By Emily Putnam

Save the date for the on Saturday, June 1 from 10:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. at the .

The exhibit, called , features prints, paintings, kinetic sculptures and woven pieces from several artists and explores the beauty and complexity of visual patterns as an art-making practice that transcends both cultural boundaries and time.

Fara Abn, a PhD candidate studying in Cultural Mediations at 杏吧原创, curated the exhibition and structured its theme around visual patterns in life and art.

She says the double meaning invites the viewer to analyze the patterns in their own life.

鈥淭here are so many acts and habits in our daily routines that we repeat over and over to a point that they lose their meanings. Just having a fresh perspective and being able to review those actions in a different way would be my hope.鈥�

In explaining this shift of perspective, Abn nods to 鈥檚 work, an Anishnabe (Ojibwa) artist .

Attendees can also take part in related on-site workshops to create their own visual patterns and discover how they can evolve and be amplified, aiming to disrupt the ways that our perceptions are shaped and reshaped.

Both the exhibit and workshops are free and open to the public.

Fara, who鈥檚 stay has now been extended at Canada Council beyond her practicum, says the experience she鈥檚 gaining is instrumental insight into her field of study.

鈥淭he fact that it has become a continuous and sustainable relationship with the team is the biggest rewarding part. I’m learning so much about Canadian institutions and working at the Art Bank has been a great opportunity to learn about their collection.鈥�

She says her studies at 杏吧原创 have helped prepare her for this position.

Those who are unable to attend the in-person viewing on June 1 or looking to amplify their visit will be able to download the Art Bank鈥檚 new app that allows even more access to the collection.

Fara was a main writer on the project and says it will also include the upcoming exhibit, Madwey脿shk脿 (Like a Wave) at on June 18.

鈥淚t’s all part of an attempt and also mandate of the Art Bank to reach as many people as possible and in a more democratic way, be able to talk about the collection and talk about their activities and the artworks that they look after.鈥�

The post Graduate Curating: PhD Candidate Fara Abn Curates an Exhibition at Canada Council Art Bank appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

A group of 杏吧原创 students took home top awards at CityStudio’s 2024 Event on April 12.

Held at the end of each academic year, HUBBUB is a networking event and exhibit showcasing a curated selection of student projects from each of the participating institutions.

At the event, students with top projects from each institution pitched their project or spoke about their CityStudio experience. Submitted projects are judged by a committee of one professor or faculty member from each institution and one City staff representative. The projects are scored for innovation, impact, scalability and problem-solving.

Childhood and Youth Studies students in the Critical Approaches to Child Development course taught by Prof. Alexandra Arraiz Matute (Interdisciplinary Studies)  produced resources for Ottawa Public Health鈥檚 youth engagement strategy, and some of the groups submitted their work to a city-wide competition.

Students from the course won the top 杏吧原创 award and also placed in the top 12 groups amongst submissions from 杏吧原创 University, University of Ottawa, and Algonquin College.

Project The SATURN Method: Self Advocacy for Children and Youth in the Healthcare Setting, led by 杏吧原创 students Chloe Sykes, Will Bordeleau, Jemma Woschitz, and Natasha Kislev were among the winning groups.

Group member Chloe Sykes says the experience helped her realize her aspirations to positively impact the youth healthcare system.

Kate Belanger, a student in the group recognized as one of the top 12 city-wide, says the experience inspired her to continue her community efforts.

Mayor Sutcliffe congratulated all participants noting that CityStudio is a platform to share ideas, bring together different perceptions, and build meaningful relationships across organizations for mutual benefit. 

is a partnership between the 杏吧原创 University, City of Ottawa, Algonquin College of Applied Arts and Technology, and the University of Ottawa. It aims to explore municipal challenges from different perspectives by bringing together students, faculty and City staff.

The post FASS students win top awards at CityStudio Ottawa Event appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

By Emily Putnam

杏吧原创鈥檚 own Sarah Phillips Casteel will be launching her new book, , published in Columbia University Press’ new , at the on Thursday April 11.

The first-of-its-kind book delves into a variety of often neglected literary and artistic creations that illuminate Black wartime experience in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe.

This work underscores the importance of African diaspora experiences and artistic expression for Holocaust history, memory, and representation.

Casteel says that within Holocaust studies, there has been increasing attention to neglected or overlooked victim groups. 

鈥淏ecause the numbers of Black victims were relatively small, they have tended to be overlooked or to be perceived as less significant. I don’t agree with that perspective, but I think it has played into the invisibility of Black experience during World War II.鈥�

She says a number of other components contributed to the lack of acknowledgement thus far.

In an often-overlooked aspect of World War II history, Black people living in Nazi Germany and occupied Europe were in some cases subjected to ostracization, forced sterilization, and incarceration in internment and concentration camps.

Casteel explains that it was artworks, in particular the 鈥檚 and Ghanaian Canadian writer 鈥檚 novel that initially got her interested in this neglected topic.

“I think there has been a systemic erasure of Black historical experience in wartime Europe as well as more broadly,” says Casteel. “I became really intrigued with what writers and artists have done to draw attention to a chapter of the war that scholars, museums, and other institutions had overlooked.”

Emphasizing Black agency, Casteel鈥檚 book explores both testimonial art by Black victims of the Nazi regime and creative works by Black writers and visual artists that imaginatively reconstruct the wartime era. 

