<http://www.albertaventure.com/articles/ ... fm?id=2710>
Karim-Aly Kassam Profile:
http://www.albertaventure.com/articles/ ... fm?id=2730
<http://www.albertaventure.com/articles/ ... fm?id=2730>
Published July 2003
Karim-Aly Kassam
Recipient, OAS-Fulbright Ecology Fellowship
2003-2005
Director, Theme School in Northern Planning and Development Studies,
University of Calgary
Sphere of Influence: Academe
In the past decade, the University of Calgary has attracted 17 Fulbright
scholars from the U.S. to its institution. Now, it can boast of one its own
- Karim-Aly Kassam is the first Canadian to claim the prestigious American
academic prize. Kassam will use the award to pursue his doctorate at Cornell
University in New York, where he will continue his groundbreaking studies in
sustainable development and natural resource utilization by northern
indigenous peoples and the relationship between ecological and cultural
diversity. Studying in the Ivy League should not intimidate Kassam, who
already holds graduate degrees from Cambridge University and the London
School of Economics.
Development of Canada's northern resources will depend on buy-in from the
region's aboriginal peoples. What can Canadian companies learn from other
countries' experiences about the right and wrong way to do it?
Companies should understand that the North is a homeland, not a frontier.
This has been a homeland to diverse aboriginal peoples for 20,000 to 30,000
years. These are not empty lands for exploitation. The North has among the
largest concentrations of aboriginal peoples in Canada. These populations
are growing faster than the Canadian average and have a larger segment that
is young. Young people in the North will need education, health and economic
infrastructure. With majority of the lands claims being settled in the
Territorial North, aboriginal communities want equity participation in
business ventures. They need jobs for their youth and many have had
experience in business. The best thing Canadian firms can do is engage in
sound economically and ecologically sustainable ventures.
What is your legacy as an academic?
I am not yet finished and hope that the Creator gives me a little more time.
I am only 38. But I would like to be remembered not in name but for my
actions. I would like to be remembered for my passion for ideas, for sharing
those ideas through teaching and research, and through work in serving
communities. It is safe to say that at this point in my career, I have
developed a reputation for stubbornly sticking to an agenda in which
applied, interdisciplinary, and practical research such as indigenous
rights, women's empowerment, climate change and impact of chemical
pollutants on indigenous human ecology are the hallmark. Where communities
are partners in, not the object of, my research. With the support of
community institutions, students and colleagues, we not only did research
but we took the information we gathered, put it in a language that is
accessible and gave it back to the people from whom we gathered this
knowledge so that they could use it purposefully. I am successful because of
the communities that I work with, the competent students who share in my
work, and the support of my colleagues and family. It is grace, simply
grace.
What is your idea of perfect happiness?
I get happiness out of activity and not out of inaction. I do not believe in
the concept of retirement or rest. I get happiness through my work such as
seeing its impact on the lives of the communities that I work with in the
Canadian, Russian and Alaskan North, or the impact on the way my students
think. Hiking in the mountains or simply walking and reflecting upon issues
also provide me a deep sense of satisfaction. Listening and hearing music
and song is spiritual. I also love to play with our two children. To me,
these are acts of prayer and a source of internal satisfaction because one
is forced to reflect on matters greater than oneself and contemplate one's
connection to a wider whole.
What is your personal motto?
I have two principles that guide my daily work and thought. The first is
that the struggle of living gives life its meaning and is a source of joy.
We see this all around us. From new born life in plants and animals to human relationships. The second is that I firmly believe that to whom much is
given, much is expected. I teach this to my university students, my
children, and try to apply it in my own life. Grace is like rain; it falls
on everyone. What makes one unique is the ability to contain it for
nourishment for oneself and for others. The best way to spread this grace is
by action, by service, by giving of the skills that we have developed. In my
case, it is the ability to teach, work with indigenous communities and
engage in research.