David G. John Representative of the Canadian Association of University Teachers of German (CAUTG)
I am pleased to make this brief report about the recent Toronto conference on the future of the humanities in which I was invited to participate by the HSSFC as president of the CAUTG.
After receiving preliminary information about he conference and agreeing to participate I issued a notice to all CAUTG members and adherents in Canada and abroad via the CAUTG list serve, notifying them of the conference, its theme and purpose, drawing attention to the SSHRC web page which offers more details, informing CAUTG members of the workshop topics and key questions, of the workshop in which I had been placed, and inviting their input. I received a number of responses from individual members and from their submissions and my own position as president formulated a statement and submitted it for the workshop documentation as requested by the SSHRC. My participation in the workshop and plenary sessions was directly influenced by the input of CAUTG members and I saw it as my role to represent as well as I could their feelings rather than my own or those of the university from which I come, although the both often coincided.
I found the opening session with its four keynote speakers to each of the issues tackled by the working groups valuable and insightful. I carried a number of ideas over to the discussions in our working group. Our working group co-chairs Linda Hutcheon and Ellen Corin, and reporting secretary Stephen McClatchie were sensitive, perceptive, focussed and diligent. They were also masterful in leading the approximately four hours of discussion among some twenty people in our group to arrive at mutually sanctioned results which were then reported by the recording secretary to the plenary session at the conclusion of the conference. We await further discussion and publication of those results and recommendations through the SSHRC, as well as those of the three other working groups.
During the discussion of our working group I was struck by the good will and intelligence of participants, and our combined input, which led to credible recommendations. The group consisted of committed scholars and administrators of various backgrounds in or related to the humanities, with mature, probing minds and the combined will to improve our lot. Agreement on the necessity for more interdisciplinary and collaborative work soon became clear. I did become concerned, however, that the general sense of needing to construct and contribute to the pursuit and publicity of applied humanities teaching and research greatly overshadowed any concern for basic or pure research. Even when the group agreed to include in our report a statement about the importance of the study and scholarly dissemination of basic humanities research, it took some convincing, whereas there was never a doubt about the importance of announcing productive applications of applied research. It remains to be seen if the final report contains a strong statement in support of fundamental, curiosity-driven research, even if this pays little attention to the realities of living in modern society and paying one's way.
The final plenary session was well organized and productive. As all assembled, I benefited from the reports of the other groups, as well as from our own representative. The working groups' combined recommendations for action amount to a weighty agenda, and it now remains to the SSHRC to decide, within terms of its funding envelope, which projects should be supported. I left the conference feeling that there is a strong enough will to move ahead aggressively to market our recommendations and make politicians and public react, but at the same time with a nagging concern that basic research would not receive its due.
I cannot be much more specific than this, except to say that I found the two and one-half days interesting, fruitful, challenging, and educational. I am willing to participate further in the dissemination and discussion of results.
With regard to the conference logistics, I was very happy with the arrangements made. The meeting venue and facilities were pleasant and suitable for our purposes, the accommodation and catering arrangements comfortable and much appreciated.
Sincerely,
David G. John
President,CAUTG
University of Waterloo
30 October 2000
