HRI 2004 STUDENT ESSAY PRIZE: AWARD CEREMONY AND PROFILING SCHOLARSHIP SERIES SPECIAL EVENT

Multiculturalism, Racism and Saskatchewan Education

Lisa M. Comeau
Ph.D. candidate, Faculty of Education

1 November 2004

At this event, Dr. Allan Cahoon, Vice-President (Research and International) of the University of Regina, presented the HRI 2004 Student Essay Prize to Lisa M. Comeau for her paper, “How Multiculturalism Maintains Racial Inequality in Canada: A Critical Analysis of the Canadian Discourse of Multiculturalism.”

Ms. Comeau then gave a presentation that was an overview of a graduate student’s project from seminar presentation, to refereed conference presentation, and finally to dissertation chapter. The project employs a discourse analytic perspective to interrogate the Canadian discourse of multiculturalism. Informed by Foucauldian ideas about discourse, knowledge and power, the claim is made that multiculturalism, as articulated by Canadian Heritage and taken up in SaskLearning policies and curricula, functions to maintain a discourse of race in which whiteness is central, normative, and dominant.

Lisa M. Comeau is a doctoral candidate in the Faculty of Education at the University of Regina. Her previous degrees include an MA in Educational Foundations from McGill University, and a BA (Hons.) in psychology and philosophy from the University of Ottawa. She has taught Education Foundations courses for Faculty of Education and SUNTEP since 1999. She initiated the anti-racism study group in the Faculty of Education, and she serves as a sessional representative on URFA’s Status of Women Committee. Her work interrogates racism, sexism and other forms of oppression as elements of the complex social structures within which teaching and learning occur. Her dissertation, “‘Knowing Better’: Toward a Genealogy of Critical Consciousness” will be defended in the Winter 2005 semester.

Background

The HRI offers awards of up to $500 to assist students registered in humanities programs at the University of Regina to travel to give papers at refereed academic conferences. All HRI Student Travel Award winners are eligible to submit their papers for the annual HRI Student Essay Prize of $500, to be awarded for the first time in 2004.

For further information about the HRI Student Travel Awards and annual Student Essay Prize, please see http://www.uregina.ca/hri/Student_Travel.shtml