In the absence of public recognition, African diaspora writers and artists have preserved the stories of overlooked Black victims of the Third Reich. Their works shed light on the relationship between creative expression and wartime survival and the role of art in shaping collective memory.

鈥淚t’s been an interesting research challenge, just trying to find traces of these Black wartime stories,鈥� says Casteel. 鈥淧art of the challenge is that the Nazis didn’t have a designated category for Black prisoners. So that makes it harder to trace their presence in the camp system and in the archive.鈥�

Among the artworks Casteel examines in the book are the internment art of Caribbean painter Josef Nassy, the survivor memoir of Black German journalist , the jazz fiction of African American novelist , Black Canadian novelist Esi Edugyan, and the photomontages of Scottish Ghanaian visual artist .

Casteel hopes that people will take away from the book a greater understanding of the interconnectedness of different histories of oppression and the diversity of experiences of Nazi persecution. 

She notes that utilizing visual sources enables new narratives to surface.

“Because this is a hyper-visible victim group, it’s sometimes easier to find traces of Black stories in the visual documents as opposed to the textual ones because the archive has not always recorded their presence well. Whereas when you have something like the Josef Nassy Collection, you can access a story that wasn’t recorded in written form.”

Casteel says that she is struck by how artists have often pointed to underrepresented narratives before scholars have.

She explains that a combination of storytelling mediums was essential to uncovering these histories.

鈥淚 came to the conclusion that when you’re faced with a history that’s been so invisible and so suppressed, you end up having to draw on all the resources of all the different media that you can in order to try to recover it. I think that’s why I ended up putting the book together in this way鈥攚hy the book is so eclectic in terms of the range of artistic genres and mediums that it addresses.鈥�

Casteel hopes that her work will reach beyond academia and help to bridge gaps in the historical awareness of who was affected by the Holocaust.

Casteel was also interviewed in where she discusses the book in-depth.

Those looking to celebrate the release of Sarah Phillips Casteel’s new book can on April 11 at 5:30 p.m. Casteel will be in conversation with Aboubakar Sanogo, and Ming Tiampo will moderate the conversation.

Organized by the Centre for Transnational Cultural Analysis in partnership with the National Gallery of Canada, the event will be presented in English with simultaneous French translation. Following the talk, Casteel will be available to sign copies of the book.

Sarah Phillips Casteel is a professor of English at 杏吧原创 University, where she is cross-appointed to the Institute for Comparative Studies in Literature, Art and Culture and the Institute of African Studies. She is a member of the鈥檚 Academic Council. Her previous books include  (Columbia University Press, 2016) and the coedited volume  (University of Virginia Press, 2019).

The post Upcoming Book Launch For Sarah Casteel鈥檚 Black Lives Under Nazism: Making History Visible In Literature And Art appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

By Emily Putnam

Artist-in-Residence has closed their residency at 杏吧原创 with two student-led performances.

Shortt is a storyteller and performing artist working across Turtle Island and internationally. They are a vocalist, saxophonist, noisemaker, improviser, composer, sound designer, video artist, curator, administrator, and producer.

Shortt has been on campus since January 2024. While here, they’ve taught a course called Music Producing 101 (MUSI 4200) and ran the Performer-Composer Lab ensemble. They also gave a masterclass, presented a concert at 杏吧原创 Dominion-Chalmers Centre, and took part in music auditions and juries.

They say 杏吧原创鈥檚 music program hosts a uniquely diverse range of musicians in study.

鈥淭he program here is really great because I’m meeting students from a plethora of genres. I have metal guitar players, I have singer-songwriters, I have classical musicians and jazz musicians, people who are self-taught, and people who have had lessons their whole life. I think it creates a really interesting dynamic that’s fun to work with.”

Shortt says the students they鈥檝e worked with have been open and eager to the new challenges they鈥檝e been assigned.

鈥淪tudents here are super keen. They have been absolutely amazing to work with. I don’t think I’ve met that many people who are just happy to try things out.鈥�

Shortt focussed on teaching students how to prepare artist bios, build their resume, and send email pitches in hopes of helping artists become more well-rounded experts of their craft.

The 杏吧原创 Music that occurred on April 1 took place at local venue .

The showcase featured the music of ABBA, Gotye, Andrea Bocelli, and several original compositions from 杏吧原创 music students.

The ensemble also collaborated with 杏吧原创鈥檚 radio station where students Robyn Lichaa, Sarah Peters and Anastasia Wasylinko  and performed pieces that will be featured at the showcase.

Shortt says connections and community can be one of the keys to success.

鈥淚 think it’s the advice everyone gives, and not everyone takes 鈥� which is: ask the local artists you’re interested in for coffee, because you learn so much from these conversations. I’ve done that so many times. I still do it.鈥�

Shortt also advises aspiring artists to refrain from being discouraged when things don鈥檛 go according to plan.

They say Ottawa鈥檚 community has welcomed them with open arms.

鈥淚 really like that Ottawa seems to have specific communities. And while maybe if you look statistically, there’s less, it’s almost like there’s more, because you’re really focusing on specific places.鈥�

Shortt says they particularly connected with 鈥檚 work, one of Ottawa鈥檚 leading independent and underground music and arts presenters.

