Presenter: Isabella Huberman, Assistant Professor of French (FHIS)
Respondent: Sarah Henzi, Assistant Professor of Indigenous Studies (Simon Fraser University)
About the talk:
Hydro-Québec’s Romaine River megaproject, completed in 2023 on unceded Innu territory, brought to the surface disparate narratives of belonging held by Québécois and Innu actors on the Quebec cultural scene. Public debate over this resource extraction project has revealed conflicting efforts to give meaning and legitimacy to attachments to land. I turn to several stories of the Romaine, both Innu and Québécois, that transmit distinct feelings of belonging: a documentary play by Montreal-based actor Christine Beaulieu, briefs from the public hearing on the environment held in Ekuanitshit, an autofictional novel by Côte-Nord author Erika Soucy, and the most recent collection of poetry by Rita Mestokosho. In gathering different kinds of cultural texts from both Innu and Québécois voices, I propose a method of “reading the river” through the narratives that claim it.
Registration:
About the FHIS Research Seminar: Hosted by the Department of French, Hispanic and Italian Studies (FHIS), the Research Seminar is an opportunity to explore current research and ideas related to the languages, literatures and cultures of the Romance language-speaking world, with presentations from faculty members, graduate students, and/or guest speakers. All are welcome.
If you have questions, please contact Dr. Katharina Piechocki (katharina.piechocki@ubc.ca).
UBC Vancouver is situated on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded territory of the xwməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam) People.
