Field: International

Field: International

Research Expertise:
border tax adjustments, carbon taxes, game theory, international treaties on climate change, behavioural economics, risk homeostasis, human factors in avalanche terrain, decision making

Expert: Dr. Terry Eyland
Department: Economics
Interview languages: English, French

Photo of (Dr.) Terry Eyland

(Dr.) Terry Eyland

Associate Professor

Ph.D. (HEC Montréal) Fields: Environmental Economics, Game Theory, Decision-Making, Avalanche EducationProfessor Eyland has been a member of the Department of Economics since 2010. His main field of research explores different parts of International Environmental Agreements concerning climate change using a game theoretical approach. His recent publications appear in Energy Economics, Energy Policy, and International Game Theory Review. He is also a reviewer for the publication Environmental and Resource Economics. Courses taught by Professor Eyland on a regular basis at Bishop's University include: Environmental Economics, Game Theory, Principles of Microeconomics, and Principles of Macroeconomics.Contact Information
Phone: 819-822-9600 ext. 2752

Ph.D. (HEC Montréal)
Fields: Environmental Economics, Game Theory, Decision-Making, Avalanche Education

Professor Eyland has been a member of the Department of Economics since 2010. His main field of research explores different parts of International Environmental Agreements concerning climate change using a game theoretical approach. His recent publications appear in Energy Economics, Energy Policy, and International Game Theory Review. He is also a reviewer for the publication Environmental and Resource Economics. Courses taught by Professor Eyland on a regular basis at Bishop’s University include: Environmental Economics, Game Theory, Principles of Microeconomics, and Principles of Macroeconomics.

Custom Metadata Fields


Research Expertise:
Brazilian politics, Canadian politics, ethical issues, Quebec politics, movement of landless rural workers

Expert: Dr. Bruce Gilbert
Department: Philosophy
Interview languages: English, French, Portugese

Photo of (Dr.) Bruce Gilbert

(Dr.) Bruce Gilbert

Full Professor

Bruce Gilbert has a Ph. D from the Department of Philosophy at the Pennsylvania State University (B.A. History, Toronto; Diploma in Education and Pastoral Care, Centre for Christian Studies; M.A. Religious Studies, McGill). His recent book, The Vitality of Contradiction: Hegel, Politics and the Dialectic of Liberal-Capitalism (McGill-Queen's University Press, 2014), won the Biennial Book Prize of the Canadian Philosophical Association. It articulates the philosophical arguments for a society that is politically but also economically and culturally democratic. He has a cross appointment at Bishop’s, teaching in both the Department of Philosophy and the Liberal Arts Program. Dr. Gilbert’s research, most broadly speaking, engages dialectical philosophy in the spheres of ethics, society, politics, ecology and religion.…Contact Information
Phone: 819-822-9600 ext. 2075

Bruce Gilbert has a Ph. D from the Department of Philosophy at the Pennsylvania State University (B.A. History, Toronto; Diploma in Education and Pastoral Care, Centre for Christian Studies; M.A. Religious Studies, McGill). His recent book, The Vitality of Contradiction: Hegel, Politics and the Dialectic of Liberal-Capitalism (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014), won the Biennial Book Prize of the Canadian Philosophical Association. It articulates the philosophical arguments for a society that is politically but also economically and culturally democratic. He has a cross appointment at Bishop’s, teaching in both the Department of Philosophy and the Liberal Arts Program. Dr. Gilbert’s research, most broadly speaking, engages dialectical philosophy in the spheres of ethics, society, politics, ecology and religion. If dialectic names the process by which humanity learns, then freedom is not merely choice, but is rather our capacity to develop increasingly sophisticated forms of relationship with each other and our environment. Dr. Gilbert also engages in empirical research on this topic, focusing on social movements in Brazil, especially on the Movement of Landless Rural Workers of Brazil (MST), a large and very successful social movement which occupies under-utilized land in order to create self-sufficient farming cooperatives. The MST now has some 1.5 million members and its own university near São Paulo. Dr. Gilbert is also Professeur Associé at the Université de Sherbrooke and the Université de Laval.

Research

The Struggle for Comprehensive Democracy

Dr. Gilbert’s research has both a philosophical or theoretical wing, and an empirical or practical wing.

Philosophical Foundations:
 His research is based in the dialectical political philosophy of authors like Hegel and Marx. “Dialectic” names the process of human learning. Dialectic refers as much to the way a child learns to speak as to the way whole societies learn the imperatives of their own freedom.  This means, then, that freedom is not merely “choice”, which is our common-sense understanding, but is rather our capacity to enter into increasingly sophisticated forms of relationship with each other and our environment. While our processes of learning can frequently be diverted, stalled or can even regress, our capacity to learn to relate to each other in better and better ways is a permanent and essential feature of what it means to be human. Dr. Gilbert focuses in particular on the dialectic of society, economy and politics. His recent monograph, The Vitality of Contradiction: Hegel, Politics and the Dialectic of Liberal-Capitalism (Awarded the Canadian Philosophical Association Book Prize in 2015), articulates the philosophical arguments for this view of dialectic and freedom, holding as its conclusion that further developments in human freedom must move beyond the constraints of contemporary liberal-capitalism.

Empirical Studies: 
Dr. Gilbert researches empirical features of this theory by studying social movements in Latin America, and especially the Movement of Landless Rural Workers of Brazil (Movimento dos Trabalhadores Rurais Sem Terra do Brasil, or MST). The MST is a large and very successful social movement made up of people who are, when they first enter the movement, among the poorest and most marginalized people in the world. Members of the MST seize the under-utilized estates of wealthy landowners and build self-sufficient farming cooperatives on them. Of course this strategy meets with serious and often violent resistance. Nonetheless, the MST now has some 1.5 million members, thousands of successful cooperatives, and its own university near São Paulo, where it trains its workers and others who come from across Latin America and the Caribbean to learn the MST’s methods and philosophical principles. Dr. Gilbert’s research focuses on the ways in which the MST attempts to live up to its own mandate, which is to ensure the “supremacy of labour over capital” and to “build socialist values”. This involves studying the MST’s efforts to extend democracy into the sphere of economics and work and, as such, to build forms of community predicated on more sophisticated concepts of freedom than those of the liberal juridical system and capitalist economy that the MST challenges. Recently, Dr. Gilbert has extended this research into an exploration of the organizations of lawyers that provide greatly needed advocacy to the MST and other social movements, “Terra de Direitos”, “A Rede Nacional de Advogados e Advogadas Populares (RENAP) and “Dignitatis”.

Publications

Recent Publications

The Vitality of Contradiction: Hegel, Politics and the Dialectic of Liberal-Capitalism. McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2014.  Awarded the Canadian Philosophical Association Biennial Book Prize, 2015.

