The post Continuing the Legacy of Qu茅bec Studies at 杏吧原创 appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

For the past three years, 杏吧原创 students have packed their bags and headed 500 km east to Quebec City 鈥� a place that hosts some of the richest history and culture in Canada.

Students set out on this learning adventure as part of one of two courses that study Quebec culture, history and language in the greater context of Canada.

Professor in the , S茅bastien C么t茅鈥檚 (in place of Professor Charles Doutrelepont, who taught the first two editions) fourth year seminar focuses on the literature and culture of New France (1534-1763) and is held in French, while Anne Tr茅panier of the 鈥� fourth year seminar held in English explores national identity, and examines the essence of Canada鈥檚 two capitals 鈥� Quebec City, and Ottawa.

Together, the early summer courses travel to Quebec City for an absolutely unique and rewarding experience, immersing themselves in places, culture and language that they are studying. When C么t茅 and Tr茅panier first thought about creating a new course, they both concluded that teaching on location was by far the best pedagogical approach. Fortunately for their students, Dean of the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences John Osborne agreed with them, and in a meeting that lasted about five minutes, he allocated the necessary funds to implement this fantastic learning opportunity that features lectures, round-tables, guest speakers, field visits with highly qualified guides and other activities relevant to each seminar.

Such a course is designed to help meet student demand for additional research and practical experience in a francophone environment filled with history, and create a more vibrant link between the research interests of faculty and the learning experience of 杏吧原创 students.

Quebec City is beautifully maintained, and for these students, many of whom have spent most of their time living in the suburbs, they hope the visit fosters in them an appreciation for historical aesthetics, be it old stones or beautifully written manuscripts. The main goal is that, thanks to the proverbial je ne sais quoi, they truly feel 诲茅辫补测蝉茅蝉 (or out of their element), even though they are still in Canada, barely 500 km away from Ottawa.

鈥淲e wanted students to experience this spectacular city, in order to make them aware of the layers of history it conveys. Some cultural knowledge can鈥檛 really be described in a textbook,鈥� they explain. 鈥淲hy spend hours convincing students of the importance of the Ursulines when it鈥檚 possible to visit their museum and see the fantastic premises they have built since 1639?鈥�

Sarah Parvaiz, a student of the 2013 French edition of the course, describes how she benefitted from this approach.

鈥淔or the very first time in my life, I felt history; I lived through it. The main reason being, Quebec is, to this day, left untouched in many ways. The Citadelle, Ch芒teau Frontenac and the battlefield all reflect the richness they semi-hide in them, and that is only the tip of the iceberg. Quebec City is indeed a jewel, a place that makes you believe you鈥檝e stepped in an entirely different world and in a different era.鈥�

As can be felt from Parvaiz鈥檚 description, the two courses are designed with the intention of helping students achieve a greater understanding of Quebec and thus, a more thorough comprehension of their own personal identity within Canada. Both Profs deem that learning is about summoning fruitful experiences.

鈥淚 believe that learning is about mobilizing the whole individual, brains and heart,鈥� says Tr茅panier, who believes and implements a Socratic method of teaching where her students learn through doing. C么t茅 follows a similar philosophy, 鈥淚 believe students should experience what they are learning from as many angles as possible. Travelling, physically submersing oneself into that context is a great way to accomplish this. You can see that students have a sense that they are elsewhere.鈥�

Experiential, practical, outside of the classroom learning is what these courses are designed to achieve, and the striking and engaging venue offers an environment that sublimely facilitates these goals. The group makes the most of the ten-day trip by exploring relentlessly 鈥� guided tours, museum visits, and lectures in the city about the built heritage, for instance, foster a sense of history, and raise new questions about national identity and Canada.

Though great emphasis is put on learning and outcomes, Tr茅panier and C么t茅 also recognize and help nurture the cohort aspect of the travelling course. Throughout the trip, students eat, relax and socialize together. The Profs even organize a couple of 鈥榝ancier鈥� dinners in beautiful Quebec City restaurants and a day trip to rural heritage 卯le d鈥橭rl茅ans which has proved to be a much loved activity where New France History and nature intersect. 鈥淟ast year,鈥� C么t茅 remembers, 鈥渁s we were visiting the Manoir Mauvide-Genest on the island, the guide told us en passant that a neighboring house built in 1649 was up for sale! That鈥檚 an anecdote you never forget.鈥� All of this means that more often than not, students complete the course with not only a greater sense of self, but stronger friendships and bonds. Students in both the French and English courses also see their skills in language improves drastically over the short trip!