鈥淚 found people really want to connect with you. Even if they don’t have the time, even if time鈥檚 not available, they’re like: I’ll find time.鈥�

Another focus of Shortt鈥檚 teaching was improvisation and interpreting music beyond traditional notation.

鈥淚 did all this training for so long, and then someone introduced me to improvisation. It really opened my eyes and reshaped how I looked at my previous training and classical music.鈥�

鈥淭here’s now these different ideas and ways of approaching improvisation, but they all coalesce, and they all come together. I just think it’s good to make sure you’re working all the different parts of your brain. I think they all work together in the end, and I’m just hoping that I can help make people into full and complete musicians, so that they’re not just only looking at music one way.鈥�

Shortt鈥檚 most recent artistic expression-of-choice is creating that encompass all components of their creativity.

鈥淚 really like video art because it kind of became a substitute for theatre, which I had really fallen in love with.鈥�

The second student-led performance will be taking place on Friday, April 5 at the Kailash Mital Theatre at 杏吧原创 University.

The post Celebrating Music, Creativity and Community with Artist-in-Residence Olivia Shortt appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

By Emily Putnam

Those from the 杏吧原创 community tuning-in to the this weekend may get to see a familiar face on screen.

, who is now a Juno nominated composer, started her journey at 杏吧原创 in 2002 to study jazz guitar.

Brandon says she feels overwhelmed and excited for her first-time nomination.

鈥淚t鈥檚 wonderful to have this acknowledgement from my peers and to be in the company of the other nominees I admire so much, such as Dinuk Wijeratne, Emilie Lebel and Nicole Liz茅e.鈥�

Brandon is nominated for Classical Composition of the Year for , a piece recorded with and cellist , who she says she wrote the piece for.

鈥淪imulacra is essentially a sonification of my own experiences with identity鈥�, says Brandon. 鈥淟ike many others, I鈥檝e often felt intense pressure to alter aspects of my fundamental self in order to better 鈥榝it in鈥�.鈥�

鈥淚 express this in the piece by making the timbre of the cello a metaphor for this kind of self-inhibition and self-suppression 鈥� it travels from the narrowest of timbral ranges to the fullest, undergoing continuous transformation, eventually ending in an uneasy balance.鈥�

Brandon鈥檚 compositions have been described as 鈥�…gut wrenching and horrific鈥� (Critipeg), and “otherworldly, a clashing of bleakness with beauty” (Minor Seventh).

鈥淚 get great satisfaction from creating music that has a certain physicality, although sometimes that quality is not necessarily beautiful in the traditional sense. But to me, this manipulation of timbre is what carries the most communicative aspects of music.鈥�

The piece, conducted by , was first performed at the in 2023 and was supported by , and .

鈥淭he title of the cello concerto, Simulacra, refers to Baudrillard鈥檚 famous book on semiotics, and the concept of 鈥榓 copy that does not have an original鈥�. This is a nod to the idea that sometimes we create our identities out of nothing, creating a kind of hyperreal self that replaces us in the real world.鈥� says Brandon.

She says her education at 杏吧原创 helped to instill important values that she carries with her today.

鈥淚 worked with Wayne Eagles, Garry Elliott, Tim Bedner and , all of whom had a profound impact on me musically and as a person. I was lucky to have had the chance to work further with Roddy beyond my degree – we toured a little together on the East Coast and he is featured on my first album, ‘‘ which was released in 2016. He’s a brilliant guitarist and composer.鈥�

鈥淚 also took classical guitar lessons from Garry even after I graduated. His approach to teaching gave me a foundation of discipline which I relied on later in life as I moved into composition. He taught me that nothing good comes without effort and practice, which is a philosophy I use to this day twenty years later.鈥�

Brandon says 杏吧原创鈥檚 music program was always encouraging of her innovative and unique sonic interpretations.

鈥淥ne thing I appreciated about 杏吧原创 as a whole was its openness to musical ideas and influences from beyond the traditional conservatory system. I never felt that my musical ideas, however outlandish, were considered unwelcome. This musical openness definitely laid the foundation for my later approach to composition and performance in more experimental and free improvisational styles.鈥�

She says her compositions help bring her internal emotions outward.

鈥淔or me, composing is as simple as wanting to take everything that I hear inside, and bringing it outside. Simulacra, and all my pieces are these kinds of personal communications to ‘the outside world’.鈥�

鈥淚’m grateful that other people have found these expressions to be something worthwhile, and I cherish all the collaborations with performers that have come from that.鈥�

This year鈥檚 winners will be revealed in Halifax, Nova Scotia at the  Presented by Music Canada on Saturday, March 23 and The on Sunday, March 24, live on CBC.

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Location: Hybrid | Woodside Hall, 杏吧原创 Dominion-Chalmers Centre.
All ages are welcome to attend.
Date and Time: Monday, April 22nd, 2024, 7:00 pm to 9:00 pm. 

Please register below for this event.

Zoom Link
Time: Apr 22, 2024, 07:00 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Meeting ID: 944 6759 7472

COVID protocols will be in effect for in-person attendees, and masks will be required. Hand sanitizing stations will be available. Access: ASL, AI Captioning and Visual Notetaking will be available for in-person and online attendees.

