Below are upcoming events as well as announcements that may be of interest. (A bulletin will be sent out each week with upcoming events and announcements.) Departmental events are also posted on our website.
Events
September 13, 2018 – 10th Annual Attallah Lecture featuring Will Straw
The School of Journalism and Communication will host the 10th annual Attallah Lecture next Thursday, September 13th at 6:30pm (2nd floor of Richcraft Hall). This lecture will kick off a series of events and activities this year in celebration of the 40th anniversary of the Communication and Media Studies program. More info about those events to come.
This year’s Attallah Lecture will be given by Will Straw, James McGill Professor of Urban Media Studies, McGill University. The title of Dr. Straw’s lecture and a description follows. There is a reception afterward to which you are all invited. Would you please share this announcement with faculty and students in your program?
MEDIA FORENSICS: Reading the Canadian Cultural Commodity
How do Canadian cultural commodities, from films through vinyl records and magazines, reveal their patterns of circulation and use? This presentation will look at practices of disguise and deception, through which the Canadian character of certain cultural commodities has been obscured so as to enhance their cultural legitimacy and commercial appeal. By examining a range of media objects produced in the twentieth century, I will suggest ways in which we might “read” cultural commodities, in hieroglyphic fashion, as evidence of the conditions of their production and the strategies behind their circulation.
Please RSVP >> https://carleton.ca/sjc/cu-events/10th-annual-attallah-lecture-featuring-will-straw/
September 14, 2018 – Jill Campbell-Miller: “Colombo Plan Fellowships and the Changing Landscape of Health Education in Canada, 1950-1968”
The History Department invites you to a talk by Dr. Jill Campbell-Miller, visiting SSHRC Postdoctoral Fellow, as part of our Brown Bag Friday Occasion Series. Bring your lunch and join us in the History Department Lounge, 433 Paterson, at 12:30pm.
September 19, 2018 – cuLearn: Tools and Techniques
Did you know you can use cuLearn to post lecture slides, create discussion groups, upload readings or videos, accept online assignment submissions, create self-marking quizzes, send announcements to students, and post grades? And these are just some of the possibilities. So, what’s the best way to get started? Come to the Educational Development Centre’s introductory sessions in September and discover how you can make the most of cuLearn.
Part 2: Tools and Techniques
Wednesday, Sept. 19, 9 a.m. – 12 p.m.Move beyond basic cuLearn navigation to explore and use more of what the tool has to offer. Let us show you how to use cuLearn to schedule meetings with your students, take attendance, solicit anonymous feedback, and set up groups within your class. We’ll also explore the cuLearn activity logs to help you monitor and check in on your students’ course activities, so you can see how they are interacting with the materials.
Learn more and register at https://carleton.ca/edc/events/
September 20, 2018 – 30th anniversary of the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement
The Ottawa Japanese Community Association (OJCA), in collaboration with Library and Archives Canada (LAC), invites you to a conference to mark the 30th anniversary of the Japanese Canadian Redress Agreement, a historic landmark in the evolution of human rights in Canada.
Time: 7 p.m. to 9 p.m., Doors open at 6:30 p.m.
Location: Library and Archives Canada, 395 Wellington Street, Ottawa, Ontario
Registration: Registration is free. As space is limited, registration is required.
The presentation will be in English with simultaneous French translation.
For more information about this event, including the link for registration, see the attached poster or email bac.invitation.lac@canada.ca.
September 21, 2018 – Sylvain Cornac: “History of the Mediterranean explored through the case of a trans-imperial actor: Abd al-Qâdir al-Jazairi (1807-1883)”
The History Department invites you to a talk by Dr. Sylvain Cornac, Contract Instructor, as part of our Brown Bag Friday Occasion Series. Bring your lunch and join us in the History Department Lounge, 433 Paterson, at 12:30pm.
September 30, 2018 – Reflections on Gandhi, the Great Law of Peace and Indigenous Resurgence
The College of the Humanities, Carleton University and the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Council of Ottawa present the annual M.K. Gandhi Lecture in Peace and the Humanities: Reflections on Gandhi, the Great Law of Peace and Indigenous Resurgence by Dr. Taiaiake Alfred, University of Victoria.
Dr. Taiaiake Alfred is from the Mohawk community of Kahnawáke south of Montréal. He served in the United States Marine Corps and went on to do a PhD at Cornell University. He has been the recipient of a Canada Research Chair and is currently professor at the University of Victoria. His books include Wasáse: Indigenous Pathways of Action and Freedom, University of Toronto Press, and Peace, Power, Righteousness: An Indigenous Manifesto, Oxford University Press. The lecture will bring together the thought and praxis of Mahatma Gandhi, the Great Law of Peace of the Haudenosaunee Confederacy, and Indigenous struggles today.
Please join us for this free public event on Sunday, September 30, 2018, 2:30 pm at Room 2200, River Building (Ritchcraft Hall), Carleton University.