Tr茅panier and C么t茅 encourage students from any discipline to consider either of the Quebec City Seminars. They are inherently multidisciplinary courses that touch on everything from politics to film, from religion to art, and of course from material history to colonial literature.

Testimonials

• While rigorous, the writing-intensive and interdisciplinary approach not only fostered a deep engagement with the subject, but also provided students outside Quebec with an accessible framework through which to examine Quebec鈥檚 cultural, historical and identitary complexity. 鈥� Valerie Luchak

• The experience of the colloquium sums up the rigor, the sense of community, and your ability to mentor a variety of interests ranging from military history to critical theory. All the presentations reflected an intensity on the part of the students. In the time leading up to the colloquium I remember having conversations with my peers not only on their topics but on the mentorship Dr. Tr茅panier provided. This sort of dissemination and reverberation of ideas underlines her ability to teach and create an environment where creativity, learning, and ultimately a desire for success are incubated. 鈥� Benjamin T.H. Derksen
• In 2013 I joined the French Department鈥檚 trip to Qu茅bec City. The course, as taught by professor Doutrelepont, was one of the absolute highlights of my academic career at 杏吧原创. By reading the entirety of Les Anciens Canadiens, I gained invaluable contextual understanding of Canadian history. Moreover, by going to Quebec City and seeing for myself the Plains of Abraham, the remains of the Citadel, and the Ile-d鈥橭rl茅ans, I could fully appreciated the magnitude of La Conqu锚te. There is no substitute for going on the trip. The course work and French immersion in the old city was one of the most lasting academic influences in my 4th year at 杏吧原创.   I could write about the subject material, the course work, or the innumerable tours we went on, but those were not the most important part of the trip. In the ten days we spent in Quebec, my French language skills improved markedly. I regained a fluency I had thought lost. I won back the ability to speak French at a level I had not enjoyed in years. 鈥� Gabriel Gosselin
• Comme 茅tudiante en 茅ducation maintenant, le s茅minaire m鈥檃 enseign茅 deux choses importantes : le contenu 鈥� c鈥檈st-脿-dire le lien entre la litt茅rature et l鈥檋istoire 鈥� mais aussi comment rendre ces sujets vivants et int茅ressants aux yeux des apprenants. Le cours offre l鈥檕ccasion unique de marcher l脿 o霉 des conflits, des r茅solutions et de grands changements se sont pass茅s dans la formation du Qu茅bec et du Canada. Les concepts 茅tudi茅s ne se voient pas seulement en cours, mais 脿 travers l鈥檃rchitecture, l鈥檃rt, des costumes, etc., et ils continuent d鈥櫭猼re des sujets de discussion captivants 脿 table, en prenant une bi猫re ou avant de s鈥檈ndormir. Ce s茅minaire permet cela, tout en donnant l鈥檕ccasion d鈥檃pprendre avec des camarades de classe enthousiastes d鈥檃m茅liorer leurs capacit茅s et leur compr茅hension de la langue fran莽aise et de la culture qu茅b茅coise. Je suis tr猫s reconnaissante de cette exp茅rience et j鈥檈sp猫re que d鈥檃utres 茅tudiants pourront avoir la m锚me chance d鈥檈nrichir leur 茅ducation de cette mani猫re. 鈥� Elena Copeland

• Learn more about 
• Learn more about Litt茅rature et culture de la Nouvelle-France S茅minaire d鈥櫭﹖茅 脿 Qu茅bec

The post Discovering La Vieille Capitale (Quebec City) appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

Tim Cook, a historian at the Canadian War Museum and an adjunct research professor of History won an for his book Fight to the Finish: Canadians in the Second World War, 1944-1945. The book is the second volume of a two-part series and tells the stories of Canadians both overseas and at home. Cook is a of the for his non-fiction book At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War, which won in 2008.

