On 15-16 June 2007, graduate students from across Canada will come together to attend the second Deconstructing Empire Graduate Student Symposium at the University of Victoria. The purpose of the symposium is to promote interdisciplinary research at the graduate level from both Canadian and international perspectives on the topic of Deconstructing Empire. This year’s central theme of Migration, Racism and Resistance to Empire is linked to the 100th Anniversary of the “Anti-Asian Race Riots” of 1907 in which the local white population in Vancouver, British Columbia targeted Asian immigrants in a violent, racist protest that later resulted in systematic federal restrictions against Asian immigration.
Goals & Objectives 2006-2007:
- To build on the success of the first multi-disciplinary Deconstructing Empire Symposium held in June 2006 with the goal of creating a permanent space within the
University community for holding annual Deconstructing Empire gatherings - Foster a nationwide informal learning and information-sharing network composed of graduate students from Canadian universities
- Provide a setting in which to highlight and promote the diverse research of graduate students from across
Canada who examine the intersection of “local” and “global” issues and topics such as racism, segregation and ethnocentrism in their work - Establish, in conjunction with the faculty advisory committee, a faculty/peer reviewed e-journal to publish a selection of papers presented at the symposium
- Enable graduate students to obtain experience in event-planning and to sit on an Organizing Committee through participation in the Graduate Student Organizing Committee
- Offer graduate students an opportunity to gain experience presenting at conferences
- To come to a better understanding of how we can work toward achieving a more socially-just world without prejudice and without Empire(s)
A Brief Background to the Symposium:
In 2005 a proposal by Dr. John Price, a History Professor at the University of Victoria, to hold a graduate symposium specifically by and for graduate students led to an initial planning meeting attended by a committed group of University of Victoria graduate students and supporters. Together they developed an overarching theme for the event around Deconstructing Empire(s) with a focus on World Peace. A Call for Papers was circulated through Graduate Student Societies around the country and on 22 June 2006 over fifty graduate students from across
This second Deconstructing Empire Symposium will focus on themes of Migration, Racism and Resistance to Empire. A Call for Papers was distributed to Graduate Student Societies and Departments across
A Graduate Student Committee comprised of graduate students from the University of Victoria has been formed to coordinate the one-day Graduate Student Symposium as well as the pre-symposium Wine and Cheese event that will be held on the evening of 15 June 2007, prior to the official commencement of the symposium. The Committee is responsible for planning all of the logistics for the symposium including: booking rooms, arranging for meals, contacting keynote speaker(s), setting the agenda, dividing presenters into thematic areas, etc.; eliciting a broad range of campus and community support for the symposium, including financial and in-kind donations (fundraising); advertising the symposium and sending out the Call for Papers to graduate students nationwide; receiving and organizing submitted abstracts and compiling selected paper submissions for publication in a conference e-journal; communicating with out of town delegates, including assisting with arrangements for transportation, accommodation, etc. and general problem-solving related to the organization of the event.