“’Socialist Values’ and Cooperation in Brazil’s Movement of Landless Rural Workers”, with Aldiva Sales Diniz, Latin American Perspectives, 2013.

“Caridade e Exclusão entre Dante e Marx”, Teoria, Discurso e Ação Política, Universidade de São Paulo, 2013.

O MST e a Propriedade Privada: Os argumentos filosóficos que justificam a ocupação da terra”, Homem, Espaco, Terra, Ano IV, No. 2, October, 2010.

“Tragédia como o enigma político:  Explorações de Sófocles, de Shakespeare e de Tournier”,  Integração, Sao Paulo, 2007.

“Workers’ Power and Socialism: A Study of Brazil’s Movement of Landless Workers”, Situations: Project of the Radical Imagination.

Recent Public Papers

“A Questão de Línguas: Entre a Filosofia e os Movimentos Sociais”, Centro Acadêmico de Filosofia, Universidade de São Paulo”, April 13, 2015.

“William Blake and Hegel on the Road to Jerusalem”, Ontario-Quebec Hegel Organization, March 28, 2015.

“Reason and Reductio: Kant’s Deduction of the Pure Concepts”, The Critical Philosophy of Immanuel Kant Philosophy Symposium, Bishop’s University, November 28, 2014.

“Boccaccio and the Pathos of Laughter”, at the Bishop’s University Boccaccio Symposium, November 14, 2014.

“Les coopératives et la démocratie dans le Mouvement des Travailleurs Ruraux Sans Terre du Brésil,” upcoming at the Centre d’études et de recherches sur le Brésil, Université de Québec à Montréal, April 7, 2013.

“Love of the Nostro in Dante’s Divine Comedy”, upcoming at the Dante Symposium, Bishop’s University, February 22, 2013.

“Treasury of the Sun: Reflections on Book VI of Plato’s Republic,” Toronto Philosophy Symposium, June 13, 2012.

“Le Vin et le Sang chez Diderot et Hegel”, I Jornada da Filosofia Moderna, Universidade Federal de Parana, Curitiba, Brazil, December 16, 2011.

“Contradiction and the Fluidity of Life: Case Studies from Logic and Ethics,” Ryerson University Department of Philosophy Colloquium, September 27, 2011.

“Marx’s Theory of Exploitation”, Ryerson University Humanities Program, September 27, 2011.

“Adam Smith’s Critique of Mercantilism in The Wealth of Nations,” Toronto Philosophy Symposium, June 10, 2011.

“Exclusão, Caridade e a Teoria Marxista de Exploração ”, Conference: Teoria, Discurso e Ação Política, Universidade de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, April 8, 2011.

“Os Usos e abusos do princípio da não-contradição”, Universidade Federal do Estado de São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil, April 12, 2011.

“A Filosofia da Propriedade Privada: Explorando o Caso do Movimento Sem Terra”, O Instituto de Estudos Sociais e Políticos of the Universidade do Estado do Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, April 11, 2011.

“Marx e os movimentos sociais na América Latina hoje: O caso do Movimento Sem Terra”, Universidade São Judas Tadeu, São Paulo, Brazil, April 5, 2011.

“From Literacy to Autonomy: The radical pedagogy of Brazil’s Movement of Landless Rural Workers”, International Development Week, Bishop’s University, February 1, 2011.

“Invasion or Occupation: Justice, Private Property and the Movement of Landless Workers in Brazil,” Guest lecture, St. Thomas University, November 18, 2010.

“As Belas Artes e a Verdade: O Nascimento do Saber”, Centre for Human Sciences, Universidade Estadual Vale de Acaraú, Sobral, Brasil, October 20, 2010.

“As Belas Artes e a Verdade: O Nascimento do Saber”, Campus do Retoria, Auditoria Central, Universidade Estadual Vale de Acaraú, Sobral, Brasil, October 22, 2010.

“Political Right and Fichte’s Deduction of the Concept of Commonwealth”, at the Toronto Philosophy Symposium, University of Toronto, June 16, 2010.

“Private Property of the Means of Production: From Roemer to the Brazilian Movement of the Landless”, at the Society for Socialist Studies, Concordia University, May 31, 2010.

“Brazil’s Movement of Landless Workers: A New Specter”, at Historical Materialism, York University, May 14, 2010.

“Invasion or Occupation: Justice, Private Property the Movement of Landless Workers in Brazil,” Guest Lecture, Ryerson University, Toronto, February 5, 2009.

“Contradição e Justiça na Filosofia Política de Hegel”, Guest Lecture at the Universidade São Judas Tadeu, São Paulo, Brazil.  May 12, 2008.

“O Declínio e Auge da Liberdade:  Filosofia Política de Hegel”, Guest Lecture at the Universidade Federal da Bahia, Salvador da Bahia, Brazil.  May 21, 2007.

“O Declínio e Auge da Liberdade:  Filosofia Política de Hegel”, Guest Lecture at the Universidade de São Paulo, Brazil.  May 25, 2007.

Custom Metadata Fields


Research Expertise:
hijab, human rights in Morocco, Islam, niqab, reasonable accommodations, secularism, veil, women’s rights in Morocco

Expert: Dr. Osire Glacier
Department: History, Religion, Politics and International Studies
Interview languages: English, French

Photo of (Dr.) Osire Glacier

(Dr.) Osire Glacier

Assistant Professor

Osire Glacier (Ph.D., McGill University) teaches in three departments at Bishop’s University: Religion, Society and Culture; Politics and International Studies; and History and Global Studies. Within the Dept. of Religion, Society and Culture she teaches courses in Islam, women and religion, and politics and religion in the Middle East and North Africa. Her research focuses on Moroccan women’s history, the politics of gender and sexuality in postcolonial Morocco, and the issue of human rights in postcolonial Morocco.She is the author of several monographs, among which Le sexe nié, féminité, masculinité et sexualité au Maroc (Montréal : Pleine Lune, 2019), which was published in English as Femininity, Masculinity and Sexuality in Morocco (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), Femmes, Islam et Occident (Montréal : Pleine Lune, 2018), Les droits humains au Maroc : entre discours et réalité (Tarik Éditions, 2015), Universal Rights, Systemic Violations and Cultural Relativism in Morocco (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and Political Women in Morocco: Then and Now (Africa World Press, 2013), which was published in French as Femmes politiques au Maroc: d’hier à aujourd’hui (Tarik Éditions, 2013).…Contact Information

Osire Glacier (Ph.D., McGill University) teaches in three departments at Bishop’s University: Religion, Society and Culture; Politics and International Studies; and History and Global Studies. Within the Dept. of Religion, Society and Culture she teaches courses in Islam, women and religion, and politics and religion in the Middle East and North Africa. Her research focuses on Moroccan women’s history, the politics of gender and sexuality in postcolonial Morocco, and the issue of human rights in postcolonial Morocco.

