Association conferences

The Canadian Association for Postcolonial Studies (CAPS), formerly known as the Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (CACLALS), is the first and most established association in Canada devoted to specialized research and creative production in the field of postcolonial studies. The Association was founded in 1973 to respond to what was, at the time, identified as the burgeoning field of Commonwealth literature, and changed its name in 2021 to better represent the thematic focus of our members’ current research.

Today, CAPS brings together interdisciplinary critics, scholars, teachers, students, community members, and creative practitioners in postcolonial, global, and Indigenous studies. Through its affiliation with ACLALS, the Association provides members with an international context for Canadian, Indigenous, postcolonial, and global literary and cultural studies within and beyond the framework of the Canadian academy. We also acknowledge that, while our members investigate postcolonial themes from multiple global contexts, our meeting this year occurs on the unceded—not postcolonial—territory of the Kanien'kehá:ka Nation.

While inspired by the wider Congress theme of “Sustaining Shared Futures,” our annual conference welcomes proposals for scholarly and creative presentations (as well as member-organized special panels) on any theme related to postcolonial literary and cultural studies.