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Canadian Studies Announcements
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In This Issue:
Program News
- A Big Give appeal from our director
- Meet our new undergraduate apprentices!
Upcoming Events
- Come from Away: Newfoundland and Labrador’s Food Security Dilemma
External Events
- Complex Conflict, Women’s Rights, & the Promise of the Women, Peace & Security Agenda
- Roadmap at Three: Progress Report on a Renewed US-Canada Partnership
- Artmosphère: Francophone Arts Festival 2024
- 2024 Irving Tragen Lecture in Comparative Law: “Lawyers, Judges and Justice”, feat. former Canadian Supreme Court Justice Rosalie Abella
- AI & Climate Change: A View From Quebec
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A MESSAGE FROM OUR DIRECTOR
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Dear friends,
This Thursday is Big Give, Berkeley’s annual fundraising drive. On behalf of Canadian Studies, I would like to make a special appeal highlighting the importance this day to our program; 90% of our funding comes from donors like you.
All donations we receive this Thursday will go directly to funding program activities and supporting students. Over the last year, your generosity has helped us take the program in exciting new directions. In addition to our regular monthly talks, we launched a new undergraduate fellowship (the inaugural holder of which won a national award for his research) and hosted two international conferences on the Berkeley campus.
This year, your gift will help us expanding our teaching footprint through several new initiatives designed to nurture the next generation of Canadianist scholars. I am most excited by our pilot undergraduate apprentice program (see below). But you will also help us continue to bring you free lectures that expand and challenge our understanding of Canada, and to share the exciting research our graduate students are undertaking “from sea to sea”.
Join us in celebrating everything that makes our program a vibrant hub of Canadianist learning and community. Affirm the importance of Canadian Studies with a donation this Thursday – we thank you in advance for your support. |
| Richard A. Rhodes
Interim Program Director
Thomas G. Barnes Chair in Canadian Studies |
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Undergraduate Apprentices Plan Student-Led Course on Canada
The Canadian Studies Program is pleased to introduce our undergraduate research apprentices for Spring 2024: Andrea, Lillian, and Dennis!
Under the supervision of Canadian Studies program director Richard A. Rhodes, the three students are working to develop a student-led “Intro to Canada” course. The class will give undergraduates an overview of Canadian society, history, and culture that is accessible to both Americans and Canadians. It will also engage with the challenges of defining “Canadian identity” in a nuanced and multifaceted way.
The students were selected through the Undergraduate Research Apprenticeship Program (URAP), which connects students with faculty mentors across campus working on specialized research projects. Each of the students demonstrated a passionate interest in Canada and talents in organization, leadership, or independent research.
This initiative is intended to expand teaching on Canada at UC Berkeley, which has long been only sporadically available. The Canadian Studies Program is not a teaching unit, so past courses on Canada at Berkeley, such as those taught by Canadian Studies founder Thomas G. Barnes, have relied on the initiative of specific faculty members and approval by outside departments.
The “Intro to Canada” course, as envisioned, will revive the spirit of Professor Barnes’ classes, while modernizing the content and structure. The finished product is expected to be run through Berkeley’s DeCal program. DeCals are student-led courses overseen by tenured faculty and offer real university credit. Intended to “democratize” education at Berkeley, they often cover subjects not included in the traditional curriculum. Additionally, the bottom-up nature of DeCals allows them to be particularly flexible and responsive to student interests. And because the course can be taught be undergraduates, it could be offered without relying on the availability of specific faculty.
Of course, our URAP apprentices are just at the beginning of their research process; nevertheless, we expect that if things go well, we will be able to pilot this course as early as Spring 2025. We look forward to bringing you future updates! |
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Come from Away: Newfoundland and Labrador’s Food Security Dilemma
Tues., March 12 | 12:30 pm | 223 Philosophy Hall | RSVP
This presentation illuminates past and current complexities of Newfoundland and Labrador’s unique food system. Following confederation with Canada in 1949, the province’s once-abundant fisheries fed North America to the point of over-exploitation, creating both cultural and food system disruption. Currently, most food is imported into the province and transported by ferry, including produce from California’s Central Valley. Though hunting is prevalent in rural communities, high priced, pre-packaged, and processed food, rather than fish, are the dietary mainstay. Recent efforts to expand agricultural production within the province would improve local control over the food system. This would ostensibly be more expensive than most imported foods, given the province’s short growing season and relatively small, diffusely located population. Yet financially supporting such endeavors might be justifiable to facilitate a basic human right to access and produce food.
Note: The speaker will also share Newfoundland and Labrador artwork and handicrafts at the in-person presentation.
