Kategorie: Veranstaltungen

Reminder: The CfP for our 39th Annual Conference is still open until May 29, 2017!

39th Annual Conference of the Association for Canadian Studies in German-speaking Countries (GKS), February 16 – 18, 2018, Hotel am Badersee, Grainau, Germany

The Association for Canadian Studies in German-speaking Countries aims to increase and disseminate a scholarly understanding of Canada. Its work is facilitated primarily through seven disciplinary sections, but it is decidedly multidisciplinary in outlook and seeks to explore avenues and topics of, and through transdisciplinary exchange. For its 2018 annual conference, the Association thus invites papers from any discipline that speak to the conference theme of „GeschichteN – HiStories – HistoireS“ with a Canadian or comparative focus. (Papers can be presented in English, French or German.) We are particularly – but not exclusively – interested in the following aspects:

Writing History and writing stories are as closely intertwined as telling about the past and storytelling. Histories try to reconstruct the past in a narrative form, and stories are hardly conceivable without references to the past or to various pasts. Both construct and contain narratives and with them social, cultural, ideological, and physical landscapes. Narratives tell us of people(s) and their interaction, with each other as well as with the physical and social environment they live in. And narrative constructions form a basis of any kind of scholarship.

At the annual meeting of the Canadian Studies Association, we will explore differences, similarities, and interdependencies of narratives, stories and histories along these topics:

1) Are Canadian (Hi)Stories different?

Is Canadian history and writing about Canadian issues significantly different from that of other nations? Do Canadian authors, scholars, journalists and historians have different voices, are they voicing difference? How has the story of two “founding nations” and the fact that French Canada (and then Quebec) has developed its own national historiography influenced the writing of histories? How have Aboriginal oral and printed historical narratives influenced the perception of Canadian history? Are Canadian authors, scholars, journalists and historians looking beyond the arbitrary boundaries of the nation state or boundaries such as class, gender, and race? What are the narratives and ideas of the Canadian self, what is the nature of assumptions, (self-)images, narratives, maps, plans, documents and texts that construct Canada?

2) Authenticity, Historical “Truth” and beyond

How “authentic” can Canadian histories, stories of and about Canada be, how subjective need they to be? How do historians, scholars and other authors deal with multiperspectivity, contested and alternative histories, heterogeneous and plural forms of history? How do they deal with historiographic metafiction?

What is the relationship between “truth“ and “alternative“ facts in Canadian history, science, politics, media etc.? How do scholars and authors reflect upon the selection of their topics, their sources, their medium of expression, their own subjectivity and the goals they try to achieve?

3) Voices not Heard

Do Canadian historians, scholars, journalists and authors “lend their pen” to voices of those not heard and marginalized, of peoples that have no written record of their past, and possibly rely on transmediation? By what mechanisms are certain peoples and societal groups excluded and how do they gain a voice? How have these peoples and groups “taken the pen” and started “writing back”? And what role do alternative historical, cultural, societal, political, geographical, economic and literary discourses play?

4) Inscribing (Hi)stories – Authorship, Memories, City- and Landscapes

Do historians, scholars and authors and their narratives matter, and if so, how and for whom? How important are the specific medium (print, radio/television, internet, art etc.) and the genre (oral traditions, auto-/biographies, speculative fiction, historiographic metafiction etc.) they use for the narratives chosen? What are the (hi)stories that shape Canadian landscapes, cityscapes, cultural memories and public spaces? And how are these (hi)stories inscribed in images, maps, social and institutional structures, landscapes and environments of Canada?

Confirmed keynote speakers are:

Franca Iacovetta (University of Toronto)

Andrée Lévesque (Archives Passe-Mémoires, Montreal History Group – McGill University)

Glen Coulthard (University of British Columbia)

Contact and abstract submission

Paper proposals/abstracts of max 500 words should outline:

– methodology and theoretical approaches chosen,
– content/body of research
– which of the four main aspects outlined above the paper speaks to (if any).

In addition, some short biographical information (max. 250 words) should be provided, specifying current institutional affiliation and position as well as research background with regard to the conference topic and/or four main aspects.

