College of Arts and Science Vanderbilt University

Canadian Studies Program

Quebec and Canadian Studies

The main objectives of the Canadian Consular Grant for Canadian Studies at VanderbiltUniversity is to complement and enhance work in Canadian Studies throughout the University community.

Thanks to four years of Enhancement Program Grants from the Canadian government's Washington Embassy, the establishment of a Canada-US Fulbright Chair, occasional support provided by the Canadian Consulate in Atlanta, and infusions from centers, departments and programs at Vanderbilt University, Canadian Studies has been firmly established at Vanderbilt in the form of teaching, conferences, research, publishing and inter-university cooperation.

AmeriQuests
AmeriQuests is committed to the study of the Americas as a way of considering the resources, culture, history and environment we share, from the North to the South Pole along the mass of land and adjoining islands that make up the Americas. We have also produced the a special issue of AmeriQuests entitled Quebec and Canada in the Americas a significant tribute to continued work in this area at Vanderbilt. The journal is www.ameriquests.org

In the coming years, we will continue to:

  1. promote Canadian content in courses dealing with the Americas and to sensitize students to Canada-Americas issues;
  2. continue to assist in the publishing costs of Canadian contributions to AmeriQuests, the journal on border crossing, relocation and dislocation in the Americas;
  3. promote research and studies in Canadian/American issues through teaching of courses, encouragement of students interested in Canadian and comparative Canadian-Americas issues, and work within the Center for the Americas;
  4. encourage strong Canadian representation within the Center for the Americas by the staging of conferences, talks and research on key Canada-Americas issues;
  5. promote manuals and materials aimed at assisting students with Canadian Studies;
  6. promote Maymester courses in Montreal, Canada as well as alternative spring break in Montreal, Toronto and other Canadian cities;
  7. pursue efforts at bringing Canadian scholars to give talks, seminars and input at VanderbiltUniversity events. The Canada-Americas lecture series of talks has been instrumental in these efforts;
  8. continue to promote Canadian and comparative Canadian studies research, to which a number of faculty at Vanderbilt have contributed over the years;
  9. promote new work and collaborations in the area of Dance through new initiatives with the Vanderbilt Dance Program and a proposed event in French;
  10. initiate new collaborative work linking the Vanderbilt University Art Gallery to the Museum of Modern Art in Montreal for a major Borduas exhibit.
  11. promote Canadian content in courses dealing with the Americas and to sensitize students to Canada-Americas issues.

Canada-US Fulbright Grant
In the spring of 2007 Vanderbilt University signed an agreement with MichaelHawes, the Director of the US-Canada Fulbright organization, to foster new and growing cooperation with Canadian institutions. The first Chair holder joins the Vanderbilt community this year.

Inter-institutional initiatives
In the autumn of 2007, students in the M.Sc. course in Organizational Dynamics of the University of Pennsylvania traveled to Montreal with Professor Robert Barsky of Vanderbilt, to meet with community representatives, government officials, academics and artists involved in issues relating to intercultural translation and multiculturalism. Details are available here. The program will run again in 2008, and we expect to make this a yearly initiative.

Courses relating to Quebec and Canada
A range of courses taught by Vanderbilt University faculty contains significant or majority Canadian content, notably:

Maymester ENG272 From Leonard Cohen’s poetry to Illicit Jazz in ‘Criminal’ Montreal: Literature, Dance and Music in America’s ‘Paradise’
Maymester HUM294 “Destination Montral: Multiculturalism, Jewish-Catholic Relations and the Law in the Other America. A report on this course was published in an article entitled "U.S. students view city through nightlife, letters", in the Montreal Gazette.

  • French 294b Montréal, Paris, New York: Littératures et mouvements sociaux.
  • French 115W The French Connection in North America: Cod to Cartier to Quebec Libre. ProfessorSusanKevra.
  • Introduction to Francophone Literature. AnthèreNzabatsinda.
  • Inter-American Literature: The Twentieth Century to the Present
  • FR 270 The French Literary Tradition: “Passion, raison, littérature”, Professor Robert Barsky, fall 2004
  • CLT108 World Short Stories, Susan Kevra, Lecturer, fall 2004
  • CLT294 Issues in Canada/Quebec-US Migration, Professor Robert Barsky, Spring 2004);
  • CLT278 Postcolonialism and Multiculturalism, Professor Robert Barsky, Spring 2004
  • French214 French Conversation, Professor Robert Barsky
  • French270 Literature and Law, Professor Robert Barsky
  • CLT287 Inter-American Literature : The Twentieth Century up to the Present, Professor Paul Miller, Spring 2004
  • CLT285. Inter-American Literature: The Pre-Columbian Period through the Eighteenth Century. (Also listed as Comparative Literature 285 and English 253, Professor Earl Fitz)
  • CLT286 Inter-American Literature: The Nineteenth Century. (Also listed as Comparative Literature 286 and English 257, Professor Earl Fitz)
  • CLT294 The Beat Generation's Other America (Also listed as Comparative Literature 294-01, Professor Robert Barsky, Fall 2003)
  • WS150 Images of Women, Julia Fesmire
  • Hum/CLT 107W Literature and the Interpretation of Culture, Julia Fesmire
  • Hum115 Freshman Seminar on Modern/Postmodern Literature, Julia Fesmire
  • Hum141 Great Books, Julia Fesmire

 

Canadian Studies Contribution 2007-2008
1) The Canada-US Fulbright Chair was nominated for the coming year.
2) The grounds were set for a new collaboration with University of Pennsylvania through a trip research trip to Montreal with Penn students from the Program of Organizational Dynamics.
3) A new collaboration with Penn aimed at bringing Edith Trepannier's new Jewish Modern Art exhibit to Penn and Vanderbilt, currently in discussion with a range of Centers and the Vanderbilt Art Gallery.
4) Several new or continuing research collaborations with Canadian content, funded by the Program Enhancement Grant (see below).
5) Robert Barsky joined the Committee 15 interdisciplinary Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council to adjudicate more than one hundred grants from across Canada.