In the French non-fiction division, Patricia Smart, Chancellor鈥檚 Professor Emerita of the French Department, won the Prix du live d’Ottawa for  De Marie de l鈥橧ncarnation 脿 Nelly Arcan. The book details a collection of writings by women providing their perspectives and experiences throughout Quebec鈥檚 history.

Read more information about the .

The post Two FASS Professors Honoured with Ottawa Book Award appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

The City of Ottawa has announced its nominees for the , and five members of the 杏吧原创 community are among the finalists (four of which are in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences).

The annual awards recognize exceptional fiction and non-fiction books produced by Ottawa residents in both official languages. Three of the four 杏吧原创 nominees are in the  category and one nominee is in .

Four 杏吧原创 English Ottawa Book Awards Nominees

Among the English non-fiction nominees is Fight to the Finish: Canadians in the Second World War, 1944-1945 by Tim Cook, a historian at the Canadian War Museum and an adjunct research professor of History in 杏吧原创鈥檚 Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. The book is the second volume of a two-part series and tells the stories of Canadians both overseas and at home. Cook is a of the Ottawa Book Award for his non-fiction book At the Sharp End: Canadians Fighting the Great War, which won in 2008.

Another nominee from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences in the English non-fiction division is Norman Hillmer for his book O.D. Skelton: A Portrait of Canadian Ambition. Hillmer is a Chancellor鈥檚 Professor in History and International Affairs. The biography examines the life of Skelton, a professor and exceptional public servant who made his mark in Canadian foreign affairs.

Also nominated was English Department instructor Mark Frutkin for his latest collection of poems,

The final English non-fiction nominee is , senior writer with the Department of University Communications, with his book Born to Walk: The Transformative Power of a Pedestrian Act. The book is dedicated to the simple act of walking and how, shown through Rubinstein鈥檚 research and reporting, this fundamental movement is connected to our overall well-being.

French Non-fiction Ottawa Book Awards Nominee

In the French non-fiction division, Patricia Smart, Chancellor鈥檚 Professor Emerita of the French Department in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences, received a nomination for her work De Marie de l鈥橧ncarnation 脿 Nelly Arcan. The book details a collection of writings by women providing their perspectives and experiences throughout Quebec鈥檚 history.

The winning publications will be revealed on Wednesday, Oct. 19 at Ottawa City Hall.

The post Four Members of the FASS Community Nominated for Ottawa Book Awards appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

Three 杏吧原创 University faculty members from the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences have been named as finalists for the .

杏吧原创鈥檚 finalists are:

Canada Prize in the Humanities

• History Prof. Norman Hillmer, for his book for (University of Toronto Press). The book, released in late-2015, delves into the legacy of O.D. Skelton, the widely regarded architect of the Canadian foreign service and longtime Under-Secretary of State for External Affairs.
• History Prof. Michel Hogue, for his book (University of Regina Press). The book explores the agency of the M茅tis people between the 1800s and the early twentieth century as they moved back and forth across the Canadian-American border.

Prix du Canada en sciences humaines

• French Prof. Patricia Smart, for her book (脡ditions du Bor茅al). The book brings together a number of published and unpublished accounts of their lives by Quebec women from New France to the present day.

The Canada Prizes are awarded annually by the for the best scholarly books in the humanities and social sciences that have received funding from the Awards to Scholarly Publications Program (ASPP).

Celebrating the best Canadian scholarly books鈥攏ot simply within a single academic discipline, but across all the disciplines of the humanities and social sciences鈥攖he Canada Prizes recognize books that make an exceptional contribution to scholarship, are engagingly written, and enrich the social, cultural and intellectual life of Canada.

The official announcement of the winners will take place during the in Calgary on April 11, 2016.

The post Three FASS Faculty Members Named as Finalists for Canada Prize appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

This past week, members of the steering committee accepted research awards from 杏吧原创 University on behalf of the exceptional work of the MDS community in building connections across the university that have had a sustained impact both over time and across research programs.

As the world鈥檚 attention has been drawn to the Syrian refugee crisis, members of 杏吧原创鈥檚 Migration and Diaspora Studies Steering Committee have been working with international colleagues to respond to the practical needs of refugee communities, and create spaces at 杏吧原创 that encourage critical discussions about the historical dimensions of the refugee crisis as well as stimulate forward looking accounts about the social, cultural, political and economic implications of the movement of people.

