Dear Friends of the Humanities,
This message shares a preview of our Fall term programming. Thanks for your patience as we finalized some plans!
We are pleased to announce two roundtables featuring presenters from the U of M and the U of W. These roundtables will explore how making and the study of material culture enrich work in the humanities. Here are some details:
Hands-On Humanities Roundtable (Wed 2 October, 2:30 – 4:00; Tier 409)
Exploring practices as diverse as woodworking, chemical photography, and beading, six speakers will reflect on how hands-on practices shape their research, teaching, and/or outreach. Our speakers are: Dr. Alison Calder, Dr. Warren Cariou, Dr. Sarah Elvins,
Dr. Nicole Goulet, Dr. Len Kuffert, and Dr. Celiese Lypka (U of W).
Object Lessons Roundtable (Wed 6 November, 2:30 – 4:00; Tier 409)
This roundtable will feature speakers’ reflections on objects that have transformed their work in the humanities. Our speakers are: Dr. Brenda Austin-Smith, Dr. Sean Carleton, Dr. Mark Lawall, Dr. Carla Manfredi (U of W), and Dr. Mike Sampson. Please mark your
calendar to attend one or both of these roundtables.
To deepen our exploration of material culture and making, we also invite you to join the UMIH Book Group. Our book for this term is Dr. Tiya Miles’
All That She Carried: The Journey of Ashley’s Sack, a Black Family Keepsake (2022). This group will meet twice (Tues Oct 22, 2:30-4:00; Tues Nov 19, 2:30- 4:00). All are welcome. Ten free copies of the book are available for book club participants.
And continuing our engagement with hands-on humanities work, we will welcome Dr. Maria Zytaruk (U of Calgary) as a guest speaker on Friday November 29 (2:30-3:30, via Zoom). Dr. Zytaruk is a professor, curator, and radio documentary maker. Her lecture is tentatively
titled “Public Humanities on the Ground: Cultivating Flax for Papermaking in a Campus Community Garden.”
Please also mark your calendar to attend one (or more) of our UMIH Crafternoons, a series of
drop-in crafting sessions. Try out a new craft or bring your own project. We’ll gather on three Wednesday afternoons (2:30-4:00; Tier 409). All supplies and instructions will be provided. Join us to explore weaving with looms (Oct 16), repurposing rags
into rugs (Oct 30), and block printing and paper arts (Nov 27).
Please note: we will be sharing news of additional events in the weeks ahead. This is just a sneak peek of what’s to come. We can, for example, look forward to presentations by some new members of the UMIH community. We hope you’ll join us in welcoming our
new Research Affiliates: Rachel Shields (McMaster) and Dr. Youcef Soufi (U of T). We are also delighted to announce this year’s UMIH Graduate Fellows. They are Carla Kennedy (Indigenous Studies) and Karen Brglez (History). We can also look forward to hearing
about the work of two new UMIH Research Clusters: a cluster on Prairie Abolition (led by Dr. Hee-Jung Serenity Joo) and a cluster dedicated to Ecology, Canadian Poetry, and Labour (led by Dr. Jamie Paris). To learn more about our affiliates, fellows, and clusters,
please follow us on Instagram (@__umih).
We look forward to seeing you at an event soon. In the meantime, we welcome your suggestions for ways that UMIH can support your work in the humanities. Don’t hesitate to be in touch.
Take care, friends