She is the author of several monographs, among which Le sexe nié, féminité, masculinité et sexualité au Maroc (Montréal : Pleine Lune, 2019), which was published in English as Femininity, Masculinity and Sexuality in Morocco (Palgrave Macmillan, 2017), Femmes, Islam et Occident (Montréal : Pleine Lune, 2018), Les droits humains au Maroc : entre discours et réalité (Tarik Éditions, 2015), Universal Rights, Systemic Violations and Cultural Relativism in Morocco (Palgrave Macmillan, 2013), and Political Women in Morocco: Then and Now (Africa World Press, 2013), which was published in French as Femmes politiques au Maroc: d’hier à aujourd’hui (Tarik Éditions, 2013).

Her blog, http://www.etudesmarocaines.com, aims at disseminating academic knowledge about North African issues within the general public.

Fields of research

  • Women, gender, sexuality in North Africa
  • Women’s history in North Africa
  • Human-rights history and politics in North Africa
  • Intercultural relations in Quebec

Scholarly research

Peer-reviewed books

Féminin, masculin : photos d’affiches publicitaires
Preface: Florence Montreynaud
(Saint-Joseph-du-Lac/Montreal: M. Éditeur, Sept. 2019)

Le sexe nié: le féminin, le masculin et la sexualité au Maroc et à Hollywood
(Montreal: Pleine Lune, 2019) (Casablanca: Croisée des chemins, 2020)

Femmes, Islam et Occident
(Montreal: Pleine Lune, 2018)

Femininity, Masculinity and Sexuality in Morocco and Hollywood: The Negated Sex
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan Press, 2017)

Les droits humains au Maroc entre discours et réalité
(Casablanca: Tarik Éditions, 2015)

Universal Rights, Systemic Violations and Cultural Relativism in Morocco
(New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013)

  • Trans. Valerie Martin
  • Foreword: Dr. François Crépeau, United Nations Special Rapporteur and Hans & Tamar Oppenheimer Professor in Public International Law, Faculty of Law, McGill University
  • Preface: Philippe Tremblay, Director for Legal Affairs, Lawyers Without Borders
  • Epilogue: Dr. Alex Neve, Secretary General of Amnesty International Canada

Des femmes politiques d’hier à aujourd’hui
(Casablanca: Tarik Éditions, 2013)

Political Women in Morocco: Then and Now
(Trenton: Africa World Press, 2013)
Trans. Valerie Martin

Articles in peer-reviewed journals

“Kharboucha, poète, chanteuse et militante des Oulad Zayd”
Horizons maghrébins 75 (2016): 71–76
Presses universitaires du Midi (PUM), Université Toulouse – Jean Jaurès, Toulouse, France

“Arab Revolutions from the Perspectives of Women”
Journal of New Media Studies in the Middle East and North Africa 2 (2013): 1–37
Northeastern University, Boston, United States

“Power and Production of Knowledge: The Case Study of Moroccan Feminism”
Journal of New Media Studies in the Middle East and North Africa 1 (2012): 1–9
Northeastern University, Boston, United States

“Les droits fondamentaux des femmes marocaines entre la loi islamique et le droit international des droits de la personne”
Revue juridique Thémis 43.1 (2009): 205–17
Université de Montréal, Montreal

“Les enjeux qui sous-tendent le relativisme culturel des droits humains, Charte arabe des droits de l’homme et Déclaration islamique universelle des droits de l’homme”
Revue juridique Thémis 39.3 (2005): 597–620
Université de Montréal, Montreal

Peer-reviewed online publications

“Cultural Immobilism in Morocco”
Revue Histoire engagée (Oct. 2016)
histoireengagee.ca

“The Veil: Historical Perspectives”
Revue Histoire engagée (Feb. 2011)
histoireengagee.ca

Book chapters

“The Impact of Impunity for Violating Cultural Rights”
Ed. Anthony Chase, Routledge Handbook on Human Rights and the Middle East and North Africa (Oxfordshire: Routledge Books, 2016), 373–86.

“Moroccan Feminism as Universal Feminism”
Ed. Trevor Getz, African Voices of the Global Past (Colorado: Westview Press, 2013), 169–203

Articles in conference proceedings

“Pouvoir et production du savoir: le cas du féminisme marocain”
Dir. Fatima Sadiqi, Femmes et nouveaux medias dans la region méditerranéenne
(Fez: Imprimeries universitaires/Image Pub, 2012), 47–63

Entries in peer-reviewed encyclopedias

Fatima al-Fihri (?–880), founder of the Al-Qarawiyyin Mosque
Zaynab al-Nafzawiyya (?–1072), Almoravid queen
Princesse Fannu (?–1147), Almohad female soldier
Malika al-Fassi (1919–2007), first modern feminist
Halima Embarek Warzazi (1933–), first female diplomat
Chaïbia Tallal (1929–2004), illiterate, yet famous painter
Touria Chaoui (1936–1956), first female pilot
Merieme Chadid (1969–), first female astronomer
Dictionary of African Biography (New York: Oxford University Press, 2011)

“Sexual Harassment: Arab States”
Encyclopedia of Women in Islamic Cultures, vol. 3: Family, Body, Sexuality and Health
(Leiden: Brill Academic Publishers, 2006), 372–74

Scholarly presentations

“The Impact of the Construction of Sexuality on Women’s Rights in Morocco” (Nov. 2016)
MESA’s 2016 Annual Meeting, Boston, United States

“When Official Culture Delegitimizes Human Rights: The Case of Morocco” (May 2016)
84e Congrès de l’ACFAS, UQAM, Montreal, Canada

“Tracing Women in Moroccan History” (Aug. 2015)
7e Congrès international des recherches féministes dans la francophonie
UQAM, Montreal

“Power and Resistance: The Case of Moroccan Political Women” (May 2014)
82e Congrès de l’ACFAS, Concordia University, Montreal

“Moroccan Women, Symbolic Violence and Political Violence” (May 2014)
Violence and Society: Interdisciplinary Analysis
82e Congrès de l’ACFAS, Concordia University, Montreal

“Female Subaltern Identities in Morocco” (Aug. 2012)
The Invention of Subaltern Identities in the South
Lucienne-Cnockaert Chair and the History Department
Université de Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke

“Women’s Contributions to Arab Spring” (July 2012)
Summer School, CERIUM, Université de Montréal, Montreal

“Culture or Masculine Dominance? The Case of Moroccan Women” (June 2012)
12th International Conference on Diversity in Organizations, Communities and Nations
University of British Columbia, Vancouver

“Moroccan Women: From Anti-colonial Struggles to the Years of Lead” (Nov. 2011)
Decolonization in the Third World: Challenges, Hopes and Limitations
Lucienne-Cnockaert Chair and the History Department
Université de Sherbrooke, Campus Longueuil, Longueuil