Canadian Studies Contribution 2006-2007
1) Expanding the Canada-US research ties at Vanderbilt via the Canadian Studies Programme, the Canada-US Fulbright agreement, formal academic links to major Canadian research institutions notably McGill, U of Toronto, Queen’s, York, UBC, Concordia, Université de Montréal, UQAM…
2) Canadian donors and the involvement of Canadian institutions in programming at Vanderbilt, specifically, the recent Jack & Minna Brussel donations (see the Vanderbilt Registrar article on the sculpture by William Tarr, pictured at right, and the Vanderbilt Acorn Chronicle image from the Brussel Collection) a projected exhibition/conference on Refus Global and Jewish artists in Montreal with the participation of Canadian donors and artists, and government officials.
3) New collaborative efforts in the Arts, including dance and visual art, with organizations and individuals in Montreal.
4) Recruitment of students, undergraduate and graduate, from top Canadian institutions.
5) A trip with Vanderbilt administration, including the Chancellor, to meet with select officials in Toronto and Montreal, including top administrators from McGill University and University of Montreal.
6) Individual initiatives by students and faculty in Canada.

2005-2006
A host of events in Canadian Studies were sponsored by the Canadian Studies program in 2005-6, the Center for the Americas, the Canadian Consulate in Atlanta, as well as the Robert Penn Warren Center for the Humanities, the Department of French, the Department of English, the Program in Comparative Literature and the Law School, including talks/research trips supported by Canadian Studies by Julius Grey, Professor of Law, McGill University Law School; Denise Helly, director, Ethnic Studies and Migration, Institut national de la recherche scientifique (UQAM); a dance performance organized by Susan Kevra, Lecturer (French and Comparative Literature) at the McTyeire International Center; a preliminary trip by Joseph Mella, Director of the Vanderbilt Art Gallery, to establish contacts for a forthcoming major exhibition on Borduas and post-Borduas art in Quebec, to be held on Vanderbilt campus in 2007; a preliminary trip to Montreal by Marsha Tardy to look for possible collaborative efforts to be pursued in dance, particularly modern dance; a trip by Laurence DeLooze, University of Western Ontario, to consult on Comparative Literature at Vanderbilt, and to give a talk on Renaissance/Early Modern conceptions of “America”. Susan Kevra, has also planned for 2006 a talk and concert by the group “Le Vent du nord.” Le Vent du Nord has won the award for "Best Traditional Artist" at the 18th conference of the North American Folk Music and Dance Alliance which was held is Austin TX, from February 9th to 12th.

 

Canadian-Americas Lectures 2004-5

  • “Writing Canada/US/Mexico,” conferences and readings by GeorgeSzanto.
  • “Marc Angenot and the Scandal of History,” conferences and launch of the Yale Journal of Criticism special issue (Marc Angenot and the Scandal of History, edited by Robert Barsky), featuring Marc Angenot, Robert Barsky, Josias Semujanga, Michel Pierssens.
  • “Reading Group on MarcAngenot,” held at the RobertPennWarrenCenter for the Humanities.
  • “Migrant Workers in Canada and the US,” featuring VeemaVerna.
  • Launching of Incubator Group on Incarcerated Migrants, directed by RobertBarsky. As a newly-established Workgroup, this research team, which meets regularly, will have a Canadian team join its ranks beginning in the fall of 2005 (see below).
  • Launching of the new journal AmeriQuests at the Center for the Americas.

Canadian-Americas Lecture series 2003-4

  • December 4, 2003. Robert Barsky and Patricia Foxen. “Refugee Determination in Canada”, Vanderbilt University Law School (Center for the Americas Seminar Series).
  • February 4, 2004 Topic: Julius Grey, McGillUniversity, Montreal. “The Deportation of Permanent Residents on Security Grounds”
  • February 11, 2004 Topic: Howard Foster, Johnson and Bell Attorneys. "Legalizing Illegal Immigrants: Effects and Challenges throughout the Americas"
  • February 18, 2004 Topic: Paula Covington, and SueErickson, librarians at the Vanderbilt University Library: “Migration Research Sources and Databases”
  • March 17, 2004 Topic Jim Silk, YaleUniversity. “Possible detrimental effects on human rights protection of an over-emphasis on international criminal justice in the Americas”
  • March 24, 2004 Denise Helly, Whose Dream?” Denise Helly, INRS (Montreal), "Issues of Immigration and Integration in Canada"
  • April 14 Debbie Anker, HarvardUniversity, “Gender and the Refugee Claimant"