Abstracts should be submitted no later than May 29, 2017 to the GKS Administration Office (gks@kanada-studien.de).

International Conference of the Italien Association for Canadian Studies, June 29 – July 1, 2017, University of Calabria, Italy

The Italian Association for Canadian Studies invites proposals for the international conference “Canada in the making: 150 years of cultural and linguistic diversity”. The conference aims at investigating the topic of cultural and linguistic diversity in Canada both diachronically and synchronically and welcomes theoretical papers and up-to-date case studies from the methodological perspectives of Language Studies, Literary Criticism, Cultural Studies, History, Geography, Law and Economics etc. The languages of the conference are English, French and Italian. 2017 marks the 150th anniversary of the Canadian Confederation, which was officially created on the first of July, 1867, with the enactment of the British North America Act. Since then, the colonies of Canada (subsequently divided into Ontario and Québec), New Brunswick and Nova Scotia that were united under the Dominion of Canada have gained political independence and expanded territorially to form the immense country we know today. From the very beginning, one of the traits that distinguished Canada was the coexistence of several cultures and languages, which has shaped Canadian identity ever since. Over the last 150 years, the First Peoples and those of British and French descent, Canadians from other ethnic and cultural backgrounds have contributed to redefining a national identity rooted in the concepts of multiculturalism and multilingualism. Over the 20th century such diversity has been turned into one of the foregrounding elements of Canadianness also from a legislative point of view, especially with the promulgation of the Official Languages Act (1969) and the Canadian Multiculturalism Act (1988), and the creation of Nunavut (1999). After 150 years, pluralism is still at the core of what it means to be Canadian even though (but also because) in the last decades the Canadian multicultural policies have been questioned and re-discussed in view of the challenges posed by the new Millennium.

Abstracts of no more than 300 words and a short bio-bibliographical note should be sent to this email address by 23 April 2017. Notifications of acceptance will be sent by 7 May 2017.

International Conference, October 20-21, 2017, Canadian Studies Centre, Masaryk University, Brno (Czech Republic)

At a time when Canada is celebrating its one hundred and fiftieth birthday, it is important to remember that, despite its historical roots in Europe, Canada is in fact a child of the New World – that it is an American country.

With its neighbours throughout the Americas, Canada has shared many concerns, among them the daunting task of coming to terms with the new American space, both physically and symbolically; the negotiation of its relationship to the Old World and the „Mother Country“; the need to invent its own historical narrative; the development of a new society and new social relations; the creation of a distinctive culture; the necessity of coming to terms with aboriginal peoples. At the same time, dealing with these and other similar challenges has been complicated by many factors that, in the American context, are perhaps unique to Canada – the sheer size and emptiness of the Canadian space; the lack of a revolutionary tradition; the extremity of the climate; the fundamental diversity of the country and the need to create unity while maintaining difference; the relationship to the dominant culture of the New World, that of the United States; the legal status of the aboriginal peoples as „allies of the Crown“. These and other influences have all contributed to making Canada a unique American country.

The conference aims to treat Canada’s „Americanness“ from as broad a perspective as possible, welcoming contributions from scholars in the fields of literary and cultural studies, historians, political scientists, geographers, sociologists, anthropologists and those in other relevant disciplines.

What does „America“ mean for Canada? What is its vision of „America“? What in it is distinct, what divergent from practice elsewhere in the Americas? What forms does the „Canadian Dream“ take?

Proposals (300 words) and a brief CV to be sent to the conference organizers, Don Sparling and Petr Kyloušek at this email address, by May 15, 2017. 
Conference fee – 50 EUR, students 30 EUR
CEACS members: 40 EUR, students 20 EUR

Centre for Environmental and Minority Policy Studies (CEMiPoS), Sapporo/Japan, 4-6 December 2017

This conference is organized by the Centre for Environmental and Minority Policy Studies, an independent research centre in Sapporo, in cooperation with the Ainu Women’s Association in Hokkaido (Ainu Moshir), the Hugo Valentin Centre, Uppsala University and the Northern Institute of Environmental and Minority Law, Arctic Centre, University of Lapland.

