence it is more critical to talk about the crisis of dwelling rather than aesthetical matters."

Kazi Ashraf teaches in the School of Architecture, and writes on architecture and asceticism, phenomenology of architecture and landscape, Asian urbanism, and architecture in South Asia. He was guest editor of the Architectural Design special issue Made in India (Nov./Dec. 2007), which received the Pierre Vago Journalism Award from the International Committee of Architectural Critics (CICA). His most recent books include The Hermit’s Hut: Architecture and Asceticism in India (University of Hawaiʻi Press, 2013) and Designing Dhaka: Manifesto for a Better City (Loka, 2012).

Friday, November 1, 2013
3:30 p.m.
Axel Timmermann, SOEST
The Origin of Longterm Natural Climate Variability

Humans have modified the climate system for about 100 years by emitting greenhouse gases and aerosols, leaving a discernible imprint on global mean temperatures. In addition to the anthropogenic forcings, the climate system of the past has experienced massive reorganizations, partly internally generated, partly triggered by changes in earth's tilt, wobble and orbit. The basic processes will be reviewed that caused ice ages, abrupt climate switches, known as Dansgaard-Oeschger events, and the rapid termination of glacial periods when sea level rose by more than 100 meters. The lecture will further discuss the role of coral reefs in stabilizing the climate system over the past 10,000 years, the effect of volcanic eruptions and the occurrence of megadroughts that triggered collapses of ancient civilizations. Is the climate of the past providing clues for its future evolution? This question will be addressed in the context of a recently observed slowdown of greenhouse warming.

Axel Timmerman has published more than 100 papers on climate variability and climate change. He is a lead author of the 5th assessment report of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) and served as Chair of the International CLIVAR Pacific Implementation Panel and coordinated climate research activities across the Pacific region.

Wednesday, November 6, 2013
3:30 p.m.
Treena Delormier, Public Health Studies
T
he Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Prevention Project: A Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) community mobilizes to ensure healthy future generations

Primary prevention of type 2 diabetes is urgent for Indigenous popula­tions in Canada. Type 2 diabetes was relatively unknown among Aborigi­nal people before the 1940s. The Kahnawake Schools Diabetes Preven­tion Project (KSDPP) is a 19-year-old research and community intervention partnership with the Kanienkehaka (Mohawk) community of Kahnawake in Canada. KSDPP’s goal is the primary prevention of type 2 diabetes among local children and youth, using socio-ecological approaches to promote healthy lifestyles. This presentation will discuss the successful efforts to create the conditions that promote well-being from a Kanienkehaka cultural perspective, which include a strong community direction, collab­orative research and intervention approaches. Empowering approaches recognize the social determi­nants of health, the historical and sociocultural context in which healthy lifestyles are shaped, and un­derscore using both indigenous and western scientific knowledge and respecting Indigenous People’s rights for self-determination.

Treena Delormier is with the Native Hawai­ian and Indigenous Health MPH specialization at the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa. She holds a MSc degree in nutrition from McGill University and her doctorate in Public Health (Health Promotion focus) from Université de Montréal. She is Kanienkehaka (People of the Mohawk Nation) from the community of Kahnawake, Quebec, Canada. Her research has been primarily community-based with Indigenous communities. She worked on developing the KSDPP Code of Research Ethics in 1994 that bases ethi­cal research on traditional Mohawk decision making that served as a model for ethical research with Aboriginal peoples in Canada.

In her research and professional work, she strives to use respectful approaches to building understandings and knowledge that will serve to support indigenous peoples’ goals for well-being now and for future generations.

Doors open for the lectures at 3:15 p.m.  Refreshments are provided courtesy of the Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research.  For more information, please check the UHM Library calendar:  http://hawaii.edu/calendar/manoa-libraries.