About the Speaker
Dr. Catherine Keske is a professor of management of complex systems in the School of Engineering at UC Merced. She is an agricultural economist and social scientist who studies sustainable food, energy, and waste systems. Prior to joining UC Merced in 2017, she was associate professor of environmental studies (economics) in the School of Science and the Environment at Memorial University of Newfoundland. Her research on food security and Newfoundland and Labrador includes an edited book, Food Futures: Growing a Sustainable Food System for Newfoundland and Labrador, and “Economic feasibility of biochar and agriculture coproduction from Canadian black spruce forest” published in Food and Energy Security.
This event is cosponsored by the Berkeley Food Institute.
If you require an accommodation to fully participate in an event, please let us know at least 7 days in advance. |
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| Complex Conflict, Women’s Rights, & the Promise of the Women, Peace & Security Agenda
Tuesday, March 12 | 10:15 am PT | Online | RSVP
This event will mark International Women’s Day by bringing together diverse legal, policy, and civil society practitioners, working to advance women’s rights. The event will focus on the role of the women, peace and security agenda in addressing the broad terrain of complex conflict situations, including “new” and long-standing conflict contexts. The event will address the challenges of inclusion for women in conflict and peace processes, the ways in which women are harmed directly and indirectly by conflict and the impact of counter-terrorism measures on women’s human rights, including in addressing the targeting of human rights defenders and civil society advocates.
This event is hosted by the Human Rights Center at the University of Minnesota and Consulate General of Canada in Minneapolis. Panelists will include Natalka Cmoc, Ambassador of Canada to Ukraine; opening remarks will be by Beth Richardson, Consul General of Canada in Minneapolis. |
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Roadmap at Three: Progress Report on a Renewed US-Canada Partnership
Tuesday, March 12 | 11:00 am PT | Online | RSVP
In 2021, President Biden and Prime Minister Trudeau signed the “Roadmap for a Renewed US-Canada Partnership,” an affirmation of the special relationship between the two nations and a blueprint for how Canada and the United States could improve cooperation. The Wilson Center Canada Institute invites you to an update on the Roadmap three years in, featuring Ambassador of Canada to the United States Kirsten Hillman and Ambassador of the United States to Canada David L. Cohen. The ambassadors will discuss recent developments in the US-Canada relationship and outline ongoing avenues of collaboration. This virtual event will be moderated by Christopher Sands (Director, Canada Institute; Advisory Board member, UC Berkeley Canadian Studies), and is held in partnership with the Embassy of the United States in Ottawa and Embassy of Canada in Washington, DC. |
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Artmosphère: Francophone Arts Festival 2024
March 15-17 | San Francisco Bay Area | Learn more
PIAFF entertainment and the Alliance Française San Francisco, in partnership with the Consulate of Canada and Québéc Trade Office, invite you to celebrate the Mois de la Francophonie at Artmosphère, a three-day celebration of global Francophone arts. The festival will include several short films from Québec. Relevant screenings will take place at 7:00 pm Friday, in San Francisco (Short Movies, subtitled in English), and at 2:30 pm Saturday, at the École Bilingue de Berkeley (Courts Métrages PG-13, no subtitles). All events require prior registration. |
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2024 Irving Tragen Lecture in Comparative Law: “Lawyers, Judges and Justice”
Wednesday, March 20 | 4:00 pm | UC Berkeley | RSVP
UC Berkeley Law invites you to a discussion with Justice Rosalie Abella, the first Jewish woman appointed to the Supreme Court of Canada. Born in a Displaced Persons Camp in Germany, her family came to Canada as refugees. She was appointed to the Supreme Court in 2004, and served until her retirement in 2021. Since then, she has held visiting professorships at Harvard, Yale, and the University of Toronto. Justice Abella was elected to the Royal Society of Canada in 1997, to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2007, and to the American Philosophical Society in 2018. In 2020, she was awarded the Knight Commander’s Cross of the Order of Merit by the President of Germany. |
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AI & Climate Change: A View From Quebec
Monday, March 25 | 6:00 pm | San José, CA | RSVP
The Quebec Trade Office in Silicon Valley and the Digital Moose Lounge invite you to a lively and timely discussion about the role of AI in solving today’s most pressing challenges. Since the surprise launch of Open AI’s consumer-facing ChatGPT product one year ago, AI innovation and investment have exploded. Meanwhile, governments and researchers are urgently seeking ways to combat the accelerating challenge of global climate change.
With its focus on “harnessing AI for the benefit of all”, leading thinkers from Mila (a Quebec-based AI research center) will engage with Silicon Valley practitioners to delve into the current challenges and opportunities for deploying AI to solve climate change. |
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Royal Canadian Legion, US Branch #25 