CSSR: Historical Reflections

As part of the 50th anniversary celebration of the Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion (CCSR), this article provides a reflection on the past, present, and future of the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion (CSSR). CSSR members were given the space to outline their thoughts and experiences of over 50 years of Religious Studies in Canada. This collaborative article tracks the development of the discipline through the 1970s from theology to comparative religion, to the transformation of the 1980 -90s with an interdisciplinary and critical engagement, to the new millennium infusion of socio-political research, critical self-reflexivity, and lived religion work. We also focus on the role of the CSSR in shaping and promoting Religious Studies in Canada through its various academic activities as well as observing the fragmentation and decline of Religious Studies programs in Canadian universities. And finally, we look to the future questioning how the CSSR and Religious Studies can remain relevant against a backdrop of institutional changes due to funding austerity and the COVID global pandemic to supporting Religious Studies inside and outside of academia. This article is not intended as a detailed history of the CSSR, but an opportunity to see a representation of our experiences and hopes for Religious Studies in Canada.

Unhoming Pedagogies: Collaborative Wandering and Wondering with Literature

This collaborative article reflects on a set of shared practices that were inspired by a Year 3 undergraduate Literary Studies module, which took place in 2018. In co-teaching and learning on this module, the authors found their disciplinary and pedagogic norms unsettled and set adrift (unhomed). This article traces how their processes of working together – in and beyond the University classroom – stimulated a critique of the rational individualist principles which had unconsciously steered their learning and teaching practices until this point. The article includes case studies from the experiences of three students who took the module, and a narrative frame that speaks from the perspective of a collaborative ‘we’ (which includes students and ‘teacher’). The article tests out writing practices which reorient the customary Humanist terms in which educational research is conducted, and which disrupt the objective voice in which pedagogical reflection is often narrated. From this vertiginous perspective, the article also considers the authors’ particular entanglements with the cultural politics of the contemporary UK Higher Education Institution (HEI), and the role of unhomed Humanities teaching as part of the 21C University.

The evolution of the PC

A collaborative article by Strategy Consultant Kylie Fowler FBCS, Lead Service Management Solution Architect Richard Josey CITP MBCS and Bloor Analyst David Norfolk CITP MBCS: all committee members of the BCS SM-ITAM Specialist Group. They explore the demand, usage and evolution of the device.

Converses with the Grave: Three Modern Gaelic Laments

Within Scottish deathways, the Gaelic lament has long served as a poignant and powerful outlet for loss. In this creative piece, three Canadian-born, Gaelic-speaking poets present their previously unpublished Gaelic laments along with English translations. This collaborative article is designed to demonstrate, in a creative rather than an academic format, that the venerable lament tradition continues to enjoy longevity and vitality in the present day as a literary expression of grief among Gaels. This article further demonstrates that modern Gaelic laments are not constrained by a strict fidelity to literary rules but strive instead to work creatively within tradition while reaching their audiences in a relevant and resonant way. For each poem, the author offers a personal contextualization for his/her lament, which serves to explain the source of inspiration and demonstrates how the work draws upon and reflects its literary roots. In recognition of the strong oral tradition present within Gaelic poetry, this article includes an audio recording of each of the three authors’ laments.

International students at the Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia in Rome: 1935–2020: A history to be written

The Centro Sperimentale di Cinematografia (CSC), founded in Rome in 1935, has come to signify Italian cinema education in acting, directing, photography, set design, costume design, screenwriting, sound production, editing, production and film animation (since 1983). The CSC has historically admitted a significant number of international students (more than 13 per cent) in the past 85 years. This collaborative article introduces the first comprehensive list of international students in three CSC disciplines: directing, photography and set design. It begins with historical and artistic perspectives addressing the ideal of diversity, the internationalization of culture and the sociopolitical context of studying cinema in Rome. This article also includes graphs and statistics that give a clear sense of the broad geographical representation of foreigners who studied at the CSC. A comprehensive list of their names, nationalities, specializations and year of their degrees is organized in two formats: one by geography and one by chronology. The aim of this article is also to set new research goals so as to broaden our understanding of whether and how the CSC’s Italian cinematic education impacted world cinema.