October 10, 2018 – Beyond the Academy: CU History Community Mentor and Networking Night
A community mentorship and networking night intended for Carleton University undergrad history students to meet with and hear some of the stories of others trained in history, now working as professionals in various fields of work. Four speakers will each share stories of their career trajectory and how their training in history helped them achieve their goals. This will be followed by a ‘speed dating’ session when students will have an opportunity to speak with these individuals in small groups, ask questions and learn more about the wide range of opportunities that are potentially open to history students. Those who attend will learn new perspectives of what they can do with their history degree and potentially build connections with those out in the world of work ‘beyond the academy’.
Numbers are limited and registration is required! Please RSVP by October 1st or before: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/beyond-the-academy-cu-history-community-mentor-and-networking-night-tickets-49369573724
6:30-9:00pm, 482 MacOrdrum Library
October 12, 2018 – Shannon Lecture with Donna Yates, “Ancient Art and Modern Crime: How Stolen Antiquities End Up In Our Most Respected Museums”
The History Department invites you to the first talk of the 2018 Shannon Lecture Series at 2:30pm in 252 MacOdrum Library. A reception will follow.
Lecture abstract: In 2011 a visitor walked into the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts and stole a 2500-year-old relief of a guard’s head valued at over $1.2 mil. In July of 2018, the New York Supreme court ordered that the sculpture, which had been seized by the District Attorney of New York from a London-based antiquities dealer, be returned to Iran. How the artefact was stolen from the famous archaeological site of Persepolis and ended up in Canada, and what happened after the piece was stolen again give us a glimpse of the dark underbelly of the art world. This is where high culture meets smuggling, desire, greed, and white collar crime.
Many of our most respected museums house stolen antiquities. High-end auction houses and antiquities dealers sell loot on a daily basis. Upstanding and elite citizens freely engage in this criminal market. But unlike with most illegal commodities, trafficked antiquities can be openly bought and sold, and are often put on public display. How is this possible? Using the Persepolis relief as a case study, this lecture will discuss how research from criminology can be used to understand white collar crime in the art world.
October 19, 2018 – Shannon Lecture with Steph Halmhofer, “#InventedFantasies – Using Social Media to Talk About Pseudoarchaeology”
The lecture will take place in room 2017 Dunton Tower (20th floor) starting at 1:00 p.m. followed by a reception at 2:30 p.m.
Lecture abstract: Skeletons of giants in British Columbia. People using psychic abilities to find proof that the empire of Atlantis included Nova Scotia. A cult in Quebec proposing aliens invented life on Earth. These sound like something you would find Dana Scully and Fox Mulder investigating in The X-Files. But I’m not Dana Scully, I’m an archaeologist. So why am I talking about aliens and giants? Because pseudoarchaeology, which includes the topics I’ve mentioned above, is a real concern facing both archaeologists and non-archaeologists. These theories can be found in books, television shows, and on social media but their negative impacts reach far beyond these pages and screens.
With rising popularity in social media and a currently combined total of around 440 million monthly users on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, it’s not difficult to imagine how quickly pseudoarchaeological theories can spread online. But just as we use our knowledge and trowels, social media can also be a powerful tool in the archaeological toolkit, a toolkit I want to share through this lecture. We’ll talk about what pseudoarchaeology is, focusing largely on Canadian examples, and how you can identify it. We’ll talk about the racism of pseudoarchaeology. We’ll also talk about how various media platforms are used to spread pseudoarchaeology. And finally, we’ll talk about how archaeologists and non-archaeologists can use social media to talk about and de-bunk pseudoarchaeology.
November 9, 2018 – Shannon Lecture with Kisha Supernant, “Good Intentions, Bad Archaeology: The uses and abuses of Canadian archaeology against Indigenous people”
The lecture will take place in room 2017 Dunton Tower (20th floor) starting at 1:00 p.m. followed by a reception at 2:30 p.m.
Lecture abstract: In the lands currently called Canada, archaeology is often used to tell stories about the history of this place, but often at the expense of Indigenous nations. Throughout our disciplinary history, archaeologists have positioned themselves as experts on and stewards of the past for the good of all, even though those pasts are sometimes not our own. In this talk, I explore how archaeology in Canada has been and continues to be part of the settler colonial state, centering knowledge from archaeologists and heritage practitioners rather than Indigenous peoples. I provide examples of how archaeological research has marginalized Indigenous voices, even when archaeologists have good intentions, and make some suggestions for how we can move toward a better archaeology for the future.
November 23, 2018 – Shannon Lecture with Katherine Cook, “There is no ‘net neutrality’ in digital archaeology”
The lecture will take place in room 2017 Dunton Tower (20th floor) starting at 1:00 p.m. followed by a reception at 2:30 p.m.
Lecture abstract: Colonisation, at its core, is the extraction of resources from those without power. What then gets extracted in digital colonialism and what does this have to do with archaeology in Canada? Considering the critiques, questions, and fallout regarding digital corporations, capitalism, and politics over the course of the past year, we are ever more acutely aware of the much darker underbelly of the digital world. Yet we still act as if digital technology is ‘the answer!’ to solving those ‘Great Challenges’ facing archaeology today, namely the lack of equity, inclusivity, access and the unwavering manifestations of (neo)colonialism. This discussion will consider the realities of digitally disrupting archaeology, the opportunities it presents but also the dangers it poses to argue that not all data, not all audiences, and not all archaeologists are treated equal in digital practice. Digital archaeology will not save us from bad archaeology, so we must decolonize the digital first.
