More than a decade ago, Brock Humanities scholars set out to share their knowledge with the local community through a public lecture series held at the St. Catharines Public Library.

Now, as the University celebrates its 60th anniversary, the popular Brock Talks series is evolving to inspire the community in a whole new way.

“We are grateful to the St. Catharines Public Library for helping us develop this series and for continuing to provide us with the space to share our research, teaching and creative activity downtown with the Niagara community,” said Elizabeth Vlossak, Associate Professor of History.

Brock Un-talks will debut this fall with interactive presentations and engaging hands-on workshops led by faculty members, staff and students from the Faculty of Humanities.

Vlossak said that even though Brock Talks has always been about bringing scholarly work to a wider audience, the format itself has remained quite traditional with the public listening to the “sage of the stage.”

“Yet many of us have moved away from the formal lecture as the preferred means to disseminate knowledge. We engage in more experiential, hands-on learning in the classroom and with community partners,” she said.

The series kicks off Wednesday, Sept. 25 with a discussion about trying to make games the right way featuring Department of Digital Humanities (DDH) graduates Evan Sawatsky (BA ’24), Alyssa Capps (BA ’24), Sky Atkinson, Aaron Sun (BSc ’24), Caithlyn Maude Garcia (BA ’24) and Jenny Lim (BSc ’24) taking the stage.

The group, who were awarded first place in the Accessibility in Games category for their game Cosmic Justice at the prestigious 2024 Level Up Showcase, will dive into how they made their video game accessible and why it mattered.

Audiences will be invited to engage with the game creators while playing the retro-inspired, intergalactic courtroom drama in which the player’s decisions shape the fate of the characters game.

On Monday,  Oct. 28, English Language and Literature Assistant Professor Erin Akerman will offer an intimate look at the diary entries of Anishinaabe translator Ogenebugoquay/Charlotte Johnston McMurray (1806-1878) of Sault Ste. Marie.

In this workshop, participants will view digital images of the journal, transcribe some of the entries and trace their contributors, gaining insight into Indigenous and settler relations during that time and making connections to the present.

During Professor of Classics and Archaeology Angus Smith’s workshop on Wednesday, Nov. 27, participants will get to try their hand at ceramic analysis using examples of ancient sherds from the Brock University Cypriote Museum.

All Brock Un-talks events will be held at the St. Catharines Public Library located at 54 Church St. The events are free but pre-registration is encouraged through ExperienceBU.