April 3, 2023, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows Thomas Savage, The Power of the Dog (1967) (afterword by Annie Proulx) Discussion Leaders: Mary Jane Ashley, Linda Hutcheon When is a western […]
Talks for Fall 2022: Wednesdays at 10 am (in person at Faculty Club and on ZOOM) Speaker: Lucan Ahmad Way, Political Science, Munk School Title: “Russia's Invasion of Ukraine: Causes and Consequences” Introducer: Peter Hajnal Abstract: In this lecture, Lucan Way will address a most timely topic in discussing the reasons for the Russian invasion, […]
September 12, 2022, 2-4pm - Fellows and External Fellows Dorothy L. Sayers, Gaudy Night (1935) Discussion Leader: Germaine Warkentin This distinguished and beautifully written mystery-cum-novel – beloved by academics – is the second-last of Dorothy L. Sayers' eleven mysteries and many stories centering on Lord Peter Wimsey, brilliant second son of a ducal family, shell-shocked hero of […]
Talks for fall 2022: Wednesdays at 10 am (in person at Faculty Club and on ZOOM) Registration will open a few weeks before the event. Speaker: Chandrakant Shah, Dalla Lana School, U of T; Clinical Coordinator of Anishnawbe Health Title: “A Settlers’ Role in Reconciliation with Indigenous Peoples” Introducer: Mary Chipman Abstract: As a first-generation […]
October 3, 2022, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows Tom Wolfe, From Bauhaus to Our House (1981) Discussion Leader: Lisa Steele After critiquing and infuriating the art world with The Painted Word, award winning author Tom Wolfe shared his less than favourable thoughts about modern architecture in this insightful and witty book. In an examination […]
November 7, 2022, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows Suzanne Simard, Finding the Mother Tree: Discovering the Wisdom of the Forest (2021) Discussion Leader: Daphne Maurer Several recent books describe how trees in the forest communicate with each other through underground networks of fungal filaments. This one is from a Canadian who was one of […]
December 5, 2022, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows Yasha Mounk, The Great Experiment: Why Diverse Democracies Fall Apart and How They Can Endure (2022) Discussion Leader: Max Nemni In this most interesting, well-researched and well-written book noted political philosopher Yasha Mounk, asks two questions: 1) why are many democracies falling apart and 2) how […]
Speaker: Burton Lim, Assistant Curator of Mammalogy, ROM Title: “Great Whales: Up Close and Personal” Introducer: Jim Gurd Abstract: The great whales include the largest animals that have ever lived on earth, but we know so little about them and some are on the brink of extinction. A recent exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum […]
January 9, 2023, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows Maggie O’Farrell, Hamnet (also published as Hamnet and Judith) (2021) Discussion Leader: Molly Wills Winner of the National Book Critics Circle award and a New York Times bestseller, this is a fictionalized version of the love and family of Shakespeare (who is never named!) and Anne […]
January 11, 2023 Speaker: Sandra Rehan, Biology, York U Title: “Diversity, Decline and Sustainability of Wild Bees” Introducer: Daphne Maurer Abstract: Understanding the nutritional requirements of wild bees is essential for their conservation. Remarkably little is known about wild bee habitat requirements, floral preference, and the nutritional value of pollen resources. Here I provide the […]
January 18, 2023 Speaker: Aisha Ahmad, Political Science, U of T Title: “Why Jihadists Win” Introducer: Charlie Maurer Abstract: Why are jihadist insurgencies able to withstand massive international military interventions against them, survive long periods of occupation, and then suddenly resurge and take power again? This talk unpacks the economic logic behind this jihadist resilience, […]
January 25, 2023 Speakers: Paul Martin, former Prime Minister of Canada; Peter Hajnal, Librarian; John Kirton, panelists; moderator Louis Pauly, Political Science, U of T. Title: “What Is the Role of the G-20 Today?” Introducer and Chair: Peter Hajnal Abstract: With the world currently consumed by many, interconnected crises, new questions have arisen about the […]
February 1, 2023 Speaker: Sophia Moreau, Law and Philosophy, U of T Title: “Tort Law and Social Equality: Using Unlikely Areas of the Law to Redress Social Subordination” Introducer: Linda Hutcheon Abstract: Although Canada has robust anti-discrimination laws, these laws can only accomplish so much. Scholars who work on other areas of law —such as […]
February 6, 2023, 2-4pm - Fellows and External Fellows Erna Paris, Long Shadows: Truth, Lies and History (2000) Discussion Leader: Monique Nemni We can all read official narratives about certain horrible events that took place in some countries. But how do ordinary people, […]
