News

  • Education Writing Retreat & Poetic Inquiry Workshop

    When: June 10, 2017 – 7:00pm – June 15, 2017 – 5:00pm

    We are pleased to inform you that the next Brock Faculty of Education Writing Retreat will be held June 11-15, 2017 at Crieff Hills.

    We will begin at 7:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 10, and depart early afternoon on Thursday, June 15. As with our previous retreats, the program for the week will combine extensive quiet writing time, with collegial discussion through works-in-progress groups and informal workshops. The goal of the retreat is for each participant to produce a scholarly paper (e.g., an article ready for publication, a chapter towards a book, or a conference paper).

    This year we will welcome Dr. Pauline Sameshima and Dr. Sean Webe, who will facilitate a 90-min workshop entitled “Poetic Inquiry: Imagination as the Energy of Social Generation.”

    Workshop description: Drawing from the theory that “imagination is the energy through which consciousness and the material world are integrated” (Hayes, Sameshima, & Watson, 2014, p. 423), this participatory 90-minute workshop will introduce participants to ways poetic inquirers have opened transdisciplinary pathways for building communities and social change. The first part of the session will introduce the history of poetic inquiry, and this will be followed by an opportunity for participants to experiment with language, imagination, and theories of being in the world. Through contemplation, conversation, writing, and sharing poetry, Dr. Sameshima nd Dr. Webe hope to explore imagination as the energy (and action) of social generation. The following questions may serve as a catalyst for some of the activities:

    How might poetic inquiry?

    • facilitate wide and resonant conversations about social justice?
    • open possibilities for re-imagining human experience
    • disrupt normative frames of thinking and generate new insights?

    Dr. Pauline Sameshima is an Associate Professor and Canada Research Chair in Arts Integrated Studies at Lakehead University. She was the co-editor of Poetic Inquiry: Vibrant Voices in the Social Sciences (2009) and journal guest co-editor of Educational Insights (2009) on poetic inquiry. She was the principal co-director of the 2015 International Symposium on Poetic Inquiry and is a co-editor of Poetic Inquiry: Enchantments of Place (2016, planned publication). She maintains the poetic inquiry website at poeticinquiry.ca.

    Dr. Sean Wiebe lives in Charlottetown and is an associate professor of education at the University of Prince Edward Island. Since the inception of the International Symposium on Poetic Inquiry, he has been an integral part of the poetic inquiry community. He is the co-editor of Resonance: Poetic Inquiries of Reflection and Renewal (2016, in press), and was the co-editor of “Poetic Inquiry in/for/as,” a special issue of in education, 2014. He is the principal investigator for an eight-year funded project on the digital economy and new literacies.

    This 4-day writing retreat is located in a rural setting with all expenses excluding travel available for $628. Space is limited. If you require additional information or are interested in registering please contact Snezana Ratkovic. Once you have made a commitment to attend, you will be responsible for the full fees, unless you are able to find a replacement participant.

    Please confirm your interest in attending by March 17, 2017.

    Location of your event: Crieff Hills Community, 7098 Concession 1, Puslinch, ON N0B 2J0
    Cost: $628.00
    Sponsor: Faculty of Education and SJRI
    Contact: sratkovic@brocku.ca

    Categories: Events

  • SJRI/Labour Studies Black History Month Event

    When: February 28, 2017 – 6:00pm – 8:00pm

    Join Brock’s Centre for Labour Studies and SJRI for a Black History Month event…

    I can’t WORK if I can’t BREATHE: A panel on Black Lives Matter and the Labour Movement

    Panelists:

    Moderator:

    • Simon Black (Assistant Professor, Centre for Labour Studies)

    CUPE Ontario Statement on Black History Month 2017:

    “February is Black History Month. CUPE Ontario urges all its members to take this time to acknowledge and celebrate the many contributions people of African heritage have made to Canada and our union movement.

    The history of Black Canadians can be traced back to the early 1600s. While some people of African descent were forced to come to Canada as slaves, others came voluntarily as explorers or to fight for the British. Once anti-slavery legislation was passed, thousands of Black people escaped slavery in the United States by travelling along the Underground Railroad to freedom in Canada. Many settled throughout southwestern Ontario, working in a variety of occupations from agriculture to medicine.

    After racial restrictions on Canadian immigration were lifted in 1962, several hundred thousand Afro-Caribbean people migrated to Canada. Today, about 70% of Black people in Canada are of Caribbean heritage.”

    Continue reading here…

    Location of your event: Brock University, Thistle Room 240
    Cost: $0.00
    Sponsor: Labour Studies and SJRI
    Contact: sblack2@brocku.ca

    Categories: Events

  • The August Wilson/Robert Brustein Discussion

    When: March 15, 2017 – 6:00pm – 9:00pm

    On Cultural Power: The August Wilson/Robert Brustein Discussion, Re-enacted!

    Experience the famous and controversial 1997 debate that took New York by storm – “The intellectual equivalent of extreme fighting” – Frank Rich

    Brock alumnus Marcel Stewart, (Soulpepper Academy) will play August Wilson, countering Dr. David Fancy, (Department of Dramatic Arts, Brock Un.) who plays Robert Brustein, with Lena Hall as the Moderator, Anna Deavere Smith. An audience Talk Back will be moderated by Shannon Kitchings. This free community event will be held in the Marilyn I. Walker Theatre, at the Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts.

    Deavere Smith finally persuaded the two cultural Titans, Wilson and Brustein, to meet in person to hash out their disagreements in a star-studded evening sponsored by the Theatre Communications Group. August Wilson’s keynote speech at a previous Theatre Communications Group conference had ignited fierce discussion about funding, racial equality, and casting. This speech catalyzed a debate with Brustein that raged in the pages of American Theatre Magazine, The New York Times, and elsewhere for a year. It proved to be a cultural touchstone in the United States and the theatre history of the Americas.

    We continue to debate the same issues today on both sides of the border. Kelly J. Nestruck of The Globe and Mail, and celebrated playwright Djanet Sears, have both pointed out that access to cultural capital has not shifted significantly to increase equality in Canada over the last twenty years.

    By re-enacting this historic debate, the Department of Dramatic Arts invites audiences to wrestle afresh with the ever-present, ever-complex question of “whose culture – for whom”?

    • How can we achieve the difference-positive casting (with regard to race, gender, ability, age, and related minoritizations) that many called for in response to the debate, without defaulting to a “melting pot” version of mainstream culture?
    • Are Realism and Naturalism used as “code words for racial exclusion” as distinguished playwright Andrew Moodie has suggested?
    • How can Canada’s increasingly diverse population be adequately represented in the performing arts when the high competition and poor re-numerations create the appearance of a risky career?
    • Doesn’t their status as public-funded, nonprofit organizations give theatres and universities a civic and collective responsibility to raise the bar for diversity and inclusion from recruitment to scholarship and curriculum?

    Our Re-enactment and Talk Back offer free, stimulating debate where spontaneous blurting, gaffes, faux pas, frustrations, and even tomatoes will be allowed and welcomed. It also provides a rare chance to welcome back Marcel Stewart, an actor in the Soulpepper Academy, to see the maverick David Fancy on stage, and Lena Hall facing the massive challenge of moderating the Titans!

    Isaac Butler describes the debate as “the moment when presumed certainties – such as the value of “colorblindness” or Benetton-style “multiculturalism” – fractured.”

    This is a free community event. To attend, please secure your ticket on Eventbrite: http://bit.ly/2k8CbnP

    For more information or for assistance arranging interviews, contact: Marie Balsom, Communications Coordinator, Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts (MIWSFPA), Brock University mbalsom@brocku.ca, 905.688.5550, ext. 4765 or 905.964.7646

    Location of your event: MARILYN I. WALKER THEATRE, MARILYN I. WALKER SCHOOL OF FINE AND PERFORMING ARTS, 15 ARTISTS’ COMMON, ST. CATHARINES
    Cost: $0.00
    Sponsor: Marilyn I. Walker School of Fine and Performing Arts, Humanities Research Institute, and Social Justice Research Institute
    Contact: mbalsom@brocku.ca

    Categories: Events

  • SJRI Community Research Roundtable

    When: May 11, 2017 – 1:00pm – 2:30pm

    Building Community-University Partnerships

    Opening and Welcome: June Corman (Director, SJRI)

    Panelists:

    • Glen Walker (Chair, Niagara Poverty Reduction Network and Executive Director, Positive Living Niagara)
    • Marc Todd (Manager, Social Assistance and Employment Opportunities, Niagara Region)
    • Natalie Chaumont (Program Manager, Niagara Prosperity Initiative, United Way of Niagara Falls and Greater Fort Erie)

    Discussant: Tom Traves (President, Brock University)

    Join SJRI in discussion with Niagara community members as we learn about their research priorities and perspectives and reflect on building community-university partnerships in a number of areas such as poverty reduction.

    This event is open to the Brock research community; please RSVP to sjri@brocku.ca by May 5, 2017.

    Panelist Biographies:

    Natalie Chaumont is the Niagara Prosperity Initiative (NPI) Program Manager with the United Way of Niagara Falls and Greater Fort Erie. Since 2009, Natalie has managed NPI’s operations from Request for Proposal (RFP) to monitoring and evaluating project success. Working with the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network, Natalie provides infrastructure support and recently began a collaborative project with Brock’s Social Justice Research Institute to study precarious employment in Niagara. Natalie is also the current Chair of the Niagara North Community Legal Clinic and past Chair of Niagara Pride Support Services.

