British Association for Canadian Studies and Centre of Canadian Studies: 50th Anniversary Conference

The Center of Canadian Studies at the University of Edinburgh has been a busy place this past week, abuzz with academics from around the world working on all aspects of Canadian politics, history, law, Indigenous studies, identity politics, Arctic/northern issues and more.

The activity centered on the British Association for Canadian Studies’ 50th Anniversary Conference, which the Centre of Canadian Studies hosted. Led by the hard work of Tony McCulloch, President, British Association for Canadian Studies and James Kennedy, Director, Centre of Canadian Studies, University of Edinburgh, the three day event started with a fascinating presentation by Debra Thompson, Canada Research Chair in Racial Inequality in Democratic Societies, McGill University.

Thompson discussed the complexities of radical identity in Canada and the United States. She outlined how her work on Black Lives Matters and the rising discourse around woke politics and the war on it have filtered into, and been impacted by, the state of Canadian federal politics, political history on issues such as race relations, identity politics, Canadian sentiments toward former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and the emergence of Trumpism and MAGA in the United States.

In addition to Thompson, for example, the BACS conference featured scholars working on polar issues, such as ‘Indigeneity and other collective identities at the Arctic Winter Games’ and ‘‘Grim Excitement’ Listening to the North over CBC Radio, 1945-58’.

There was also a lot of exploration of various angles on environmental concerns which relate to the polar regions, specifically issues of climate and ecosystem changes and loss of permafrost and ice. These topics include tracking climate changes through weather, environmental advocacy, the regulating of greenwashing and attempts at greenwashing by corporations and government actors, and Canada’s role as a greenhouse gas polluter.

If you would like to learn more about the recent BACS conference, BACS and the British Journal of Canadian Studies, you can find more information here: https://britishassociationforcanadianstudies.com/

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