Author: umhumanities

The Crucial Conversation Academics are not Having, but Should Be

According to a recent study by The Conference Board of Canada, the number of PhDs granted by Canadian universities increased by 68% between 2002 and 2011, while the number of students enrolled in PhD programs increased by 73% over the same period.  Yet only 18.6% of employed PhDs in Canada become full-time professors on the … Continue reading The Crucial Conversation Academics are not Having, but Should Be

Ad-free CBC/Radio-Canada

Recently, Canadian Broadcasting Corporation/Radio-Canada president/CEO Hubert Lacroix introduced a bold proposal to banish advertising from the CBC in return for a bump in the Corporation’s funding allocation. The proposal came, ostensibly, in response, to Conservative leadership candidate Kellie Leitch’s call to further defund the Corporation and ultimately to end its eighty-year run as Canada’s public … Continue reading Ad-free CBC/Radio-Canada

Why we Should Build on our Recent Picket Line Experience

Nothing is all bad. As difficult and upsetting as it was, and it was plenty of both, the recent dispute at the U of M served to focus our collective attention and kick-start a genuinely inclusive and on-going discussion about the nature, character, and core missions of this public university. And that, I think, is … Continue reading Why we Should Build on our Recent Picket Line Experience

Where is our Star Trek Future? Or, Some Thoughts on the Ideas of Human Connection, Cooperation, and Hope

Well, I started this piece a couple of days ago with the US election in mind, but I did not then imagine the result we now confront.   I originally intended it to be a more playful thought piece timed to commemorate our collective sense of bemused relief, all while pointing to another ceiling shattered. Instead, … Continue reading Where is our Star Trek Future? Or, Some Thoughts on the Ideas of Human Connection, Cooperation, and Hope

What “Crisis”? The Humanities are Booming

Friends of UMIH will be keenly aware of the “iron law" of journalism that demands all mention of the “humanities” be made only in relation to their “crisis” and “decline”.[1]  They will also undoubtedly be aware of the growing and impressive body of literature outlining the value of the humanities, as well as why the … Continue reading What “Crisis”? The Humanities are Booming

The Very Visible Invisible World of the Internet

To the many who are more technologically savvy and in-tune than myself, I imagine the very real and tangible physicality of the internet is nothing new.  But to me it came as something of a revelation.  From a certain perspective the physicality of the internet is plainly embodied in the staggering number of people who … Continue reading The Very Visible Invisible World of the Internet

Archives as Argument by Other Means

As a historian I love archives, and I greatly respect and value the work of archivists. Of course, this is neither remarkable nor very interesting. However, as an intellectual historian who has written institutional history, and who now works in an academically adjacent, administrative position at UMIH, I am struck by the way intellectual history … Continue reading Archives as Argument by Other Means