Howard Adelman, who passed away July 23, was a York University professor, associate dean and Senate Chair, as well as the founder and former director of the Centre for Refugee Studies (CRS).
Howard Adelman
Adelman was a philosopher and scholar of contemporary Canadian and global issues, an activist academic driving change in public policy, and a cultural and political commentator providing valuable and informed insights across cultures and nations. His distinguished career spanned more than half a century and his work as an academic, author and advisor furthered multiculturalism, diversity and human rights for refugees and forced migrants in Canada and abroad.
At York, Adelman joined the Department of Philosophy in 1966, going on to be active as a professor emeritus and senior scholar at the University. In 1988, he founded the Centre for Refugee Studies, which has become the leading research centre in North America focused on forced migration studies. He served as CRS director for its first five years and since then remained a mentor to those at the centre. In 2008, in his honour, the Annual CRS Howard Adelman Lectures were inaugurated to provide an opportunity for scholars, practitioners and advocates to discuss issues impacting refugees and other forced migrants. He also served as a long-term friend and affiliate of the Israel and Golda Koschitzky Centre for Jewish Studies at York.
Beyond York, Adelman served as a national and international leader in refugee protection, human rights and diversity accommodation, often contributing commissioned research reports for governments and international institutions. He has acted as an advisor on refugee concerns to the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the Government of Canada. In 2018, he was awarded the Order of Canada in recognition of his wide-ranging scholarship, public policy work and political activism, which included contributing to the rewriting of the policy of private sponsorship of refugees.
An obituary by David Dewitt, professor emeritus in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies, has been published by the Centre for Refugee Studies, further detailing Adelman’s extensive accomplishments.
Lassonde research advancing astronaut training
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To help inform more inclusive astronaut training, Professor Michael Jenkin from the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at York University’s Lassonde School of Engineering is gearing up for a project, “The Influence of Partial Gravity on the Perception of Self-Motion: Sex Differences (SMUG-PS),” which specifically focuses on women and their changes in perception of self-motion when exposed to partial gravity.
In space, unusual environments such as zero and partial gravity can significantly alter human perception of self-motion, leading to challenges with self-orientation and visual processing. Effective astronaut training is critical to ensuring survival and mission success. However, current training measures are based on heavily skewed data from human performance studies that concentrate on a very specific group of people.
Professor Michael Jenkin floating in aircraft during parabolic flight
“People who are trained to go to space fit a very narrow superman type; they’re fit, young, healthy … and usually men,” says Jenkin. “Back in the day, most astronauts were men recruited from the military, but in the present day we want to send all kinds of people to space. We won’t be able to do this if training measures are only developed for a very specific group.”
Most research to date focuses on human responses to zero gravity; however, understanding the effects of partial gravity is becoming increasingly important for developing training methods to prepare astronauts for space missions involving the surface of the moon, Mars or other planets.
SMUG-PS is built on a previously conducted study, “The Influence of Partial Gravity on the Perception of Self-Motion (SMUG-P),”which focused solely on men. “We want to see if women respond differently to partial gravity than men,” says Jenkin. “If they do, we’ll need to change the way we’re training astronauts.”
Female study participants will undergo a series of repeated tests to measure their perceived distance of self-motion while aboard a thrilling, parabolic flight that ascends in a steep, curved pattern to simulate partial gravity conditions. Each test will be performed at various segments of the flight, including before and after, to develop a model of multi-cue integration processes.
Throughout the duration of the study, participants will wear a head-mounted display that simulates a virtual-reality environment, mimicking a long corridor. Participants will be asked to estimate their distance from an indicated target and will then experience a simulated forward motion towards it. When they believe they have reached the target, they are required to press a button. It is expected that this process will be easier said than done, as the partial gravity environment established by the parabolic flight will influence their perception of self-motion.
Results obtained from SMUG-PS will allow for a better understanding of how women process visual information in partial gravity conditions, to address issues in space and on earth. “By extending experiments to women, we can identify changes that need to be made to astronaut training measures to maximize mission success,” says Jenkin. Combined results from SMUG-P and SMUG-PS will also be used to inform the development of training and countermeasures to prepare astronauts for environments governed by partial gravity, thereby improving mission success as well as astronaut health and safety. Ultimately, these projects will be used to produce the first sex-balanced partial gravity perception of self-motion dataset.
