University of Manitoba - St John's College - Place and Replace: September 2010
Place and Replace: September 2010

Place and Replace:  A joint meeting of Western Canadian Studies
and the St John’s College Prairies Conference

St John’s College, University of Manitoba
 Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
16-18 September 2010

In 2008, a group of historians at the University of Alberta and Athabasca University revived the traveling, bi-annual Western Canadian Studies Conferences of the 1970s and 80s.  The University of Manitoba’s St John’s College has held a triennial multidisciplinary conference on the Prairies since 1998.  From 16 to 18 September 2010 these two conferences will join forces to explore the multitude of questions related to “Place and Replace” in Western Canada.  The rubric of “Place and Replace” aims to provoke questions about location in Western Canada, and about what is at stake when places and peoples’ relationship to them change or are contested.
 
Over three days the conference will feature over seventy papers presented by scholars with a wide range of geographical locations, disciplinary backgrounds, and interests in western Canada.  Plenary panels will address Indigenous agriculture, literary representations, and migrant cultures.  We will also offer readings of local Winnipeg authors and organize tours of local historical sites.      

Conference Update

We are looking forward to seeing you next week at “Place and Replace: A Joint Meeting of Western Canadian Studies and St John’s College the Prairies Conference.”  A newly updated programme will be available when you arrive.  Here are some extra details, in approximate order:

  • Weather: Winnipeg is having an early fall, and weather for the days of the conference is predicted to be between 10 and 20 degrees celcius.  That said, the only month in Winnipeg that is has never snowed is July, so please come prepared for a variety of weather.
  • Book Launch, 15 September 2010,  7:30 p.m.: The University of Manitoba Press will be launching Storied Landscapes: Ethno-Religious Identity and the Canadian Prairies by Frances Swyripa at McNally Robinson Booksellers (Grant Park) on in the Travel Alcove.  If you are looking for a place for dinner that night, you might consider the Prairie Ink restaurant there, too!  Location and more information is available on the bookstore website.
  • Audio-Visual: We will have (pc) laptop computers and data projectors available in each room.  If you use a mac please bring your own connector.  If you need audio speakers, please let us know at placeandreplace@umanitoba.ca.
  • University of Manitoba Press sponsored Dinner and Pub Night, 6:00pm – 9:00 pm, Thursday, 16 September 2010.  The University of Manitoba Press invites you to kick off your conference with us at the King’s Head Pub, 120 King Street in Winnipeg’s historic Exchange District. We will be having a delicious Indian buffet, with chick pea curry, butter chicken, spinach curry, and more. So swing by, visit with old friends and new, have a game of pool, or a round of darts. The King’s Head is located within walking distance of downtown hotels.  A map showing the trip from downtown hotels to the Kings’ Head is attached here, too.
  • Literary Readings: By Invitation.  Friday Evening, 17 September 2010.  Dennis Cooley is organizing literary readings.  Please notify him at dcooley@cc.umanitoba.ca if you wish to do a brief reading.
  • Shuttle Bus: We have arranged for Vital Transit to provide a shuttle bus from downtown accommodation to St John’s College, University of Manitoba.  The schedule will be (approximately) as follows: 

    Thursday, 16 September 2010
    Inn at the Forks, Fort Garry Hotel, and HI Hostel to St Johns’ College: depart 9 am, arrive approximately 9:30am.
    St John’s College to Hi Hostel, Fort Garry Hotel, Inn at the Forks: depart 4:45pm, arrive approximately 5:20pm.
     
    Friday, 17 September 2010
    Inn at the Forks, Fort Garry Hotel, and HI Hostel to St Johns’ College, depart 8:15am, arrive approximately 8:45am.
    St John’s College to Hi Hostel, Fort Garry Hotel, Inn at the Forks, depart 4:45pm, arrive approximately 5:15pm.
     
    Saturday, 18 September 2010
    Inn at the Forks, Fort Garry Hotel, and HI Hostel to St Johns’ College, depart 8:15am, arrive approximately 8:45am.
  • Tours, Saturday, 1:30-4:30pm, 18 September 2010: We are pleased to be able to offer two exciting and engaging tours of Winnipeg’s rich local history on the afternoon of Saturday, 18 September.  There will be no charge for the tours, though we will ask participants who are able to donate $10 towards a donation to the community groups who will be literally and figuratively opening their doors to us.  They will leave St Johns’ College at 1:30, and return to downtown hotels at 4:30pm.  Space will be limited; if you are interested, please email placeandreplace@umanitoba.ca to reserve a spot.

    Tour A: Winnipeg’s Chinatown and Ukranian Labour Temple
    Led by Alison Marshall, Religion, Brandon University, and Nolan Reilly, History, University of Winnipeg
     
    Tour B:  Commemoration and Amnesia, Metis Winnipeg
    Led by Sherry Farrell Racette, Native Studies/Women’s Studies, University of Manitoba
  • NICHE podcasting:  The Network in Canadian History and Environment will be podcasting select sessions.   If your paper is in one of those sessions, James Muir or Angela Petersen from the University of Alberta will approach you and ask for your permission to podcast.  If you would prefer not to have your paper podcast that is fine.
  • •    Registration Information    

    •   
    Accommodations and Travel Information    

    •    Preliminary Programme

    •    Abstracts


    During the conference, Athabasca University Press will sponsor a lunch and book launch for The West and Beyond: New Perspectives on an Imagined Region, edited by Alvin Finkel, Sarah Carter, and Peter Fortna.          

    The University of Manitoba Press also invites participants to a book launch on the evening of Wednesday 15 September.


    For further information, please contact Leah Morton or Adele Perry at placeandreplace@umanitoba.ca.  The steering committee is made up of Warren Cariou, Dennis Cooley, Gerry Friesen, Esyllt Jones, Mary Jane McCallum, Leah Morton, and Adele Perry.       


    Image is courtesy of https://www.flickr.com/photos/manitobamaps/ with thanks to Larry Laliberte.

    Prairie Conferences Past:

    1998 Defining the Prairies

    2001 The Prairies:
    Visited and Revisited

    2004 The Prairies:
    Lost and Found

    A collection of papers from the 2004 conference has been published by St John's College Press

    2007 The Prairies in 3-D:
    Disorientations,
    Diversities,
    Dispersals