Description: Infrastructure barriers, inequitable urban planning, and discriminatory bylaws and policies disproportionately impact and prevent marginalized communities, particularly those who are poor, disabled, or racialized, from fully participating in urban life. As a result, Ottawa is home to some of the most pressing social issues, including food scarcity, inaccessible transit, housing insecurity, police violence and surveillance, a poisoned drug supply, and more. 

(DJCCC) invites you to engage with some of Ottawa’s emerging and established disability justice activists and artists striving to make the city a more accessible and just environment for all its inhabitants. Disability justice centres the transformative role of disability politics, cultures, and communities to collectively dismantle ableism and build, through cross-movement solidarity, more accessible and socially just relations in the national capital region and beyond. Join us as we explore what it means to transform our city through the lens of disability justice.

Panelists or Invited Speakers: Robin Browne (613-819 Black Hub), Kenzie McCurdy (StopGap Ottawa), Dr. Menna Agha (杏吧原创 University) and Cameron Jette (Disability Drag Collective)

Robin Browne started his Blacktivism in the late ’80s as a student organizing to get Montreal’s Concordia University to divest from apartheid South Africa. His work with the focuses on addressing systemic anti-Black racism and everyday white supremacy. His work is guided by a slightly modified version of the well known Margaret Mead quote: “Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful committed individuals [SUING PEOPLE] can change the world. In fact, it’s the only thing that ever has.鈥�

Kenzie McCurdy, who has been making ramps as part of the core organizing team of Ottawa since 2016.

Dr. Menna Agha (杏吧原创 University) is an Assistant professor of design and spatial justice at 杏吧原创 University, where she is leading the Architecture Action Lab, a community service laboratory that aims to promote architecture activism in public space. The Lab has worked on several community service projects, such as the Public Foods community fridge and pantry in Centertown, Ottawa, and Wellness Hub for young women+ ageing out of the foster system. Currently, the Lab is working with the community in Russell Heights on the design and construction of a public kitchen and play area. Before coming to Ottawa, She coordinated a spatial justice agenda at the Flanders Architecture Institute in Belgium. In 2019/2020, she was the Spatial Justice Fellow and a visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Oregon. Menna holds a Ph.D. in Architecture from the University of Antwerp and a Master of Arts in Gender and Design from K枚ln International School of Design. She is a third-generation displaced Fadicha Nubian, a legacy that infuses her research interests in race, gender, space, and territory. Among her publications are: Nubia still exists, The Utility of the Nostalgic Space; The Non-work of the Unimportant; and Liminal Publics, Marginal Resistance.

Cameron Jette (he/they) is a trans, neurodivergent and disabled drag performer, multidisciplinary artist, small business owner and community event planner. With his Bachelors of Arts in Human Rights and Social Justice from 杏吧原创 University, and nearly a decade of non-profit experience in so-called Ottawa, Cameron is passionate about disability justice, anti-zionist activism, community engagement, program development, and event planning.

In October 2022, as his drag alter-ego Boy Vey, Cameron founded the Disability Drag Collective, a global collective of disabled drag performers working to create change in their communities. He has also recently began planning diverse, community-focused events as Wheelie Productions, where he focuses on creating spaces that focus on accessibility, and disability justice.

Discussants: Megan Linton and Adele Ruhdorfer

Megan Linton (she/her) is a researcher, writer, and creator of the podcast. Her research uses critical disability & carceral studies to challenge disability institutionalization and their profit motives. Her writing has been published widely in , the , , and the . Megan is a doctoral student at 杏吧原创 University in the Department of Sociology & Political Economy, where she is also a member of the Disability Justice and Crip Culture Collaboratory.

Adele Ruhdorfer is an emerging writer, researcher, and curator with a creative practice centred on photography, lens-based, digital media, and collage. Drawing upon her own lived experiences as a neurodiverse and chronically ill person, she focuses on the embodied creative practices of disabled, mad, and sick artists in her research and curatorial practice. Her research complicates the definition of Disability Arts beyond a politics of visibility, to include non-representational, abstract, and immersive art. Focus is given to artists using an aesthetics of error in their lens-based, time-based, chance-based, digital media, and/or glitch art, highlighting how technological relationships extend their body鈥檚 capacity for creative expression, while remaining grounded in their embodied experiences and lived crip knowledge.

Event Organizers and DJCCC Co-Directors: Dr. Kelly Fritsch and Dr. Fady Shanouda

Dr. Kelly Fritsch is an associate professor in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at 杏吧原创 University. She is cross-appointed to the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation and the Institute of Political Economy and is co-director of the Disability Justice and Crip Culture Collaboratory. She is co-author of We Move Together (2021), a children鈥檚 book about ableism, accessibility, and disability culture, and co-editor of Disability Injustice: Confronting Criminalization in Canada (2022) and Keywords for Radicals: The Contested Vocabulary of Late-Capitalist Struggle (2016). 

Dr. Fady Shanouda is an assistant professor at the Feminist Institute of Social Transformation (FIST) at 杏吧原创 University and co-director of the . His scholarly contributions lie at the theoretical and pedagogical intersections of disability, mad, and fat studies and include socio-historical examinations that surface the interconnections of colonialism, racism, ableism, sanism, fatphobia and queer- and transphobia. 

The post Healthy Cities | Disability Justice in the City on April 22nd appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

Renowned playwright Drew Hayden Taylor delivered a lecture titled ‘A Coming of Age: Indigenous Literature’ as the 37th Munro Beattie speaker.

