Winter 2023
Mondays, 11:35AM to 2:25PM
Emilie Cameron
The focus of this course will be the diverse geographies of knowledge production about the Canadian North. We will not just read and learn about the North but also reflect on how, why, by whom, and in whose interests various forms of knowledge about northern peoples, lands, and struggles is produced, circulated, and taken up. We will consider both the content of a given work and its audiences, intentions, communities, authorizing structures, and impact. We will ask why so much academic knowledge production about the North is carried out by southern, non-Indigenous scholars and circulated in monographs, and the impact of this work on shaping disciplinary boundaries and citational practices; we will assess the scope and impact of knowledge produced by consulting companies and its impact on public processes; and we will consider the kinds of knowledges and practices that inform various political declarations, government and NGO reports, and other interventions as well as the importance of social media in producing and circulating knowledges. We will read memoirs, newspaper articles, and poetry alongside reports, articles, and academic monographs. Students can expect to deepen their knowledge about northern human geographies as well as their understanding of the politics and stakes of knowledge production more generally.