Host Institution: York University, Toronto, Ontario
The Network in Canadian History and Environment is pleased to invite applications for the 2017 Canadian History and Environment Summer School (CHESS) in Toronto, Ontario. CHESS is an annual Canadian environmental history event that brings together graduate students, faculty, and other researchers in the fields of environmental history and historical geography for two and a half days of field trips, workshops, public lectures, and more. It is an excellent opportunity to concentrate on a single theme in environmental history while engaging with other scholars.
For Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples in southern Ontario, land is pedagogy. Nishnaabeg scholar Leanne Betasamosake Simpson reminds us that “by far the largest attack on Indigenous Knowledge systems right now is land dispossession.” The Mother Earth Water Walkers, circling the Great Lakes to protect places and peoples, demonstrate the importance to Indigenous communities of natural resources in their personal, physical sacrifice to protest resource exploitation. The women who started Idle No More, and Chief Theresa Spence, represent the generations of Indigenous women who have been fighting for generations for lands, peoples, and political rights. Still, so many voices have gone missing and have been murdered, and the recently struck national inquiry has finally brought their tragedy to national attention.
CHESS 2017 participants will be asked to listen to and think about the messages from Indigenous people about gender and landscapes in southern Ontario. What can we learn about the ways gender and land shape Indigenous pasts and present in the region? Participants will visit Crawford Lake and encounter a reconstructed fifteenth-century Iroquoian village to help them imagine life before the devastations brought by European colonizers. Participants will then visit contemporary Haudenosaunee and Anishinaabe reserves to learn from local landscapes that embody the historical memories of Indigenous lives and colonization. CHESS 2017 will take place from May 31 – June 2, following the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association
Participant spaces are limited. To apply to attend, please complete this online form with a brief letter of introduction explaining why you are interested in attending CHESS 2017 and how your research aligns with this year’s theme, and a one-page C.V. detailing your research interests and experience. Graduate students are encouraged to apply and funding is being sought for their support.
More information on CHESS and the Network in Canadian History and Environment can be found on their website.