Research
College of Arts
Research that provokes, disturbs, informs, surprises, reveals and creates
Don Bruce
Arts and sciences programs will benefit from new
relationships with top-rated German schools. Over the
past two years, Prof. Don Bruce, Dean of the College
of Arts, has been working closely with the Universität
Bremen in Germany to create an exchange program.
Now he is creating a similar relationship between the
Universität Konstanz and U of G using the Ontario/
Baden-Württemberg Program. Students in many
areas, including marine biology and European Studies,
will be able to go on exchange to Universität Konstanz
to earn U of G credits.
Catherine Bush
Zombie haikus, poetry and The Adventures of Tarzan
at ESL School — they’re all part of a new program in
Toronto’s Parkdale Public School to help ethnically
diverse students with creative writing. Master of Fine
Arts students and Prof. Catherine Bush, School of
English and Theatre Studies, initiated this win-win
program, which assists the elementary school
students with English writing while the university
students gain valuable teaching experience.
Coins depicting Roman
emperors — such as the
one Prof. Andrew
Sherwood holds (above)
of Constantine the Great
(AD 306–337) or of Nero
(inset) (AD 54–68) — are
prized finds. They’re similar
to those Sherwood and his
research team unearthed
during his archaeological
dig in Romania last
summer, some dating
back to 700 BC. The team
also found a perfectly
preserved hammerhead
from the Roman period
and fortification walls from
the original Greek colony.
Currently, Sherwood is
researching the fragments
collected at the dig site.
He’s travelling to Turkey
this year to a site founded
by Pompey the Great in
60 BC.
uoguelph.ca/research
From global ethics
to soundscape
recording, from
enquiry-based
learning to the
Asterion labyrinth,
from Romania to
Shanghai, and from
Bremen to Guelph,
College of Arts
investigators enact
essential creativity,
making Guelph a
Canadian leader
in humanities
research.
↑ ANDREW SHERWOOD
↑ SUSAN DOBSON
Photography has changed through the technological advancements of digital
images. Prof. Susan Dobson, School of Fine Art and Music, collaborated with
Alison Nordstrom, a cultural historian, to produce Pictured Past: Future Perfect,
a photographic study that seeks to understand how digital photography
has changed the perception of how time passes. The researchers will hold
discussions and lectures at George Eastman House International Museum of
Photography and Film in 2014.
Julie Cairnie
Elizabeth Ewan
Studying literature written about black
and white childhoods in Zimbabwe
provides insight into a number of important social issues, such as education,
health care and AIDS. Prof. Julie Cairnie’s
research has identified connections
between Zimbabwean and Canadian
cultures, particularly between black
Zimbabweans and First Nations people of
Canada. Cairnie’s work seeks to promote
a greater cultural awareness worldwide.
When men are jobless, how do they
express their masculinity? To many men,
a job, as much or more than anything
else, defines who they are. But high
unemployment rates can challenge
self-perception. University Research
Chair Prof. Elizabeth Ewan is examining
masculinity in Medieval Scotland as a
way of gaining insight into contemporary
problems. Her research results are being
eyed by governments in the UK as well
as in Canada, particularly as Canada has
communities with strong Scottish roots.
Monique Deveaux
Higher standards of justice and equality
have motivated Canada Research Chair
Monique Deveaux to coordinate two
international workshops involving philosophy experts from places as far away as
Australia, Germany, Italy and Switzerland.
The workshops aim to give researchers a
way to participate in a worldwide effort to
improve economic, cultural and gender
equality by sharing their experiences and
perspectives.
2
UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH RESEARCH
FASTWÜRMS
Cutting-edge technologies and artwork are
combined by FASTWÜRMS, the artistic
duo made up of Kim Kozzi and Dai Skuse.
Their most recent work, Cannibal Nympho
Witch, was featured at Paul Petro
Contemporary Art in Toronto. Sculptures
and digital art were used to create a physical representation of the FASTWÜRMS
science fiction novel. The technology used
to create the digital art presentation has
helped Guelph to become a leader in the
digital media world.
COVER PHOTO: SAMANTHA BEATTIE
TOP: EMMA CHIERA AND SUSAN DOBSON (BUILDING)
RIGHT AND OPPOSITE PAGE: MARTIN SCHWALBE
James Harley
In day-to-day life, we’re surrounded by
sound. When recording and performance
spaces can recreate that immersive
encounter and manipulate it, amazing
things happen. The University of Guelph’s
Advanced Production and Performance
Studio can manipulate hundreds of audio
tracks through eight speakers spread
throughout live studio and performance
settings. The lab allows music researchers to incorporate diverse sounds, from
chirping birds to traffic to tree frogs,
providing an innovative and unique sound
experience.
Matthew Hayday
The relationship between English-speaking and French-speaking Canada has
often been challenged. But how fraught
is the relationship? A University of Guelph
researcher has examined the ways
that bilingualism has been accepted or
rejected by Canadians by reviewing its
historical impacts from the 1960s to the
2000s. This research prompted Hayday’s
recent book, Contemporary Quebec:
Selected Readings and Commentaries
in 2011, which promotes a greater
awareness of bilingualism in Canada and
around the world.
