Trent University’s “Anthropology Goes Downtown” Lecture Series Continues February 11 at Splice

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Community Invited to Free Special Presentation Examining Japanese Tour Guides in the Canadian Rockies

Friday, February 8, 2008, Peterborough

The 2008 Kenneth Kidd Lecture Series entitled “Anthropology Goes Downtown” hosted by Trent University’s Anthropology Department will continue on Monday, February 11 at Splice Restaurant beginning at 8:00 p.m.

The next presentation will feature Assistant Professor Shiho Satsuka from the department of anthropology at the University of Toronto. Her talk is entitled “Mediating Nature: Japanese Tour Guides in the Canadian Rockies”. A reception with Prof. Satsuka will follow.

Based on two years of ethnographic research in Banff, Prof. Satsuka’s presentation examines how Japanese tour guides mediate various understandings of nature as they interpret the Canadian landscape for tourist from Japan, and how the guides’ nature interpretive practices are related to their negotiation of national identity, work ethics, gender and family. Through these examinations, her work explores how nature plays a significant role in Japanese identity construction, as well as how the Canadian landscape captures the Japanese imagination to envision a global space in the changing power relations in the Asia-Pacific region.

The lecture series is named for the late Kenneth E. Kidd, first chair of Trent's Anthropology Department. Lectures in this series are given by visiting guests, Trent faculty and Research Fellows, and graduate students in Anthropology. All members of Trent and the Peterborough community are most welcome and encourage to attend this free event. The lectures continue until March.

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For further information, please contact Professor Julia Harrison, chair of anthropology, at (705) 748-1011, ext. 7772.