Organized by the Canadian Society for the Study of Education (CSSE), the Canadian Association of Geographers (CAG) and Run for Life, the Crossroads Across the Region Scavenger Hunt involves collecting clues about the educational community and geography of the Kitchener-Waterloo region in teams of two to four people throughout the duration of Congress. The hunt, which will take participants through the two campuses, uptown Waterloo and downtown Kitchener, is self-scheduled, so delegates can complete it at their leisure. All of the locations are accessible on foot or by transit.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThroughout Congress, the University of Waterloo’s newest high-tech accelerator, REAP (Research Entrepreneurs Accelerating Prosperity) is showcasing some of the latest interactive digital display technologies from its new ‘sandbox for serious play’ – the FELT Lab. Young talent from SSHRC disciplines involved in REAP will be on hand to show and tell.
www.reapwaterloo.ca
Featuring Janet Conway, Kit Dobson, Leela Gandhi, Belén Martín-Lucas, Stephen Ney, Stephen Slemon, and Heather Smyth, this roundtable addresses the necessity for literary scholars to reflect on the significant, subtle shifts away from post-colonial thinking towards concepts such as globalization, transnationalism, and diaspora, particularly in literary analysis and cultural studies.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThere is an understandable tendency in times of uncertainty to seek out security in the form of certain dogmas. Undoubtedly this accounts for, and deeply unites, the apparently opposing trends we see in society toward the pole of religious fundamentalism on the one hand and the natural sciences on the other. But there are alternatives. This keynote address by John Smith (Diefenbaker Memorial Lecture) draws on German philosophical thinkers to explore ways of wandering through the uncertainty.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThe Canadian Language Museum was established in 2011 to promote an appreciation of all of the languages spoken in Canada and of their role in the development of this nation. Its first project is the traveling exhibit Canadian English, Eh? which focuses on Canadians' distinctive use of English. This exhibit explores variations in Canadian English across the country, as well as influences from French and Aboriginal languages. The exhibit will be available for public viewing at several locations in 2012.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThe Canadian Communication Association and the University of Waterloo Critical Media Lab (CML) invites Congress participants to visit its mobile exhibition (in a truck parked on WLU campus). Delegates can examine and experiment with recent interactive projects completed by the CML collaborators in the field of mobile computing and augmented reality.
Partially funded by the host universities, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.
An exploration gallery that features posters, artwork and book displays relating to food and food research. All Congress attendees are invited to drop in and explore.
May 26 to May 28. Partially funded by the host universities, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.
Attention Congress 2012 delegates and families!
Visit THEMUSEUM in Kitchener from May 26 to June 2, 2021 and save! Delegates and their families pay $10 per person (regular price is $13). Admission includes all THEMUSEUM’s permanent exhibitions as well as DINOSAURS and ADD COLOUR | A Yoko Ono Exhibition. DINOSAURS is a robotic adventure of dinosaur life and ADD COLOUR invites you to play an active role in the creative process.
http://www.themuseum.ca/main.cfm
Publishing a book-length work remains the yardstick for tenure and promotion, and, increasingly, even for appointment within the academy. Come and speak with editors from some of Canada’s top scholarly publishing houses as they offer their best advice for getting your book in print. You’ll also learn how your book is marketed after it’s published and what you can do to help the sales of your own work with answers and advice from the publishers’ marketing representatives.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetFrom its inception, English Canadian literature has struggled between colonial mimicry and cultural appropriation to form a unique voice or cadence (Dennis Lee). Given the recent burgeoning publication of Indigenous, diasporic and eco-critical epistemologies, Daniel Coleman asks what are CanLit criticism’s chances of generating an ethically alert “ecology of knowledges”?
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThis presentation will explore the convergence of Amerindian, especially Amazonian thought, as conveyed by Eduardo Viveiros de Castro, with the philosophy of Deleuze-Guattari and related thinkers like Bruno Latour. As an outcome of this convergence, the Abaeté Collective and the AMAZONE network are entertaining a dialogue with contemporary Amerindian thought, out of which a new multinatural perspectivism has emerged. Hispanic American literary and cultural studies may find important insights in this philosophical and anthropological approach. This may be the answer to some shortcomings of multiculturalism regarding issues of cultural difference addressed by verbal and other expressive arts.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetIn his talk, leading Canadian writer Nino Ricci addresses the crossroads between the arts and sciences, and that between the pre-digital and digital ages. He focuses on a most current debate, and places the contemporary world at a crossroad with ideas about the unity of knowledge that developed from classical antiquity to the Enlightenment.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetUncertain World is a group exhibition developed in response to the theme of Crossroads: Scholarship in an Uncertain World. The exhibition features the works of four mid- career Canadian artists. Using the landscape as a familiar perceptual backdrop, the artwork addresses themes ranging from environmental degradation to urban sprawl, and from First Nations land claims to the Occupy movement. Uncertain World will be a timely visual complement to Congress 2012.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetSidonie Smith is Martha Guernsey Colby Collegiate Professor of English and Women’s Studies at the University of Michigan and was the 2010 President of the Modern Language Association of America. Her fields of interest include human rights and personal narrative, autobiography studies, feminist theory, and postcolonial literatures. Some of her recent books on these subjects include Reading Autobiography: A Guide for Interpreting Life Narratives (with Julia Watson, 2001), Moving Lives: Women’s Twentieth Century Travel Narratives (2001), and Human Rights and Narrated Lives: The Ethics of Recognition (with Kay Schaffer, 2004). The second expanded edition of Reading Autobiography appeared in May 2010.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetKathryn Finter is an expert on medieval calligraphy. In this interactive workshop, she will demonstrate techniques and offer hands-on instruction to help participants create their own medieval manuscripts. Numbers of participants for the workshop are limited; a fee will apply. Further information will be available on the CSM website.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetOn Sunday, May 27 from 13:00 to 17:00, rain or shine, neighbours along the Iron Horse Trail will welcome the many anticipated guests attending Congress 2012 at Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.
