President: Ranjini
Mendis 604-599-2186 VM 9608
Secretary-Treasurer: Jennifer Kelly
Fax: 604 599 2068
E Mail: caclals@kwantlen.ca Phone and Fax: (403) 627- 4243
Response from CACLALS on SSHRC Transformation
CACLALS is a national organization with an international parent body (ACLALS) comprising a global network of scholars actively engaged in postcolonial research. Interaction among our scholars has been facilitated through the Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities, with the Federation of Social Sciences and Humanities assisting us in many ways, such as helping us to bring in special speakers, organize a colloquium last year, and collaborate with other Learned Societies in joint sessions, to give a few examples. In providing the best opportunities for scholars to gain feedback on one's work in a forum where both junior AND senior colleagues meet, CACLALS has done significant work in internationalizing English studies, promoting anti-racist pedagogy, and advancing First Nations literary and cultural studies, all of which exemplify the importance of maintaining and funding scholarly associations.
CACLALS members expressed concern over
a) Perceived misconceptions about Humanities research on the part of SSHRC;
b) The direction of the SSHRC proposal for research and scholarly communities as outlined in the document "From Granting Council to Knowledge Council.”
The document mentions the pressure for SSHRC "to influence how research is understood and carried out"(8). Researchers are wary of a controlling agenda that seems to be a subtext in the SSHRC proposal, and feel that SSHRC should continue to be a funding/enabling agency that works collaboratively with the Federation as an arm's length organization rather than try to appropriate what the Federation is doing very well. In many ways, the current granting formula is quite productive for researchers; what is needed is not to spend time and money revamping what works, but improving and adequately funding what we already have in place.
Whereas the SSHRC document states that "We must take a proactive approach to becoming globally connected in research and discovery”(12), we wish to point out that this is exactly what some members in the postcolonial field are attempting to do by being proactive in this regard through the open access e-journal, Postcolonial Text, which employs the open source Open Journal Systems software from the Public Knowledge Project at UBC, developed with SSHRC funding. Given these efforts, we request that SSHRC not stymie our efforts by requiring web journals to have a certain number of subscribers at the outset, to qualify for SSHRC funding. It is our view that SSHRC should support peer-reviewed, open access journals that can demonstrate a substantial readership (through readers sign-up programs) as they provide far greater access for Canadians and world citizens, thus furthering and facilitating the exchange of knowledge, while also cutting costs to the tax payer and degradation to the environment.
Moreover, regarding the expressed need to be more connected with other scholars and communities, members have found collaborative research to be an extremely rewarding process, but they do not want to see SSHRC reduce the availability of SRG for scholars with independent research ideas. Many felt that awarding smaller grants for more scholars is a good way to go.
CACLALS members feel that the language adopted by SSHRC to describe research - labels such as "Human Sciences" and "Knowledge Agency" - focus mainly on technology and information, whereas Humanities is a discipline that questions received knowledge and not one that produces results fast and furiously. The impact of literary studies on the larger society is slower, reflecting a longer process of knowledge generation. We are concerned that the policy imperative of the SSHRC proposal would affect disciplines such as English that are not policy driven.
Further, the language of social sciences - ‘business-speak’ - is troubling in the document. Sentences such as: "In sum, universities have to rethink their ‘contract’ with society and how they organize themselves as corporate entities and institutions of higher learning” (8) require clarification; we need to know what such statements mean. A utilitarian principle governing the SSHRC agenda is something of which we must be aware, especially since it seems to come from a privileging of the Social Sciences. Some members have expressed a distrust in the way the document seems to imply that “disinterested” research is of less worth than “market-or client-driven” research; we want to see SSHRC clearly take on the role of advocacy of Humanities research.
We recommend that:
· SSHRC provide the means to strengthen the Federation as a means of promoting networking and connections across Associations and across disciplines.
·
SSHRC increase the budget of the ASPP, which is
absolutely central to maintaining and increasing the high level of
peer-reviewed scholarly work being produced in
· SSHRC develop and maintain partnerships with organizations such as CBC, TVO, radio and cable programming that can be accessed by researchers.
· SSHRC invest in interdisciplinary and multi-disciplinary, problem-driven research (whether this is by a single researcher or a team), while continuing to fund individual projects. There needs to be a balance.
·
SSHRC provide more travel funding for graduate
students to attend Congress and funding for international scholars to study in
· SSHRC fund an exchange program for which graduate students could apply (the same could be suggested for faculty exchange).
· SSHRC buyout time release for executive members of the Federation and key members of Associations.
· SSHRC support peer-reviewed open access journals that have the potential to reach a global network of scholars, creating a much larger presence for Canadian journals and Canadian scholarship while making this knowledge available to the Canadian public and professionals (e.g., teachers, lawyers, policymakers, etc.)
To sum up:
CACLALS is a Small Association that is very much in the forefront of multicultural and international research in the literary field of postcolonial studies, and as such, performs a very important function of providing linkages for scholars. We are a national branch of the international Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (ACLALS) which gathers together an international array of scholars at a very prestigious triennial conference, connecting researchers and public intellectuals from all parts of the world.
CACLALS members strongly believe
that Small Associations perform a very important function within the
Federation, Our annual CACLALS
conference during COSSH offers a dynamic
and very popular Aboriginal roundtable,
international presenters and participants and our cooperative
initiatives (joint sessions with other Associations, joint colloquiums, special
speakers from the public arena as well as from the research communities) have paid off in dividends of increasing participation of graduate students
as well as established senior scholars.
We are thus one of the
Associations that clearly offer diversity and inclusivity
in research and dissemination. It is our hope that SSHRC will recognize the
important work that is being done by small Associations and especially those
that focus on cultural and interdisciplinary studies as CACLALS which offer
scholars a dedicated space for specialized areas of research.
Thank you,
Ranjini Mendis
Pres., CACLALS
The above report was
compiled from responses by CACLALS members Diana Brydon,
Maria Casas Caridad, Chandrima Chakraborty, Jill Didur, Jo-Ann Episkenew, Susan Gingell Kelly Hewson, Judith Leggatt, Shao-Pin Luo, Ranjini
Mendis, Jennifer Kelly, Victor Ramraj,
Wendy Robbins, Jessica Schagerl, and Helene Strauss.
CACLALS Address: Department of English,