This year’s Munro Beattie Lecture was delivered by , a dynamic and versatile playwright, novelist and documentarian from the Curve Lake First Nations celebrated for his blend of humoristic and deeply insightful storytelling. Taylor’s lecture offered a captivating glimpse into the multifaceted world and perspectives of one of Canada’s great authors. 

Taylor took the stage at the 杏吧原创 Dominion-Chalmers Centre on Saturday, Nov. 4.

Taylor鈥檚 lecture marked the 37th year of the Munro Beattie lectures, a series dedicated to honouring the English department鈥檚 founding chair. Serving as chair for over two decades, from 1953 to 1969, Beattie is remembered as a brilliant conversationalist known for his wit and passion. This lecture series continues to celebrate and uphold the values he characterized.

Taylor’s talk, titled A Coming of Age: Indigenous Literature, explored what he calls the “contemporary Native Literary Renaissance.” He defines this renaissance as a powerful eruption of Indigenous Literature across various genres that started in the late 1980s and continues today.

In conversation with FASS writer Emily Putnam, Taylor discusses the ever-evolving world of storytelling, the transformative utility of humour, and what the dexterous creator hopes to work on next.

EP: Your speaker event is called ‘A Coming of Age: Indigenous Literature’. Is Indigenous Literature coming of age?

DT: That’s the $64,000 question. I think it is. In fact, some may argue it already has. In my lecture, I like to refer to what I think of as the contemporary Native Literary Renaissance, which began in the late 鈥�80s and early 鈥�90s. And that’s when there was this explosion of Native Literature, prose, plays, poetry, etc. where before, there had been very little of which that the dominant culture was aware of. And since then, there have been dozens and dozens and dozens and hundreds of books released. In fact, I’d have to say in the last five to ten years, when they do the annual awards, the Governor General’s, the Writers’ Trust, etc. It’s fairly common to have one to two finalists in there, if not actual winners. There has been this coming of age. But what’s been really happening in the last five to ten years is that the books coming out of the First Nations community have greatly expanded their genres. We’re now doing science fiction, horror, things like that. So yeah, I think it has come of age and is continuing to come of age.

EP: Can you speak to the power of storytelling? Does it have the ability to bring communities together?

DT: Storytelling is universal, I don’t think there’s a culture anywhere on earth that hasn’t had stories or a storyteller. The power of stories is the fact that in pre-literate times, they contained history, philosophy, and ethics 鈥� all different types of things that are covered by so many different fields today, and that was the way they passed on the culture. It was a self-generating system of knowledge. I think those stories, and most of them range from scary stories, which we all love, to historical stories, to stories that basically try to explain the natural world. So, I think everybody has an innate interest and innate ability to appreciate and welcome stories. Nowadays, you’ve got all these movies and things which have special effects and stuff like that. But the best special effects, the best interpreter of stories, is basically your imagination. I think storytelling will always be there. It’s just constantly morphing into different ways of telling that story.

EP: How is humour an effective storytelling tool for you when confronting complex issues?

DT: Well, I think everybody likes to laugh; it releases endorphins. It’s a wonderful, amazing feeling. And it also has an interesting way of delivering the message. I’ve had conversations with people, and it’s like, you have somebody angry on the side of the street, screaming out the wrongs of the world, and people will stop, they’ll listen for a few seconds, and then move on. And they’ll completely dismiss everything you had to say. But if you pick up that story, and you wrap it in humour, they’ll stop, they’ll listen, they’ll laugh, and they will take that bit of what you’re trying to tell them home with them and share it. I think humour is an excellent and innovative way of telling a story or improving the story, because what humour does is it takes something, turns it inside out, and then releases it in a whole new form. It’s like A plus B equals D.

EP: What compels you to pursue stories, and what draws you in to stories that make you feel like you have to tell them?

DT: I mean, the stories come to me, or I think them up. I guess it’s either what fascinates me, or what hasn’t been told before and what I think will intrigue people. When I write something, I try to entertain, I try to educate, and I try to illuminate. When I come up with something that includes all three of those, I’ve got a story there that is a 鈥榳inner鈥� for lack of a better term. Literally, it’s a strike of lightning that inspires you, and then you have to take that inspiration and make it work. I mean, what is it, 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration in terms of writing, in terms of genius, all of that. I tend to agree, sometimes the difficult thing is coming up with that original idea. The rest of it is just gritting your teeth and making that idea work.

EP: When you choose to pursue a story, how do you make the decision to place yourself within it 鈥� which you鈥檙e known for 鈥� or to tell the story as the narrator behind the curtain?

DT: I work in so many different fields. I write novels, I write plays, I write documentaries, creative nonfiction, television shows, etc, etc. And I have a friend who is a journalist for the CBC, and I did numerous articles for newspapers, magazines, and radio. In fact, I had an in Saturday’s Globe and Mail. And my friend tells me that I’m a very poor journalist. And, I said, why? He says, because you use the words I and me, and no journalist uses the term I or me in what they write, yet I find that instrumental to any type of journalism I do because I am the observer. I am the viewer that wants to share what I see, because I know it’s filtered through my consciousness. When I’m telling a story, like a novel or a play, it鈥檚 again filtered through my consciousness where I am telling the story. I see it as it comes out of me. And that’s why I don’t try to write like other people. That’s why I do not teach, because I can only teach people how to write like I write. And that will not work for all people.

