# National Identity and Cultural Diversity (2015) ## expand\_more ## 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](http://www.hfc.harvard.edu), 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* #### 4:00-4:15 Break #### 4:15-5:00 General Discussion: Synthesis and Conclusion. Publication Plans See also:- [ 2014-2015 ](/academic-year/2014-2015)