2012 Canada Prize winning authors recognized at ceremony in Montreal today
MONTREAL, March 30, 2012 – The Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences (CFHSS) is pleased today to announce the winners of its 2012 Canada Prizes.
There are four awards in all – two for scholarly works in the humanities and two for scholarly works in the social sciences, with English and French prizes in each category. The winners were selected by a cross-Canada jury of scholars.
The prizes, each of which is valued at $2,500, were presented today at a special ceremony at Montreal’s Musée des beaux-arts.
“Though these four books deal with very different topics, what they have in common is their ability to shine new light on Canada’s history, culture and identity,” said Graham Carr, president of the CFHSS.
“By tackling compelling topics with rigorous research and informed analysis, these four scholars have found insights that help explain Canadians to themselves. These books are valuable contributions to the body of knowledge about Canada, and inform the democratic debate about the future of this country by explaining elements of our past.”
The Canada Prizes recognize works that received funding through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Program, which is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. This program supports 185 titles, including up to five translations each year, with annual funding of $1.5 million. For more information, visit www.fedcan.ca/canadaprize.
The winners are:
Humanities, English-language
Susan R. Fisher, for her work Boys and Girls in No Man’s Land: English-Canadian Children and the First World War, published by University of Toronto Press.
Boys and Girls in No Man’s Land examines how the First World War entered the lives and imaginations of Canadian children. Drawing on educational materials, textbooks, adventure tales, plays and Sunday-school papers of the time, this study explores the role of children in Canada’s war effort.
Susan R. Fisher teaches in the Department of English at the University of the Fraser Valley.
Humanities, French-language
Louise Vigneault, for her work Espace artistique et modèle pionnier. Tom Thomson et Jean-Paul Riopelle, published by Hurtubise.
Louise Vigneault examines the works of two iconic Canadian painters, Tom Thomson and Jean-Paul Riopelle, and explores how each helped reshape and redefine the imagery associated with Canada by breaking with the country’s European past and creating powerful images anchored in our own experiences of nature, from the boreal forests of Ontario to the age-old hunting traditions of Quebec.
Louise Vigneault is a professor of art history at the Université de Montréal.
Social Sciences, English-language
Veronica Strong-Boag, for her work Fostering Nation? Canada Confronts Its History of Childhood Disadvantage, published by Wilfrid Laurier University Press.
Fostering Nation? breaks new ground in the history of social welfare and the family. By offering the first-ever comprehensive look at how Canada cared for marginalized youngsters between the 19th and 21st centuries, it tells heart-breaking stories that were the reality for children in foster care, and serves as a reminder that children’s welfare cannot be divorced from that of their parents.
Veronica Strong-Boag is a professor of Women’s and Gender Studies and of Educational Studies at the University of British Columbia.
Social Sciences, French-language
Michel Ducharme, for his work Le concept de liberté au Canada à l’époque des Révolutions atlantiques, 1776-1838, published by McGill Queen’s University Press.
For several decades starting in 1776, countries on both sides of the Atlantic were shaken by a series of revolutions and wars of independence in which the ‘freedom’ and ‘liberty’ were rallying cries. Ducharme looks at how opposing groups in Canada interpreted the word in very different ways in the lead-up the failed rebellions of 1837-38, and how that debate shaped the Canada we know today.
Michel Ducharme is an associate professor with the Department of History at the University of British Columbia.
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More information:
Alison Hebbs
Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences
613 282 3489
Representing more than 85,000 researchers in 79 scholarly associations, 79 universities and colleges, and five affiliates, the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences is the national voice for the university research and learning community in these disciplines.