Edward Vajda (Modern Languages) gives presentation in teepee at symposium in Canada

Edward Vajda (Modern Languages) was an invited speaker at the Dene Migration Symposium held Sept. 25 to 27 outside of Calgary, Alberta, on the Tsuu'tina First Nations Reserve. The symposium brought together elders from many Athabaskan (Dene) peoples across North America to compare traditional stories of ancient migrations. Interspersed with these speakers were linguists, archeologists, and anthropologists who presented evidence of population movements. Vajda discussed the connection between the Dene peoples and the Ket of Siberia. The symposium featured powerpoint presentations in a double teepee fitted with electricity alongside campfire heating, an arrangement designed to emphasize the adaptive ingenuity of the Dene peoples as well as the merging of traditional and scholary inquiry into the origins of North America's geographically most widespread language family.