Speaker:
Merje Kuus
Professor - Geography\, University if British Colum
bia
Talk title:
Planning a Wine Region: Place and Bea
uty in Okanagan Valley
Abstract:
This talk explores the potential of Okanagan Valley\, British Columbia\, as
a place of distinctive wines and the tourism experiences that match these
wines. Focusing on the last 10-20 years\, I investigate the cultivation of
a sense of place in the Okanagan through the collective efforts of wine\, h
ospitality\, and planning professionals in the province. By ‘distinctive’\,
I mean wines with a taste of place woven into their production and marketi
ng. My effort is to tell the story of the Okanagan as a place of wine\, to
foreground why and how wine could be more beneficial to the region\, and to
touch on the role of beauty in the study of wine and other place-based pro
ducts.
Speake
r Bio:
Merje Kuus is a political geographer who investigates the work
ings of expertise in policy-making process
es. She examines how national and transnational institutions\, such as gove
rnment agencies\, international organizations\, or civil society groups\, k
now what they know\, how they have come to know what they know\, and how th
ey persuade themselves and others that this is so. Her current work examine
s diplomatic practices in Europe and the Arctic\, but this empirical focus
undergirds a broader interest in knowledge and power in bureaucratic settin
gs.