“Animate the Trail” will open the Iron Horse trail from Vincenzo’s at King and Allen St. in Waterloo to Queen St. in Kitchener (roughly a 3km stretch) to walkers and cyclists. Maps will be available highlighting points of interest. The mix of entertainment and culinary offerings along the trail will be akin to a local potluck including artists, musicians, performers, cultural organizations, neighbourhoods associations, heritage storytellers and schools. Come and experience a unique showcase of Waterloo and Kitchener as we showcase our local talent, culture, history, and our sense of community.
Animate the Trail is a partnership between City of Kitchener, City of Waterloo, and Creative Enterprise Initiative
Joan Copjec examines the work of Iranian filmmaker, Abbas Kiarostami, focusing on the recurring image of a zigzag path snaking up a hill on top of which grows a lone, leafy tree. This image represents what she terms an “imaginal” geography—a place that cannot be situated in the actual world. She argues that the concept of an imaginal world put forth by medieval Islamic philosophers, intersected with the long and violent wars fought over the status of the image during the Byzantine period. Dr. Copjec asks how images could incite such protracted violence then addresses the question of the image as it emerged amid a crisis in psychology at the beginning of the modern period. Through Kiarostami’s 1990 film, Close-Up, she examines the parallels between the two historical controversies over the status of the image, and the way in which the film situates itself in both periods.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetEngage your physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual selves in this participatory celebration featuring Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee traditions. Highlighting the region’s indigenous tastes, sights, and sounds, this gathering showcases dancing and drumming from the Red Tail Hawk Drummers from the Chippewa of the Thames while offering a sampling of food prepared by Six Nations chef, Dennis Robus.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThe roundtable will explore the crossroads between sciences and humanities. Italian scientists working in Canada will discuss the ties between the two fields of knowledge. In an age of specialization and sectorial knowledge, is there still a need for a common ground between disciplines? Will the humanities and sciences need to cooperate more closely to address the global challenges of the 21st century? What can and should be done to nurture this common ground and cooperation?
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThe Kitchener Waterloo Symphony Orchestra presents concerts featuring the Gryphon Trio. Conducted by Edwin Outwater, with music by Beethoven and Canadian composer Michael Oesterle.
www.kwsymphony.ca
Come meet members of the Board of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, including our President, Graham Carr, during a wine-and-cheese reception at the Federation’s booth at the Congress Expo.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThe Wilfrid Laurier Alumni Association welcomes Laurier Alumni Congress attendees to an exclusive reception. Join us for a chance to network with fellow Laurier Alumni Congress delegates from across the country on Laurier's ever changing campus.
The reception will take place on Sunday, May 27 in the Grad Pub from 15:30 to 17:30—before the evening’s Presidents’ Reception just a few steps away at the John Aird Centre. Light refreshments will be provided.
Franco-Manitoban writer, poet and novelist Lise Gaboury-Diallo will discuss her writing, which she uses to transcend boundaries between her native Manitoba and her equally beloved West Africa (Senegal, Mali). The meeting will be hosted by critic Lucie Hotte, followed by a question and answer session.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetHow should French Studies scholars present themselves in society? As literary researchers who also teach French? As language teachers whose incomes allow them to conduct research? As defenders and promoters of bilingualism? As chroniclers and transmitters of literary heritage (and if so, whose)?
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThe plenary address for the Canadian Law and Society Association will be given by one of Canada’s most respected legal historians, Philip Girard, whose talk will explore the early modern roots of Canadian legal culture in the intersection of the English, French and Aboriginal legal traditions.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetJoin us for hands-on “Thinkering” (Thinking +Tinkering) with interactive display technologies at the University of Waterloo’s newest high-tech business accelerator REAP (Research Entrepreneurs Accelerating Prosperity). During the 30-minute session, you will be introduced to – and do some ‘serious play’ with – new interactive displays that may transform the way you teach and the way you present ideas to students. The display’s venue in St. Jacob’s is a 10-minute drive from Waterloo, or you can take the train from Waterloo’s Clay and Glass Gallery and the Perimeter Institute (16:15 departure; $15 round trip).