In addition, these projects will establish crucial information that can advance global understanding of medical conditions affecting human perception of self-motion. “If we can understand how people respond to altered perception of their environments, we can provide stronger cues, like modifying the lighting or visual appearance of objects in someone’s home,” he says.
SMUG-PS will bring meaningful partnerships to Lassonde, through the collaborative efforts of Professor Robert Allisonfrom Lassonde’s Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Professor Laurence Harris from York University’s Department of Psychology, as well as Nils-Alexander Bury and Professor Rainer Herpers from Bonn-Rhein-Sieg University of Applied Sciences in Germany.
York’s membership in CALAREO, a hemispheric consortium, begins to blossom
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By Elaine Smith
Although he knew little Spanish, Adam Hallag, a fourth-year York electrical engineering student, jumped at the opportunity to spend a couple of months this summer as a research intern at the Universidad Tecnólgica San Juan del Rio in Mexico’s state of Querétaro.
“I wanted to have a professional opportunity to add to my resume,” said Hallag. “Once you graduate, it’s harder to get a job without some work related to your field.
Adam Hallag
“When this opportunity from CALAREO (Canadian and Latin American Research and Exchange Opportunities consortium) came through, I took it as an opportunity to go abroad to get experience while learning about another culture.”
While there, he is immersed in a project to develop the design for a closed-loop solar tracking system that uses sensor technology to adjust solar panels so that the sun rays are orthogonal to the panel, which is where maximum power is attained.
“It has been challenging, combining the work with learning Spanish and travelling alone for the first time,” said Hallag, “but I’ve learned a lot of hard and soft skills.”
Hallag is one of the first York University students to take advantage of the global research opportunities provided by CALAREO.
York membership in a consortium that includes other Canadian institutions – Carleton University, Lakehead University (secretariat), Memorial University and Vancouver Island University – meant signing a Memorandum of Understanding that commits York to facilitating and increasing student mobility, building and strengthening relations in strategic research areas, and encouraging co-operation that results in national and international grants to enhance research collaborations and training of students.
CALAREO also received funding from the federal Global Skills Opportunity fund, providing financial support that allows Canadian students who are Indigenous, low-income or have a disability to participate in these global learning opportunities, whether field study or research. In addition, CALAREO partners with Mitacs to offer undergraduate students the opportunity to undertake research abroad.
York has already taken advantage of this funding. During Reading Week in February, Alejandro Zamora, associate professor of Hispanic studies at Glendon College, led a group of 11 students to Colombia for field study as part of a course in Hispanic geopoetics; nine of the students were funded through CALAREO.
The trip, organized in collaboration with the University of Magdalena in Santa Marta, focused on the work of Gabriel Garcia Márquez, the Nobel Prize-winning poet and author who drew inspiration from the region. Students had the opportunity to work in partnership with their Colombian counterparts and become involved in community projects.
The consortium currently has partnerships with Mitacs, Colombia, CONACYT (Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology) and the Mexican state of Querétaro. As York’s engagement with CALAREO grows, the University will aim to increase the diversity of these partnerships; certainly, collaborative opportunities abound, if a recent trip to Brazil by York International (YI) team members is any indication.
In April, Helen Balderama, YI’s director of global engagement programs and partnerships, and Recep Demir, global partnerships manager, attended FAUBAI, the largest higher education conference in Latin America as part of a CALAREO delegation. Over a five-day period, the pair met with about 30 Brazilian institutions to explore new opportunities for collaboration and reciprocity.
“CALAREO opened doors for us and we’re glad we came.”
Vinitha Gengatharan, assistant vice-president, global engagement and partnerships, said, “York’s increasing engagement with CALAREO is another step toward increasing York’s student and scholars’ engagement and impact in Latin America. We anticipate that membership in the consortium will be fruitful and mutually beneficial for all of the partners involved.”
Those interested in learning more about CALAREO or other ways to engage or advance your international and global priorities can contact Balderama at helencb@yorku.ca.
York astrophysicists take step forward in computer simulations of cosmology
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York University and an international team of astrophysicists have made an ambitious attempt to simulate the formation of galaxies and the cosmic large-scale structure throughout staggeringly large swaths of space.
First results of their “MillenniumTNG” project are published in a series of 10 articles in the journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society. The new calculations help to subject the standard cosmological model to precision tests and to unravel the full power of upcoming new cosmological observations, say the researchers including York Assistant Professor Rahul Kannan of the Faculty of Science.