Most recently, the group hosted an international workshop for researchers and leaders in the migration and diaspora community entitled 鈥淧ower and Influence in the Global Refugee Regime鈥�. The workshop brought together a prominent group of scholars, practitioners and policy-makers to discuss strategies to improve the current refugee regime.

鈥淥ne of the inspirations for this group was to combine research and advocacy on migration and diaspora issues,鈥� says Jeff Sahadeo, the Associate Director of the Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies (EURUS) and a member of the steering committee. 鈥溞影稍� is an ideal location for this collaboration because we have so many people working on this鈥攂oth on campus and in the national capital.鈥�

While the focus of the MDS initiative has been to build linkages across disciplines, the research interests of individual members of the Steering Committee range from the cultural consequences of globalization and the treatment of issues of personal and collective identity in relation to immigration, multiculturalism (or interculturalism), exile and integration in literature to global refugee policy, the role of international organizations in the management of migration and issues relating to citizenship, and integration in Canada and internationally.

The group also maintains an active international listserv, which allows members to swap information on refugee sponsorships, country-by-country resources, and the latest news and research on the crisis.

鈥淲e are fortunate to have people who are dealing with this issue from all over the world, approaching it from all different angles,鈥� says Professor Sahadeo, a political scientist who鈥檚 collaborated with both poets and economists. 鈥淭his gives us a chance to learn and enrich each other. We have much more in common than we would think.鈥�

The MDS steering committee looks forward to continued collaborations with the 杏吧原创 community, and supporting the interdisciplinary research of faculty and graduates students, in order to position our university as an international leader in the burgeoning research field of Migration and Diaspora Studies. Some upcoming opportunities for collaboration and support include:

The MDS Graduate Student Colloquium in Migration and Diaspora Studies will be held on Friday November 27, 2015.

Description: Awarded annually by the Dean of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs to a full-time graduate student who is pursuing courses in Migration and Diaspora Studies. Recipients may be residents of any province or territory in Canada and must qualify as entitled to the Canadian Resident Tuition Fee Structure.

Value: $20,000 (scholarship)

Deadline for applications to be submitted to Dawn Schmidt: October 19

MDS welcomes applications that support events and activities such as conferences, seminars, talks, short films, and artistic installations that will:

• Facilitate discussion and dialogue amongst members of 杏吧原创鈥檚 MDS community.

• Provide intellectual benefits to the interdisciplinary and diverse MDS community.

• Raise the profile of the Migration & Diaspora studies initiative at 杏吧原创, and with national and international communities of scholars and outside partners.

We welcome applications from any discipline, and especially encourage applications for interdisciplinary activities, but please note that these funds are not intended for individual research projects.

Deadline for requests to be submitted to Dawn Schmidt: November 19 (although early applications are accepted and encouraged).

Testimonials for the MDS Initiative

鈥淭he opportunities presented by the work of the MDS Steering Committee have and continue to position 杏吧原创 University as a national and global leader in the field of Migration and Diaspora Studies. Their collaborative, cross-Faculty, style of work has contributed significantly and strategically to 杏吧原创鈥檚 further growth and development as a comprehensive university. Because of their dedication to bringing together teams of researchers, regardless of background or academic discipline, the MDS team has achieved continued success in attracting research funding, building capacity and collaborations, and producing cutting-edge research.鈥�

– Andr茅 Plourde, Dean, Faculty of Public Affairs (nominator)

鈥淭he MDS Initiative has turned 杏吧原创 into a nationally and internationally recognized leader in research and teaching on human mobility and migration, examining its social, cultural, political, and economic implications from an interdisciplinary perspective. In the past two years alone, MDS has enabled a number of research events relevant to the mandate of EURUS (and) was also instrumental in adding a third faculty member with expertise in migration to EURUS.鈥�

– Achim Hurrelmann, Director, Institute of European, Russian and Eurasian Studies

鈥淚 highly recommend the MDS team for the Building Connections Research Prize. Their recent, dynamic, sustained and solid efforts at creating and nurturing relationships between scholars on campus, and between scholars and the community, have served my department, my research and the communities involved very well.鈥�

