Congress 2013

The 2013 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of Victoria was a resounding success, drawing approximately 7,800 delegates, hundreds of volunteers and thousands of community members to campus from June 1 to 8.

UVic hosted the Congress of the Humanities 2013 (@ The Edge) June 1-8, 2013. Here are some selected sights from the community events.

The first time Rita Hansen Sterne came across the sprawling academic get-together known simply as Congress in 1986, she remembers thinking, “These people have got their heads in the clouds.” But she doesn’t think that any more.

It's hard to ignore the disgruntled looks I have seen on people's faces in buses and coffee shops now that the city has been overrun by other people having conversations about Marxism. Over the years, it has gotten so bad, whole books have been written asking, "Whither humanities?"

Indexing all of the articles in the series.

Political scientist, Alex Marland, says it wouldn't hurt to start thinking of Justin Trudeau as a marketable product as he vies for the PM's seat

@kathleenreed: Loving being back where I was hatched intellectually as an undergrad. @lifeontheedge2013 #congress2013 

Researchers often feel that their work is overlooked in the "real" worlds of policy and practice, while policy makers and practitioners may have difficulty accessing timely research that is relevant to their work. In his Big Thinking lecture, Ben Levin draws on examples from the field of education that can be applied across disciplines to demonstrate ways in which the connections between research, policy and practice can be strengthened, and, thus, bring these worlds closer together. Ben Levin is the Canada Research Chair in Education Leadership and Policy at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto. He has authored several works on education issues and his research interests include large-scale change, poverty and inequity, and finding better ways to connect research to policy and practice in education. He has worked with private research organizations, school districts, provincial governments, and national and international agencies, and served as Deputy Minister for Education for the Province of Ontario from 2004 to 2009.

Parents who read their kids stories about happy, human-like animals are exposing their kids to materialism, homophobia and patriarchal norms, a PhD candidate says

The Inuit world view is ill-suited to the scientific method, in which elements of nature are poked, prodded, labelled, numbered and experimented upon in isolation

@KathrynLGarcia: This cutie was at the dock too! @janetsymmons

@garydumbrill: Goodbye #Congress2013 & Victoria BC

It has been a busy week at the University of Victoria with the Annual Congress of the Humanities – with some 7000 delegates and their families, the campus and the city as a whole has been hopping with big thinkers, the learned, the curious and the rest of us. 

@mawlifeca: Daniel Lapp has a box on stage "Grunt Pig". Not sure what it is but think I've got to get me one! 

@Degrees_Cater: Catering HQ –where 6000 cups of coffee to 225 rms across 22 bldgs gets made every morning!

The introduction to Monday afternoon’s Big Thinking lecture recalled Congress 2013’s theme of “@ the edge.” Not only does this reflect the University of Victoria’s location on the West Coast, but also a commitment to addressing social challenges and inequality, promoting diversity and inclusivity, and ensuring marginalized voices are recognized.

Analyzing through academics the subtext of Metallica’s Leper Messiah, Slayer’s Christ Illusion and Marilyn Manson’s Antichrist Superstar? These are seemingly Herculean tasks, indeed. But the difficulty of such an exercise didn’t stop organizer Shamma Boyarin.