Please register: http://reapwaterloo.eventbrite.ca
Close Add to My Schedule TweetJoin co-director DietmarRatsch in a screening of the award-winning documentary Neukölln Unlimited. The filmfollowssiblings Lial, Hassan and Maradona in the tough Berlin district of Neukölln. As talented dancers and musicians, theAkkouchsiblings are making their name in the street dance and hip-hop scene. But they have a problem: the family has lived for almost 18 years without a secure residence status in Germany and is constantly threatened with deportation to Lebanon. German with English subtitles.
The Goethe-Institut Toronto is proud to support this event and invites you to a 50th anniversary reception following the podium discussion.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetConference delegates and the public are invited to attend this panel discussion of the role that genealogical research plays in enhancing our understanding of the history of individual families, Ontario First Nations, and settler society. The experts’ presentations will be followed by a question and answer period for community members.
Close Add to My Schedule TweetThe Multicultural Cinema Club will hold its spring film festival during Congress and will showcase international films focusing on the theme of “uncertain worlds.” A local film buff will introduce the films and a short discussion will follow each screening.
Free. The Registry Theatre, 122 Frederick Street, Kitchener.
Partially funded by the host universities, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.
These two nights of literary readings will feature Congress writer-scholars and creative writers from Waterloo region: Amanda Jernigan, Carrie Snyder, Brian Henderson and more! Come and reconnect with literature as the foundation of our scholarship! Food for mind and body available. All those interested in reading, contact Tanis MacDonald at tmacdonald@wlu.ca
Close Add to My Schedule TweetJoin us for hands-on “Thinkering” (Thinking +Tinkering) with interactive display technologies at the University of Waterloo’s newest high-tech business accelerator REAP (Research Entrepreneurs Accelerating Prosperity). During the 30-minute session, you will be introduced to – and do some ‘serious play’ with – new interactive displays that may transform the way you teach and the way you present ideas to students. The display’s venue in St. Jacob’s is a 10-minute drive from Waterloo, or you can take the train from Waterloo’s Clay and Glass Gallery and the Perimeter Institute (16:15 departure; $15 round trip).
Please register: http://reapwaterloo.eventbrite.ca
Close Add to My Schedule TweetAs part of the very full and rich schedule of concerts for attendees for the duration of Congress, QuartetFest 2012 features concerts and Chamber music workshops. Hosted by the Penderecki String Quartet, QuartetFest brings together two world-renowned members of the Tokyo String Quartet, Martin Beaver (violin) and Clive Greensmith (cello), and young artists from Canada and abroad to perform concerts and participate in Master classes.
Penderecki String Quartet
Program: Ludwig van Beethoven Op. 18 no. 5, Op. 130 (with Op. 133)
Co-produced with the Kitchener Waterloo Chamber Music Society (KWCMS). For tickets, please call 519-886-1673.
Beethoven, Quartet no. 5, in A Major, Opus 18; Quartet no. 13, op. 130 in Bb Major; the alternate finale that Beethoven wrote for op. 130.
Tickets can be purchased at the door, at WordsWorth Books (100 King St South), or online (http://www.ticketscene.ca/kwcms)
More info at www.k-wcms.com
Presented by the Kitchener-Waterloo Chamber Music Society in association with Wilfred Laurier University’s Faculty of Music
Described by poet Louis Aragon as "What we, from whom Surrealism was born, dreamed would come after us and go beyond us" and by the New York Times as "a towering figure in the world of experimental theatre and an explorer in the uses of time and space onstage," Robert Wilson's productions have decisively shaped the look of theatre and opera for more than 50 years. Through his signature use of light, his investigations into the structure of a simple movement, and the classical rigor of his design aesthetic, Wilson has continuously articulated the force and originality of his vision. His landmark work with Philip Glass—the opera Einstein on the Beach— will be presented at Toronto’s Luminato festival this year. Wilson has also collaborated with Tom Waits and Lou Reed, and is one of the world’s most sought-after opera directors.
This lecture is an illustrated retrospective of Wilson's work that will be followed by a Q & A session.
Ticket prices:
Adult: $30.00
Student (with valid ID): $20.00
Judith Cohen, an ethnomusicologist specializing in Sephardic music, and her daughter Tamar, will perform Sephardic songs from Morocco, the former Ottoman lands and Spain. The songs will be performed in traditional style, either a capella with hand percussion or with traditional string instruments (oud and bowed vielle) and will be accompanied by commentary.
Partially funded by the host universities, Wilfrid Laurier University and the University of Waterloo.