2017 marks the tenth anniversary of the historic adoption of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) by the UN General Assembly with overwhelming favorable votes. The purpose of the Declaration is to remedy the historical denial of the right of self-determination and related human rights. Indigenous peoples are, however, still suffering from and fighting against wounds caused by historical injustices imposed on them as well as ongoing development projects at the cost of Indigenous rights. Furthermore, the linguistic and cultural survival of indigenous peoples are in many ways threatened by the sweeping policies adopted by governments. What progress has been made for Indigenous peoples since the UNDRIP? It is a perfect time to examine, from the standpoint of Indigenous peoples, the outcomes and effects of the UNDRIP on them.

This conference aims to assess the existing policies towards Indigenous peoples at local, regional, and global levels by focusing on four key areas:

1. Redress for historical injustices imposed on Indigenous peoples and their struggle for indigenous rights
2. Exploitation of natural resources by external powers in Indigenous communities and their resistance against them
3. Linguistic and cultural revitalisation led by Indigenous peoples in the wake of cultural genocide under colonialism
4. Indigenous women on the front line of sufferings and struggles.

The conference will feature the participation of Sami and Ainu activists as keynote speakers for the plenary and other sessions, and will include a panel discussion on Japan’s Ainu policy by Ainu women. In addition, invitation to the conference is extended to students and activists interested or involved in Indigenous affairs, policymakers, government officials, journalists, artists, citizens, as well as Indigenous peoples and researchers across the globe. In spite of the size of the conference, we hope that it will mark a watershed in the development of equitable and sustainable policies towards Indigenous peoples.

Hiroshi Maruyama, Principal Organiser
Director, Centre for Environmental and Minority Policy Studies
Honorary Doctor and Guest Professor, The Hugo Valentin Centre, Uppsala University
Professor Emeritus, Muroran Institute of Technology

Call for Papers deadline: 1 May 2017

Registration: Summer 2017 (Deadline: 1 September 2017)

Participants interested in presenting at the Conference are recommended to choose their preferred area from the above-mentioned four key areas and to submit written abstracts (maximum: 250 words) referring to one of the following suggested topics.

Suggested topics:

• Manipulation of colonial history by colonial powers
• The teaching of indigenous history in the face of majority discourse
• Towards the establishment of a truth and reconciliation committee
• Language loss and revitalisation of endangered indigenous languages
• Acquisition of language for indigenous identity
• Promoting multilingualism for the cultural well-being of indigenous peoples
• Security threats imposed on indigenous communities
• Indigenous peoples as actors in the decision making of development projects
• Sustainable development and CBD 8(j) in indigenous communities
• Impacts of the UNDRIP on indigenous communities
• Incorporating international human rights law into domestic law
• Indigenous perspectives on Gender Studies
• Indigenous women’s history
• Women and power in the (post)colonial situation
• Empowering indigenous women
• Prospects for Indigenising academia and education
• Indigenous masculinities

Abstract submission:

• title of the abstract,
• your affiliation,
• email address,
• 4-5 key words,
• specification to which key area the paper is submitted (e-mail title: „Policy towards Indigenous People – Abstract Proposal“)

Whom to submit to: To Prof. Hiroshi Maruyama at this contact email.

A draft programme and initial information regarding acceptance of abstracts will be released at the beginning of June 2017.

Practicalities:

• No fee for participation will be charged.
• Participants, excluding invited speakers, are responsible for the cost of their own travel, accommodation and other relevant expenses.
• Bearing in mind that traffic paralysis caused by a snowstorm in Hokkaido may take place, participants are recommended to come to Sapporo two days before the conference or 2 December.
• Sapporo has many options for lodging. Hotels.com, AirBnb, and Trivago can assist in finding suitable accommodation. Given the recent popularity of Sapporo as a tourist destination, participants are urged to book their rooms well in advance, preferably in the heart of the city, in the vicinity of Sapporo Station.

For updated information, please follow the organizers here.