Centre for the Study of State Violence Grand Opening

Opening Ceremony

6:00-8:00 p.m. | Nipissing Theatre
MC: Dr. Scott Russell, Nipissing Chancellor 

Film screening of “aadizookewinini” by Nipissing University graduate, Megan Paulin, MA History.

Performance of “Containment” by Derek Neal, composed for a quartet for piano, trumpet, flute, and violin. Performed by Chloe Weston on Piano, Janis Herzog on trumpet, Graham Finlay on flute, and Jennifer Hedican on violin.

Keynote Address: Dr. Lilia Topouzova, Associate Professor, University of Toronto

After Violence: History, Memory, and the Work of Bearing Witness

ABSTRACT: What does it mean to spend a life documenting political violence? What happens when that life is also the subject? Lilia Topouzova grew up under, and in the long aftermath of, Bulgaria's communist authoritarian regime, and came of age in Canada. For more than two decades, her research has moved between archives, oral history, documentary film, creative nonfiction, and contemporary art, tracing the experiences of survivors and perpetrators of the gulag through the purged files of the secret police that sought to erase them. In this lecture, she reflects on how to work with partial evidence and incomplete testimony as both a scholar and an artist—an unsilencing that is, by necessity, an interdisciplinary practice, one that makes apparent that what can be archived cannot always be filmed, and what can be filmed cannot always be written. The lecture asks what it means to bear witness, and what ethical responsibilities emerge when the subjects of one's research become part of one's own life.

Reception

8:00-10:00 p.m. | Small Cafeteria 

Appetizers & Cash Bar

Workshop 1: Practical Strategies for Teaching Difficult Topics

9:30-11:30 a.m. | Education Room (A246)

ABSTRACT: The Current Ontario curriculum requires educators to teach difficult topics including residential schools, the Holocaust, slavery, genocide and other histories of state violence and discrimination. These topics ask educators to move beyond content delivery and support students as they engage with complex historical narratives, ethical questions, and emotional responses. Many educators, including in-service and teacher-candidates, need practical support in how to approach this teaching in developmentally and pedagogically appropriate ways. This 2 hour workshop offers practical strategies to do this.

Pre-registration is mandatory. Limited Seats. Fee applies.

Facilitator: Anna Pearson
Guest Speaker: The Honourable Anthony Rota, MP Nipissing-Timiskaming, retired

Workshop 2: Imagining War: Game Design in Conflict Simulation

9:30-11:30 a.m. | Immersive Classroom (A251)

ABSTRACT: This interactive workshop explores analogue game design as an approach to teaching and learning about state violence. Drawing on Brian Train’s experience as a game designer, participants will examine how games can foster critical engagement with complex topics, including war, genocide, colonialism, and other forms of state violence.

The session begins with an overview of educational game design principles, highlighting how they can encourage historical thinking, ethical reflection, collaboration, and meaningful discussion. During the hands-on portion, participants will work in small groups to develop a concept for a short educational game addressing a topic aligned with the mandate of the Centre for the Study of State Violence. Through guided activities, participants will consider learning objectives, mechanics, narrative, and player experience while examining how games can engage with difficult histories thoughtfully and responsibly. No prior game design experience is required.

Presenter: Brian Train, Independent Game Designer, Victoria, BC (Virtual)
Chair: Stephen Connor, Nipissing University

Pre-registration is mandatory. Limited Seats.

Workshop 3: Lilia Topouzova: Documenting Historical Narratives on Film For Graduate Students

9:30-11:30 a.m. | CSV Seminar Room (A242)

This interdisciplinary workshop explores documentary filmmaking as a mode of historical and scholarly inquiry. Through discussion and the screening of selected film excerpts, participants will examine how archival fragments, oral testimony, silence, and place can be translated into cinematic form. Central to the workshop will be the question of the image: how do filmmakers decide what to show, what to leave outside the frame, and when the absence or deliberate withholding of an image may be more meaningful, or even more ethically responsible,  than its inclusion? Together, we will consider how visual presence and absence impact historical knowledge and the work of bearing witness.

No advance reading or preparation is required.

Public Film Screening & Director Talk: Betrayal (90 min.)

6:00-8:30 p.m. | NU Theatre (F213) 

SYNOPSIS: The brother-in-law of Liberian dictator Charles Taylor becomes a courageous whistleblower against the dictator’s regime. Risking everything, including his own family, he fights to bring Taylor to justice, confronting the legacy of fear and corruption that has shaped his life.

Q & A with Director Lena MacDonald, Toronto
MC: Hilary Earl, Nipissing University

Reception

8:30-10:00 p.m. | Location TBA

Cash bar and appetizers.