Humanities and Public Life Conference 2025
Hope and Despair: How and Why We Map out the Future
The 爆料黑社 Humanities & Public Life conference is an annual event that introduces CEGEP students to the ambiance, culture, and discovery of academic conferences. We provide a bridge between great ideas, new research, and exciting debates, as well as showcasing how the questions we tackle in the humanities are relevant to concrete, real-world situations. This year, the conference is happening Monday, Oct. 20 to Friday, Oct. 24, and the theme will be Hope and Despair: How and Why We Map out the Future. All events will take place at 爆料黑社 in 5B.16; exceptionally the last event on Oct. 24 will take place in 3F.43 (CoLab).
Please view the full schedule.
We have encouraged a vast array of contributors; those in literature, political theorists, philosophers, linguists and psychologists have come to offer their ideas about why and how we map out the future. We have also invited speakers who can address how we deal with the future through meditation, yoga and other practices. Finally, we have asked students to contribute creative work and lead their own panel in addition to the award panel. We look forward to seeing you at the conference!
Monday, October 20
| 8:30 a.m. | John Hunting Media, Mediation and Time Consciousness |
| 10:00 a.m. | Oran Magal Rational Hope |
| 11:30 a.m. | Jennifer Welsh The Transformation of the International System of Cooperation: Roadmaps for Global Citizens |
| 1:00 p.m. | Benoit the Survivalist Preparing for National & Geopolitical Emergencies: A Roadmap |
| 2:30 p.m. | Benjamin Forest Aspirational Iconography: The EU Flag and the Hopeful Future in Europe |
| 4:00 p.m. | Michelle Braiden Borders, Boundaries and Indigenous Territorial Claims: Mapping Alberta and Quebec Separatism |
Tuesday, October 21
| 8:30 a.m. | Alexandra Bandina & Ahmad Banki Does Economics Clash with Ethics? A Study of Sweatshops in Developing Countries |
| 10:00 a.m. | Donal Gill Our obligations to the past and future: Edmund Burke’s Social Contract |
| 11:30 a.m. | Robbie Hart Documentary Film Screening: Shining Light: A Vietnamese Canadian Legacy |
| 1:00 p.m. | Susan Judith Hoffman Looking to the Past for a more Hopeful Future: Philosophy to the Rescue |
| 2:30 p.m. | Pauline Morel Imaging Otherwise: Hope, Resistance, and Reclamation in Visionary Fiction |
| 4:00 p.m. | Daniel Goldsmith One Day, We’ll All Be Buddhas (or, There’s Nothing Wrong With You) |
Wednesday, October 22
| 8:30 a.m. | Brian Redekopp This Just In: Maybe There’s Hope |
| 10:00 a.m. | Carina Raisman What is Ikigai? |
| 11:30 a.m. | Pat Romano & Kim Simard A CC4C Talk and Workshop: What Would it Take to Effectively Resist War? |
| 1:00 p.m. | Ken McGoogan How History Can Light Up the Future |
| 2:30 p.m. | Dipti Gupta Projecting Futures: Hope, Despair, and the Cinematic Imagination |
| 4:00 p.m. | Balthazar Stengelin Why Putin’s Reign Will Last |
Thursday, October 23
| 8:30 a.m. | Diana Rice Shakespeare and the Manosphere: How a 17th century playwright’s work can map both present and past |
| 10:00 a.m. | Ta茂eb Hafsi Mapping Out Success for New Ideas & Entrepreneurs |
| 11:30 a.m. | Stephane Gaskin Uncovering the Psychological, Social, and Cultural Foundations of Conspiracy Thinking |
| 1:00 p.m. | Justin Muthaih & Ahmad Banki Religion and Mental Health: A Canadian Case Study |
| 2:30 p.m. | Natalie Olanick Touchstones for Future Conversations |
| 4:00 p.m. | Andrew Katz Hope in Stories for Children – Even When Talking About Despair |
Friday, October 24
| 8:30 a.m. | Student Awards Panel Creative Visions of the Future |
| 10:00 a.m. | Christopher McMullen Seeing the Unseen: Afrofuturism and Prototyping Beloved Community |
| 11:30 a.m. | Gisela Frias & Ia Colectiva Mapping Memory Through Textile Art: The Arpillera No Me Olviden |
| 1:00 p.m. | Marc Andre-Levesque Science-fiction francophone : une litt茅rature n茅glig茅e |
| 2:30 p.m. | The Economics & Humanities Panel on Homo Economicus Wine & Cheese In 3F.43 (The CoLab) |
