Faculty of Arts at Saint Mary's University

A course poster, with an image showing people at a protest. Prerequisite: 3 credit hours in Political Science courses. For more info, contact: Paulo.Ravecca@smu.ca or poli-gds@smu.ca.

What is the far right exactly? Why is it able to persuade, inspire and mobilize? How have feminism, identity politics and even drag shows become ‘the people’s foe’ under the eye of many? Explore these questions this fall in POLI 4490: Far-Right Politics, with Dr. Paulo Ravecca. #PoliticalScience

CFP: Atlantic Medieval and Early Modern Conference Please join us in Moncton (NB) for this year’s conference, co-hosted by the Université de Moncton and Crandall University. A reception and keynote lecture will be held on the evening of October 24 …

CFP: Atlantic Medieval and Early Modern Conference at Crandall University, 24-25 October.

Please Note: Proposals are due by 25 August.

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N.S. court program looks to counselling to stop domestic violence | CBC News Since 2018, the Halifax Domestic Violence Court has been one aspect of the province's effort to control a problem it has declared an epidemic. The court, which is now handling more cases involving you...

More community-based supports needed too: Dr. Diane Crocker of our Department of Criminology shares thoughts in this CBC update on Nova Scotia's Domestic Violence Court Program. www.cbc.ca/news/canada/... @dianecrocker.bsky.social #SMUCriminology #artswithimpact

It's not too soon to think about registration for the Winter term! Consider these special topics courses with Dr. Bill Sewell and @historysmu.bsky.social:
• History of Vietnam (HIST 2827)
• Japan Before 1800 (HIST 2840)
Visit our website for course descriptions: loom.ly/u5sHivg #SMUHistory

Call for Papers - Monster Fest 2025 Sun 31 Aug [ADT]: Call for Papers!! The Department of the Study of Religion and the Women and Gender Studies Programs at Saint Mary’s University are holding their first Monster Fest! We invite proposa...

Many thanks to @dalhistory.bsky.social for sharing our #MonsterFest2025 call for papers/proposals! We welcome participation by undergraduate and graduate students, faculty and staff from any university, as well as independent artists/scholars in the broader community. loom.ly/QOy7PZk #monsters

Here's a closer look at the daily #MonsterFest2025 schedule that is shaping up for the #Halifax event: loom.ly/FmICPoA.

Hi @kylefromtheeast.bsky.social! A conference website is in the works and will have registration info. In the meantime, here's a closer look at the schedule: loom.ly/FmICPoA. You can also reach out to the organizers: michele.byers@smu.ca, ashley.mackinnon@smu.ca, and/or lindsay.macumber@smu.ca.

Call for Papers - Monster Fest 2025 Sun 31 Aug [ADT]: Call for Papers!! The Department of the Study of Religion and the Women and Gender Studies Programs at Saint Mary’s University are holding their first Monster Fest! We invite proposa...

Call for papers: #MonsterFest2025! Held in partnership with
@ucscmonsters.bsky.social, this Oct. 28-31 event at Saint Mary's University in #Halifax will include an academic conference, films, art, a Monster Ball, a Bizarre Bazaar and much more. Details: loom.ly/QOy7PZk. #monsters #artswithimpact

Hark! A Kate Beaton Award-winning cartoonist and author gives lecture on labour, class and art on Friday

The Coast published a terrific story about Kate Beaton's lecture at SMU in March: www.thecoast.ca/news-opinion... @thecoast.ca @katebeaton.bsky.social

A screen shot of the department's website, showing the Call for Applications. Text: Current Positions in the Department Research Assistant Position Research Project: The Economic Beneath the Economy: Rethinking Value Through Invisible Labours Deadline: August 25, 2025 Start date: September 10, 2025

Call for applications by Aug. 25! Our Department of Political Science and Global Development Studies is hiring a p/t #ResearchAssistant for the project "The Economic Beneath the Economy: Rethinking Value Through Invisible Labours". Learn more: loom.ly/QLVCMSg #SMUPoliticalScience #artswithimpact

A poster to promote SJCS 3409, with an illustration of colourful plants against a black background, including the words "THERE IS NO PLANET B". Other text: Climate Disaster and Social Justice SJCS 3409 | Fall 2025 Wednesdays, 4-6:30 pm Contact information: Dr. Rachel Zellars - Rachel.Zellars@smu.ca Department of Social Justice & Community Studies Prerequisite: SJCS 1211 or permission from the instructor.

