Department of History Speaker Series Lecture, Fall 2024
Dr. Don Lafreniere, Geography and GIS, Michigan Technological University
“Mapping Deeper and Wider: Expanding Public Participatory Spatial Humanities and Social Sciences”
When: Wed., Oct. 30, 5:30-7 p.m.
Where: Brock University, Main Campus (Cairns 207)
Light refreshments will be served
Co-sponsors: Department of Geography and Tourism Studies; Mapping Ann-Marie MacDonald Project
About the talk: Spatial humanists, geographers, and historians engage with the public in diverse ways, from blogging their research, to producing public-friendly periodicals, to engaging in the art and practice of public history. The Keweenaw Time Traveler project, founded in 2015, employs a public-participatory historical GIS approach to create a deep map to empower a post-industrial community in heritage preservation efforts, reconstructing family histories, geo-heritage, environmental history, and a host of spatial humanities research projects. This talk will outline the project’s latest initiative: the National Endowment for the Humanities Community Deep Mapping Institute, a hybrid virtual and in-person institute running from January through December 2025.
About the speaker: Dr. Don Lafreniere is Professor of Geography and GIS in the Department of Social Sciences and Director of the Geospatial Research Facility at Michigan Technological University. He uses public-participatory GIS methodologies to recreate historical industrial environments and spatializing populations. He has published extensively on topics such as 19th/20th century social mobility, segregation, migration, and daily lives in industrial cities. His recent work includes creating big-data historical spatial data infrastructure and deep maps for industrial heritage preservation and interpretation for various regions across North America’s Rust Belt. His latest publication, “Built and Social Indicators for Hazards in Children’s Environments,” is published in Health and Place.
Everyone welcome.
For more information, e-mail: mvanatte@brocku.ca.