Ways We Remember War.

Dr. Geoff Bird presents on his latest film, Ways We Remember War.  Filmed primarily in Ypres, Belgium, the documentary explores the role of art, memorials and pilgrimage in shaping the ways Canadians remember and commemorate war.  The story weaves the work of two landscape artists from Victoria with the story of The Canadian Scottish Regiment, also of Victoria, and The Calgary Highlanders and the first battle of the First World War

Geoffrey Bird is a Professor and Lead of the War Heritage Research Initiative. He has been at Royal Roads University since 2008. Geoff completed his PhD in Anthropology in 2011 at the University of Brighton, focusing on the relationship between tourism, remembrance and landscapes of war, examining how sites are managed and interpreted as well as the meaning and insight people gain by visiting these places. In 2016, he co-edited two books on war heritage (listed below). He also directed and produced the documentary War Memories across Canada.  His background includes 30 years in the field of education working in government, then as a project manager in the field of sustainable tourism and poverty alleviation in Malaysia and Vietnam. He was a visiting researcher and professor at Monash University and Munich University of Applied Sciences. He also served as an officer in the Royal Canadian Naval Reserve and as a heritage interpreter at the Canadian National Memorial at Vimy Ridge, France.