Annual report of the Centre for Canadian Studies (2023)
This document is a summary of the activities of the Centre for Canadian Studies for the year 2023. The Centre is administrated by a board of five members who meet three times a year.
Activities of the Centre
On 14 February 2023, the English Department in collaboration with the Centre for Canadian Studies welcomed the writer Kagiso Lesego Molope. Kagiso Lesego Molope comes from South Africa and lives in Canada. Many of her stories are about what it was to be a young woman and teenager in South Africa during apartheid and the time shortly after. Her novels have won awards and been acclaimed internationally.
The Centre for Canadian Studies continued its collaboration with the Association Internationale des Études Québécoises for the Prix des lycéens.
The Centre also promoted two events surrounding the topic of “the international contexts of women’s film cultures during the 1970s” on 25 and 26 April 2023, see The international contexts of women’s film cultures during the 1970s
Celebration of the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Sweden
The Centre for Canadian Studies was invited on September 13 to celebrate the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Sweden at the Canadian Embassy. Canadian Ambassador to Sweden Jason LaTorre summarized the different types of relations that have been established between Canada and Sweden. He described the context in 1943 when Sweden and Canada inaugurated their diplomatic quarters. Canada is represented in Sweden by the Embassy of Canada, in Stockholm, and by an Honorary Consul in Gothenburg. In Canada, Sweden has an embassy in Ottawa and honorary consulates in Calgary, Edmonton, Halifax, Montréal, Québec, Regina, Toronto, Vancouver and Winnipeg. Around 349,000 Canadians claimed Swedish origin, illustrating how Sweden contributed to the development of Canada (see 80-års jubileum av diplomatiska relationer mellan Kanada och Sverige )
Summer course 2023
For its third edition, the summer course gives evidences of a growing interest in Canadian Studies. 102 students enrolled in the online course and 42 of them took the exam. The summer course was the opportunity of offering three open lectures with professors Jean-Michel Montsion and Francis Garon from York University’s Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies and professor Kirsten McAllister from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver. Jean-Michel Montsion gave an open lecture on “Transportation infrastructure in Canadian gateway cities and the limits of urban democracy” (15 June 2023) and Francis Garon on “Multiculturalism in Canada, Interculturalism in Québec: Theory and Politics” (22 June). Professor Kirsten McAllister gave a lecture on “the archive and the myth: the history of Japanese Canadians” (29 June).
Guest researchers and writers
A group of students from the University of Guelph, Canada, and their professor Kim Anderson, visited Stockholm to share Indigenous and settler experiences in a time of truth and reconciliation. They were joined by Kitty RLynn and Adrianne Lickers Xavier, mother and daughter, Onondaga from Six Nation of the Grand River Territory (Southern Ontario, Canada). Kitty and Adrianne told stories about their time and experiences; growing, sharing and teaching about food and community. They exchanged thoughts and stories of Indigenous Food sovereignty, gardens, and favourite food stories. The conversation was held on 23 May, 2023 at the Department of Romance Studies and Classics and was a joint event from the Canadian embassy in Sweden and the Centre for Canadian Studies (Stockholm University).
On 7 September 2023, the Centre for Canadian Studies collaborated with the Department of Romance Studies and Classics to welcome professor André Thibault who made a presentation on varieties of French for the students of French. André Thibault gave a seminar on the book that he wrote with France Martineau and Wim Remysen, Le français au Québec et en Amérique du Nord (Paris, Ophrys, 2022). The book has been added to the course literature of French II for Spring 2024.
On 24 October 2023, an interview with Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay was made at the language lab of Stockholm University, in collaboration with the Association Internationale des Études Québécoises. Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay has published her first novel, La fille d'elle-même (Marchand de feuilles). In this conversation, Gabrielle Boulianne-Tremblay commented on her autofiction to discuss the complex journey of gender transition.
On 7 November 2023, the Centre for Canadian Studies welcomed guest researchers Suzie Beaulieu and Véronique Fortier to talk about the varieties of French in Canada. Suzie Beaulieu had previously given an interview with the Centre that can be found here
Publications
Premat, C. (2023). Penser une ontologie décoloniale à partir du Manifeste Assi de Natasha Kanapé Fontaine. British Journal of Canadian Studies, 189-208, https://doi.org/10.3828/bjcs.2023.11
Premat, C. (March 2023). Les usages du « modèle canadien » dans la presse francophone. International Journal of Canadian Studies, 61, 60-80, https://utpjournals.press/doi/10.3138/ijcs-2022-0008
Last updated: December 1, 2023
Source: Centre for Canadian Studies