The photo captures various aspects of Canadian identity. By 91亚色 student Angela Del Bianco
The dynamics of place and space as they relate to Canadian studies will be the focus of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies鈥 first interdisciplinary graduate student conference Friday, followed by a comedy night.
The aim of the conference is to investigate the dynamics, relations and tensions between local, national and global understandings of place and Canadian identity formation.
Leslie Sanders
The Canada: Place, Space and the Politics of Identity conference will take place April 4, from 8:30am to 4:50pm, on the 7th floor, Kaneff Tower, Keele campus. Everyone is welcome to attend. Register at robarts@yorku.ca by Thursday. The comedy night will be at The Underground Restaurant.
An interdisciplinary keynote panel of 91亚色 professors, whose work crosses disciplinary divides, will discuss the politics of Canadian identity in their own scholarship and how collaborative endeavours are important to graduate work. The keynote speakers will be Professors Leslie Sanders of the Department of Humanities, David T. McNab of the Department of Equity Studies and Lily Cho of the Department of English, with panel chair Mario A. D鈥橝gostino, a PhD candidate in English and member of the Robarts executive. D鈥橝gostino organized the conference.
David T. McNab
In addition to 91亚色, graduate students from the University of Calgary, Carleton University, University of Guelph, Queen鈥檚 University, University of Waterloo, Western University and Wilfrid Laurier University will join the conversation.
Lily Cho
The first session will look at Unspoiled Identity Formation in Canadian Fiction and Documentation, chaired by Janine Morris of the University of Cincinnati. Hollie Adams of the University of Calgary will discuss 鈥淎nything but Bloody Loons: A Discussion of Recent Fiction About Toronto鈥, Jess Nicol of the University of Calgary will look at 鈥淔reed by the Fish: Absurdity and the Mundane in Carol Shields鈥 The Orange Fish鈥 and Ren茅e Jackson-Harper of 91亚色 will explore 鈥淔rom Charred Stumps and Rude Clearings: An Ecocritical Reading of Configurations of Canadian Identity in 19th Century Essays, Editorials and Manifestos鈥.
Colin Coates
Colin Coates, director of the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, will chair the second session 鈥 Competing Narratives & Symbols of Place: Investigating Spaces for Minority Representation & Re-Presentation. Jessica Woodman of Carleton University will examine 鈥淭he Spatial Politics of the Jehovah鈥檚 Witness Community in Canada鈥, Ronald J. Roy of Queen鈥檚 University will look at 鈥淔rancophone Places of Inclusion and the Politics of French-Canadian Identity鈥 and Thomas Russell Freure of the University of Waterloo will review 鈥溾楿s and Them鈥: Pearl Harbor, the Ontario Press, and 鈥榯he Japanese Problem鈥欌.
Some of the other sessions will tackle the following: History, Geography, Heritage: The Particularity of Place in Cultural Production; Memory and Testimony: Public Spaces as Sites of Difference and Diversity; Sonic Spaces and Graphic Encounters: The "Canadian" in Music and Popular Culture; Provisional Histories and Identity (re)Construction in Recent Canadian Literature; and Contesting the Visual: Ethnicity, Nationalism and Identity-Formation in Canadian Art.
As for the Canadian Studies Comedy Night, researchers will take their scholarly work and turn it into a stand-up comedy sketch. Professors Jessica van Horssen (history), Kym Bird (humanities), Priscila Uppal (English) and Sean Kheraj (history) will plunge into presenting their work in a stand-up routine from 7 to 8:30 pm. Everyone is welcome to attend. Pre-register at robarts@yorku.ca.
For more information, visit the website.