“Power and Knowledge: Moroccan Feminism as a Case Study” (June 2011)
Women and New Media in the Mediterranean Region International Conference, ISIS Center for Women and Development, Fez, Morocco

“Gender, Colonialism and Human Rights in the Middle East” (May 2010)
78ème Congrès de l’ACFAS, Université de Montréal, Canada

“Human Rights: An Imperialistic Product?” (Mar. 2010)
Centre d’études sur le droit international et la mondialisation (CEDIM)
Department of Legal Studies, Faculty of Political Science and Law
UQAM, Montreal

“Sexuality, Imperialism and Human Rights in the Middle East” (Nov. 2009)
MESA’s 43rd Annual Meeting, Boston, United States

“Human Rights as a Global Pursuit of Universal Dignity” (Oct. 2009)
Towards the Dignity of Difference: Neither the Clash of Civilizations nor the End of History
University of Edmonton & the United Nations University in Japan, Edmonton, Canada

“The Contribution of Arab States to Universal Rights” (Nov. 2007)
MESA’s 41st Annual Meeting, Palais des congrès de Montréal, Montreal

“Arab States and Universal Rights” (May 2007)
75e Congrès de l’ACFAS, UQTR, Trois-Rivières

“Women’s Rights between Islamic Law and International Law of Human Rights” (Apr. 2007)
Réseau Moyen-Orient (CÉRIUM), in collaboration with the Department of Political Science, Université de Montréal, Montreal

“Gender, Islam and the West” (Sept. 2005)
2005 Middle East & Central Asia Politics, Economics and Society Conferences
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, États-Unis

“Arab Charter of Human Rights and Universal Islamic Declaration of Human Rights: Readings and Consequences for Human Rights” (Sept. 2004)
2004 Middle East & Central Asia Politics, Economics and Society Conferences
University of Utah, Salt Lake City, United States

Knowledge dissemination – selective list

Contribution to documentary: “Malika al-Fassi and Modern Feminism in Morocco” (Feb. 2017)
Série documentaire 10 Femmes de notre Histoire, Chaîne de télévision 2M, Morocco
Scenario: Layla Triqui
Artistic Director: Layla Triqui
Production: Ali’N production et 2M
Producer: Nabil Ayouch
Executive Producer: Amine Benjalloun
Idea and concept: Nadia Kamali Marouazi

Contribution to documentary: “Khnata Bint Bakkar, Vizir and Ruler de Facto” (Oct. 2016)
Série documentaire 10 Femmes de notre Histoire, Chaîne de télévision 2M, Morocco
Scenario: Layla Triqui and Yasmina Rhoulami
Artistic Director: Layla Triqui
Production: Ali’N production et 2M
Producer: Nabil Ayouch
Executive Producer: Amine Benjalloun
Idea and concept: Nadia Kamali Marouazi

Contribution to documentary: “Sayyida al-Hurra, Tetouan’s Medieval Ruler” (May 2016)
Série documentaire 10 femmes de notre Histoire, Chaîne de télévision 2M, Morocco
Scenario: Meryem Reggab and Layla Triqui
Artistic Director: Layla Triqui
Idea and Concept: Nadia Kamali Marouazi
Production: Ali’N Production and Chaîne 2M
Producer: Nabil Ayouch
Executive Producer: Amine Benjalloun

Round table: “Feminism and Religion” (Mar. 2009)
Canal VOX Television, Émission “Parole et vie”, Montreal, Canada

Custom Metadata Fields


Research Expertise:
Africa, failed states, humanitarian operations, intra-state wars, ISIS/ISIL/DAESH/Al-Shabbab, Middle East, military operations, peacebuilding, peacekeeping, refugees, terrorism, United Nations

Expert: Dr. Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé
Department: Politics and International Studies
Interview languages: English, French

Photo of (Dr.) Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé

(Dr.) Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé

Associate Professor

Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé has a Ph.D. in Political Science from McGill University. Her research focuses on peace operations and security issues related to fragile states. Her doctoral dissertation strived to understand the conditions under which peace operations succeeded or failed. She studied the cases of Somalia, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Her fieldwork was completed in West Africa, Ethiopia (Ogaden region) and South Africa, where she interviewed military commanders, rebel leaders, refugees and experts. Her most recent publications include "Evaluating Peacekeeping Missions: A Typology of Success and Failure in International Interventions", (Routledge, 2016). Her recent research projects focus on peacekeeping intelligence. She is an associate faculty member of the Center for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS), the Montreal Center for International Studies (CERIUM), the Réseau des Opérations de la paix (ROP) and the Interuniversity Consortium for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (ICAMES).Contact Information
Phone: 819-822-9600 ext. 2582

Sarah-Myriam Martin-Brûlé has a Ph.D. in Political Science from McGill University. Her research focuses on peace operations and security issues related to fragile states. Her doctoral dissertation strived to understand the conditions under which peace operations succeeded or failed. She studied the cases of Somalia, Liberia and Sierra Leone. Her fieldwork was completed in West Africa, Ethiopia (Ogaden region) and South Africa, where she interviewed military commanders, rebel leaders, refugees and experts. Her most recent publications include “Evaluating Peacekeeping Missions: A Typology of Success and Failure in International Interventions”, (Routledge, 2016). Her recent research projects focus on peacekeeping intelligence. She is an associate faculty member of the Center for International Peace and Security Studies (CIPSS), the Montreal Center for International Studies (CERIUM), the Réseau des Opérations de la paix (ROP) and the Interuniversity Consortium for Arab and Middle Eastern Studies (ICAMES).

Custom Metadata Fields


Research Expertise:
academic study of religion, ancient Mediterranean religions, archeological sites in Syria, Israel and Jordan, Christianity, Judaism, religion and politics

Expert: Dr. Michele Murray
Department: Religion
Interview languages: English, French

Photo of (Dr.) Michele Murray

(Dr.) Michele Murray

Full Professor

Michele Murray is Professor in the Religion, Society and Culture Department. She teaches courses in Christian origins, women in religion, film and religion, and how religions, both ancient and modern, have dealt with the experiences of death and dying. She obtained her M.A. from Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Second Temple period Jewish history, and her Ph.D. in Religion from the University of Toronto. Her research areas are Jewish-Christian relations in the ancient world, and the interaction among Eastern Mediterranean religions in late antiquity.Contact Information
Phone: 819-822-9600 ext. 2546

Michele Murray is Professor in the Religion, Society and Culture Department. She teaches courses in Christian origins, women in religion, film and religion, and how religions, both ancient and modern, have dealt with the experiences of death and dying. She obtained her M.A. from Hebrew University of Jerusalem in Second Temple period Jewish history, and her Ph.D. in Religion from the University of Toronto. Her research areas are Jewish-Christian relations in the ancient world, and the interaction among Eastern Mediterranean religions in late antiquity.

