College News

Professor T. M. Scanlon will present the 2012 Guelph Lecture in Philosophy: "What is Morality?" on Thursday, March 8,  5:30- 7:00 p.m. in the Academic Public Square, McLaughlin Library.

Unfortunately Dr Scanlon's lecture has been cancelled due to illness. 

 New PhD students in social and political philosophy whose dissertations touch on ethical issues related to globalization are eligible to receive additional funding ($1,000 - $3,000) from the Canada Research Chair in Ethics and Global Social Change. For additional information please contact Monique Deveaux. 

Philosophy is a field that engages with every facet of life. However, academic philosophy these days could be doing a better job of engaging in dialogue with the public: this requires finding a common language, as well as being explicit about the relevance of the ideas at issue. \

Philopolis is a two-day festival that aims to facilitate just such an exchange through panel discussions, workshops and activities of many kinds. Find out more at the festival website. 

The 2012 Guelph Philopolis was a festival that manifested how Philosophy engages with every facet of life.  It achieved this through panel discussions, workshops and activities of many kinds. Find out more at the festival website.

The Department's famous Rural History Roundtable is ten years old! Congratulations to Dr. Catharine Wilson, Dr. Douglas McCalla and all the speakers and coordinators who have made the Roundtable a College of Arts institution over the years. The Winter 2012 Roundtable schedule will carry on this great tradition with speakers addressing tourism, consumer culture, rural amusements and more. Get the schedule (.pdf)

A University of Guelph economics professor belongs to a winning team in a prestigious humanities and social sciences research competition. Kris Inwood’s project in mining information from one of the largest population databases in the world was named one of the victors of the 2012 Digging Into Data Challenge today. Sponsored by Canada, the United States, the Netherlands and the United Kingdom, the competition promotes innovative research using digital resources to learn about people and cultures and to develop multidisciplinary partnerships.

... is now available at http://www.uoguelph.ca/history/NewsletteroftheDepartment
The Newsletter of the Department is published each January and September. For more information or to send news, please contact Dr. Susan Nance, snance@uoguelph.ca  or visit www.uoguelph.ca/history

by Teresa Pitman

It was a trend that was promoted by the highest levels of government at the time. Pierre Elliot Trudeau had hitchhiked around Europe and the Middle East as a young man, long before he became prime minister. In 1970, apparently remembering his own experiences in a positive way, he publicly advised young Canadians to “Hit the road. Drive or hitchhike and see what Canada’s all about.” Many teens and young adults took his advice to heart, and hitchhikers with their thumbs stuck out became a familiar sight on Canadian highways. U of G history professor Linda Mahood never hitched across Canada, but she did hitchhike around her home in Saskatchewan and later on Vancouver Island. “When I mentioned this to some of the students in my women’s history class, they were horrified,” says Mahood. “That’s when I started to get interested in the history of hitchhiking.”

by Teresa Pitman

Which Christian denomination holds the most appeal for people in Africa? It’s not mainstream in Canada, but Pentecostalism is the largest and fastest-growing denomination of Christianity in Nigeria – in fact, it’s ranked number one in all of Africa and in much of Asia and South America as well. “Some estimates show that globally, it’s surpassed the Catholic Church,” says U of G history professor Femi Kolapo.