– Dominique Marshall, Professor and Chair, Department of History

鈥淚 have very much appreciated the way in which the MDS works together collectively and harmoniously across traditional academic boundaries. The group has excelled in developing a strong collaboration and has made great strides in a very short period of time. They bring together scholars from a wide range of disciplinary and methodological backgrounds 鈥� I think they also help promote 杏吧原创鈥檚 reputation as an inclusive and progressive institution that is open to diversity and that helps promote public policies in benefit of marginalized communities.鈥�

– Laura Macdonald, Professor and Director, Institute of Political Economy

The post Migration and Diaspora Studies Steering Committee Takes Home CU鈥檚 Building Connection Research Award appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

Professor in the Department of French and School for Linguistics and Language Studies, Erik Anonby’s research on the language of Kumzari was prominently spotlighted in the media this past week.  Prof. Anonby and his research partner and wife, Christina van der Wal (Leiden University) were featured in the , on the , and on CBC Radio (listen below).

The post Prof. Erik Anonby's Research on the Language of Kumzari Featured Prominently in the Media appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

Patricia Smart pens an award-winning book on the personal writings of Quebec women.

Chancellor鈥檚 Professor Emerita in the Department of French wins Gabrielle Roy Prize, the Acad茅mie des lettres medal and the Jean 脡thier-Blais Prize.

Distinguished Research Professor and Chancellor鈥檚 Professor Emerita in the , Patricia Smart, has been awarded the Prix Gabrielle Roy and the Jean 脡thier-Blais Prize for her latest book, De Marie de l鈥橧ncarnation 脿 Nelly Arcan. Se dire, se faire par l鈥櫭ヽriture intime(脡ditions du Bor茅al). The book was also shortlisted for the Governor General鈥檚 Award and for Ontario鈥檚 Trillium Award.

Rounding off a very successful 2015, Professor Smart finished the year by receiving the prestigious Medal of Quebec鈥檚 Acad茅mie des lettres for her overall contribution to the study of Quebec literature and culture.

These accolades are a fitting endorsement of a career which has always been dedicated to putting English-Canadian and Quebec literature and language on the national agenda.

鈥溞影稍粹�檚 English and French departments in the 1970s, with professors like Robin Mathews, Parker Duchemin, Donald Smith, Sinclair Robinson and myself, were instrumental in bringing Canadian literature to the forefront, and it鈥檚 gratifying to see that present day 杏吧原创 professors like Sara Jamieson, Jody Mason, Jennifer Henderson and Catherine Khordoc are still playing major roles in developing new critical approaches to our national literatures,鈥� said Smart.

Released in 2014, Professor Smart鈥檚 De Marie de l鈥橧ncarnation 脿 Nelly Arcan. Se dire, se faire par l鈥櫭ヽriture intimebrings together a number of published and unpublished first person accounts of the lives of Quebec women from the time of New France to the present day.

Smart began her research with the intention of writing a study of Quebec women鈥檚 autobiographies, but was surprised to discover that in the three centuries between Marie de l鈥橧ncarnation鈥檚 spiritual autobiography (1654) and Claire Martin鈥檚 memoir of her childhood, Dans un gant de fer(1965), there had been no publicly accessible autobiographies by women.

This striking absence of centuries鈥� worth of personal commentary from half of the province鈥檚 population obviously leaves an important gap in the collective understanding of life in Quebec. To help bridge it, Smart began the monumental task of searching for correspondence and diaries by women.

鈥淚鈥檝e become more and more interested over the years in what literary texts can tell us about history,鈥� said Smart. 鈥淲hat I鈥檝e tried to do in this book is to study each of the texts in depth. I wanted the authors I was studying to come to life for the reader, and that meant that I had to take the time to really immerse myself in the work of each one of them. They feel like 鈥榤y鈥� women now, and I want their voices to be heard.鈥�

The women featured in Smart鈥檚 book come from all walks of Quebecois life and their personal stories raise important questions. Their voices provide a new perspective on some of the major events of Quebec political and social history. Through a new lens, De Marie de l鈥橧ncarnation 脿 Nelly Arcanrevisits the rebellions of 1837-1838, the cholera epidemic in Montreal and surrounding areas in the mid-nineteenth century, the slow beginnings of feminism and Church resistance to it in the early twentieth century, and the changes brought by the Quiet Revolution of the 1960s.