Research

The Magical Female: Women and Magic in Jewish and Christian Communities of Late Antiquity

There has been much research directed toward women and magic in the Middle Ages, however studies focusing on women and magic in the first few centuries of the Common Era tend to be rare. Dr. Murray’s research concentrates on the important, yet largely neglected area of women and magic in Jewish and Christian communities of late antiquity. She focuses on the regions of Syria-Palestine and western Asia Minor during the first four centuries of the Common Era, areas that were home to Jewish communities and early Christian churches. Her project will explore literary evidence and archaeological realia (incantations, curse tablets, amulets and inscriptions) pertaining to magical practices in these geographical areas.

“The Magical Female” project studies two main issues: the ideology about women and the practice of magic, and the actual practice of magic by women. The ideology will address questions such as:

  • What did Jewish and Christian writers write and think about women’s relationship to ritual power?
  • What stereotypes of women are reflected in these sources?
  • Were women understood to practice magic differently than men?
  • What types of women are described as engaging in magic?

The actual practice of magic by women will address questions such as:

  • How did some women employ ritual practices to gain power?
  • What types of magical rituals are associated with females?
  • What does material culture, such as curse tablets and amulets, reveal about women’s participation in such rituals?

Dr. Murray’s objective is to advance knowledge on the broad topic of religion and magic in late antiquity, and to contribute to the more specific area of women’s religious and ritual practices in early Christianity and post-biblical Judaism.

Michele on Roman Road in Syria

Nabatean Private Cults

Dr. Murray in JordanDr. Murray and Mohammad Dashan (a Bedouin), Dr. Murray’s current research project brings together her interest in investigating literary evidence and archaeological realia for insight into ancient religious practice. Scholarly attention has been drawn of late to the importance of studying adaptive religious structures in the Roman world, particularly evidence reflecting architectural modification of the private home for cultic use. Analysis of the various stages of renovation of ancient buildings imparts important social evidence regarding the status and circumstances of religious communities. Dr. Murray’s goal is to explore the religious activities of ancient Nabatean people; more specifically, she wishes to examine whether a large Nabatean housing complex, recently unearthed at Wadi Ath-Thamad, Jordan, reflects evidence of architectural renovation for cultic purposes.

In the first century CE, the Nabateans, a Semitic tribespeople, controlled more than 1000 sites throughout the Mediterranean, particularly dominating the trade routes of the Arabian Peninsula. They were a wealthy people who secured the sources and markets or the profitable frankincense and myrrh trade and added to this spices, gems, balsams, bitumen, and, eventually, even the China silk trade. Petra, located in modern-day Jordan, was their urban capital. This strikingly beautiful city contained an oversized theatre, public bath, temples, and more than 800 rock-carved funerary monuments.

This project entails both textual analysis and the study of archaeological data. For the textual analysis, Dr. Murray will investigate Roman, Jewish, and Christian sources from the Late Antiquity for information regarding Nabatean religious practices. The archaeological component of the project requires that Dr. Murray gather all available excavation reports on Nabatean communities and, centrally to the project, participate in the Canadian-led archaeological excavation at Wadi Ath-Thamad, Jordan.

Photo: Dr. Murray and Mohammad Dashan (a Bedouin), participating to the archaeological dig at Wadi Ath-Thamad, Jordan, summer 2004.

Publications

A. Books

Playing a Jewish Game: Gentile Christian Judaizers in the First and Second Centuries C.E. (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2004).

B. Articles

“The First Letter of John” in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, 2nd Edition, eds. Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2017), 518-526.

“Romans 2 Within the Broader Context of Gentile Judaizing in Early Christianity,” in The So-Called Jew in Paul’s Letter to the Romans, eds., Rafael Rodriguez and Matthew Thiessen (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2016), 163-182.

“Jewish Traditions” in World Religions, eds., Willard Oxtoby, Amir Hussain and Roy C. Amore (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 74-147 to “Jewish Traditions” in World Religions, eds., Willard Oxtoby, Amir Hussain and Roy C. Amore (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014), pp. 74-147.

“The First Letter of John” in The Jewish Annotated New Testament, eds. Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2011), 448-455.

“Religion and the Nomadic Lifestyle: The Nabateans” in Travel and Religion in Antiquity, ed., Philip A. Harland (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2011): pp. 215-234.

“Female Corporeality, Magic, and Gender in the Babylonian Talmud,” Religion & Theology 15, no 3&4 (2008): pp.199-224.

“The Magical Female in Greco-Roman Rabbinic Literature” Religion and Theology 14, no. 3&4 (2007), pp. 284-309.

“Christian Identity in the Apostolic Constitutions: Some Observations” in Identity & Interaction in the Ancient Mediterranean: Jews, Christians and Others, eds. Zeba Crook and Philip Harland (Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2007), pp. 179-194.

C. Book Reviews

Abortion and the Apostolate: A Study in Pauline Conversion, Rhetoric, and Scholarship, Matthew W. Mitchell, Biblical Quarterly Review 2011

The Mind Behind the Gospels, Herbert W. Basser in Shofar 2011

Custom Metadata Fields


Research Expertise:
archeology, climate change, earth sciences, human impacts on environment

Expert: Dr. Matthew Peros
Department: Environment and Geography
Interview languages: English, French

Photo of (Dr.) Matthew Peros

(Dr.) Matthew Peros

Full Professor – Dean of Social Science

Dr. Peros received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Toronto, his M.Sc. from York University (also in geography), and his B.Sc. in archaeological sciences and geography from the University of Toronto. His graduate work focused on environmental change and prehistoric human adaptations in Cuba. Following the completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Peros moved to the Laboratory for Paleoclimatology and Climatology at the University of Ottawa, where he researched arctic climate change under the direction of Dr. Konrad Gajewski. Dr. Peros’s current research involves studying the history of hurricane impacts in the Caribbean, and prehistoric environmental-human interactions in North America.…Contact Information
Phone: 819-822-9600 ext. 2783

Dr. Peros received his Ph.D. in geography from the University of Toronto, his M.Sc. from York University (also in geography), and his B.Sc. in archaeological sciences and geography from the University of Toronto. His graduate work focused on environmental change and prehistoric human adaptations in Cuba. Following the completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Peros moved to the Laboratory for Paleoclimatology and Climatology at the University of Ottawa, where he researched arctic climate change under the direction of Dr. Konrad Gajewski. Dr. Peros’s current research involves studying the history of hurricane impacts in the Caribbean, and prehistoric environmental-human interactions in North America. He also serves as President of the Canadian Quaternary Association (CANQUA) and he is the Director of the graduate-level Micro-program in Climate Change at Bishop’s University.

