The historical and cultural effects of dams around the world — including those along the Columbia River — will be the focus of a Nov. 7 conference at Washington State University Vancouver.
“Reversing the Flow: Big Dams, Power and People in Global Perspective” will be from 8:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. in room 110 of the Administration Building, 14204 N.E. Salmon Creek Ave.
“By impounding and diverting rivers, major dams dramatically disturb local environments and force human communities to profoundly revise their relationships with nature,” said keynote speaker William Lang, history professor at Portland State University.
“No major dam has avoided destructive environmental and human consequences, which have always generated opposition to their construction and contests over continued social costs that result from dam operations,” Lang said.
“In the Columbia River Basin, there are several high-profile examples of these characteristics of big dam projects. The Dalles Dam and the inundation of Celilo Falls is a premier example, but the damming of the Cowlitz River is another episode in dam-building that exposes the conflicts inherent in blocking rivers,” Lang said.
Lang’s 9 a.m. presentation — “Dam Sites: Big Dams and Local Politics on the Columbia and in the World” — will also serve as the annual James B. Castles Endowment Lecture. Lang is former director of the Center for Columbia River History, which includes the Washington State Historical Society, WSU Vancouver and Portland State University.
Other presenters are Shripad Dharmadhikary, founder of Manthan Adhyayan Kendra, a center in India that studies water and energy issues; Tina Loo, University of British Columbia; Stephan Miescher, University of California, Santa Barbara; Linda Nash, University of Washington; and David Pietz, Washington State University.
They will discuss 20th century dams in Ghana, India, China, Canada, Afghanistan and the Columbia River Basin.
All sessions are free and open to the public. Since it is a Saturday event, WSU Vancouver will not charge parking fees.
The conference begins on Nov. 6 with a reception for international speakers at the Water Resources Education Center, 4600 S.E. Columbia Way.
It will place local history into global context through films, images and discussions of the Columbia and rivers around the world.
Films begin at 3:45 p.m.; the reception begins at 5:30 p.m. Make reservations by Nov. 5 by contacting Donna Sinclair at info@ccrh.org or 360-258-3289.
The conference is sponsored by the James B. Castles Endowment, with support from the WSU Vancouver Center for Social and Environmental Justice, the WSU Vancouver University Scholars program, the Pacific Northwest Canadian Studies Consortium and the Water Resources Education Center.
A schedule and additional information is at www.ccrh.org.