There is no Planet B. This fall, take SJCS 3409: Climate Disaster and Social Justice. Study #ClimateChange and climate activism, connect capitalism and environmental harm, and examine Black and Indigenous disproportionate community impacts. Wednesdays, 4-6:30 pm with Dr. Rachel Zellars. #SMU_SJCS

Political scientist on trade talks Political scientist Gavin Fridell discusses the latest developments in the trade war.

As Canada's provincial and territorial premiers arrived in Huntsville for a summit on U.S. tariffs, SMU's Dr. @gavinfridell.bsky.social joined Todd Battis at @ctvnewsatlantic.bsky.social yesterday to discuss the latest developments. www.ctvnews.ca/atlantic/vid... #cdnpoli #uspoli #artswithimpact

Dr. Rosana Barbosa's @historysmu.bsky.social course is open to the public via #ArtsForEveryone! Explore the development of popular culture in #LatinAmerica to discover how diversity, social and political struggles have influenced the region's cultural aspects. More #A4E courses: loom.ly/9fHFmTQ.

On August 15, Kingsburg Community Association will host Dr. Seán Kennedy for a presentation on "Reading A Doll's House: Ibsen's Internalization Problem". More info at the link below. @smuenglish.bsky.social #UnsettlingIrishStudies #SMUIrishStudies #Ibsen #ADollsHouse #artswithimpact

A poster to promote this Fall 2025 course at Saint Mary's University in Halifax: Works of Wonder: The Medical and Mystical in 19th Century Culture Thursdays, 4-6:30 pm | Professor: Dr. Sara Malton This Honours seminar will focus on the intersection of medicine, religion and mysticism in 19th-century literature and culture. Topics of study include the revival of interest in witchcraft/earlier witch trials; “miracles” such as “fasting girls” and apparitions; and figures such as Florence Nightingale, whose work exemplifies the ongoing connections between medical and religious understandings of illness, pathology and healing in the period. Selected authors: the Brontës, Charles Dickens (fiction and journalism), George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, Thomas Hardy and the historical fiction of Emma Donoghue. For more info, contact english@smu.ca. The image on the poster is a painting showing two figures carrying an angel on two poles between them.

New @smuenglish.bsky.social course alert for Fall 2025! 📚 Works of Wonder: The Medical and Mystical in 19th Century Culture, with Dr. Sara Malton. Focus on the intersection of medicine, religion and mysticism in 19th-century literature and culture. More info: loom.ly/u5sHivg #artswithimpact

Acclaimed comic artist Kate Beaton to deliver the 2025 Cyril J. Byrne Memorial Lecture | SMU News and Events What is the relationship between the arts and the economy? How do we value the ‘work’ of art and the business of creativity in our daily lives? 

More info about Beaton's lecture: news.smu.ca/news/2025/3/...

Kate Beaton seated in the Scotiabank Conference Theatre in the Sobey School of Business at Saint Mary's University in Halifax.

Staff from Bookmark Halifax at the Cyril J. Byrne Memorial Lecture. Their book display includes recent titles from Kate Beaton. Learn more about her books: http://www.harkavagrant.com/about.php

Left to right: Cape Breton cartoonist Kate Beaton, Dr. Alexander MacLeod and Prof. Raymond Sewell

Kate Beaton gesturing as she chats with the audience at Saint Mary's, during the 2025 Cyril J. Byrne Memorial Lecture.

2025 highlights: #CapeBreton cartoon artist Kate Beaton brought a timely discussion to Saint Mary's. Her March 21 topic for the Cyril J. Byrne Memorial Lecture was "We Were Always Working and Making Art: Rethinking the Economics and Value of Creativity". loom.ly/Js570C8 #artswithimpact

A poster to promote "Transnational Community Organizing" (SJCS 4739), with several photos illustrating a range of community issues. This Fall 2025 course with the SMU Department of Social Justice & Community Studies will be on campus, Mondays, 4-6:30 pm. This fourth-year seminar is for students interested in developing and building alliances and coalitions in relation to anti-capitalist, anticolonial and anti-imperialist social and political movements that are transnational in scope and scale. Students work collectively to engage with local community organizations and wider national and international networks to create opportunities for meaningful solidarity. For more information, contact sjcs@smu.ca.