Climate and Environmental Change Research Laboratory website.

Research

Dr. Peros is a broadly trained physical geographer working at the interface between the climatological, ecological, and archaeological sciences. His research seeks to answer fundamental questions within two broad areas: (1) what have been the driving forces behind climate and landscape change during the Late Quaternary? and (2), how has the natural environment constrained/provided opportunities for cultural and biological change? To address questions in these areas, he uses a field- and laboratory-based approach, integrating information derived from geological (e.g., sedimentological, geochemical) and paleoecological (e.g., palynological) investigations with archaeological data. At present, his regional specializations include eastern Canada, the Caribbean, and northeastern China.

Publications

Peros, M.C., Collins, S., Agosta G’Meiner, A., Reinhardt, E., and F. M. Pupo. (2017). Multistage 8.2 kyr event revealed through high-resolution XRF core scanning of Cuban sinkhole sediments. Geophysical Research Letters, 44, doi:10.1002/2017GL074369

Oliva, F., Peros, M.C., and Viau, A. (2017). A review of the spatial distribution of and analytical techniques used in paleotempestological studies in the North Atlantic Basin. Progress in Physical Geography, 1:1-20.

Peros, M.C., Gregory, B.R., Matos, F., Reinhardt, E.G., and Desloges, J.P. (2015). Late Holocene record of lagoon evolution, climate change, and hurricane strikes from south-eastern Cuba. The Holocene, 25: 1483-1497.

Munoz, S., Gajewski, K., Peros, M.C. (2010). Synchronous environmental and cultural change in the prehistory of the northeastern United States. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 107: 22008-22013.

Peros, M.C., Gajewski, K. (2008). Holocene climate and vegetation change on Victoria Island, western Canadian Arctic. Quaternary Science Reviews, 27: 235-249.

Custom Metadata Fields


Research Expertise:
historical memory, representing trauma, Spanish cultural studies, Spanish film, Spanish literature

Expert: Dr. Jordan Tronsgard
Department: Modern Languages
Interview languages: English, Spanish

Photo of (Dr.) Jordan Tronsgard

(Dr.) Jordan Tronsgard

Associate Professor – Department Chairperson

Jordan Tronsgard obtained his Ph.D. in Spanish literature from the University of Ottawa after having studied Spanish at the undergraduate and Master’s levels at the University of Calgary.  His doctoral dissertation, which was awarded the Pierre Laberge Prize from the University of Ottawa for excellence in a doctoral thesis, explores self-awareness and irony behind the construction of historical memory of the Spanish Civil War in four contemporary Spanish novels.  At Bishop’s, Dr. Tronsgard teaches courses on Spanish and Latin American literatures, cultures and film, in addition to Spanish language courses at all levels.Contact Information
Phone: 819-822-9600 ext. 2429

Jordan Tronsgard obtained his Ph.D. in Spanish literature from the University of Ottawa after having studied Spanish at the undergraduate and Master’s levels at the University of Calgary.  His doctoral dissertation, which was awarded the Pierre Laberge Prize from the University of Ottawa for excellence in a doctoral thesis, explores self-awareness and irony behind the construction of historical memory of the Spanish Civil War in four contemporary Spanish novels.  At Bishop’s, Dr. Tronsgard teaches courses on Spanish and Latin American literatures, cultures and film, in addition to Spanish language courses at all levels.

Research

Dr. Tronsgard’s research agenda centres on contemporary Spanish narrative fiction and cultural studies, Hispanic film, the Spanish Civil War/Franco regime, and transnational identities.

His current project seeks greater understanding of how the stories we tell, and how we tell them, characterize a community’s engagement with its collective history. In particular he is interested in the visible space of pop-culture as a powerful voice in framing who we are as a function of where we have been. Indeed, in 21st-century Spain what do graphic novels, B-movies, noir fiction, pornography, and more “serious” works of literature and film have in common? They are all examples of genres and media that give increased awareness to the nation’s traumatic past of civil war (1936-1939), repressive dictatorship under General Francisco Franco (1939-1975), and the still-unresolved transition to democracy. Beginning at the end of the 1990s, censorship and self-censorship toward these events gave way to an explosion of interest in what has been called “historical memory,” leading to the proliferation, and profitability for publishers and the box-office, of novels and films that touch on the war and its continued legacy. This study focuses on how this dynamic has played out in the last 10 years in two distinct but related ways: the “infiltration” of historical memory in areas of popular culture not previously invested in the debate about the past, and the ironic approach of many of these texts as they merge historical fiction with parody, self-criticism, and a self-aware understanding of how the past has become a commodity. Whereas much research in Spanish cultural studies to date has focused on the overtly earnest approach to historical memory in the Spanish novel, this project seeks to address the emerging ironic appropriation of the past by understanding a new dynamic in new narratives: irreverence.

Publications

Works in Progress

Books
Exploration and Exploitation of Historical Memory in 21st-Century Spanish Literature and Film

Refereed Publications

“Drawing the Past: The Graphic Novel as Postmemory in Spain” Submitted for peer-review. 2016.

“Detectives y desencanto: memoria en la novela negra de Javier Calvo.” Reescrituras del imaginario policiaco en la narrativa española e hispanoamericana contemporáneas (Roberto Bolaño, Eugenio Fuentes et alii). Ed. Felipe Aparicio Nevado. Jaraíz de la Vera (Cáceres): Editorial Gráficas Morgado, 2016. 125-133.

“Difference but not Deference: Historical Memory as Dialogue in Benjamín Prado’s Mala gente que camina.” Ciberletras 36 (2016): No pagination. Web.

“El dolor del puzle: la novela policíaca, la tortura y la transición en El jardín colgante de Javier Calvo.” La tragedia del vivir: Dolor y mal en la literatura hispánica. Ed. Ricardo de la Fuente Ballesteros, Jesús Pérez Magallón, and Francisco Estévez. Valladolid: Editorial Verdelis, 2014: 377-384.

“El doble filo de la ironía en la metaficción historiográfica de Cercas y Bolaño.” Ficções da História: Rescritas Latino-americanas. Ed. Jorge Carlos Guerrero and Aimée González Bolaños. Rio Grande: Editora da Furg, 2013. 151-164.

“Memory, Migration and Identity in Manuel Rivas’s El lápiz del carpintero and Almudena Grandes’s Malena es un nombre de tango.” Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos 36.3 (2012): 501-517.

“Ironic Nostalgia: The Second Republic Today in Manuel Rivas’s El lápiz del carpintero.” Anales de la Literatura Española Contemporánea 36.1 (2011): 225-247.

“Ver el pasado no visto: postmemoria desde el útero en Rabos de lagartija de Juan Marsé.” Un hispanismo para el siglo XXI. Ed. Rosalía Cornejo-Parriego and Alberto Villamandos. Madrid: Biblioteca Nueva, 2011. 261-277.