The two celebrated writers named in the book鈥檚 title, Marie de l鈥橧ncarnation and Nelly Arcan, are representative of the book鈥檚 great diversity.

Marie de l鈥橧ncarnation, the founder of the Ursuline order in Quebec, was a mystic, while Nelly Arcan became a best-selling author in France and Quebec in 2001 with the publication of her autobiographical text Putain (translating to 鈥渨hore鈥� or 鈥渉ooker鈥�) which tells of her experiences working as a call girl while studying at the Universit茅 du Qu茅bec 脿 Montr茅al. 鈥淪o, through the work of two brilliant and important writers, we go from one extreme to the other of the roles assigned to women, from the nun to the prostitute,鈥� explained Smart. 鈥淭ragically, Arcan took her own life in 2009, at the age of 36.鈥�

Other authors studied include Julie Papineau who is known thanks to her forty yearlong correspondence with her husband Louis-Joseph Papineau, the leader of the 1837-1838 rebellions; Henriette Dessaulles, who wrote a diary critical of life in Quebec as a teenager in the 1880s; Michelle Le Normand, an early twentieth century novelist whose diaries demonstrate the incredible struggle of a woman who aspired to be a writer, a wife, and a mother; and Claire Martin, whose denunciation of the family, the educational system and the Church in the years of her childhood was an important and controversial work in the Quiet Revolution period.

These are but a few examples of the many authors featured in the book, who deliver a multiplicity of perspectives on the ways women experienced the strictly prescribed roles of wife and mother dictated by French-Canadian Catholicism. Smart鈥檚 presentation of these texts provides a new look at both the public and private history of Quebec women, from the motivations and dreams of the nuns who chose to come to New France in the seventeenth century, on through to the postmodern age where, as the tragic writings of Nelly Arcan display, women are still severely restricted by their vulnerability to the expectations prescribed by society.

鈥淚 like to think that my book could be described as a history of women鈥檚 subjectivity in Quebec,鈥� said Smart. 鈥淭hrough their writings these women express their struggle for an autonomous voice鈥攐ften achieved through the process of writing itself鈥攁nd they document the obstacles to freedom of expression and action that women have faced across the centuries and still face.鈥�

The post From the Nun to the Call-girl: Patricia Smart鈥檚 Award-winning Book on Quebec Women鈥檚 Personal Writings appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.

杏吧原创 students have the chance to travel to Quebec City during the 2015 Spring semester to embark on an extraordinary learning journey that has become an annual tradition in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Indeed, 2015 will mark the fourth year that two courses 鈥� one housed in the , and the other, part of the 鈥� proceed on a trip to Quebec City as an opportunity to explore first-hand, notions of comparative Canadian identity, colonial literature and history in a very distinct culture that exists within the greater context of Canada.

This particular article will explore the 鈥檚 Professor S茅bastien C么t茅鈥檚 seminar (FREN4300/5501) Litt茅rature et culture de la Nouvelle-France: S茅minaire d鈥櫭﹖茅 脿 Qu茅bec which revisits, within the old walls of Quebec City, the literature and culture of New France (1534-1763).

鈥淥ne of the goals of the seminar is to experience this spectacular city and its institutions, in order to transcribe to the students information that can鈥檛 really be described in a textbook,鈥� says C么t茅. 鈥淚 want them to achieve a feeling of the distance between now and the colonial era of New France, a time that remains abstract to most of them.鈥�

Much has been said about Quebec City as the former capital of New France. Since the 鈥淰ieille Capitale鈥� was once a 鈥渧ille neuve,鈥� competing narratives are not a new phenomenon. In fact, it could be traced all the way back to the famous 鈥淔ather of New France,鈥� Samuel de Champlain. Describing Quebec City as early as 1608, Champlain chronicled the construction of his two abitations 鈥� the harsh daily life of the first settlers and their interactions with the First Nations of the Saint Lawrence Valley, as well as the endemic food shortage. This narrative shares little in common with the experience of travelers and historians from the 18th century who conceived a very different city. From a tiny trading post, over the years it had grown into a superb place to live.