Over the past decades, cosmologists have gotten used to the perplexing conjecture that the universe’s matter content is dominated by enigmatic dark matter and that an even stranger dark energy field, that acts as some kind of anti-gravity, accelerates the expansion of today’s cosmos. Ordinary baryonic matter makes up less than five per cent of the cosmic mix, but this source material forms the basis for the stars and planets of galaxies like our own Milky Way.
This seemingly strange cosmological model is known under the name LCDM. It provides a stubbornly successful description of a large number of observational data, ranging from the cosmic microwave background radiation – the rest-heat left behind by the Big Bang – to the “cosmic web,” where galaxies are arranged along an intricate network of dark matter filaments. However, the real physical nature of dark matter and dark energy is still not understood, prompting astrophysicists to search for cracks in the LCDM theory. Identifying tensions to observational data could lead to a better understanding of these fundamental puzzles about the universe. Sensitive tests are required that need both: powerful new observational data as well as more detailed predictions about what the LCDM model actually implies.
An international team of researchers led by the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics (MPA) in Germany, Harvard University in the U.S., Durham University in the U.K., and the Donostia International Physics Center in Spain, along with York University, have now managed to take a decisive step forward on the latter challenge. Building up on their previous successes with the “Millennium” and “IllustrisTNG” projects, they developed a new suite of simulation models dubbed “MillenniumTNG,” which trace the physics of cosmic structure formation with considerably higher statistical accuracy than what was possible with previous calculations.
Large simulations including new physical details
The team utilized the advanced cosmological code GADGET-4, custom-built for this purpose, to compute the largest high-resolution dark matter simulations to date, covering a region nearly 10 billion light-years across. In addition, they employed the moving-mesh hydrodynamical code AREPO to follow the processes of galaxy formation directly, throughout volumes still so large that they can be considered representative for the universe as a whole. Comparing both types of simulations allows a precise assessment of the impact of baryonic processes related to supernova explosions and supermassive black holes on the total matter distribution. An accurate knowledge of this distribution is key for interpreting upcoming observations correctly, such as so-called weak gravitational lensing effects, which respond to matter irrespective of whether it is of dark or baryonic type.
Furthermore, the team included massive neutrinos in their simulations, for the first time in simulations big enough to allow meaningful cosmological mock observations. Previous cosmological simulations had usually omitted them for simplicity, because they make up at most one to two per cent of the dark matter mass, and since their nearly relativistic velocities mostly prevent them from clumping together. Now, however, upcoming cosmological surveys (such as those of the recently launched Euclid satellite of the European Space Agency) will reach a precision allowing a detection of the associated per cent-level effects. This raises the tantalizing prospect to constrain the neutrino mass itself, a profound open question in particle physics, so the stakes are high.
For their groundbreaking MillenniumTNG simulations, the researchers made efficient use of two extremely powerful supercomputers, the SuperMUC-NG machine at the Leibniz Supercomputing Center in Garching, and the Cosma8 machine at Durham Universe. More than 120,000 computer cores toiled away for nearly two months at SuperMUC-NG, using computing time awarded by the German Gauss Centre for Supercomputing, to produce the most comprehensive hydrodynamical simulation model to date. MillenniumTNG is tracking the formation of about 100 million galaxies in a region of the universe around 2,400 million light-years across (see Figure 1). This calculation is about 15 times bigger than the previous best in this category, the TNG300 model of the IllustrisTNG project.
Using Cosma8, the team computed an even bigger volume of the universe, filled with more than a trillion dark matter particles and more than 10 billion particles for tracking massive neutrinos (see Figure 2). Even though this simulation did not follow the baryonic matter directly, its galaxy content can be accurately predicted in MillenniumTNG with a semi-analytic model that is calibrated against the full physical calculation of the project. This procedure leads to a detailed distribution of galaxies and matter in a volume that, for the first time, is large enough to be representative for the universe as a whole, putting comparisons to upcoming observational surveys on a sound statistical basis.
For more on the research results, and to see the published articles, visit the full story at News@York.
Professor’s book details care home labour exploitation
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By Joseph Burrell, communications officer, YFile
York University Distinguished Research Professor Emerita Pat Armstrong’s latest book, Unpaid Work in Nursing Homes: Flexible Boundaries (Policy Press, 2023), follows unpaid labourers in nursing homes across six wealthy countries, including Canada, and launches on July 18.