November 30, 2018 – Shannon Lecture with Morag M. Kersel , “The Pathways of Pots: The movement of Early Bronze Age vessels from the Dead Sea Plain, Jordan”
The lecture will take place in room 2017 Dunton Tower (20th floor) starting at 1:00 p.m. followed by a reception at 2:30 p.m.
Lecture abstract: What is the pathway of a pot? How do Early Bronze Age (3600–2000 BCE) pots from Jordan end up in Canadian institutions – and why does it matter? These particular pots are from sites along the Dead Sea Plain in Jordan, which have been identified as the “Cities of the Plain” mentioned in Genesis. One of the sites, Bab adh-Dhra’ is thought to be, by some, the original city of sin – biblical Sodom. “Who doesn’t want a pot from the city of sin?” declared one interviewee when I asked why they were purchasing (legally) what most would consider a fairly unattractive, non-descript pot. Over 15 years of investigation have led to interesting insights related to why individuals and institutions want to own artifacts from the Holy Land?
Tracing how pots move (both legally and illegally) involves archaeological survey, aerial investigations using unpiloted aerial vehicles, archival research, and ethnographic interviews in order to understand better the competing claims for these archaeological objects and the often deleterious effects of demand on the landscape. In this talk, I will look at how artifacts go from the mound to the market to the mantelpiece or museum vitrine and why this matters.
Announcements
Potential Free Elective – HUMS 3500 “Ancient and Medieval Intellectual History”
Winter Term – Tuesdays and Thursdays, 2:35-3:55pm
An examination of some of the major philosophical, religious, political, artistic, and/or literary ideas, works, and movements from Archaic Greece to the High Middle Ages.
SENgage opportunities 2018-2019
The Senate is launching its SENgage 2018-2019 program. If you’re looking for a unique way to enrich your class experience this fall, SENgage is an opportunity to invite a senator to engage with your students.
Through SENgage, senators can speak in a class setting about various subjects. They can discuss their area of professional expertise and current Senate work, Senate committee findings, as well as their insights on the Senate’s role in Canada’s parliamentary democracy.
This is a great way for students to learn first-hand about the Senate, while directly engaging with senators.
You can complete a request form online by visiting our website at https://sencanada.ca/forms/sengage-campus/
Please note that although we cannot guarantee that a senator will be available, we will do our best to accommodate your request. There is no cost associated with this service. If you are interested or would like to discuss further, please contact us at this email or the number below.
SENgage@sen.parl.gc.ca
https://sencanada.ca/en/sengage/
613-415-6801
Call for Proposals: Realities of Canadian Democracy
Deadline for proposals: 30 September 2018
Workshop Dates: 2-3 May 2019
Although the majority of Canadians would describe Canada as a ‘democratic’ nation, there is no common definition of what this means or a detailed understanding of how our current ‘democratic’ system came to be. Democracy – “rule by the people” – has been construed in radically different ways in Canadian history, yet it has been understudied by Canadian historians. There has been little specific Canadian research on how understandings of the concept have changed over time and space, how it has been translated into practical politics, or how ideas of democracy have historically been contested in Canada.
The purpose of this workshop is to consider these questions, and to discuss how, when and even if Canada can be considered a ‘democracy.’ By taking up Allan Greer’s challenge to consider “the discontinuities in the history of democracy: paths not taken, projects defeated and unrealized, impulses nipped in the bud, dreams forgotten,”our goal is to gain a better perspective on how Canadians came to consider Canada a ‘democracy’ and what they meant by this term. Conference organizers are interested in the multilayered struggles and the multiple actors that have historically shaped Canada’s democracy, in addition to the more traditional political histories. Central to this topic is the quest for power and the question of agency within Canadian society, and with this in mind we encourage papers that broaden the study of democracy beyond Parliament and policy makers. We are interested in submissions that consider either ‘moments’ in this struggle, its long history, or theoretical issues. Although our focus will be on Canada, we welcome transnational contributions that will place Canadian developments in a broader context.
We welcome proposals in English or French of 250 words by 30 September 2018. Invitations to present at the symposium will be issued by 15 October 2018. Given that the workshop will involve discussing papers in depth, participants will be required to submit papers of approximately 8000 words by 15 March 2019 to allow for pre-circulation.
The Wilson Institute will provide assistance toward lodging and travel re-imbursement for all speakers.
Deadline for proposals: 30 September 2018
Applicants should submit their proposals, a 150-word biography, and a one-page CV to the L. R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at wilsonch@mcmaster.ca. Use the subject line “Democracy”
If you have any questions, please contact Julien Mauduit (mauduitj@mcmaster.ca) or Jennifer Tunnicliffe (tunnicje@mcmaster.ca)