Our September speaker is Paul Kroeger, one of the founding members of the VMS. He will present "Genus Amanita".  Some of Paul’s many activities and accomplishments in this field include: researching the biochemistry of medicinal mushrooms at the University of British Columbia (UBC) as a long time research associate in their Department of Botany; major contributor to the mycological herbarium collections in the Beaty Biodiversity Museum at UBC; significant contributions to the DAOM Herbarium in Ottawa and DAVFP Herbarium in Victoria; frequent consultant for various agencies, including the British Columbia Drug and Poison Information Centre.  

Pine Mushrooms as World-Makers (re-scheduled from cancelled February meeting) From Michael:  "This talk will give a brief introduction to a long-term collaborative research project that follows the harvest and trade in the pine mushroom (matsutake) from several countries around the world to its destination in Japan. I will focus on how this valuable trade is shaping the lives of several indigenous groups in Southwest China, on the eastern edge of the Himalayas, such as ethnic Tibetans and Yi. I suggest that the trade itself (as well as larger political events) are influencing the livelihoods of these people, such as how they farm and raise yak and goats, but also creating less expected changes such as fostering a kind of ethnic resurgence."   Michael Hathaway is an associate professor of cultural anthropology at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, British Columbia. He studies the intersection of indigenous politics and environmentalism in China, and more recently, has been exploring how indigeneity has emerged in the Asia-Pacific region through transnational encounters. His first book, Environmental Winds: Making the Global in Southwest China (University of California Press, 2013) explores how environmentalism was refashioned in China, not only by conservationists, but also by rural villagers and even animals themselves. […]