Building Bridges: Communication, Cultural Heritage, and Copyright

This paired presentation explores the intersection of Graham Reynolds and Mark Turin’s shared research interests in—and commitments to—the areas of language, culture, heritage, intellectual property, human rights, and copyright.

In this joint lecture, we will focus on a set of interrelated questions, namely: How does technology and new digital platforms change our understanding of heritage, property, and issues around the repatriation of cultural belongings? What is the role played by copyright in the contexts of cultural heritage and communication? How might we reconcile individually generated knowledge (and the legal systems that provide protection for such knowledge) with traditional Indigenous knowledge systems in which knowledge is co-created, collaboratively mobilized, and situated within a web of relationships?

Drawing from our backgrounds in anthropology and law, richly illustrated with examples from our research and past professional experiences, and shaped by the location and our presence on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓-speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people, this presentation is an invitation to a productive, respectful and trans-disciplinary conversation.