The PSGSA will host their Graduate Conference on Friday, May 6, 2022, in Room 130 – xʷθəθiqətəm (Place of Many Trees) at the Liu Institute for Global Issues, 6476 NW Marine Dr (UBC Campus). A Zoom link will be provided for those who wish to attend remotely. The keynote address will be delivered by UBC Political Science Professor Genevieve Bates.
Keynote Address
Transitions as periods of reflection: reevaluating the role of the state
There is no doubt that we are in a period of transition on a global scale. The Russian invasion of Ukraine and the US withdrawal from Afghanistan seem to be but symptoms of a shift in the larger international system. The continuation of the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed many societies, including communities in Canada, to their breaking point, with continued lockdowns and things like vaccine mandates causing mass protests and general unrest. And the existential threat posed by climate change has much of humanity inching closer to the brink of devastation. This keynote will explore how times of transition, and the upheaval that often accompanies them, can also be periods of growth and reflection. Using insights from work on racial justice and policing in the United States, I will show that at least for some people, moments of transition can provide space for reimagining the power relationship between the state and society.
Panels
Our first panel (Sovereignty, Settler-Colonialism, and Challenges to Western Hegemony) is comprised primarily of political theorists and includes discussions of deliberative democracy, statist-Kantian sovereignty and climate change, the psychopathological aspects of settler-colonialism, and migrant home-making in settler-colonial states. This panel is currently scheduled for 11:00 on May 6th with our discussant Dr. Bruce Baum.
Our second panel (Democracy, Citizenship, and Representation) includes scholars from across sub-disciplines and is comprised entirely of MA students, including a guest presenter from SFU. This panel will explore immigration rhetoric in US congressional elections, British National Overseas (BNOs) and citizenship, partisanship and Canadian civic autonomy, and (non)belonging in the west. This panel is currently scheduled for 2:00 on May 6th with our discussant Dr. Carey Doberstein.
Agenda:
9-9:30 am Opening Session and Land Acknowledgement
9:30-10:45 am Keynote Address “Transitions as periods of reflection: reevaluating the role of the state” by Dr. Genevieve Bates UBC
10:45-11 am Break
11 am – 12:30 pm Panel I: Sovereignty, Settler-Colonialism, and Challenges to Western Hegemony
Chair: Katelynn Kowalchuk UBC
Discussant: Dr. Bruce Baum UBC
Panelists:
- Ritwik Bhattacharjee UBC – “Towards Learning to Let Go: Diagnosing the Socio-Psychopathology of Settler-Colonial Canada”
- Talia Holy UBC – “Because “No One is Illegal on Stolen Land!”: Charting Migrant Homemaking in Settler-Colonial States”
- Eden Luymes UBC – “Atmospheric Enclosure and Eroding Sovereignty: The failures of statist-Kantian territorial sovereignty in the face of neoliberalism and Climate Change”
- Erik Severson UBC – “Navigating Picture Frames: Wittgenstein and Deliberative Democracy”
12:30-2 pm Lunch Break
2-3:30 pm Panel II: Democracy, Citizenship, and Representation
Chair: Talia Holy UBC
Discussant: Dr. Carey Doberstein UBC
Panelists:
- Ronaldo Au-Yeung SFU – “State Responsibility: International Legal Explanation of the United Kingdom’s Citizenship Provision to Hong Kong British National Overseas”
- Bret Frangipane UBC – “The Causes and Consequences of Candidate Immigration Rhetoric in US Congressional Elections, 2012-2018”
- Melika Khajeh UBC – “(Non)belonging in Canada and the West: Othering at the Border and Epidermal Citizenship”
- Katelynn Kowalchuk UBC – “Partisanship and Civic Autonomy: A Critique of Smith and Spicer’s Model of Local Autonomy in Canada”
3:30-3:45 Closing Session
