SSHRC – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Canadian Anthropology or US Cultural Imperialism?

Read Part One Read Part Two Download the complete paper Importing Empire, Exporting Capital: Canadian Universities as Retail Outlets for US Anthropology The “Americanist tradition” has been reproduced in Canada in terms of the structuring of the leading anthropology departments according to the US discipline’s four fields of archaeology, linguistic, cultural and biological/physical anthropology. This […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Complying with “Counter-Terrorism”: State Securitization of Canadian Academia (part 3)

(Part 1) (Part 2) Complying with “Counter-Terrorism,” Practicing Domestic Counterinsurgency Canada has a very long history of practicing various forms of counterinsurgency (military, political, and even religious), first against Indigenous Peoples, then against the citizens of other nations such as Afghanistan, and now against its own citizens at home. The place that inspired Apartheid, has […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Complying with “Counter-Terrorism”: State Securitization of Canadian Academia (part 2)

(Part 1) Taking Hostages: Research Funding to “Prevent Terrorism” Earlier this year, on January 25, 2012, Canada’s rather infamous and unpopular Minister of Public Safety, Vic Toews, announced the first call for proposals for the Kanishka Project, “a multi-year investment in terrorism-focused research by the Government of Canada”. (It’s somehow both chilling and comical: that […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Complying with “Counter-Terrorism”: State Securitization of Canadian Academia (part 1)

Insidious Security Recently I was contacted by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), to serve as a peer reviewer for research grant proposals submitted under the new “Connection Program”. Having publicly criticized the structure and uneven geographical and institutional distribution of SSHRC funding in the past (see [1], [2], [3], [4]), […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Extreme Canada: Ruling Party Interferes with Social Science Funding

There is nothing that is intentionally “alarmist” about this headline, as much as some Canadians would want to reassure themselves that only with reference to a corrupt and dictatorial African state would such a headline have any relevance. However, the fact remains, and it is documented and abundantly public, that the Minister of State for […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

The Funding of the University: Shaping the Conditions for Higher Education

The political economy of academia is one of the long-standing, if often muted, interests of this project. An event of direct relevance to that took place in my Department with the presentation of Dr. Gilles Gagné, a Professor in Sociology at Université Laval in Québec City. Dr. Gagné’s recent publications include: Le Canada français. Son […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Political Reactions to SSHRC Funding: Bloc Québécois

Following from five previous posts on the impacts on research arising from the structure of funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC), I have had at least one reaction from a member of Canada’s Federal Parliament. Incidentally, the last of that series of posts can be seen here, with the […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Looking Beyond SSHRC: Decentralizing and Opening Research Funding (1.3)

This is a continuation of a series of articles on social science research funding in Canada (1, 2, 3, 4), with the aim being to produce some form of provisional closure before I turn my attention to other issues. In the long run, however, it will be important to get a more complete sense of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Institutional Limits on Collaborative Anthropology: More on SSHRC Funding in Canada

Backdrop to a Non-Starter Recently I have been considering the prospects for a collaborative (action) research project between myself and some of the younger members of Trinidad’s Carib community who have years of working experience in the local media and local publishing industry — bright, articulate, committed individuals with an eagerness to implement their own […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Social Science Research Funding in Canada: Additional Notes (4.3)

The Limitations of Blogging about SSHRC Blogging about complex topics about which little has been researched and published obviously confronts and presents some serious limitations. I am referring here to the previous post on funding by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. Trying to understand, let alone convey, the complexities of shifting […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Social Science Research Funding in Canada (2.0), or: “Where Devils Dare to Defecate”

Despite the broad sweep of the title of this post, this is most definitely not a detailed historical overview and statistical analysis of the current state of research funding for the social sciences in Canada. As this post goes through various stages of revision, some of these details and relevant documents will possibly be added. […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

SSHRC: International Collaboration?

The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada has just released a report warmly praising itself for its achievements in fostering “international collaboration.” SSHRC states at the outset: Now as globalization heightens its importance, collaboration is crucial to sustaining excellence in Canadian research and training. It secures access to the world pool of knowledge, […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

SSHRC Policy on Open Access

From the blog of Jim Till, currently a member of the Executive Committee of Project Open Source|Open Access at the University of Toronto: “Christian Sylvain, the Director, Policy, Planning, and International Affairs of Canada’s Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC), made a presentation, Open Access and SSHRC, at Open Access: the New World of […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Open Access: Statements from 2004

The following are two very similar statements that I am posting here for archival purposes, especially since I seem to continually misplace them in my own files and they are starting to vanish from the Internet. ********** Posted by the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) SSHRC Transformation – Commentary and discussion pages Maximilian Forte, […]