As a colonial(ist) country, Canada has been shaped ‘from the outside in’ since before its formal founding. Canadian historiography has long acknowledged the important role that immigrant and refugee groups have had in forming the places in which they settled, the systems that rule them, and the boundaries of their communities, going back to the British and French diasporas. But political, cultural, and economic commitments to home countries rarely disappeared after settlement in Canada. Long after the migration generation, new ideas, developments, and events happening abroad (“There”) found their way and inevitably shaped life in Canada (“Here”). Diasporic cultural loyalties and affinities shaped not only the lives, textures, and communities of their own immigrant, religious, and ethnic group; they moulded Canada. Their efforts yielded change in culture, domestic and foreign policies, economics, and every aspect of what it might mean to be “Canadian.” Notably, these changes were felt well beyond the confines of specific communities – including those deemed “insulated” or “isolated” – and intimately connected Canada to international developments often ignored in mainstream discussions about its presence in the world.
This bilingual (English/French) scholarly symposium and edited volume will explore the ways in which historical events and developments that took place abroad changed or played out in Canada. Contributions will clearly explain how their topic shaped Canada as a whole, not simply the migrant group under study. The project understands “change” in a deliberately broad sense, and it may refer not just to changes in Canadian public policy, but to economic, political, social, or cultural changes as well.
Examples of topics and themes:
- How Canadian immigration or refugee policies were shaped or affected by events in other countries (e.g. how the 1956 Hungarian Revolution affected Canadian refugee policy);
- Exchange of social structures and systems, political and spiritual ideas and worldviews, cultural genres and practices, scientific and technological knowledge, and institutional models from “There,” and how they adapted to “Here” (e.g. Ukrainian and other minority groups’ contributions to the expansion of minority linguistic and cultural rights, including multiculturalism in Canada; other instances of exchange including mutual benefit / credit societies, organized labour models, architecture and urban design, organized crime, faith-based institutions, fashion and food cultures, uses of public space, external voting and political campaigning, sports, heritage celebrations and historical narratives, etc.);
- Exchange of ideas, beliefs, technologies, knowledge, cultural and material goods, and funds from “Here” to “There” (e.g., remittances, tourism, commercial trade, the “Canadian” brand and soft power, resistance to or support for political regimes and economic interests, human and civil rights campaigns, humanitarian aid, social movements, missionary work, access to Canadian/Western media, etc.);
- Flow of strife and other forms of hate and inter/intra-group conflict or forms of solidarity and pan-identities from “There” to “Here” and vice versa (including historical inter-/intra-ethnic, inter-/intra-religious, inter-/intra-linguistic antipathies). “Here” being a meeting ground where the politics of “There” played out with or without the knowledge and participation of Canadian agents and interests (e.g., protests and riots, police surveillance and international intelligence exchange, international gatherings and petitions, etc.).
- Lobbying the Canadian government to (re-)think its position on events, interests, and systems “There.” The role of homeland diplomats, “foreign agents,” and propaganda/public relations in shaping the politics of diasporic communities in Canada and resistance to foreign interference and “dual loyalties”;
- Indigenous and anti-colonialist campaigns in Canada and how they were shaped by similar discourses elsewhere; influence of Indigenous policy, resistance, or reconciliation “Here” on Indigenous movements “There.”
The symposium will be hosted at York University (Toronto, Canada) on September 18-19, 2025. Scholars who are interested in participating are invited to submit proposals in English or French to ThereHere2025@yorku.ca no later than Thursday, August 15th, 2024. Proposals must include a 300-word project outline and a 150-word bio. Proposals should note the scholar’s disciplinary approach and should clearly explain how the proposed topic shaped Canada more generally, not simply the migrant group in question. While the focus of this project is on historical scholarship, we welcome submissions from other disciplines.
Accepted applicants will be invited to present at the Avie Bennett Historica Canada conference planned for September 18-19, 2025. Select participants may be subsequently invited to contribute to a future edited collection centred on the same theme.
Organizers:
David S. Koffman, J. Richard Shiff Chair for the Study of Canadian Jewry, York University
Amir Lavie, Archives of Ontario
Sakis Gekas, Hellenic Heritage Foundation Chair of Modern Greek History, York University
Abril Liberatori, Mariano A. Elia Chair in Italian-Canadian Studies, York University
Gilberto Fernandes, Research Lead, Portuguese Canadian History Project, York University