February 8, 2023 Speaker: Peter Sloly, Chief of Ottawa Police Service, 2019-22 Title: “Reflections and Projections on Canadian Policing” Introducer: Daphne Maurer Abstract: Peter Sloly will provide a concise but compelling set of reflections and projections about policing in Canada. The last three years (2019-2022) has been imperfectly perfect storm - that exposed a perfectly […]
February 15, 2023 Speaker: Miriam Diamond, Earth Sciences, U of T Title: “Solutions, and why we need them now, to address the global threat of chemical pollution” Introducer: TBA Abstract: The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has named our current, global situation a “planetary emergency” that will undermine the ability of all societies, today and […]
February 22, 2023 Speaker: Michael Gervers, History, U of T Title: “What do we know about the Ethiopian Dark Ages (7th-12th centuries)?” Introducer: Marty Klein Abstract: The Axumite kingdom flourished from the 1st to the 6th century, after which economic decline set in. Several explanations have been put forward for this change: the defeat of […]
March 1, 2023 Speaker: Bence Viola, Anthropology, U of T Title: “Living on the Edge – Neanderthals and Denisovans in Central Asia.” Introducer: Susan Pfeiffer Abstract: forthcoming Bio: Associate Professor Bence Viola is a paleoanthropologist focusing on the biological and cultural dynamics of the contacts between different hominin groups in the late Pleistocene. To better […]
March 6, 2021, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows Scott Weidensaul, A World on the Wing: The Global Odyssey of Migratory Birds (2021) Discussion Leader: Sara Shettleworth The author is an accomplished nature writer who has become deeply personally involved in the scientific study of migratory birds, helping to document migratory patterns all over the […]
March 8, 2023 Speaker: Mark Osbaldeston Title: “Unbuilt University of Toronto and Queens Park” Introducer: Daphne Maurer Abstract: Mark Osbaldeston will explore two centuries of never-realized building and planningproposals for Queen’s Park and the neighbouring University of Toronto campus.Using dozens of images drawn from provincial, municipal, and university archives(and expanding on his books Unbuilt Toronto and […]
March 15, 2023 Speaker: J. Gottfried Paasche, Sociology, York U Title: “The German Aristocracy and Their Resistance, or Lack of, to Hitler and the Nazis: The case of General Kurt von Hammerstein and Three of his Daughters.” Introducer: TBA Abstract: The speaker is the grandson of Hans Paasche, pacifist, assassinated in 1920 by Nationalist German […]
March 22, 2023 Speaker: Konrad Eisenbichler, Italian, Renaissance Studies, U of Toronto Title: “A Different Sort of Italian: Julian-Dalmatian Immigrants in Canada” Introducer: Giuliana Katz Abstract: Scholarship on Italian immigration to Canada has generally omitted the Julian-Dalmatians, a group of Italians from Istria and Dalmatia, two regions that, in the wake of World War Two, […]
May 1, 2023, 2-4pm – Fellows and External Fellows Kyle Harper, From Shame to Sin: The Christian Transformation of Sexual Morality in Late Antiquity (2013) Discussion Leader: David Milne It is rare event for the Book Club to favour two books by the same author in its Program. Here the honour goes to the remarkable […]
May 17, 2023, 2-4:45pm - in-person only (non-Fellows can participate for $10) Speaker: Merrill Swain Title: “Talking Matters: Theory, Research and Knowledge Mobilization” AND “Talking Matters” (a play) Introducer: Daphne Maurer Abstract of talk: The focus of this session is to demonstrate that theory-informed research can be transformed into accessible and actionable knowledge. A) Theory: the theoretical concept of “languaging”, set within the […]
Wednesday Talk: May 24, 2023, 2-4pm - Zoom only (non-Fellows can participate for $10) Speaker: Lawrence Wiliford Title: "Charting a New Path: Classical Vocal Music and Canadian Visual Media Distribution” Introducer: Linda Hutcheon Abstract: During the COVID-19 pandemic, opera companies and other performing arts organizations embraced film and video production to enable artists to continue their craft while also […]
Wednesday Talk: May 31, 2023, 2-4pm - Zoom only (non-Fellows can participate for $10) Speaker: Geoff Rayner-Canham Title: “Chemistry and Inuit Life and Culture” Introducer: Linda Hutcheon Abstract: Inuit have lived and thrived for millennia in one of the most challenging environments on the planet. How is this possible? It is chemistry which, in many aspects, provide the underlaying explanations for […]
June 23, 2023 Speaker: Daniel Lang Title: 'The Carnegie Foundation and University of Toronto Faculty Pensions: An "Undenominational", Un-tax-funded History”’ Abstract: When the Carnegie Foundation was established in 1905, universities in Canada and Newfoundland were eligible for grants, on strict conditions that were seen by some as “colonial,” “continentalist,” or “imperial” intrusions on autonomy; for […]