Pat Armstrong
Armstrong, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, leads a team of international researchers who have, over a decade, produced a series of books identifying hazardous trends in health-care systems as well as “promising practices for making nursing home care as good as it can be.”
“You may assume that in nursing homes most of the labour is provided by staff paid and trained for the job. But you would be wrong, especially in Canada,” Armstrong says. “This book is about who does what kinds of unpaid work, under what conditions in nursing homes. By comparing the nature and conditions of this gendered work in different countries, the book shows that the boundaries between paid and unpaid work are flexible not only for families and volunteers, but also for paid staff and residents.”
This latest entry features the results of ethnographic studies carried out in the U.S., U.K., Canada, Norway, Sweden and Germany – each country among the most resource-rich in the world and employing an array of contrasting approaches to long-term care. The follow-up entry to Armstrong’s latest book, Care Homes in a Turbulent Era (2023), also launches in August.
For all of the cultural and practical differences in each country’s approach to delivering care, a common element throughout the team’s research was that many nursing homes were dependent on unpaid labour to varying degrees.
“One of the many things that stood out for us was the amount and range of labour undertaken without pay by families, volunteers, residents and even by staff otherwise paid for the work,” Armstrong explains. “However, the amounts and kinds of unpaid work varied significantly from country to country, indicating that such work is not inevitable.”
This breadth of unremitted work, particularly the work carried out by staff who were paid in some circumstances but not in others, gave rise to the “flexible boundaries” referred to in the book’s title. Although Armstrong emphasizes that these inequities have existed in nursing homes around the world for many years – a fact demonstrated throughout the nearly 30 books that she’s published on the topic since the 1980s – she also points to the COVID-19 pandemic as a recent force stressing the limits of the workforce and illuminating the severity of workers’ situations.
Unpaid Work In Nursing Homes: Flexible Boundaries (2023) by Pat Armstrong
As homes were quarantined and family members barred from entering, the dependence on unpaid labour became apparent to the public. But even in light of COVID-19’s global repercussions, some countries proved better equipped to handle the health crisis in nursing homes than others.
“Staffing levels are much higher in Norway and Sweden,” she says. “The ownership of care homes also differs significantly. Norway especially has very few for-profit homes while in Ontario, nearly 60 per cent are for-profit. A poll in Sweden found that a majority would like to enter a nursing home if they needed help with two or more issues, while 90 per cent of those polled in Canada say they don’t want to go into a nursing home at all.”
Noting the similarities in age demographics as well as illness prevalence across all of the countries, Armstrong suggests that differences in health outcomes and perception of nursing homes are owed to “differences in both the quality of care and values.”
Despite their comparative successes, Armstrong cautions that countries like Norway and Sweden shouldn’t rest on their laurels. According to her research, each country shares the common issue of overworking majority-female labour forces and increasingly depending on immigrants from lower-income countries to fill jobs seen as undesirable, making the problem of exploitation one that intersects with sexism, racism and classism.
“Staff members talk about lying awake at night worrying about not having had the time to help Mrs. Jones eat her dinner, to help Mr. Banerjee walk down the hall, or to comfort a daughter when her mother died, even though these staff members came in early and stayed late,” Armstrong says.
A key takeaway throughout all of Armstrong’s work is the variety of solutions applicable to these problems. Such health-care crises are mitigated not just by training more medical professionals, but by educating citizens in effective policy, like increasing public investment in long-term care facilities.
“Long before the pandemic, research had shown that for-profit care homes had the lowest staffing levels, lowest pay and lowest quality of care,” she explains. “Attending to the conditions of work is essential to… responding to the individual needs of residents. The conditions of work are the conditions of care.”
Unpaid Work in Nursing Homes: Flexible Boundaries is available for purchase in paperback format, or for free download as an e-publication, through Policy Press.
York UNESCO Chair team attends 2023 UN High-Level Political Forum
The UN HLPF is the central platform within the United Nations system to track progress on the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. More than 2,700 delegates are expected to attend the meeting at United Nations Headquarters in New York from July 10-19. 38 countries and the European Union will present their Voluntary National Review (VNR) on national progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). 12 special events, more than 200 side events and 21 exhibits will take place.
