National Identity and Cultural Diversity (2015)

Art, Culture, and Politics: A Comparative Perspective

May 5–6, 2015

About the Conference

For decades, the Canadian model of multiculturalism was lauded around the world for its capacity to recognize and celebrate cultural diversity while sustaining a relatively egalitarian social fabric. However, over the last few years, several developments have put this model into question: the rise of an alternative model of ‘interculturalism’ in Québec; criticisms from opposite ends of the political spectrum in Canada and overseas, ranging from the supposedly excessive acceptance of all belief-systems and practices to the inadequate attention devoted to historical and present-day forms of exclusion and inequality; and the adoption of neoliberal policies and the consequent partial dismantlement of the Canadian welfare state.

Combined, these changes led to growing socio-economic inequalities in Canada, along intersectional lines of class, gender, ethnicity, and race, as well as unease about the future of multiculturalism as a source of collective identity and a shared national narrative for Canadians. Thus, within this context, the workshop aims to understand what social dynamics underpin these changes, and what are the effects.

All workshop panels will be held at the Harvard Faculty Club, 20 Quincy Street

Tuesday, May 5, 2015

9:15-9:30 Opening Remarks

Marcel Fournier, William Lyon Mackenzie King Visiting Professor of Canadian Studies, Harvard University and Professor of Sociology, University of Montreal

9:30-10:30 Keynote Address

Jeffrey Alexander, Lillian Chavenson Saden Professor of Sociology, Yale University
Journalism, Democratic Culture, and Creative Reconstruction

10:30-10:45 Break

Part 1. National Identity and Cultural Diversity

10:45-12:00 Panel 1: What Does it Mean to be (North) American Today?

Gilbert Gagné, Professor in the Department of Politics and International Studies at Bishop’s University 
Thinking about Quebec's 'American-ness.' Seeing Culture in Highly Contrasting Terms
Sarah E. K. Smith, SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council) Postdoctoral Fellow, Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University 
Exhibiting the “New” North America

12:00-1:30 Lunch Break

1:30-3:00 Panel 2: Collective Identity and Cultural Institutions

Geneviève Zubrzycki, Associate Professor of Sociology, University of Michigan  
Religion and Nationalism: Quebec and Poland
Jeffrey D. Brison, Associate Professor, Department of History and Cultural Studies Program, Queen's University 
American Philanthropy and the Arts and Letters in Canada 
Aliki Economides, PhD Candidate, Graduate School of Deign, Harvard University 
Architecture and/as Collective Identity: the Case of the Université de Montréal (1924-43)

3:15-3:30 Break

3:30-4:45 Panel 3: Exhibiting Community: Museums and Narratives of Inclusion  

Peggy Levitt, Professor and Research Fellow, Wellesley College and Harvard University 
Artifacts and Alliances: How Museums Put the Nation and the World On Display
Lynda Jessup, Professor, Department of Art and Cultural Studies Program, Queens University, Canada 
Winners' History: Exhibiting the Group of Seven
Ruth Phillips, Canada Research Chair in Modern Culture and Professor of Art History, Carleton University 
Museum Pieces: Towards the Indigenization of Canadian Museums

4:45–5:00 Break

5:00-6:30 FILM An American Dream, 2014

Wednesday, May 6, 2015

Part 2. Cultural Practices and Boundaries

9:15-10:15 Panel 4: Cultural Boundaries and Inequalities

Guy Bellavance, Professor, Urbanisation Culture Société research centre of the Institut national de la recherche scientifique (INRS) 
The Multiplicity of Highbrow Culture: Taste Boundaries among the New Upper Middle Class  
Stefan Beljean, Doctoral Candidate, Department of Sociology, Harvard University 
The Cultural Industry of Stand-up Comedy

10:15-10:30 Break

10:30-12:00 Panel 5: Arts and National Boundaries

Alain Quemin, Professor, Université de Paris-8, Paris 
The Internationalization of the Contemporary Art World and Market: The Contemporary Art Stars
Marian Misdrahi, Researcher, CREMIS (Centre de Recherche de Montréal sur les Inégalités Sociales et les discriminations) 
Are Local Identities Still Relevant in Contemporary Arts?
Alvaro Santana-Acuña, Harvard College Fellow, Harvard University
Are Novels Part of our DNA?

12:00-1:30 Lunch

Part 3. Culture & Politics

1:30-2:30 Panel 6: Culture and Citizenship

Greg M. Neilsen, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Concordia University 
Demos and Ethos: Framing Dialogue on Immigration and Reasonable Accommodation in the Quebec and American Press
Fuyuki Kurasawa, Associate Professor of Sociology, Political Science, and Social and Political Thought, York University Crowdsourcing and Emerging Cultures of Evaluation: The Case of Climate Change Research

2:30-2:45 Break

2:45-4:00 Panel 7: Collective Movements, Culture and Politics

Jean-Louis Fabiani, Professor of Sociology and Social Anthropology, Central European University in Budapest  
Sociology as Politics: Cultural Democratization in France and its Discontents, 1960-2010  
Alexandre Couture-Gagnon<, Assistant Professor, Department of Government, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley 
National Identity and Cultural Policies: Quebec and Canada 
Alexander Riley, Professor of Sociology, Bucknell University 
Emotion, Myth, and Conspiratorial Thinking in Social Movements on Right and Left: a Few Contemporary Examples from the United States