↙ CHRISTIAN GIROUX
Arts and engineering come
together at the Digital Haptic
Lab, a facility featuring a 3-D
printer and a water jet cutter, to
bring designs created by both
departments to life. Led by Fine
Arts professor Christian Giroux
in conjunction with engineering
research associate John Phillips,
the lab allows researchers to
visualize, design and implement
functional components using
state-of-the-art haptic computing
equipment and then to create
them using their advanced threedimensional printer.
Ajay Heble
Music is a powerful teaching tool — it
invites you to listen. That’s especially
true if you are an improvisational artist
who needs to listen intently to all that’s
happening around you, and participate
or collaborate at the most appropriate
time. An international team of Guelphbased researchers including Prof. Ajay
Heble has developed a program that
brings improvisational music to children
in the Guelph community. By listening
and collaborating, the children learn
how to be more sensitive and aware
of others … and they have fun at the
same time.
Kris Inwood
Led by Prof. Kris Inwood, history
researchers are developing a groundbreaking database, called People In
Motion, that will examine the migrations
and lives of thousands of people living
in Canada, America and Scotland
between 1871 and 1911. The goal is to
create a tool researchers across North
America and the world can use to better
understand the links between family
origins, emigration, social mobility, life
experiences and adult health. Ultimately,
People In Motion will provide a unique
historical perspective on present-day
issues, as well as inform public policy.
Stuart McCook
Certain plant diseases may separate
you from your morning cup of coffee.
An estimated 25 per cent of the annual
coffee harvest falls victim to a disease
called coffee leaf rust — a disease that
causes yellow speckling on the leaves
and kills the plant. Now, history professor Stuart McCook is assessing the
ecological and economic costs of this
disease worldwide. The goal is to find a
way to incorporate modern technologies
without drastically increasing the input
cost, or altering the flavor of the delicious
Arabica bean.
↑ SUSAN BROWN
Literature students have long expressed
a need for a broad literary history
of women writers and their works.
In response, Prof. Susan Brown and
others began the Orlando Project, an
online database full of literature that
reflects women’s writing and cultural
history. It houses one of the largest
collections of works by British women
writers and serves as a stellar model
for similar databases. Brown is also
heading the Canadian Writing Research
Collaboratory, a project that builds upon
Orlando by digitizing women’s writing
in Canada.
Jacqueline Murray
An important development in enquirybased learning that has positively
impacted many students at the University
of Guelph is Prof. Jacqueline Murray’s
Politics, Science and Culture of Hunger
course. It involves innovative enquirybased learning methods where students
research, explore and analyze topics
independent of a professor. As a major
part of the course, students collaborate
in online discussions to examine complex
case studies dealing with social justice.
COLLEGE OF ARTS
3
↗ DOROTHY ODARTEY-WELLINGTON
The International Virtual Conference on
Afro-Hispanic Studies in Africa/Africa
in Afro-Hispanic Studies was chaired
by Prof. Dorothy Odartey-Wellington
in March. The goal of the conference
was to break down traditional national
barriers about historical interactions
and relationships. A wide range
of topics was discussed, from the
reception of popular activities to
constructions and revisions of African
identity. The conference was related
to Odarty-Wellington’s research on the
literature of Equatorial Guinea.
Jerrard Smith Jerrard Smith designed and created a
massive outdoor labyrinth called Asterion,
which is part of Canadian composer
R. Murray Shafter’s Patria Cycle. The
labyrinth is a live theatre lab where
audience members can influence the
story by active participation as they travel
through the labyrinth, interacting with the
environment and natural spaces through
image, sound, taste, texture and touch.
Audience members become the players
as they add to the story and participate in
a unique, immersive theatre experience.
Norman Smith
Exploration can provide some of the
most enriching and inspiring educational
experiences for students. University of
Guelph history professor Norman Smith
co-implemented a program that sends
students of Chinese history abroad
to study at a Shanghai university for a
semester. The program allows students
to learn surrounded by China’s culture,
language and history.
Renée Worringer
Collaboration is a growing element of
modern research. To that end, Prof.
Renée Worringer has developed an
online forum called the Middle East
Scholar Society (MESS) where scholars
in Middle East studies discuss and post
works-in-progress and collaborate with
experts in the field. The website presence
has facilitated research and has made
information about the Middle East more
accessible to Canadians, cultivating a
much-needed awareness of Middle East
studies Canada-wide. MARTIN SCHWALBE
↑ STEFAN LINQUIST
Since Aristotle, people have
assumed that humans possess an
inner nature. In modern times, we
say that human nature is “coded
in the DNA.” But in fact, these
ideas do not square neatly with
modern biology. Developmental
biology teaches us that traits
arise out of interactions among
genes and the environment.
Modern biology does not
vindicate the idea that human
nature is somehow programmed
by the genes. Why, then, does
this idea of an essential human
nature persist in FSC
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Prof.
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4
Published by the Office of Research, University Centre, University of Guelph, Guelph ON N1G 2W1
Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 53781 · Fax: 519-821-5236 · uoguelph.ca/research
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