Books by Faculty of Environmental Studies Professor Timothy Leduc and Stuart Henderson, a former Social Science & Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) postdoctoral Fellow in York’s Department of History, have been shortlisted for the Canada Prize in the Social Sciences by the Canadian Federation for the Humanities & Social Sciences.
Climate, Culture, Change: Inuit and Western Dialogues with a Warming North (University of Ottawa Press, 2011) by Leduc and Making the Scene: Yorkville and Hip Toronto in the 1960s (University of Toronto Press, 2011) share the shortlist with three other books. The Canadian Federation for the Humanities & Social Sciences (CFHSS) awards Canada Prizes annually to one work in French and one in English in each of two categories – social sciences and humanities. The prizes are considered a benchmark for outstanding scholarly work.
“I am very excited by this nomination and happy that the CFHSS has shortlisted a book that highlights the cultural dimensions of climate change politics and science, especially in a Canadian context where today’s debate seems to have shifted from climate justice issues to the politics and economics of tar sand pipeline development,” says Leduc.
Climate, Culture, Changeexplores climate change in the north and how it’s affecting the Inuit who live there. Leduc sheds light on how the Inuit view climate change and how it’s affecting their culture and traditional knowledge. He also examines the challenges faced by Western climate research and Canadian politics of a warming north, and proposes an intercultural response through a blending of Inuit and Western perspectives and voices.
Henderson’s book examines the history of Yorkville during the 1960s, from its early coffee house days when it was frequented by Neil Young and Joni Mitchell to its drug-fuelled final months. He explores how Yorkville came to be regarded as hip in the cultural imagination of Toronto.
A cultural historian, Henderson was a SSHRC postdoctoral Fellow in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies for two years, from 2009 to 2011. Making the Scene grew out of his PhD dissertation (see YFile, May 26, 2011).
The four prizes are each worth $2,500 and will be presented at a special awards ceremony on Friday, March 30 at the Musée des beaux-arts in Montreal. The nominees are chosen from works supported by CFHSS’s Awards to Scholarly Publications Program and winners are selected by a jury of scholars from across the country.
For more information, visit the Canadian Federation for the Humanities & Social Sciences website.