Introducing Massively Open Online Papers (MOOPs)

An enormous wealth of digital tools now exists for collaborating on scholarly research projects. In particular, it is now possible to collaboratively author research articles in an openly participatory and dynamic format. Here we describe and provide recommendations for a more open process of digital collaboration, and discuss the potential issues and pitfalls that come with managing large and diverse authoring communities. We summarize our personal experiences in a form of ‘ten simple recommendations’. Typically, these collaborative, online projects lead to the production of what we here introduce as Massively Open Online Papers (MOOPs). We consider a MOOP to be distinct from a ‘traditional’ collaborative article in that it is defined by an openly participatory process, not bound within the constraints of a predefined contributors list. This is a method of organised creativity designed for the efficient generation and capture of ideas in order to produce new knowledge. Given the diversity of potential authors and projects that can be brought into this process, we do not expect that these tips will address every possible project. Rather, these tips are based on our own experiences and will be useful when different groups and communities can uptake different elements into their own workflows. We believe that creating inclusive, interdisciplinary, and dynamic environments is ultimately good for science, providing a way to exchange knowledge and ideas as a community. We hope that these Recommendations will prove useful for others who might wish to explore this space.

Introducing Massively Open Online Papers (MOOPs)

An enormous wealth of digital tools now exists for collaborating on scholarly research projects. In particular, it is now possible to collaboratively author research articles in an openly participatory and dynamic format. Here we describe and provide recommendations for a more open process of collaboration, and discuss the potential issues and pitfalls that come with managing large and diverse authoring communities. We summarize our personal experiences in a form of ‘ten simple rules’. Typically, these collaborative, online projects lead to the production of what we here identify as Massively Open Online Papers (MOOPs). We consider a MOOP to be distinct from a ‘traditional’ collaborative article in that it is defined by an openly participatory process, not bound within the constraints of a predefined contributors list. This is a method of organised creativity designed for the efficient generation and capture of ideas in order to produce new knowledge. Given the diversity of potential authors and projects that can be brought into this process, we do not expect that these tips will address every possible project. Rather, these tips are based on our own experiences and will be useful when different groups and communities can uptake different elements into their own workflows. We believe that creating inclusive, interdisciplinary, and dynamic environments is ultimately good for science, providing a way to exchange knowledge and ideas as a community. We hope that these rules will prove useful for others who might wish to explore this space.

Decolonizing nature/knowledge: indigenous environmental thought and feminist praxis

This faculty-student collaborative article is a result of a graduate seminar on ‘Environmental Education’ taught at the Aga Khan University’s Institute for Educational Development in Karachi, and it illuminates new perspectives and pedagogies of nature from the global South, specifically South Asia. Drawing inspiration from feminist and indigenous thought, the narratives of ecology shared here center the place of emotions, experience, memory and spiritual intimacy, offering one means of decolonizing environmental studies and expanding our understanding of ‘environmental consciousness’. These narratives defy ontologies of nature-human separation, capturing not just the co-existence of animals, spirits and humans but their co-constitution. Such indigenous ecologies of knowledge and wisdom, we argue, offer a timely corrective to fragmented and exploitative constructions of the natural environment as mere resource, pleasure, or commodity, while providing a profound, alternative basis for a richly layered, spirited, environmental education. How to cite this article: ALI, Nosheen; SAMNANI, Binish; WALI KHAN, Abdul; KHATOON, Najmi; ALI, Barkat; ASFUNDYAR, Sadia; ASLAM, Muhammad; AMIRALI, Sumaira. Decolonizing nature/knowledge: indigenous environmental thought and feminist praxis. Scholarship of Teaching and Learning in the South. v. 3, n. 1, p. 77-91, Apr. 2019. Available at: https://sotl-south-journal.net/?journal=sotls&page=article&op=view&path%5B%5D=80&path%5B%5D=36 This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/

Sharing Credit

Recent work by the NCPH, OAH, and AHA has raised the profile of challenges in evaluating collaborative research during the tenure and promotion process.1 Although it is acknowledged that most public historians work in collaborative partnerships, few resources dissect the nature of those collaborations and how they should be credited. This article focuses on a single case study, the development of the history of science exhibit Imaging the Invisible, a collaboration among faculty, staff, and students (both graduate and undergraduate). It was also an interdisciplinary project with representation from at least seven different departments and programs in the humanities, social sciences, sciences, and engineering. This collaborative article reflects on the project, giving four perspectives on how credit can be shared. It also draws attention to the similarities and differences between the nature of collaborative projects in public history and in the physical sciences and considers what each discipline can learn from the other.

IFTR's Arabic Theatre Working Group

This collaborative article looks at the establishment in 2006 of an IFTR/FIRT working group in Arabic theatre, and the significance of this in terms of breaking the twentieth-century, hegemonic hold of European and North American subjects in theatre research. We trace the development of the working group from preliminary conferences and gatherings outside IFTR to its set-up and organization within the Federation. Surveying our methodologies, key issues, research areas and future directions, we argue the significance of the group's work in creating a research forum for Arab theatre scholarship.