A key enabler, so far the only one recognized by the UN, of all of the SDGs is an Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) as stated in SDG 4, which York´s UNESCO Chair has long been engaged with. The team has also worked with UNESCO and other UN agencies to promote the transformation of education and training systems and to raise public awareness for ESD. At the UN HLPF, Hopkins and Kohl will advocate for the importance of involving higher education institutions in policymaking, for modelling sustainability in the university as whole and the transformative power of quality education.
York to host virtual event on water sustainability crises at UN HLPF
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Associate Professor and York University Research Chair in Global Change Biology, Sapna Sharma, will moderate a 90-minute virtual panel on July 14 from 10 to 11:30 a.m. entitled “Humanitarian responses to emerging water crises as a result of extreme climatic events” at the United Nations High-Level Political Forum on Sustainable Development (HLPF).
The panel – which will be proceeded by opening marks from President and Vice-Chancellor Rhonda Lenton and the Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Nikhil Seth – is a virtual event hosted by the University in preparation for the UN Global Water Academy at the UN HLPF, which runs until July 19.
The event also marks the inauguration of the UN Global Water Academy, announced at the UN Water Conference in March 2023 in New York City as a multi-stakeholder collaboration between the United Nations, academic institutions, and private sector partners, with York University as academic lead. The UN Global Water Academy will tackle diverse aspects of the water sustainability crisis: training, research, and knowledge mobilization, ultimately used to inform decision-making and public policy. The preparations to launch the UN Water Academy are well on its way.
The Global Water Academy will aspire to foster training and capacity development, empower community-based networks, weave traditional knowledge, and inspire innovation to co-create sustainable water solutions and ensure equitable access to water for all. By doing so, the Global Water Academy will empower policy and decision-makers, government officials, industry and the communities most affected by water insecurity, with the knowledge, expertise and capacity to ameliorate the water crisis.
Sapna Sharma
The panel led by Sharma will consider how extreme climatic events, including heatwaves, droughts and storms, are increasing in frequency and intensity over the past few decades, with consequences for freshwater. For example, extreme climatic events have been associated with changes in freshwater availability and degradation of water quality, including elevated concentrations of nutrients, contaminants of emerging concern and potential for algal blooms, some of which may be toxic. As humans and wildlife rely on freshwater for life, alterations in the freshwater supply in response to extreme climatic events can have catastrophic impacts, particularly during humanitarian crises. Women and marginalized communities are disproportionately impacted by freshwater insecurity.
This panel aims to raise the voices of communities affected by water insecurity, including Indigenous communities in Canada, women and girls in Africa, and families living in refugee camps. They will explore the humanitarian responses, challenges and solutions to alleviating the freshwater crisis, particularly in the face of global environmental degradation and extreme climatic events.
Those interested in registering for the event can do so here.
York to collaborate with Commonwealth universities to address global inequalities
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York University will host a full day symposium on July 19 together with The Association of Commonwealth Universities (ACU) to explore the important role of higher education in addressing global inequalities.
ACU is a convenor of a community of higher education institutions from across the Commonwealth and provides opportunities for learning, collaboration and knowledge sharing. In addition, attendees will learn more about the ACU’s regional strategic priorities and its work and impact in Canada, and internationally.
The 2023 symposium will bring together ACU members and prospective members to discuss distinct and shared challenges in addressing global inequalities, and learn how international collaboration can support these efforts.
The day’s agenda of panel discussions, keynotes and a fireside chat will align with the symposium’s theme “Tackling inequality within – and through – higher education” and will feature York University faculty and senior leadership.
The program will bring universities together to discuss topics of common relevance, such as access and inclusion, decolonization of higher education and social impact.
Agenda
10:45 to 11:45 a.m. – Panel 1: From rhetoric to reality: universities’ role in addressing systemic inequalities How can universities help to overcome deep-rooted structural inequalities in wider society? Chair: Joanna Newman (Secretary General and Chief Executive, The Association of Commonwealth Universities) Panellists: Mark Green (Queen’s University, Canada); Qui Alexander (University of Toronto, Canada); Jennifer Brennan (Mastercard Foundation); Andrea Davis (York University, Canada); James Orbinski (York University, Canada); and Mai Yasue (University of British Columbia, Canada)
1 to 1:45 p.m. –Fireside Chat: What role does international collaboration in higher education play in helping to promote more equal universities and societies? International collaboration in higher education is key to meeting all 17 SDGs, but how can it help address inequality in particular? Is “inclusion” just an issue for individual institutions or does it have an international element? Chair: Cheryl de la Rey (vice-chancellor, University of Canterbury, New Zealand and ACU Chair of Council) In conversation with: Rhonda Lenton (York University president and ACU executive committee member)
2 to 3 p.m. – Panel 2: Promoting equity in international partnerships and research Chair: David Phipps (assistant vice-president, research strategy and impact, York University; director, Research Impact Canada; ACU supporting research community Chair) Panellists: Sandeep Sancheti (vice-chancellor at Marwadi University, India); C Raj Kumar (vice-chancellor at O.P. Jindal Global University, India); and Barnabas Nawangwe (vice-chancellor at Makerere University, Uganda)
Further information about the ACU symposium can be found here.
