Week 10
Last week I saw in the e-newsletter there was a graduate speaker series session coming up. For some reason, I haven't had the chance to get to one, even though it's considered regular programming by the grad room (somewhat of an extension of Student Life). So - of course I signed up! The topic was Canada 150, though it was more about individual research projects/dissertations which didn't have much to do with 150, more about Canada as a whole. To be honest, there's been so much 150 talk (which I appreciate...but), that I didn't mind. What I will say: I need to find non-lecture events stat. As much as I enjoy listening to people talk, I need some change!
Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Event/Activity: Graduate Speaker Series : Canadian History - Celebrating Canada 150
Capacity: Student
Found: Newsletter
Host: Gradroom
Link: http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/currentstudents/Pages/Graduate-Speaker-Series.aspx
Description:
The aim of this initiative is to bring together graduate students from all departments of the University of Toronto to come and discuss their research and ideas. The Graduate Speaker Series aims to provide a platform for interdisciplinary learning and intellectual dialogue.
Every month, Grad Room selects a topic and invites two graduate students to come and present their ideas, their hypotheses and research to a general audience of graduate students. We hope that students will be able to learn about the research in academic disciplines other than their own and this may open doors for interdisciplinary learning and collaborations. For the presenters, it is a great opportunity for improving presentation skills and sharing research in non-technical terms.
Speakers:
Julia Rady-Shaw, PhD candidate (History) "Between Earth and High Heaven": Canadians and Christianity in the Early Cold War
Julia's dissertation unsettles historical assumptions made about secularization in Canada and incorporates ideas of "diffusive Christianity" (a concept used by historians of modern England) in order to examine the influence and impact of religion in Canadian society after 1945.
Dale Barbour, PhD candidate (History) Undressed Toronto: Tracking the history of vernacular bathing and the commercial beach in a turn-of-the-century Canadian city, 1850-1930
Dale's research demonstrates how bathing in the nineteenth century was a predominantly male nude practice, often done in Toronto's semi-industrialized areas, and that bathers, more often than not, were coddled rather than policed by a middle-class elite who harboured their own fond memories of similar experiences. In this narrative the beach, as both a physical and social space, emerges as a conscious product intended to initiate a new heterosocial system of bathing.
Experience:
What I learned:
-M
Date: Wednesday, June 28, 2017
Event/Activity: Graduate Speaker Series : Canadian History - Celebrating Canada 150
Capacity: Student
Found: Newsletter
Host: Gradroom
Link: http://www.sgs.utoronto.ca/currentstudents/Pages/Graduate-Speaker-Series.aspx
Description:
The aim of this initiative is to bring together graduate students from all departments of the University of Toronto to come and discuss their research and ideas. The Graduate Speaker Series aims to provide a platform for interdisciplinary learning and intellectual dialogue.
Every month, Grad Room selects a topic and invites two graduate students to come and present their ideas, their hypotheses and research to a general audience of graduate students. We hope that students will be able to learn about the research in academic disciplines other than their own and this may open doors for interdisciplinary learning and collaborations. For the presenters, it is a great opportunity for improving presentation skills and sharing research in non-technical terms.
Speakers:
Julia Rady-Shaw, PhD candidate (History) "Between Earth and High Heaven": Canadians and Christianity in the Early Cold War
Julia's dissertation unsettles historical assumptions made about secularization in Canada and incorporates ideas of "diffusive Christianity" (a concept used by historians of modern England) in order to examine the influence and impact of religion in Canadian society after 1945.
Dale Barbour, PhD candidate (History) Undressed Toronto: Tracking the history of vernacular bathing and the commercial beach in a turn-of-the-century Canadian city, 1850-1930
Dale's research demonstrates how bathing in the nineteenth century was a predominantly male nude practice, often done in Toronto's semi-industrialized areas, and that bathers, more often than not, were coddled rather than policed by a middle-class elite who harboured their own fond memories of similar experiences. In this narrative the beach, as both a physical and social space, emerges as a conscious product intended to initiate a new heterosocial system of bathing.
Experience:
- The Grad Room (which is basically an open basement space at the bottom of the stairs with a screen...I once did a Wen Do class there) was set up with chairs and a podium
- Two speakers talked about their projects (in simplified terms) and then there was a question/answer period after
- oh, and pizza :)
- One of the grad room staff members hosted - introduced the speakers and lead the Q&A session
- He also had a lot of great questions to ask - yay for awesome hosting!
What I learned:
- The history of "swimming naked"/bathing in Toronto is much more fascinating and extensive than I would have imagined...who knew there was a history behind it
- Beaches were ways to control behaviour/combat nude swimming - placing rules and regulations eg. swimming costumes
- Maps and order actually allowed for pockets of disorder and marginalized space which the public actually liked (as a kind of storybook narrative) - craving holes in modernity
- It's different learning about European history versus local history - local history is way more relevant and interesting
- People look to religion for normalcy
- Idea of believing vs belonging (believing without belonging vs. belong without believing)
- Researching with archives is much easier now than it used to be - a lot of news outlets have searchable databases
- You can find out a lot about the story and narrative through subtext; eg. if a sermon is based around a certain topic, you can assume that topic was important as a reflection of society at the time
-M