“Alguien te mira: Voyerismo y transición en Te trataré como a una reina de Rosa Montero.” Espéculo 37 (2007-2008): No pagination.

Book Reviews

Rev. of Líneas de fuego. Género y nación en la narrativa española durante la Guerra Civil (1936-1939), by Iker González-Allende. Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos. 423-425.

Rev. of Contemporary Spanish Fiction. Generation X, by Dorothy Odartey-Wellington. Revista Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos 34.2 (2010): 420-422.

Recent Conference Papers

“Memoria, misterio y trauma en la novela policíaca actual.” Congreso International BETA: Conflictos y Desplazamientos en las Culturas Hispánicas, Universidad de Granada, Granada, Spain, June 2016.

“Trauma, tortura y textos marginales en la memoria histórica española.” 52nd Conference of the Asociación Canadiense de Estudios Hispánicos, University of Calgary, Calgary, June 2016.

“Dibujando el pasado: La novela gráfica como posmemoria.” Congreso Internacional: Cómic y compromiso social, Universitat de València, Valencia, Spain, November 2015.

“Tiempo, espacio y memoria en la novela negra de Javier Calvo” Coloquio Internacional – Reescrituras del imaginario policiaco en la literatura española y latinoamericana contemporáneas (1990-2015). Université de Haute-Alsace, Mulhouse, France, June 2015.

“From Pornography to Parody: Ironic Approaches to the Spanish Civil War.” 50th Conference of the Asociación Canadiense de Hispanistas, Brock University, Waterloo, May 2014.

“El dolor del puzle: la novela policíaca, la tortura y la transición en El jardín colgante de Javier Calvo.” Congreso Internacional La Tragedia del vivir: Dolor y mal en la literatura hispánica. Universitas Castellae and McGill University. Valladolid, Spain, June 2013.

“Putting together the pieces? The crisis of aporia in Lucía Etxebarria’s Lo verdadero es un momento de lo falso and Rosa Montero’s Te trataré como a una reina.” XXXVIII International Symposium of Hispanic Literature – CSUDH, Carson, California, March 2013.

“Buscando pistas una generación después: la novela policíaca y la transición en El jardín colgante de Javier Calvo.” 48th Conference of the Asociación Canadiense de Hispanistas, Wilfred Laurier University, Waterloo, June 2012.

“Dos escritores, dos personajes, dos traumas nacionales: La autorreflexión irónica en la ficción histórica de Javier Cercas y Roberto Bolaño.” 4th International CELEHIS Conference, Mar del Plata, Argentina, November 2011.

“Negotiating ‘Spanishness:’ Memory and Identity.” ACFAS, Bishop’s University, Sherbrooke, June 2011.

Custom Metadata Fields


Research Expertise:
European Union politics, Scandinavian politics, transatlantic relations

Expert: Dr. Trygve Ugland
Department: Politics and International Studies
Interview languages: English, French

Photo of (Dr.) Trygve Ugland

(Dr.) Trygve Ugland

Full Professor – Department Chairperson

Dr. Trygve Ugland was educated at University of Oslo and Queen’s University of Belfast (Ph.D. University of Oslo, 2002). His research and teaching interests lie in the fields of Comparative Politics and Comparative Public Policy, with a focus on European and Scandinavian Politics. His two most recent books include Jean Monnet and Canada: Early Travels and the Idea of European Unity (2011, University of Toronto Press) and Policy Learning from Canada: Reforming Scandinavian Immigration and Integration Policies (2018, University of Toronto Press).Contact Information
Phone: 819-822-9600 ext. 2398

Dr. Trygve Ugland was educated at University of Oslo and Queen’s University of Belfast (Ph.D. University of Oslo, 2002). His research and teaching interests lie in the fields of Comparative Politics and Comparative Public Policy, with a focus on European and Scandinavian Politics. His two most recent books include Jean Monnet and Canada: Early Travels and the Idea of European Unity (2011, University of Toronto Press) and Policy Learning from Canada: Reforming Scandinavian Immigration and Integration Policies (2018, University of Toronto Press).

Custom Metadata Fields


Research Expertise:
Canadian foreign relations, East Timor, Indonesia, International history, United Nations history, West Papua

Expert: Dr. David Webster
Department: History
Interview languages: English

Photo of (Dr.) David Webster

(Dr.) David Webster

Associate Professor – Department Chairperson

David Webster (Ph.D. British Columbia 2005) teaches international and Asian history topics with a focus on the 20th century. He came to Bishop’s in 2012 by way of positions in Toronto, San Francisco and Regina. His book Fire and the Full Moon: Canada and Indonesia in a Decolonizing World (UBC Press, 2009) examines Canada-Indonesia relations from 1945 to 1999 at both government and civil society levels. Previously he was collection editor of East Timor” Testimony (Between the Lines, 2004). His research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, concentrates on trans-Pacific interactions between Canada and Asia, and on the diplomacy of independence movements in Asia.…Contact Information
Phone: 819-822-9600 ext. 2384

David Webster (Ph.D. British Columbia 2005) teaches international and Asian history topics with a focus on the 20th century. He came to Bishop’s in 2012 by way of positions in Toronto, San Francisco and Regina. His book Fire and the Full Moon: Canada and Indonesia in a Decolonizing World (UBC Press, 2009) examines Canada-Indonesia relations from 1945 to 1999 at both government and civil society levels. Previously he was collection editor of East Timor” Testimony (Between the Lines, 2004). His research, funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council, concentrates on trans-Pacific interactions between Canada and Asia, and on the diplomacy of independence movements in Asia.

Getting to know your Professors – Interviews with Dr. David Webster

Interview with David Webster – Part 1:

Interview with David Webster – Part 2:

Interview with David Webster – Part 3:

Research

Dr. Webster’s research is focused on trans-Pacific interactions between Canada and Asia, especially in the realms of diplomacy, religion and economic development; and the transnational diplomatic identities of movements for independence around the Pacific Rim, especially in Timor-Leste (East Timor) and Indonesia. He has three major current projects:

Modern Missionaries: Canadian Development Advisors in Southeast Asia, 1945-65

Postwar Canadian approaches to Asia were often in the non-governmental realm, drawing on the country’s missionary heritage. While diplomats in Ottawa worked for pro-Western states in the political realm, Canadian policies on economic development also aimed at building new states in the Canadian image. Canadians in government, transnational and non-governmental positions offered their own country as a model.

