48th Annual Osler Lectureship 
Wednesday 5 November 2025
6:00 PM
Location: Charles F. Martin Amphitheatre (room 504) McIntyre Building
THE INDIAN WHO REFUSES TO VANISH – RACE, GENOMICS, AND INDIGENOUS THRIVING
Kim TallBear (Sisseton-Wahpeton Oyate)
Professor of American Indian Studies, University of Minnesota
North American colonial narratives have insisted for centuries that Indigenous peoples are destined to vanish, leaving unclaimed land and resources open for occupation and development by settler civilization. The classic “Vanishing Indian” with its attendant evolutionary ideas of Indian degeneracy informs settler societal institutions, including genomics. In this talk, Dr. TallBear examines how archaic notions of race underscore contemporary genomic ideas and how Indigenous anti-colonial movements and scholarship directly challenge this foundational settler-state narrative.
Depuis des siècles, les récits coloniaux nord-américains soutiennent que les peuples autochtones sont destinés à disparaître, ouvrant la voie à l’occupation de territoires et ressources laissés à l’abandon. Cette idée tenace, qui va de pair avec le concept évolutionniste de « dégénérescence des Indiens », oriente les institutions sociales coloniales, y compris en génomique. Partant de notions archaïques de race qui sous-tendent la conceptualisation génomique contemporaine, la professeure TallBear explique comment la recherche et les mouvements anticoloniaux autochtones réfutent ces récits fondateurs.
Previous Osler Lectures
The 47th Annual Osler Lectureship: Roger Kneebone, MD: Medicine- the art of the expert performer - What clinicians can learn from the performing arts. See photos here
The 46th Annual Osler Lectureship: Gordon Guyatt, MD: How evidence-based medicine has - and has not - changed the world. Watch here. Photos Osler lecture & banquet
The 45th Annual Osler Lectureship: Michele Goodwin, SJD, LLM: Policing The Womb In the Wake of the American Judiciary. Watch here
The 44th Annual Osler Lectureship: Cynthia Blackstock, PhD: Equity + Culture = Healthy Kids. Watch here
The 43rd Annual Osler Lectureship: Richard K. Reznick, MD: 'Make no little plans': how a systems-based approach can transform medical education. Watch here
The 42nd Annual Osler Lectureship: Jacalyn Duffin: McGill Medicine on Easter Island: the Forgotten Expedition
The 41st Annual Osler Lectureship: Mark A Ware: 100 years of cannabis: a journey from William Osler to the modern era. Watch here
The 40th Annual Osler Lectureship: Susan Reverby, PhD: Infamous Medical Research: Bad Guys, Duped Victims, or Something Else? Watch here
The 39th Annual Osler Lectureship: Julio Montaner: Treatment as Prevention (TasP): From a research hypothesis to a new global target and beyond. Watch here
The 38th Annual Osler Lectureship: E. Fuller Torrey, M.D. "The Strangest Disease: The Peculiar Past but Hopeful Future of Schizophrenia" Watch here
The 37th Annual Osler Lectureship: Margaret Lock. "The Alzheimer Enigma in an Aging World." Watch here