In this fall seminar course, students will work collectively to engage with local community organizations and wider national/international networks to create opportunities for meaningful solidarity. For more info, see the ALT text and email sjcs@smu.ca. #SMU_SJCS #CommunityOrganizing #artswithimpact

Dr. Stretton was overseas recently, presenting at two conferences:
• Women, Gender and Justice Across Borders; @univlille.bsky.social‬
• Scribes and Inky Fingerprints: Collaborative and Mediated Authorship in Early Modern English Manuscripts; @unileiden.bsky.social #SMUHistory #artswithimpact

A photo of Dr. Tim Stretton teaching in a classroom at Saint Mary's University. He is wearing a blue shirt and is gesturing while he speaks to students. One student is visible on the left side of the photo, writing in a notebook.

A promotional image for our Arts for Everyone program. Five silhouettes of people appear against a row of colourful books. Text: The Faculty of Arts invites community members to attend a selection of courses on a drop-in basis. Arts courses are for everyone - come join us! Find the complete Fall 2025 / Winter 2026 lineup of courses online: https://www.smu.ca/arts/outreach/arts-for-everyone.html

An event poster for the IRHis conference in Lille, France - "Women, Gender and Justice: Across Jurisdictions"; May 22-23 at the Université de Lille. Dr. Tim Stretton of Saint Mary's University was an invited speaker, presenting on the topic, “Married Women’s Changing Access to Litigation in Early Modern England: Coverture, Status and Contract”. Also in May, Dr. Stretton participated as an invited specialist at a roundtable at "Scribes and Inky Fingerprints: Collaborative and Mediated Authorship in Early Modern English Manuscripts Conference"; Leiden University, The Netherlands. His paper was titled “Perjury in the Archives”. Dr. Stretton's recent publications include the book “Marriage, Separation, and Divorce in England 1500-1700”, with Dr. Krista Kesselring (Oxford University Press, 2022). Learn more about his teaching and research: https://www.smu.ca/history/history-tim-stretton.html

Learn about 'Shakespeare's London' in a fall course with Dr. Tim Stretton of @historysmu.bsky.social! Community members can attend HIST 3325 for free via our #ArtsForEveryone program. Find more #A4E courses ahead this fall/winter: loom.ly/9fHFmTQ. #SMUHistory #Shakespeare #London #artswithimpact

We're Hiring: Community-Based Research and Project Coordinator (Mental Health) — Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia The Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia (CMWR NS) is a community-based organization which engages in support services, outreach, community-building and rights-based education to advance migra...

The Centre for Migrant Worker Rights Nova Scotia (CMWR NS) is hiring! They currently have three contract positions open:

1. Community-Based Research and Project Coordinator (Mental Health) www.migrantjusticens.ca/opportunitie...

A course poster for SJCS 2220: Race, Racism, Colonialism. Three images show book covers for The Fourth World, The Wretched of the Earth, and Discourse on Colonialism. Course description: Consider how race, racism and colonialism affect and implicate all of us in the most ordinary and extraordinary ways. This Fall 2025 course develops an intersectional, interdisciplinary and internationalist approach in unpacking the historical and contemporary operations of settler colonialism, racial capitalism and white supremacy—and collectively challenging these structures to build justice-centered futures otherwise. Mondays and Wednesdays, 10-11:15 am with the Department of Social Justice & Community Studies at Saint Mary's University in Halifax. For more info, contact sjcs@smu.ca.