York language students work with Japanese writing buddies
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By Elaine Smith
A new course at York University offered Japanese language students an opportunity to connect with a group of pen pals in Japan.
Intermediate Written Communication in Japanese (JP2010) is a full-year elective that focuses solely on writing, says Noriko Yabuki-Soh, an associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics. And, no wonder.
Noriko Yabuki-Soh
“Learning to write in Japanese takes time because there are three different writing systems which also incorporate Chinese characters,” she said.
Yabuki-Soh was eager to connect her students with the Japanese community through their writing as a way of ensuring the students had an authentic experience and learned some of the colloquial expressions commonly used in Japan today. She turned to York International, experts in globally networked learning (GNL), for assistance. GNL is an approach to teaching, learning and research that enables students, faculty and non-academic researchers from different locations around the world to participate in, and collaborate on, knowledge-making processes and concrete research projects.
York International connected Yabuki-Soh with faculty at York partner universities and she found an interested colleague, Professor Jin Abe at Hitotsubashi University, a Tokyo-based national university and York University exchange partner.
To interest Japanese students in taking part, Yabuki-Soh created a recruitment poster and promotional video. Not only did local students apply; there were responses from students from other countries who were studying at Hitotsubashi, as well as Hitotsubashi students studying on exchange programs in other countries. Sixteen students joined the program to work with Yabuki-Soh’s class, which also had 16 students.
“It was a very diverse group with students from all over the world,” she said. “It was good for our students to work with other people their own age who had similar interests.”
The two groups interacted every two weeks throughout the course through various writing projects and using Google Docs. For example, Yabuki-Soh assigned her students to write opinion pieces for posting online on topics that interested them, providing samples in Japanese newspapers for guidance, and their Japanese peers would comment about the ideas put forward.
“We’d review opinion pieces together in class, ensuring they understood the grammar, and I’d lecture about the writing style appropriate to the task,” she said. “Posting the pieces to Google Docs worked well, given the 14-hour time difference. The Japanese students could comment at any time of day.”
For another project, Yabuki-Soh paired each York student with a Japanese student, provided them with a list of questions and asked them to interview each other about the city where they lived or the town where they grew up. The York students were required to create an essay about their partners using the proper format for quotes. The York students also used the content for their final course essay, comparing their own hometown to their partner’s.
“They learned a lot about each other,” Yabuki-Soh said.
While class interaction was confined to Google Docs, students who expressed an interest in sharing their email addresses had the opportunity to connect individually with their overseas counterparts.
Jessell Miranda
Jessell Miranda, a graduating economics major, said she studied both Korean and Japanese because she loves the languages. With no advanced Japanese class offered during the winter semester, she opted for the writing course.
“I don’t want to lose what I’ve learned, and I wanted to test my understanding of the language,” Miranda said. “It was really fun and enjoyable, because we were communicating with people from our own age group, not simply talking to the professor.
“I feel more confident about writing as a result, but I also realize how much more there is to learn.”
Risha Pelchat, a fourth-year translation major at Glendon College, called the class “amazing.”
“It gave me the chance to apply what I’ve learned in real life,” she said. “In addition to being able to apply Japanese in a real-life situation, I was able to deepen my cultural understanding. Moreover, the Japanese students were from the same generation and relatable, which made our interactions especially enjoyable.
“The course was invaluable. It took my Japanese to another level. Now, I can write and be confident that people will understand what I’m saying in just about any situation.”