One of the best-known descriptions of the city as it stood at the time Franquelin drew his map (see above) is found in the Baron de Lahontan鈥檚 Nouveaux voyages dans l鈥橝m茅rique septentrionale [New voyages to North-America] (1703): 鈥�Quebec is divided into the upper and lower City. The Merchants live in the latter, for the conveniency of the Harbor; upon which they have built very fine houses, of a sort of Stone that鈥檚 as hard as Marble. The upper or high City is full as populous, and as well adorn鈥檇 as the lower.鈥�

If anything, the dichotomies on Quebec City have only gotten more abundant in our present context, leaving many Canadians with misconstrued, inaccurate or even vacant ideas of Quebec鈥檚 capital and the history of New France. Whether for geographical or linguistic reasons, the coverage in the Canadian historical story probably isn鈥檛 as prevalent as it should be or, to say the least, hasn鈥檛 held the same symbolic importance everywhere in Canada 鈥� hence the necessity of this experiential course.

This is why C么t茅 stresses the importance for students to be given an opportunity to spend ten days living in the marvelous context of Quebec City. Accordingly, he likes to remind his students that modern Canada wasn鈥檛 created out of the blue in 1867!

Au contraire, it has a complex, double colonial history: 鈥淲e tend to forget that Canada was a hot topic in France since Jacques Cartier鈥檚 first voyage in 1534-35. It is mentioned in 16th and 17th century prose fiction, for example in Marguerite de Navarre鈥檚 贬别辫迟补尘茅谤辞苍 (1558-59) and Fran莽ois de Rosset鈥檚 Les histoires m茅morables et tragiques de ce temps (1614). Even poet Jean de La Fontaine refers to the famous Filles du Roy in his correspondence (Chinard 1913: 302, note 1). In the first half of the 18th century, soon after the publication of the Baron de Lahontan鈥檚 works in 1703, Parisian theatres went frenzy for Canada and the figure of the noble savage. Now, unfortunately, most of these plays are forgotten on both sides of the Atlantic.鈥�

Subsequently, one of the Seminar鈥檚 goals is to bring back to life some of these comedies whose titles speak from themselves: L鈥櫭甽e du Gougou (1720), Arlequin sauvage (1721), Les mariages de Canada (1734) or Les Indes galantes (1735).

Fortunately for students of both seminars, the city has gone to tremendous lengths to persevere and value its past. Quebec City is visually stunning, the architecture connects the past to the modern, and its century-old institutions have kept precious archival materials. As Jillian Harper, a student of the 2014 French edition, puts it: 鈥淲hen I think about the history of pre-Confederation Canada and what we have learned about it in High School, it seems to me that Quebecers are not only interested in wars and the establishment of colonial forts and cities, but also in cultural transfer in the form of literature. This leaves us with traces of ancient ways of life.鈥�

Prior to their departure, students will be introduced to the history of New France and its textual production through appropriate readings and lectures. They will also learn how to read and transcribe a manuscript from the early 18th century, a newly acquired skill that will prove useful on site. Indeed, they spend some time in the Archives du S茅minaire de Qu茅bec, where archivist Peter Gagn茅 gives an impressive talk that helps them to better understand the reality of writing with goose feathers, communicating across the Atlantic and archiving documents in the early years of New France. They are presented with unique hand-written registers, marriage contracts dating from the 1630s, wills, letters (some of them very surprising), maps, architectural drawings, personal diaries and poems. For example, last year Gagn茅 showed the group a 17th century note in the student register of the Petit S茅minaire (founded by Bishop Fran莽ois de Laval in 1668), stating that the founder鈥檚 nephew 鈥渓acked vocation鈥� in his studies. 鈥淣ext time, says C么t茅, I will try to find out what the Jesuits thought about the dedication of my ancestors!鈥�

Apart from the many institutional visits and guided tours, the 2015 French edition will include the student鈥檚 participation, as auditors, in the 45th annual conference of the North American Society for 17th Century French Literature (), in which C么t茅 is responsible for the session 鈥淓rrances en Nouvelle-France.鈥�

C么t茅 hopes these fascinating learning endeavours get students to simply talk about the complex colonial history of our country.

The post Quebec City as a Colonial Capital appeared first on Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences.