EU-Canada Study Tour and Internship Programme 2012 – “Thinking Canada”

EU-Canada Study Tour and Internship Programme 2012 – “Thinking Canada”

“Thinking Canada” is a joint initiative of the European Network for Canadian Studies and the European Commission – a four-week study tour to Canada for European students that will take place from 2 - 30 September 2012, followed by two-month internships for selected participants. The tour to Canada commences with three days of briefings in Brussels on the EU and EU-Canada relations.

The aim of the study tour is to offer its participants a unique in-depth experience of Canada through an intensive programme of visits to major private and public institutions, government bodies, think tanks and NGOs. At each place, the students will receive briefings and have the opportunity to exchange views with representatives of these bodies, many of them leading experts in their fields. The tour will begin in Brussels, and travel to Ottawa, Québec, Montréal, Toronto, Vancouver and Victoria.

This immersion in Canada will offer a unique opportunity for an academic experience in a non-academic setting. The tour is focused on a number of themes, in particular cultural diversity (including the English/French relationship, the First Nations and multiculturalism), political issues (federalism, regionalism, the role of government), the environment (including Arctic issues), urban issues and economic topics (business, finance, trade). EU-Canada relations will also be covered and provide a recurring backdrop to the discussions. Academic advisors will be accompanying the tour to serve as resource persons and provide feedback.

In addition to the tour, nine two-month internships will be offered to participants immediately following the end of the tour.

For further information on the tour, its programme, internships, cost and how to apply, see the tour’s website at http://www.thinking-canada.eu/

Deadline for applications: Monday 30 April 2012

You can read reports on Thinking Canada 2011 by UK participants Sarah Hodgett http://www.canadian-studies.info/main/content/view/265/43/ and Helen Ayres http://www.canadian-studies.info/main/content/view/264/43/

Caribbean Research Seminar in the North

All welcome to the next Caribbean Research Seminar in the North - please contact Jenny Terry to register or with queries: j.a.terry@durham.ac.uk

Caribbean Research Seminar in the North

Friday 1st June 2012
University of Durham
Cosin's Hall, The Institute of Advanced Study

Programme

1.00 pm Registration and Lunch

2.00 pm Prof Lizabeth Paravisini-Gebert (Vassar College) Beyond the Landscape: Conceptualizing Environmental Art in the Caribbean

3.00 pm Dr Malachi McIntosh (University of Warwick) Those Tigers from Islands Who Hear Thunder in the Sun: The Existential Ontology of Selvon's Trinidad Novels

3.45 pm Tea / Coffee

4.15 pm Dr Kerstin Oloff (Durham University) Crossdressed Women in Recent Caribbean Fiction

5.00 pm Prof Alison Donnell (University of Reading) Caribbeanising the Queer: Sexual Turbulence in the Literary

Registration is free but please let us know in advance if you would like to attend (places will be limited). A reservation for dinner at a local restaurant will be made for 6.30 pm so please also indicate if you would like to come along to eat. To register contact Jenny Terry j.a.terry@durham.ac.uk

A few bursaries are available to cover the costs of travel within the UK for postgraduate students attending this event. To apply, please email Henrice Altink henrice.altink@york.ac.uk stating your topic, university and the name and address of your supervisor.

Travel directions: http://www.dur.ac.uk/about/location/ The venue is on Palace Green, close to the Cathedral, and is marked (21) on the university's map of the city: http://www.dur.ac.uk/map/durham/

Canada at War: A Guide to Library and Archives Canada's Websites Recalling the Canadian War Experience

Canada at War: A Guide to Library and Archives Canada's Websites Recalling the Canadian War Experience provides a guide to the many resources available on the Library and Archives Canada website, exploring Canada's contribution to military and peacekeeping operations at home and around the world. Each of the links contained in the website will lead to a virtual exhibition or a database of primary documents.

Canada at War: A Guide to Library and Archives Canada Websites Recalling the Canadian War Experience commemorates Canadian sacrifice in all wars and military actions, but particularly those lost in the First World War. Sections of the guide include the Beginnings of Canadian Defence, the Northwest Rebellion, the South African War, the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War.

New list for papers of Britain Australia Bicentennial Committee archive collection

The papers of the Britain Australia Bicentennial Committee (BABC) (ICS144) have recently been listed, thank to the work of a volunteer, George Brierley, currently working with Institute of Commonwealth Studies archive collections.

 

The Britain Australia Bicentennial Committee was set up in 1984 by the British Government through the Foreign and Commonwealth Office to supervise the British involvement in the Australian Bicentennial. It was chaired by Sir Peter Gadsden. In 1985 the Britain Australia Bicentennial Trust was set up to deal with the public money raised, at this time the BABC also set up a number of National Task subcommittees and regional subcommittees. One of the tasks of the BABC was to make a recommendation for the UK gift to Australia for the Bicentennial. Several ideas were put forward for consideration, notably a re-enactment of the voyage of the First Fleet under Admiral Arthur Philip, This was decided against, although the re-enactment fleet did sail from the Isle of Wight, 13 May 1987 and arrived in Australia 26 Jan 1988, without the support of the BABC. The UK gift to Australia was eventually decided on as the sail training schooner STS Young Endeavour, proposed by Arthur Weller. The building of STS Young Endeavour, was supervised by the Schooner Trust, supervised by Weller. The Bicentennial events in the UK were widespread including balls, banquets and church services, notably at Westminster Abbey led by Archbishop Robert Runcie, 14 Jul 1988.

The papers of the Britain Australia Bicentennial Committee (BABC), 1984-1990, including papers relating to the setting up of the BABC; financial papers; steering committee papers including early minutes; agendas and minutes for BABC meetings 1985-1988; weekly reports of the Executive Secretary; and newsletters, 1986-1988 with related papers and correspondence. Also included are papers of National Task subcommittees including the Agricultural Subcommittee; the Education Subcommittee; Science, Technology, Industry and Medicine Subcommittee; the Social Subcommittee and the Maritime Subcommittee including a proposal for the gift of a schooner, by Arthur Weller, 1985, minutes of the Schooner Trust and proposal for the First Fleet re-enactment. Papers of regional committees include the City of London committee; Bath and West Country committee including on a proposal for an Australian Centre in Admiral Arthur Philip's dwelling house in Bath; East Anglia committee, including correspondence on George Eve; Midlands committee; North East committee including on a Civic Service in Newcastle Cathedral, 1987; Northern Ireland committee; Lincoln committee, including on the Britain Australia Studies association national conference 'Australia Towards 2000', Jul 1988; Liverpool committee, including exhibition Leaving Liverpool on emigration from Merseyside; Whitby committee and Scotland committee. File of papers on other events include papers relating to a Bicentennial service held at Westminster Abby, 14 Jul 1988 including an agreement made with Archbishop Robert Alexander Kennedy Runcie to preach at the service and draft of the service with notations; and papers regarding a banquet at Guildhall, London; an exhibition to be held at the British Museum (Natural History) entitled 'First Impressions: the British discovery of Australia', 1988 and the Mansion House Hawke dinner, 21 Jun 1989.

Conference: War and the Caribbean, 20 April 2012

War has been an important engine of economic, social, and cultural change in the Caribbean since the first arrival of Europeans. Violence has shaped, and re-shaped, imperial boundaries to change the rules of the region’s economic game and its notions of citizenship, gender, and race. This conference will consider the causes and consequences of general, and internal, wars in the region during the colonial period and how they highlight the changing nature of its economic and strategic importance in the world order.



The University of Edinburgh hosts a one-day conference on 20 April 2012 on War and the Caribbean, speakers include:

Camillia Cowling (University of Edinburgh) Philip Morgan (Johns Hopkins) Anya Zilberstein (Concordia University)

For registration and further information, please contract mailto:g.rannard@sms.ed.ac.uk

Nelson Mandela Digital Archive Project.

The Nelson Mandela Digital Archive Project is now available online from the Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory and the Google Cultural Institute. The exhibition brings together 2000 documents, photographs and videos from all the key moments of his life, including his childhood, imprisonment and Presidency. Material included includes manuscripts of his autobiographical writings, calendars kept while in prison, diaires from the Presidential years, correspondence, video and photographs. The project is still in progress and more material is expected to be added over time.


The Nelson Mandela Centre of Memory delivers the core-work of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. The Foundation is a not-for-profit organisation established in 1999 to support its Founder’s ongoing engagement in worthy causes on his retirement as President of South Africa. The Foundation is registered as a trust, with its board of trustees comprising prominent South Africans selected by the Founder.


The Centre of Memory was inaugurated by Nelson Mandela on 21 September 2004, and endorsed as the core work of the Foundation in 2006. The Centre focuses on three areas of work: the Life and Time of Nelson Mandela, Dialogue for Social Justice and Nelson Mandela International Day. The Centre works closely with its sister organisations, the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund and The Mandela Rhodes Foundation. It co-ordinates its activities with those of other institutions that have a stake in its Founder’s legacy, including the 46664 Campaign, the Nelson Mandela Institute for Education and Rural Development, the Nelson Mandela Museum and the Robben Island Museum.

New Senate House Library archives collection listed

Recently added to the Senate House Library collection is additional material from the book collector Ron Heisler

The Ron Heisler collection (MS1186) incluides a number of files relating to Commonwealth studies, including material on Sri Lankan Trotskyism, comprising of memoranda, news bulletins, and correspondence, dating from c1975 to 2007; correspondence from c1947-1960 with the South African trade unionist and socialist, Solly Sachs, who was author of The Choice Before South Africa (1952),  The Rebel's Daughters (also called Garment workers in action) (1957),  with L Forman The South African Treason Trial (1959) and The Anatomy of Apartheid (1965); and a number of photographs signed by the New Zealand writer, social reformer and member of the Chinese Communist Party, Rewi Alley.