News

Canadian Author Visits MA Classroom

Thursday, March 21, 2024 | By lbetts

Professor Neta Gordon brought in a very special guest on March 19 to her graduate class, ENGL 5V56: The Politics and Art of Orientation in the work of Ann-Marie MacDonald.

Back row, L to R: Claire Thyne, Zoe Williams, Faith Lokaisingh, Olivia Hay, Jaime Bastien, Maddie Beaulieau
Front: Ann-Marie MacDonald
Photo: Neta Gordon

Author, actor, and playwright Ann-Marie MacDonald spent the morning in the classroom with the MA English grad students. In the afternoon she met with the research team of Gordon’s SSHRC-funded “Mapping Ann-Marie MacDonald” project. Look for the upcoming feature story in the Brock News!

Categories: News
MA Program Will Pause Intake for 2024-2025 Academic Year

Monday, January 29, 2024 | By lbetts

Due to budgetary constraints and funding changes, the English department has decided not to accept MA applications for the 2024-2025 academic year. Over this time, we will be reconceptualizing the MA program to adapt appropriately to the new funding models and we expect to resume accepting students for the 2025-2026 year.

The department is sorry for any difficulties that this decision may cause prospective applicants.

Categories: News
Professor Knight Awarded MLA-EBSCO Literacy Prize

Tuesday, December 19, 2023 | By lbetts

Professor Leah Knight, together with Head Archivist David Sharron, received the 2023 MLA-EBSCO Collaboration for Information Literacy Prize for the course design of MARS/ENGL 4P01: Sources and Methods in Medieval and Renaissance Studies.

From the MLA website: “Thanks to a generous grant from EBSCO, the Modern Language Association confers up to two annual awards of $500 each for coursework developed in collaboration between department faculty members and academic librarians in literature, language, or related disciplines. The award recognizes successful integration of the disciplinary objectives of the course with learning objectives in information literacy, as defined in the Association of College and Research Libraries’ Framework for Information Literacy for Higher Education. ”

Congratulations, Leah and David!

Professor Leah Knight (pointing)

David Sharron (r), Head of Archives and Special Collections in the Brock Library, shows students rare documents.

Categories: News
Fall 2023 Convocation

Monday, October 23, 2023 | By lbetts

Friday the 13th was an auspicious day for all the right reasons. Congratulations to all of our ’23 Brock MA English graduates and faculty on all of your hard work!

Photo credits: Brock University

Categories: News
New Postdoctoral Fellow: Dr. Owen Kane

Tuesday, October 10, 2023 | By lbetts

The Department of English Language and Literature continues to attract top-notch scholars. Owen Kane (PhD, Queen’s), working with Professor Elizabeth Sauer, brings his SSHRC-funded research on contact literature and early modern literary cultures of the circumpolar north to Brock.

Welcome, Dr. Kane!

Dr. Owen Kane recently defended his PhD at Queen’s University. His dissertation on poetic decorum and early modern political geography, argued for the influence of poetic thinking by Edmund Spenser, William Shakespeare, Ben Jonson, and John Milton on early English political concepts. His essays have been published in Spenser Studies, The Spenser Review, Shakespeare and the Sea Conference Proceedings, and TOPIA. Previously, Dr. Kane was a founding committee member of the Chapel Royal of the Mississauga of the Credit First Nation at Massey College and has experience in accessibility issues working in partnerships to develop accessible infrastructure for universities. Supervised by Dr. Elizabeth Sauer, he comes to Brock University in order to complete his SSHRC-funded postdoctoral research project on contact literature and early modern literary cultures of the circumpolar north. While at Brock, Dr. Kane also looks forward to assisting Dr. Sauer in her projects and with the Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies, taking part in departmental and research centre events, and helping out undergraduate, Masters, and PhD students whenever possible in the Humanities departments.

Categories: News
Canadian Studies Network Awards Best Edited Collection Prize to Harriet’s Legacies

Friday, September 29, 2023 | By lbetts

Congratulations to Ronald Cummings and Natalee Caple! Their book, Harriet’s Legacies: Race, Historical Memory, and Futures in Canada, was selected by the Canadian Studies Network for the 2023 Best Edited Collection Prize.

From the CSN news announcement:

“Edited by Ronald Cummings and Natalee Caple, Harriet’s Legacies uses the brief but important residence of Harriet Tubman in southern Ontario (Canada West, to be precise) as a starting point to explore new meanings of the origins, experiences, and trajectory of the Black diaspora in Canada. The book sheds new light on the profound transnational significance of the American cultural figure and activist by moving existing discourses beyond national boundaries in ways that invite us to think more fully about the diasporic dynamics that inform African Canadian life. Adopting a resolutely multidisciplinary approach and gathering the work of various artists and scholars in Black Studies, the 21-chapter volume does not simply look back but sees the impact of Harriet Tubman “as ongoing, collective practices of antiracism and freedom seeking.” In doing so, Harriet’s Legacies provides a renewed vigour for both African Canadian Studies and the pursuit of social justice in our times.”

Categories: News
Professor Lissa Paul joins the Royal Society of Canada

Thursday, September 07, 2023 | By lbetts

Congratulations to Professor Lissa Paul! She was named a Royal Fellow in the Academy of Arts and Humanities on September 5, 2023. The official announcement was made in Tuesday edition of the Globe and Mail.

Please read the full citation here.

Categories: News
Welcome to the Department, Professor Lissa Paul!

Thursday, July 20, 2023 | By lbetts

It’s official – Professor Lissa Paul is now a faculty member of the Department of English Language & Literature! She is also the director of the PhD Program in Interdisciplinary Humanities.

Looking forward to seeing you in the department, Lissa!

Categories: News
Welcome, Professor Erin Akerman!

Monday, June 26, 2023 | By lbetts

Dr. Erin Akerman joined the Department of English Language and Literature on June 1, 2023. Photo credit: Erin Akerman

Introducing our newest faculty member, Assistant Professor Erin Akerman! She recently completed her PhD at Western University in Indigenous literary studies with a focus on nineteenth-century Indigenous literatures. Professor Akerman is a citizen of the Métis Nation of Ontario from the Georgian Bay Métis Community. This year, she will teach ENGL 1P91: Decolonizing Literature, ENGL 2P64: Early Canadian Literature, and a new course ENGL 4V77: Early Indigenous Women’s Writing.

Welcome to Brock, Professor Akerman!

Categories: News
Professor Elizabeth Sauer named President of the Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies / Société canadienne d’études de la Renaissance

Thursday, June 08, 2023 | By lbetts

Elizabeth Sauer congratulates CSRS Past-President Kenneth Graham (University of Waterloo) on a job very well done.

Professor Elizabeth Sauer was named President of the Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies / Société canadienne d’études de la Renaissance at the 2023 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.

The Canadian Society for Renaissance Studies is dedicated to encouraging multidisciplinary studies in the Renaissance by students and established scholars in both official languages.

La Société canadienne d’études de la Renaissance a pour vocation d’encourager les études multidisciplinaires sur la Renaissance dans les deux langues officielles auprès des étudiants et des chercheurs.

The Society sponsors the bilingual scholarly journal Renaissance and Reformation / Renaissance et Réforme and News with information for members, and organizes an annual meeting as part of the Congress of the Social Sciences and Humanities.

Congratulations, Professor Sauer! Félicitations!

Categories: News