News

Pictured from left to right: Elana Shvalbe and Alison Postma 

SOFAM would like to congratulate Alison Postma, a student in the Studio Art program, who was awarded a prestigious scholarship prize through the Aimia/AGO Photography program. Selected from over 100 applicants, she receives $7000 towards tuition for her final year of undergraduate study.

Dr. Matthew Hayday has just published new research with UBC Press:

So They Want Us to Learn French:  Promoting and Opposing Bilingualism in English-Speaking Canada

Since the 1960s, bilingualism has become a defining aspect of Canadian identity. And yet, fifty years after the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was formed and with over forty years of federal government funding and supports for second-language education, relatively few English Canadians speak or choose to speak French. What happened? Why has personal bilingualism failed to increase as much as attitudes about bilingualism as a Canadian value? Historian Matthew Hayday explores the various ways in which bilingualism was promoted to English-speaking Canadians from the 1960s to the late 1990s. He analyzes the strategies and tactics employed by organizations on both sides of the bilingualism debate. Against a dramatic background of constitutional change and controversy, economic turmoil, demographic shifts, and the on-again, off-again possibility of Quebec separatism, English-speaking Canadians had to respond to the bilingualism issue and face the decision of whether they and their children should learn French. So They Want Us to Learn French places these personal and national experiences within a historical, political, and social context. For anyone interested in language, education, national identity, and Canadian political history, this book provides a vivid narrative of a complex, controversial, and fundamentally Canadian question.

Dr. Matthew Hayday has just published new research with UBC Press:

So They Want Us to Learn French:  Promoting and Opposing Bilingualism in English-Speaking Canada

Since the 1960s, bilingualism has become a defining aspect of Canadian identity. And yet, fifty years after the Royal Commission on Bilingualism and Biculturalism was formed and with over forty years of federal government funding and supports for second-language education, relatively few English Canadians speak or choose to speak French. What happened? Why has personal bilingualism failed to increase as much as attitudes about bilingualism as a Canadian value? Historian Matthew Hayday explores the various ways in which bilingualism was promoted to English-speaking Canadians from the 1960s to the late 1990s. He analyzes the strategies and tactics employed by organizations on both sides of the bilingualism debate. Against a dramatic background of constitutional change and controversy, economic turmoil, demographic shifts, and the on-again, off-again possibility of Quebec separatism, English-speaking Canadians had to respond to the bilingualism issue and face the decision of whether they and their children should learn French. So They Want Us to Learn French places these personal and national experiences within a historical, political, and social context. For anyone interested in language, education, national identity, and Canadian political history, this book provides a vivid narrative of a complex, controversial, and fundamentally Canadian question.

CALL FOR PAPERS: "Contesting History: Reflections on Perspective and Approach"

22nd Annual Tri-University History Conference, 5 March 2016

Best Western Plus Royal Brock Hotel & Conference Centre, 716 Gordon St., Guelph, ON

Please join us for the 22nd annual Tri-University History Conference on 5 March 2016 at the Best Western Plus Royal Brock Hotel & Conference Centre in Guelph, ON. Organized by the history departments of Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo, the theme of this year’s conference is “Contesting History: Reflections on Perspective and Approach.” To this end, we welcome proposals on all aspects of history from both graduate students and faculty. You may submit for consideration an individual paper, panel, or roundtable.

Individual paper proposals should be no more than 200 words and accompanied with a short 1-page CV. Panel and roundtable proposals should provide a succinct overview, no more than 350 words, along with a list of names and institutional affiliations of each participant.

This year’s conference will also feature the inaugural Tri-University “Rapid Fire” Competition. Participants will have 3 minutes to deliver an overview of their dissertation, thesis or major paper to a panel of esteemed professors and conference attendees. The event will take place during the final session of the day and a number of prizes will be up for grabs. The “Rapid Fire” Competition is open to all graduate students. Interested students are asked to submit their name and a presentation title.

Proposals should be sent to triuhistory@gmail.com by the deadline, 1 December 2015. Get the poster .pdf

CALL FOR PAPERS: "Contesting History: Reflections on Perspective and Approach"

22nd Annual Tri-University History Conference, 5 March 2016

Best Western Plus Royal Brock Hotel & Conference Centre, 716 Gordon St., Guelph, ON

Please join us for the 22nd annual Tri-University History Conference on 5 March 2016 at the Best Western Plus Royal Brock Hotel & Conference Centre in Guelph, ON. Organized by the history departments of Wilfrid Laurier University, the University of Guelph and the University of Waterloo, the theme of this year’s conference is “Contesting History: Reflections on Perspective and Approach.” To this end, we welcome proposals on all aspects of history from both graduate students and faculty. You may submit for consideration an individual paper, panel, or roundtable.

Individual paper proposals should be no more than 200 words and accompanied with a short 1-page CV. Panel and roundtable proposals should provide a succinct overview, no more than 350 words, along with a list of names and institutional affiliations of each participant.

This year’s conference will also feature the inaugural Tri-University “Rapid Fire” Competition. Participants will have 3 minutes to deliver an overview of their dissertation, thesis or major paper to a panel of esteemed professors and conference attendees. The event will take place during the final session of the day and a number of prizes will be up for grabs. The “Rapid Fire” Competition is open to all graduate students. Interested students are asked to submit their name and a presentation title.

Proposals should be sent to triuhistory@gmail.com by the deadline, 1 December 2015. Get the poster .pdf

Monday, September 28, 5:30pm
MacKinnon Building, Rm. 114
Free admission - all are welcome