July 3, 2023, 2-4pm, - Fellows and External Fellows Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince (1532) Discussion Leader: David Milne The most famous book on (the dark art of) politics ever written, […]
Wednesday Talk: January 10, 2024, 2-4 pm - in-person and on Zoom Speaker: Max Friesen, Anthropology, U of T Title: “Ancient and Urgent: Climate Change Threats to the Arctic Heritage Record” Abstract: The long-term history of the circumpolar North is facing catastrophic threats from changing climates. Rising sea levels, thawing permafrost, and increasing storminess are together causing severe destruction of archaeological sites, […]
September 9, 2024, 2-4pm, - Fellows and External Fellows Hag-Seed by Margaret Atwood (2016) Discussion Leader: Linda Hutcheon A modern retelling of Shakespeare’s The Tempest the novel was commissioned by Random House as part of its Hogarth Shakespeare series. This very funny, satiric tale “centres on theatre director Felix who loses his job with Makeshiweg Theatre and […]
Speaker: Marlene Shore, Professor Emerita and Senior Scholar, Department of History/York University Title: “Down from the Mountain: Reckoning with Unrest, Risk, and Charlatanism in the Canadian University, 1919-1939” Abstract: In the aftermath of World War I, it was a commonly held belief in Canada, Britain, and the United States that the key to international stability […]
Speaker: Kent Roach, Law, University of Toronto Topic: “Wrongfully Convicted: Lessons from the Canadian Registry” Abstract: This talk will discuss some of the findings from the Canadian Registry of Wrongful Convictions which has recorded close to 90 remedied wrongful convictions. Among topics discussed will be why do people who are innocent plead guilty and why […]
Speaker: Ian Cusson, Composer Title: “Indigeneity in Contemporary Opera: Wolf-men and Vacations to Prague” Abstract: Ian will explore Indigenous representation in contemporary opera through examples from his body of work, including the forthcoming chamber opera adaptation of Thomas King’s Indians on Vacation, and the grand opera adaptation of Cherie Dimaline’s Empire of Wild. In addition, […]
Speaker: Kenneth Bartlett, History and Renaissance Studies, U of T Title: “Raphael and the Mystery of the Frame: Art, Science and History in Search of an Answer” Abstract: A copy of Raphael's Madonna della Seggiola, the original of which is in the Galleria Palatina (Pitti Palace) in Florence, was discovered in a dealer’s shop, identified […]
Speaker: Nandita Bajaj, Executive Director, Population Balance Title: “Connecting the Dots between Reproductive Autonomy and Environmental Sustainability” Abstract: Human population has doubled in the last 50 years, growing from approximately four billion in 1970 to eight billion currently. There is rising public awareness that overpopulation and rampant overconsumption are driving climate change, resource scarcity, and […]
Speaker: Soren Brothers, Allan and Helaine Shiff Curator of Climate Change, ROM; Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, U of T Title: “Climate, Lakes, and Museums: Intersections and Transdisciplinary Opportunities” Abstract: While climate change is riding high on many people’s thoughts around the world, few people have ever heard of a “limnologist” and even fewer could tell you […]
Speaker: Paul Stevens, English Department, University of Toronto Title: “Robinson Crusoe and the Slave Trade: A Treatise against Adventure” Abstract: The break-out of the Muslim slave trade into the Atlantic in the early seventeenth century coincides with the dramatic escalation of the European slave trade in Africa. The first enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia only […]
Speaker: Mary Nyquist, English/Comparative Literature, U of T Title: “Early Modern Freedom, Tyranny, and the Rhetorical Power of ‘Slave’” Abstract: Why is the word “slave” capable of causing such anguish for those whose ancestors have been enslaved. Why have English-language speakers recently but silently decided to replace it with “the enslaved”, who are ruled not […]
Speaker: Yvonne Bombard, IHPME, U of T Institute of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, U of T Title: “Delivering Precision Genomic Medicine: Evidence, Policy and Equity” Genetic testing has become increasingly popular in recent years, as people seek to learn more about their health and ancestry. With advances in technology, it has become easier and […]
Speaker: Clifford Orwin, Political Science, U of T Title: “The Double 24-Hour Makeover Election” Abstract: The venerable conservative columnist George Will — a retired professor at the U of T! — recently described the choice facing American voters on November 5 as the worst in the country's history. In fact both tickets deserved to lose the […]
