The history and future of international Canadianist study

On Friday, Christl Verduyn — Davidson Chair and director, Centre for Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University — will open a three-part discussion on the history and future of international Canadianist study with a presentation entitled “Understanding Canada and International Canadian Literary Studies.”

The presentation will focus on the UC program in relation to Canadian literary studies in Canada, and consider international Canadian Studies research contributions to Canadian literary studies since 2008 through four “case study” examples.

Smaro Kamboureli — Avie Bennett Chair in Canadian Literature and a professor at the University of Toronto — will then present “Exploring CanLit: Foreign Policy and the Instrumentality of Literature.”

Kamboureli’s presentation will address the termination of the 40-year old federal program Understanding Canada (UC), in the context of contemporary global politics and the neoliberal ideology that has been shaping fundamental changes in postsecondary education in Canada and Europe.

Elizabeth Yeoman, a professor in the University of Newfoundland’s Faculty of Eduction, will then present a response to each of the previous presentations.

The event will run from 1 to 3 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 27 in the University Club, and is part of the Understanding Canada Conference hosted by the English and Cultural Studies Department and sponsored by SSHRC.

Other events open to the public on Friday include five-minute position papers from all conference participants from 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. at the University Club, and a public reading held at Hamilton Public Library by Hamilton writers from 7 to 9 p.m.