Consider how race, racism and colonialism affect and implicate all of us in the most ordinary and extraordinary ways. This Fall 2025 course (SJCS 2220) runs Mondays & Wednesdays, 10-11:15 am with our Department of Social Justice & Community Studies. More info: see ALT text. #SMU_SJCS #artswithimpact

"While American history is full of those claiming the Revolutionary right to resist, it is also full of officials fighting to shut them down," Dr. @shiralurie.bsky.social says in her latest article for TIME. @historysmu.bsky.social #SMUHistory #ushist #history #protests #artswithimpact

A poster to promote the Arts for Everyone initiative in the Faculty of Arts at Saint Mary's University. In the illustration, four silhouettes of students are standing in front of a row of large, colourful books. Text: The Faculty of Arts invites community members to attend a selection of courses on a drop-in basis. Arts courses for everyone—come join us! We have 7 fall courses and 4 winter courses coming up. See the full list and find out more at www.smu.ca/arts/outreach/arts-for-everyone.

This fall, Dr. Xiaoping Sun also teaches HIST 3416: Love and Family in China—free for the public via our #ArtsForEveryone program! Trace the transformations of intimate life and gender roles in #China through revolution, reform and rapid modernization. loom.ly/9fHFmTQ @historysmu.bsky.social #A4E

A course poster for HIST 2830, with an artwork showing a street scene in China before 1800. Text: Fall 2025, remote asynchronous delivery Instructor: Dr. Xiaoping Sun Course description: Explore four millennia of Chinese history, from the distant origins of Chinese society to its zenith during the Qing Dynasty. Divided into three eras—Ancient, Early Imperial and Late Imperial—the class follows a topical approach that considers the dynamics of political, economic, intellectual and social change within each era.

Looking for an online fall course with @historysmu.bsky.social? In HIST 2830: China Before 1800, explore four millennia of Chinese history from the distant origins of Chinese society to its zenith during the #QingDynasty. Dr. Xiaoping Sun, asynchronous delivery. loom.ly/u5sHivg #SMUHistory #China

Members of our GBV-MIG Canada team made two presentations at the Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities / Canadian Sociological Association (June 2025).

See titles of presentations and names below.

A photo of Dr. Luke Hathaway in his office. Surrounded by books, he is wearing a black t-shirt and black baseball cap. Photo by Laura Flight of The Signal, a student publication of the University of King's College School of Journalism in Kjipuktuk/ Halifax.

Queer Lives & Letters: a new @smuenglish.bsky.social course aims to empower students at a scary time. Launched by Dr. Luke Hathaway in the Winter 2025 term, the course was featured in a recent @signalhfx.bsky.social story by Laura Flight. Read more: signalhfx.ca/queer-litera... #PrideMonth2025

An image of Prof. Raymond Sewell's new album cover for "The Lone Soul Doctor" with Musique Nomade. Learn more: https://mailchi.mp/musiquenomade/the-lone-soul-doctor-raymond-sewell-eng

'The Lone Soul Doctor' has landed! It's the much anticipated new album by Prof. Raymond Sewell, L'nu poet, songwriter and artist from Pabineau First Nation ... also #SMUAlumni and Arts faculty member with @smuenglish.bsky.social. Congratulations – we can't wait to hear it! bfan.link/the-lone-sou...

"Identity, Place, and Soft Rains" by Prof. Raymond Sewell was published by @nichecanada.bsky.social in its Historicizing Adaptation series in April. It was just selected as an Editor's Pick! @smuenglish.bsky.social @stundenbower.bsky.social #envhist #NIHM2025 #Indigenous #poetry #artswithimpact

A course poster for RELS 4152: Religion and the Body, with a photo of a person's shoulder. Tuesdays from 2:30-5 pm in the Fall 2025 term with Dr. Margaret MacDonald. Description: This course is an examination of the role of the body in religious traditions. Students explore the use of the body to articulate identity and how bodily control and fashioning are related to ethics and norms. Key themes include transcendence, asceticism, concepts of self, suffering, ritual, gender, sexuality and adornment Prerequisite: Declared Major in Religion or Honours in any other Arts program, and completion of a minimum of 60 credit hours. Exceptions by permission of the instructor. margaret.macdonald@smu.ca

Examine the human body's role in religious traditions, ethics and norms, in this fall course with Dr. Margaret MacDonald. RELS 4152 includes a service learning component! Key themes to be explored: ritual, adornment, transcendence, gender, concepts of self and more. #SMUReligion #artswithimpact