    Marc Todd is a manager with Niagara Region Community Services, Social Assistance and Employment Opportunities (SAEO). Employed with the Region since 2001, and has held positions as an Ontario Works Case Manager, SAEO cost analyst, trainer, and supervisor. Since 2008, Marc’s portfolio has included managing two SAEO offices (Welland and Port Colborne) as well as the lead within SAEO for Literacy, Mental Health, Addictions, the Eligibility Verification Process and Poverty Reduction, which includes the Niagara Prosperity Initiative (NPI). In 2008, Niagara Regional Council approved annual funding of $1.5 million dollars to increase prosperity for Niagara residents living in poverty. NPI focuses on neighbourhood based interventions and development.

    Glen Walker has been the Executive Director of Positive Living Niagara (formerly AIDS Niagara) since 2011. The agency dedicated to the support of those affected by HIV/AIDS, HCV and other STBBIs in the Niagara Falls, Ontario area. In this capacity he has been involved in several community based research projects, which explore the impacts of supports on individuals with HIV. He is currently the chair of the Niagara Poverty Reduction Network. Glen is a Social Worker by training with over 25 years of experience in community clinical service provision within the developmental services sector. Where he established specialized clinical services in south western Ontario and assisted in the development of the Networks of Specialized Care across the province. He has also worked for the Ministry of Community and Socials Services in the Developmental Services Branch and at the Ministry of Health and Long Term Care a Senior Policy Analyst in Ontario. Glen has been in private practice lecturing on the treatment of individuals with a dual diagnosis and positive behavioural interventions and was formerly on the facility at Fanshawe College in London Ontario in the developmental services program.

    Location of your event: Plaza Room 600F, Brock University, 1812 Sir Isaac Brock Way, St. Catharines
    Cost: $0.00
    Sponsor: Brock’s Social Justice Research Institute
    Contact: sjri@brocku.ca

    Categories: Events

  • RE:Generation: SOWING SEEDS OF RESISTANCE

    When: May 30, 2017 – 7:30pm – 9:30pm

    Join Brock University, University of Toronto, and University of Waterloo for “RE:Generation: Sowing Seeds of Resistance” with Dr. Vandana Shiva. As a living example of building the world we want, Navdanya Institute has trained over 1 million farmers in organic practices, and is building distribution networks, seed banks and village institutions to register local and indigenous knowledge. Each seed saved and planted is not simply a metaphor for resistance, it is a way forward in the struggle to shift from destructive, consumptive economies to regenerative economies.

    Across continents, efforts to build Regenerative Economies are sowing the seeds of resistance. Modern-era movements for transformation are taking root, built on 500 years of challenging oppression. Dr. Vandana Shiva presents 30 years of Navdanya Institute’s research initiatives. Hear stories of communities re-claiming seed sovereignty, re-building the commons, and regenerating local knowledge. Dr. Shiva will discuss Navdanya’s model in the context of the challenges we face in our times.

    A limited number of seats, to this otherwise sold out event, are reserved for attendees from Brock. To book your free seat, sponsor a youth or community organizer to attend the May 31st mentorship dinner with Vandana Shiva, Maude Barlow, and Shiv Chopra or donate to the Navdanya Institute contact jakoberi@uwaterloo.ca TODAY. Please indicate that you are affiliated with Brock University.

    Location of your event: OISE Auditorium, University of Toronto
    Cost: $0.00
    Sponsor: Brock University, University of Toronto, and University of Waterloo
    Contact: jakoberi@uwaterloo.ca

    Categories: Events

  • SJRI Art Archives and Affinities III

    When: January 27, 2017 – 4:30pm – 8:30pm

    Please join us for an evening of film, photography, drama, dance and discussion at the Social Justice Research Institute’s third annual Arts, Archives and Affinities event at the Marilyn I Walker School for Performing Arts, Friday 27 January.

    Refreshments served from 4:30 pm. Take in the photography exhibition, curated by Jane Andres of the Niagara Migrant Workers’ Interest Group, and featuring photos of and by migrant workers in Niagara, from 4:30 onwards.

    Screening of Migrant Dreams at 5:15 pm followed by Q and A with Director Min Sook Lee and Chris Ramsaroop of Justicia for Migrant Workers.

    Discussion of mobilizing the arts in solidarity work with migrant labourers in Ontario features Jane Andres, Niagara Migrant Workers’ Interest Group, who will speak about her work with migrant labourers and the curation of her photography exhibition; Dr David Fancy of Brock’s Department of Dramatic Arts, who will speak about Growing Together, his collaborative theatre production with migrant labourers; and Heryka Miranda (MA candidate, Applied Health Sciences) who will speak about the dance and movement therapy work she does with Mexican migrant workers in Niagara.

    Location of your event: Marilyn I Walker School for Performing Art, Room 262
    Cost: $0.00
    Sponsor: SJRI
    Contact: sjri@brocku.ca

    Categories: Events