Workshop: Unsettling Canada at 150: Memory Discourses in Transnational Contexts

3 November 2017, York University in Toronto

Together with my colleagues Duygu Gül Kaya, Michael Nijhawan, and Daphne Winland and as part of the Canada 150+ initiatives at York University to mark the 150^th anniversary of the Confederation,  we are organizing one-day workshop titled “Unsettling Canada at 150: Memory Discourses in Transnational Contexts.” The aim of the workshop is twofold: (1) we want to take stock of the emerging role of memory in transnational fields, as they are shaped by institutional processes (such as international politics and jurisdiction), human rights discourses, and a multiplicity of social practices by groups and communities that trace a history of migration, violence and displacement. (2) Moreover, we are concerned with the “Canadian dimension” of memory discourse, insofar as in the current political climate of “righting historical wrongs,” issues that predominantly relate to the trans-generational impact of laws, policies and institutions of the Canadian state in regards to indigenous peoples, official memory discourse has long served a colonial project of state formation. In 2017, how are these legacies challenged and how do social actors engaged in transnational memory (politics) relate to these changing configurations of Canadian memory discourse, now pronounced by the government of Canada as a part of a project of decolonization?

Please visit the workshop website for more information.