Robarts Centre presents annual lecture, grad student conference

A two-day conference hosted by the Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies at York University will bring graduate students together to explore themes around Canada’s changing dynamic.

The sixth annual Robarts’ Graduate Conference runs May 2 and 3, and aims to spark discussion on questions such as: Is Canada on the edge? Is it on the leading edge? Is it cutting edge? Or are we falling off the edge?

The conference features graduate student research presentations from across Canada, and many York faculty members will be participating as panel discussants. The conference is free to attend.

Complementing the topic of the conference is the sixth annual Robarts Lecture in Canadian Studies, which takes place at 5:30 p.m. on May 2 in 519 Kaneff Tower.

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Miranda Campbell

Miranda Campbell, an assistant professor in the School of Creative Industries at Ryerson University, will present “A Collaborative Turn: Youth-led Organizing and Communities of Care.”

Her talk will focus on the challenges facing young Canadians that are urgent, complex and interdependent, crossing environmental, social, cultural, political and economic streams. Increasingly, youth are tackling these challenges collectively, rejecting a siloed focus and a rhetoric of scarcity. Mobilizing the concept of communities of care, this lecture will give an overview of youth-led organizing, collaborative and community-oriented values, and emerging strategies to redressing inequity from the bottom up.

Campbell’s research focuses on creative employment, youth culture, and small-scale and emerging forms of creative practice. Her book, Out of the Basement: Youth Cultural Production in Practice and in Policy, mapped the changing realities of youth self-employment in creative fields in the 21st century and was shortlisted for the Donner Prize for the best public policy book by a Canadian. Her involvement with creative communities includes co-ordination and board of director roles with Rock Camp for Girls Montreal, a summer camp dedicated to empowerment for girls through music education, and with Whipper-Snapper Gallery, an artist-run centre focusing on emerging artists in Toronto.

A reception will take place at 5:30 p.m. with refreshments, light fare and music by the Liam Stanley Trio. The lecture is scheduled to begin at 6:30 p.m.

RSVP to robarts@yorku.ca or visit robarts.info.yorku.ca for more information.