Dear Friends and Colleagues,
Welcome to the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada’s 2008 conference, Are We American? / Sommes-nous américains?
Since 1995, the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC) has hosted large-scale annual conferences which foster informed, non-partisan discussion of public policy issues affecting Canadians. These bilingual events have focused on Quebec-Canada relations, the social contract, Aboriginal issues, youth, the teaching of Canadian history, citizenship, the future of health care, the media, the future of cities, food as a social and cultural resource and the legacy of Canada’s Charter.
For its February 2008 conference, the Institute’s attention will turn to Canadian culture and its place in North American life. Under the theme “Are We American? Canadian Culture in North America”, the 2008 conference will ask whether it makes sense to speak of a common North American culture. If Canada, the United States and Mexico share a continent, do they also share cultural values, tastes and preoccupations? Are there features of Canadian culture which ensure the smooth passage of our music, literature, and other forms of expression across the broader cultural space of North America? Or do differences of language, population and resources continue to act as barriers, limiting the success of Canadian culture elsewhere on the continent?
Must the phrase “American culture” refer exclusively to the culture of the United States? Or may we use it to designate the shared experience of countries like Canada, the United States and Mexico, whose identities have been forged by geographical proximity and overlapping histories.
Over two and a half days, the conference will bring together artists, entrepreneurs, policy-makers and scholars who are concerned with Canadian culture and its circulation throughout North America. In key-note addresses and focused panels, the conference will address the question of how Canadian culture, in its various forms, fits within a broader North American identity.
Will Straw, Ph.D.
Acting Director, McGill Institute for the Study of Canada
Department of Art History and Communications Studies
McGill University