The international experts called together by the UN Technical Assistance Administration were central to Canadian postwar hopes and aspirations. The Administration, headed by Canadian civil servant Hugh Keenleyside, also included staff member George Cadbury, previously director of the Saskatchewan CCF government’s Economic Planning Board. It was individual Canadian technical advisers like these who offered the hands-on advice and played the crucial role in shaping policy taken by Southeast Asian states. These “modern missionaries” imagined themselves as part of a transnational community, one in which Canada could play a leadership role by being an active member of multilateral organizations.

L’action canadienne d’après-guerre en Asie s’est souvent déroulée en marge des interventions gouvernementales, faisant appel à la charité missionnaire. Sur le plan politique, Ottawa favorisait l’ouverture des États sur l’Occident, tandis que sur le plan économique, ses politiques visaient à encourager l’avènement de nouveaux États à l’image du Canada. Les Canadiens oeuvrant dans les secteurs gouvernemental, transnational et non gouvernemental offraient alors leur propre pays en exemple.

Par leur travail, les conseillers techniques canadiens ont joué un rôle déterminant et apporté les conseils pratiques nécessaires pour orienter la destinée des États du sud-est asiatique. Ces « missionnaires modernes » se voyaient membres d’une collectivité transnationale au sein de laquelle le Canada pouvait occuper une place prééminente en s’engageant activement dans plusieurs organisations multilatérales. Aux côtés de l’ONU, le Canada mettait ses espoirs d’après-guerre dans les experts internationaux réunis par l’Administration de l’assistance technique des Nations unies, sous la houlette du fonctionnaire canadien Hugh Keenleyside et d’une équipe dont était membre George Cadbury, ancien dirigeant du Conseil de planification économique du gouvernement CCF de la Saskatchewan.

Notion-States: Non-State Diplomacy on the Pacific Rim

This project studies the ideas and activities independence movements in maritime Southeast Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia and Timor-Leste) and the Southwest Pacific, from the early twentieth century to the present. A series of “notion-states” emerged in each case, before the creation of a nation-state. This is a study, therefore, in the formation of national identity and in the way new nations asserted themselves internationally.

A “notion-state” is a group of people who come to consider themselves as a nation before acquiring a state, with members of the notion-state trying to win international support and recognition. That diplomatic campaign in turn affects the way the prospective nation is imagined.

To illustrate by example: the former Portuguese colony of Timor-Leste (East Timor) was invaded and occupied by the armed forces of neighbouring Indonesia from 1975 to 1999, gaining independence in 2002. During that occupation, a group of ethnically and linguistically diverse peoples came to consider themselves a single Timorese nation, in the course of shared suffering and resistance to Indonesian rule. Timorese independence campaigners first tried to copy the model of “third world” liberation movements pioneered in Africa. This combined guerrilla resistance inside the territory and a “diplomatic front” that tried to win the support of the international community and disrupt Indonesia’s own overseas diplomatic, economic and military support. The diplomatic front gained primacy with a successful effort to disrupt Indonesia’s international alliances, using the language of human rights and a global indigenous “fourth world.” This approach conferred greater ability to build transnational alliances in the “first world” of developed North America, Europe and Australia. International developments in turn played a crucial role in altering East Timorese identity. Before becoming an independent nation-state, East Timorese came to think of themselves as a notion-state, “already independent” and alive in the minds of its people, both inside the territory and in a global diaspora.

Canadian Churches and the trans-Pacific

The role of religion cannot be overlooked in international affairs. From the great Christian missionary enterprise to Asia in the 19th century, in which Canadians played a major role, to the “clash of civilizations” rhetoric that informs today’s “war on terror,” relations between states and societies have been deeply informed by religious flows, currents and clashes. Scholars are paying increasing attention internationally to the role of non-state actors, including religious organizations, in historical and contemporary foreign policy. Meanwhile, Canada’s relations with Asia in the political, economic, and social fields are more and more important. This informs a growing area of study about the history of Canada-Asia interactions.

This project addresses the role of Canadian churches in shaping Canadian foreign relations, especially with Asia. Did Canadian churches have their own “Asia policy” distinct from the Canadian government? If so, how did it interact with state policy? Without seeing the place of religious organizations in Canada’s foreign relations, we cannot come to a full understanding of Canada’s place in the world. Two Canadian church coalitions illustrate these themes in Canada-Asia relations: the Canada China Programme and the Canada Asia Working Group. They were proactive, autonomous foreign policy actors occupying a space between Canadian churches, the Canadian government, and Asian partner organizations who themselves had shifting relations with their own governments. A study of these organizations contributes to our understanding of non-state influences on foreign policy and the interplay of religion and international relations history.

Publications

Fire and the Full Moon: Canada and Indonesia in a Decolonizing World (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2009).

“Development Advisors in a Time of Cold War and Decolonization: The UN Technical Assistance Administration, 1950-1959,” Journal of Global History 6 no. 2 (2011): 249-272.

“Petrolio, Imperi e Nazionalismo Economico: il Saskatchewan e l’Indonesia a confront, 1944-1963” [“Oil, empire and economic nationalism in Saskatchewan and Indonesia, 1944-63,”] 900: Per una storia del tempo presente (Italy) no. 4 (2011): 59-83.

“Canada and Bilateral Human Rights Dialogues,” Canadian Foreign Policy 16 no. 3 (2010): 43-63.

“Self-fulfilling prophecies and human rights in Canada’s foreign policy: the case of East Timor,” International Journal 65 no. 3 (2010): 739-750. Winner of Marvin Gelber award for best article in journal by a junior scholar, 2010.

“Modern Missionaries: Canadian Postwar Technical Assistance Advisors in Southeast Asia,” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association 20 no. 2 (2009): 86-111.

“Canadian Catholics and the East Timor Struggle, 1975-99,” Historical Studies 75 (2009): 63-82. Winner of Paul Bator award for best article in journal, 2008-09.

“Regimes in Motion: The Kennedy Administration and Indonesia’s New Frontier, 1960-1962,” Diplomatic History 33 no. 1 (January 2009): 92-123.

“History, Nation and Narrative in East Timor’s Truth Commission Report,” Pacific Affairs 80 #4 (2007): 581-91.

“From Sabang to Merauke: Nationalist Separation Movements in Indonesia,” Asia Pacific Viewpoint 48 no. 1 (April 2007): 85-93.

“Dari Sabang sampai Merauke: Gerakan Pemisahan Nasionalis di Indonesia” [“From Sabang to Merauke: Nationalist Separation Movements in Indonesia,”] in Drama Indonesia: Ketidakpastian di Tengah Globabalisasi [Indonesian Drama: Uncertainty in a Globalizing World] eds. Geoffrey Hainsworth & Bakti Setiawan (Yogyakarta, Indonesia: Gadjah Mada University Press, 2006).

“Islam and Cold War Modernization in the Formative Years of the McGill Institute of Islamic Studies,” International Journal of Canadian Studies 32 (2005): 15-43.

Custom Metadata Fields