EP: You鈥檝e done everything from scriptwriting for The Beachcombers and North of 60 to novel writing and present-day documentarian work with APTN and the CBC. Can you speak to your evolution as a storyteller, and do you have any plans for what鈥檚 next for you? Is there something new you want to try?

DT: I originally started out writing for television, which was unexpected and delightful. But the cliche is it’s great work when you can get it, and I wasn’t getting a lot of it. Through a series of bizarre circumstances, I was offered the chance to be a writer-in-residence for Native Earth Performing Arts, one of the leading indigenous theatre companies in the country, and I needed the money. So, I signed on. And I learned the wonders of theatre, not just theatre, the practice itself, but the philosophies behind it. So, I went from television writer to writing for theatre. Along the way I started writing articles and essays because I’d come across an idea, or something I wanted to explore that was not worth a two-hour play, or it wouldn’t work in a television show. I would just write these one-offs about something usually funny, and they developed a following. I would do one occasionally, and then as I became more well-known as an artist, I began to get more and more requests. I started doing more and more articles, and then from there, I started doing the odd short story. From there, I was asked to write a novel, and then so on and so on. Today, I think I have done practically everything I want to do. I’ve done theatre pieces, I did one made-for-TV movie, I had a sitcom on HVTN called Mixed Blessings. I’d love to do a feature film somewhere along the line. I’ve got my fingers and toes crossed, and I’m always waiting to hear what’s going to happen.

EP: Do you have a favourite artistic medium to create in?

DT: They all have benefits. It’s hard to say which is my favourite. I mean, I came to fruition as an artist and as a playwright, and I’ve got a soft spot in my heart for the theatre. But television, you can reach more people with one episode than you can with all the plays that I have produced. And it’s a fascinating industry, which I really like. Same with movies. With novels, it’s literally you and your computer, and you create the entire universe. The response, too, I think in the social hierarchy, you have playwrights and novelists at the top of the literary hierarchy. And the fact that you sit down and can read a novel, I can crawl into it. Plays are meant to be seen, not so much read. So that sort of limits the kind of inspiration that it has out there, because very few people are walking down the street saying, jeez, I feel like buying a play to read.

More Information about this year鈥檚 Munro Beattie Lecture

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The 68th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology 

杏吧原创 University is co-hosting and co-sponsoring, with Canadian Museum of History and Queen鈥檚 University, the 68th Annual Meeting of the Society for Ethnomusicology, taking place in Ottawa from October 18-22, 2023. The Society for Ethnomusicology (SEM) is an academic society whose members engage with the study of music in communities locally and internationally. The meeting is a long-awaited opportunity to bring SEM back to Canada after more than twenty years and to Ottawa for the first time ever. There will be around 800 people participating in the conference which will feature academic presentations, roundtable discussions, live music performances and various workshops. 杏吧原创 Music faculty member Anna Hoefnagels is serving as co-Chair of the Local Arrangements Committee with her colleague Judith Klassen, curator at the Canadian Museum of History. Together, they are working with colleagues from the co-hosting institutions, and Music professor Ellen Waterman and MA student Charlotte Stewart-Juby to develop programming that highlights local attractions and features local artists, performers and musicians. Various offices at 杏吧原创 University are supporting the event, and funding was also secured through the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.

杏吧原创鈥檚 Music program will be featured in various ways throughout the conference. Explorations of sound and protest in the Freedom Convey will be shared by Music professor James Deaville and by Gale Franklin, Music alumna and current doctoral candidate in Canadian Studies. Franklin will also present on a panel on signed musicking with Music professor Ellen Waterman.

杏吧原创 Music will also be highlighted in the noon-hour concert 鈥淔rom Highlife to Azonto鈥� by the West African Rhythm Ensemble, directed by Kathy Armstrong and featuring three Ghanaian musicians, including Stacey Can-Tamakloe, a graduate of the MA Music program, Benedictus Mattson and Dominic Donkor. Current Bachelor of Music student and fiddler Robyn Lichaa will perform with fellow musician Tyson Chen, joined by highland Celtic dancer Aislin Perry in the noon-hour concert 鈥淭hat Sounds Like Home: Fiddling from the Quebec-Ontario Border and Beyond.鈥� The noon-hour concert 鈥溾�楰atajjausiit鈥� – Inuit throat songs鈥� will feature Ottawa-based Inuit singers Charlotte Angugaattiaq Qamaniqt and 杏吧原创 alumna Tamara Tikisa Takpannie. Other noon-hour events include the concert 鈥淪ounds of the Mountain: A Journey to Swieda City鈥� which features Toronto-based Syrian musician-scholars Esmaeel Sharafadin Abofakher and Rahaf Alakbani and a noon-hour lecture-recital 鈥淧lay It by Eye: An Introduction to Signed Music鈥� featuring Pamela E. Witcher, Dawn Birley, and Jody Cripps. 