Lisa Endersby, the educational developer from the Teaching Commons who assisted with the GNL portion of the class, added, “GNL is a powerful, practical model for faculty to engage in the same experiences they hope to share with their students – meaningful collaboration, cross-cultural learning and academic work to impact timely, global issues. The faculty I support in GNL projects often share how these experiences are uniquely impactful for their students’ personal and professional development, connecting them to people and places they may have previously only read about.”
For more information on JP2010 and other JP courses, visit the Japanese Studies Program website.
York faculty members interested in exploring a GNL project with a partner overseas can connect with Shirley Lam and Helen Balderama through gnl@yorku.ca.
York students learn side-by-side with Colombian classmates
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By Elaine Smith
Students are easily tempted by courses that include a trip abroad as part of the curriculum, but Hispanic Geopoetics: Geography, Literature, Identity, taught by Alejandro Zamora, offered an extra treat: classmates from the Universidad del Magdalena (UniMag) in the Colombian Caribbean region of the course’s field study.
Zamora, an associate professor of Hispanic studies at Glendon College, York University, has taught the course previously, but the 2023 edition became a joint venture, thanks to the use of a Hyflex classroom that allowed students to participate regardless of location. Throughout the winter semester, the 12 York students and eight UniMag students participated together in class discussions, class projects and assignments. By the time the field visit to Colombia came around, the classmates were fast friends.
Students in the Hispanic Geopoetics: Geography, Literature, Identity course taught by Alejandro Zamora, offered an extra treat visited the Colombian Caribbean region
“This was the first time we had a globally networked learning (GNL) component as part of the course and it was fantastic,” Zamora said. “The Colombian students could enrol, attend via Zoom and get course credits.” GNL is an approach to teaching, learning and research that enables students, faculty and non-academic researchers from different locations around the world to participate in, and collaborate on, knowledge-making processes and concrete research projects.
“From day one, I constantly ensured that both sets of students interacted through group work and assignments and it made a real difference when we visited Colombia; relationships and joint projects were already established.”
“This novel is deeply rooted in the Colombian Caribbean, and is also a synthesis of various regions,” said Zamora. “This course is a unique opportunity to study this novel in relation to the place that infuses its pages and language.”
As part of the Spanish program at Glendon, the course is taught in Spanish and has intermediate Spanish as a prerequisite. Students outside the program have the option of reading the novel in English or French, but still need the ability to converse in Spanish. In addition to Glendon students, it draws students from various Faculties on the Keele Campus.
During Reading Week, the York students travelled with Zamora to Colombia to meet their classmates and visit many of the locations depicted in the book, starting and ending in Santa Marta.
“There was full immersion on both sides,” Zamora said. “We travelled, visited sites and museums together, had meals together and learned about each other’s cultures. The students had meaningful conversations well beyond the scope of the course. What we experienced there surpassed expectations.
“In addition, the trip brought the book to life. We explored the villages and the local narratives that inspired the novel. In order to get a real sense of the history and political struggles of the region, you need to be there, talk to the people, and feel it. As one of my Colombian students put it: ‘We were reading the novel with our five senses.’” Students also got the opportunity to interact with local faculty and artists, “who were decisive to the success of the field trip.”
Two of the York students in the course agreed that the trip and the involvement of Colombian classmates offered invaluable insights into the book.
“It’s a tough read,” said Diego Pereira, a second-year Glendon psychology major who is originally from Brazil, “but I understand things better and everything is clearer after the trip and being where Marquez got his inspiration.”
Nicole Davis, a fifth-year Glendon student is majoring in political science with a minor in Spanish.
“Being in Colombia helped provide a clearer picture of the book and why the geography is so important,” she said. “It’s a great mix of fact and fiction and it probably couldn’t have happened elsewhere.”
They couldn’t say enough about the joys of learning side-by-side with classmates from another culture and the opportunity to travel with them.
“All the students from Colombia enriched the experience and made a difference,” said Pereira. “Examples from their lives helped illustrate the book.”
Davis added, “I really only knew two people going into the course and I cried the last day. It was a really good group and we built the type of relationships where if we haven’t spoken for years and message each other, the bond will be there.
“I’m also really grateful for the Global Skills Opportunity (through CALAREO) bursary that let me go on the trip. I’d never been to South America and I was able to confront all the stereotypes and biases you see in the media and meet all these wonderful people. I didn’t expect a school trip to be the most amazing trip I’ve ever gone on.”
For information on faculty-led programs and GNL project collaborations connect with York International helencb@yorku.ca and swhlam@yorku.ca.
