The Good Life: Decolonizing the Secular
You are warmly invited to the McGill School of Religious Studies for a screening of The Good Life: Decolonizing the Secular, followed by a Q&A with the creator of the film, Professor Carlos Colorado (University of Winnipeg). There will be a drinks reception after the event.
Date and time: Thursday, May 18th, 2-6pm
Location: Birks Building, Room 100 (SCR), 3520 University Street, Montreal H3A 2A7
Registration link:
Faculty members and students are all welcome to attend. Registration is required and limited: please sign up to secure your spot!
About the film:
The Good Life is a feature-length documentary that explores the role of Indigenous spirituality in Canadian public life and examines whether processes of reconciliation can be “secular” — an arrangement of power that often segregates spirituality and religion outside of public life. While Canada might be described as “secular,” many of the Calls to Action from the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) petition for an increased role for traditional teachings and spirituality in important public contexts. Many of the formal practices of the TRC themselves are centered on ceremonial aspects, such as the lighting of the sacred fire and the integration of the Seven Sacred Teachings.
Given this backdrop, the film engages a number of relevant interrelated questions: What is Canadian secularism and how does it delimit the role of spirituality and ceremony in public life? Do traditional Indigenous philosophies of the “good life” — such as the Anishinaabe notion of “Mino-Bimaadiziwin” — allow for a secular/sacred division? Is the expectation of such a division of life yet another iteration of colonialist structures of power? And if this is so, does secularity first need to be decolonized to allow for real reconciliation?
Any other questions and concerns can be directed to either Lucie Robathan or Jordan Molot, DSRW Co-Chairs: lucie.robathan [at] mail.mcgill.ca and jordan.molot [at] concordia.ca. We very much look forward to seeing you on May 18th!
This event is part of the Decolonization and the Study of Religion Workshop (DSRW) series, a co-institutional event series organised by graduate students from Concordia and McGill universities. It is sponsored by McGill School of Religious Studies; Concordia Department of Religions and Cultures; Concordia Institute for Jewish Studies; Concordia Council on Student Life and McGill Graduate and Postdoctoral Studies.
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