Various other events draw on existing relationships between 杏吧原创 University and local organizations and communities. A full-day pre-conference symposium will take place on October 18^th at the Canadian Museum of History, focused on discussions around music archives in/and ethnomusicology that will engage museum curators, archivists, musicians, scholars, and community members. Questions that will guide discussions include defining archives and collections, their use historically and now, how technology has shaped engagement with and understandings of archives, and ethical considerations around access to materials and, in some cases, repatriation, or the return of archival materials to host communities. Through a series of roundtables, and featuring two lecture-recitals comprising musicians who engage materials from archival collections, the symposium will examine these questions to expand dialogue within and beyond the discipline of ethnomusicology. Conference delegates will also be able to participate in tours of the Music Collections at the Canadian Museum of History, including conversations with museum staff from Collections, Conservation and Archives, with a sneak peek at artifacts connected to the upcoming Popular Music exhibition. 杏吧原创鈥檚 Research Centre for Music, Sound and Society is co-sponsoring a screening of films featured in the Journal of Audiovisual Ethnomusicology. 

The local arrangements committee has also organized special events to offer conference delegates insight into local traditions and experiences of musicians. Cultural educators from the Native North American Travelling College in Akwesasne will host a workshop on Haudenosaunee social song and dance, and two roundtable panels will also feature local musicians and traditions. Macho Commonda, 杏吧原创鈥檚 Algonquin Liaison Officer, assisted in the organization of, and will moderate a roundtable titled听鈥淯nceded and Unsurrendered: Voices, Reflections of Indigenous Musicians in and around Ottawa/Gatineau.鈥� This roundtable will feature musicians Beverley McKiver (Anishinaabe), Charlotte Angugaattiaq Qamaniq (Inuk), Keith Whiteduck (Algonquin) Mikayla Karonhianonha (“She Protects the Skies”) Francis (Mohawk), and Jaime Morse, (Otipemisiwak/Nehiyaw [M茅tis/Cree]), who will share their music and dance traditions, followed by a discussion their relationship with the local land and waterways and how that connects with their musical creations. 鈥淢aking Home, Community and Music Anew: Experiences of Immigrants to Canada鈥� will engage discussions around the complexity of relocation and displacement, and formation of new communities and connections drawing on their own experiences as musicians. Along with 杏吧原创 Sonia Caceres, alumna of 杏吧原创鈥檚 MA in Music Culture program, the roundtable will include Mei Han, Esmaeel Abofakher, Golam Rabbani, and Dominic Donkor and will be moderated by Andrea Emberly.听

A highlight of the conference will be the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings Sound Communities Series Launch Showcase in the Grand Hall of the Canadian Museum of History on Friday, October 20^th, starting at 7:30. The showcase will feature artists who tell stories of the lands, waters, and peoples of Turtle Island, focusing on the territories also known as Canada. Artists will include Sons of Membertou featuring Morgan Toney (Mi鈥檏maq drummers and fiddler), Julian Kytasty with Chester Delaney and Elyse Delaney (Ukrainian-Canadian-American bandura, and Acadian fiddle and song) and Mamadou Ko茂ta featuring Afua Cooper (balafon & spoken word collaboration). There will be a cash bar on offer and free light snacks. Grand Hall Exhibitions will be open to explore throughout the evening. Everyone is welcome to come and discover new artists and explore culture and heritage through music! Visit the for more information and tickets.

about the conference and special programming.

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By Thora Asudeh and Sera Patenaude

On March 6, we had the pleasure of sitting down for an interview with Professor , the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in North American Studies at 杏吧原创 University for 2022/23.

We were eager to learn more about his upcoming Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Lecture titled “The Ubiquitous Muslim,” presented by the MA in Religion & Public Life in the College of the Humanities on Thursday, March 23 at 7 p.m. in Paterson Hall (PA) 303.

The interview quickly turned into a comfortable and personable conversation where Prof. Hughes’ academic drive, warmth and humour shone through. From the sleepy nature of Ottawa to the idea of multiculturalism and exclusion, Hughes offered a thought-provoking look at the perception of Muslims in the Canadian sphere.

As we delved into the topic of the lecture, we discussed how Canadian public life connects to the idea of the “Ubiquitous Muslim” and the flaws in having a purely secular view of public life.

Hughes outlined the basic idea of his lecture: “The lecture is not really about Muslims; it’s about how ideas around and about Muslims function in the way we think about ourselves in Canadian society.”

Hughes explained that this lecture is a synthesis of two projects he has been working on recently: A history of Islam and Muslims in Canada and a book titled The Charter of Rights and Freedoms: A Biography.

The latter is partly inspired by the confusion and misinformation that surrounded the Charter during the events of February 2022.

“I realized that many people don’t know what the Charter is, what it contains or how it can be applied in court,” said Hughes. “My biography will explore the origins of the Charter, its authors and how it functions. I often joke that it’s meant for my 80-year-old mother.”

The second project Hughes is working on is the first comprehensive history of the study of Muslims in Canada.

“I’ve spent my whole academic life studying Muslim identities in one way or another, usually in the medieval and late antiquity periods,” Hughes explained. “However, my focus has recently shifted to Islamic identity in Canada.”

Hughes argued that the value of religion lies not only in belief, but also in practice. He emphasized how religion is everywhere, even in our secular laws and institutions.

“You could argue that our entire legal and political system is based on religious ideas, both historically and practically,” said Hughes, “though we tend to only talk about religion when it’s not our own.”

He brought up the as an example, in which a woman insisted on wearing her niqab while testifying during a trial and the judge ruled that she had to remove it, arguing that her religious belief was “not that strong”.

“Two things were at work there: the religious freedom of the woman who wanted to give testimony with the niqab on, versus the charter right to a fair trial. It’s a case-by-case basis. The Supreme Court is ultimately deciding what constitutes a true religious belief, which they have no business doing. So, the question I address in my talk is: How does secular society regulate religion? And, of course, how is religion only a problem when it’s not our own.”

This example led to a discussion about who exactly we are referring to when we use words like ‘ourselves’, ‘Canadian society’ and ‘the public’. Hughes recent work examines Canadian society through a historical and political lens. This brings us to the idea that our understanding of ‘secular’ emerges from examining the historical and political contexts that shaped Canada’s identity and values as a generalized whole. Thora made the connection to Religion and Public Life MA student Alena Wilson’s recent paper: “‘Honk if you Love Jesus’: Christian Rhetoric & Symbolism in the Freedom Convoy 2022”. Hughes found the question of religion and its relationship to the convoy movement to be incredibly interesting, especially when considering how it connects to his work on the Charter.

We continued the discussion from our perspectives within the academic sphere, considering whether or not it is possible for religious studies to be something truly secular and objective.

Hughes illustrated this point with a thought experiment he often uses in his classes: “Imagine if the most powerful group in the world were Polynesians, and they had a concept called ‘mana’. If they came to America or Canada and asked us about our mana, we may not know how to answer them. But that’s essentially what we’re doing when we use our own terms to study other cultures and religions.”

As the conversation continued, Hughes revealed his desire to make his lectures more accessible to students outside of his specific academic interests. He expressed his frustration with the dry and formal nature of most lectures, and emphasized his goal to connect with his audience in a more personal and engaging way.

Overall, our conversation with Prof. Hughes was an incredibly insightful and fascinating one. We left feeling enlightened and energized, with a newfound appreciation for the importance of religion in our daily lives and in Canadian public life. His lecture promises to be an engaging event and we can’t wait to attend.

Learn more about the 2023 Edgar and Dorothy Davidson Lecture: The Ubiquitous Muslim, presented by Professor Aaron W. Hughes, 2022/23 Fulbright Distinguished Chair in North American Studies at 杏吧原创 University.

杏吧原创 the Authors:

Thora Asudeh is a 3rd year student in the Bachelor of Humanities program with a Combined Honours in Religion who enjoys tackling academics with her “twin” Sera.听

Sera Patenaude is a 3rd year student in the Bachelor of Humanities program with a Combined Honours in Religion who is constantly grateful for her academic twin Thora.

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By: Emma Sleigh, FASS Ambassador 2022-2023

Why does high school feel like a prison to so many students? Is that prolonged stress worth graduating for? Why is school even necessary?

These are some of the difficult questions I wrestled with when I was a high school student, which I was reminded of while attending the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences鈥� Healthy Cities: Back to School in the City event on September 27.

In high school, I moved in between different alternate forms of schooling. I was desperate to just get school over with. I could never visualize a learning environment that I could tolerate, let alone enjoy.

When I was finally introduced to the Enriched Support Program (ESP) at 杏吧原创 University, after meetings with a chain of guidance counselors and supports, I felt a new kind of chapter in my life emerge. Interestingly, it was the connections I made with those guidance counselors, and now a whole community of ESP staff and students, that truly ignited the desire I鈥檝e always had to learn. With those communities, I gained more than just a few skills, but actual opportunities to create those engaging environments that I couldn鈥檛 quite visualize before.

The journey of connections I鈥檝e made hasn鈥檛 stopped there. I find my life has become a sort of cycle of motivation, learning, unlearning, and action. Humans are extremely socially dependent and community is always at the center of this cycle, fueling each step of the journey. The integrating and privileging of social bonds within education was reinforced and crystalized as a kind of revolutionary, plausible reality when I listened in on the Healthy Cities roundtable discussion between three 杏吧原创 professors 鈥� Drs. Julie Garlen, Leila Angod, and Maria Rogers 鈥� and elementary school principal Sherwyn Solomon.

I came into the event as a now senior ESP mentor and a FASS Ambassador, ready to absorb as much information as I could. The three panelists and moderator added new layers of reflection onto the preliminary ideas I had. All speakers gave a different approach to their critique of the impacts and the resulting opportunities that the pandemic has created for students, teachers, parents, and so on. One reply by Mr. Solomon about the devastating statistics on racialized children highlighted the inherently discriminatory nature of today鈥檚 schooling.

The greatest message I took away from the speakers was this:

As an anthropology major, this is especially important to me as I learn how to decolonize my mind to better understand my place in relation to others on the traditional and never ceded territory of the Algonquin nation.

Increasing the quality and amount of social connectedness found in schools needs to be a primary goal of education. Just like when I was an ESP student, I find the most diversity, the most collaboration, and, consequently, the greatest successes to occur in spaces of community and support.

In these spaces, I must acknowledge that I am a white, middle-class, able-bodied, and cis-gendered female and that I鈥檝e been privileged to even have the opportunity to go to school my whole life. At the same time, if someone with as much privilege as me found school so intolerable, it only makes sense that there are larger systems of power creating a space that is fundamentally anti-human or at least anti-collaboration.

Altogether, the event felt like another stepping stone towards building the kind of academic spaces I strive to belong to.

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