History in bite-size pieces served at Grebel

by Susan Fish, Conrad Grebel University College

Delicious smells of curry emanated from Conrad Grebel University College’s Great Hall on the morning of August 7. The event was part of a two-day workshop, hosted by the college and organized by history professor Marlene Epp, called “Edible Histories, Cultural Politics: Towards a Canadian Food History.”

The role of food in Mennonite history was discussed during the workshop, and Grebel’s kitchen provided opportunity for participants to sample traditional recipes, such as shoofly pie, zwieback and rollkuchen.

Many of the papers presented by the 30 invited participants will be part of a book by the same name as the workshop, co-edited by Epp and her colleagues Franca Iacovetta (University of Toronto), and Valerie Korinek (University of Saskatchewan).

Several lectures were open to the public, including the one in which Daniel E. Bender (left), Canada Research Chair in Urban History, University of Toronto, punctuated his lecture with a demonstration of the earliest published recipe of a curry dish, from a mid-18th-century British cookbook.

Bender, who teaches global food history at the University of Toronto, commented that students today are more motivated and politicized about food than they were even five years ago and talked about how food symbolizes identity for people and the ways in which “power becomes visible at the table.”

Professor Donna Gabaccia, director of the Immigration History Research Center, University of Minnesota, addressed the theme, “Cookbooks in the Archive” through her research into the earliest cookbooks of Charleston, South Carolina.

Jeffery Pilcher, professor of history at the University of Minnesota, and author of Food in World History, spoke on “The Future of Food Studies,” focusing on the evolution of Mexican foodways in different national contexts.

Insisting that food offers a means of examining global history in a way “that’s small enough to hold in your hand and to pop in your mouth,” rather than a variation on a Food Network show, workshop participants emphasized food as a lens for considering history in an integrative, tangible, accessible, complex way.

Other workshop participants presented research on varied topics including: colossal Ukrainian food sculptures on the prairies; the global food movement of the colonial era (an interesting counterpoint to today’s local food movement); cookbooks and ethnic identity; encounters over foodways between Aboriginal people and European newcomers and between immigrants and the state; the politics of changing nutritional standards; the intersection between religious practice and eating rituals; and the health food movement of the 1960s and ’70s.

Workshop organizer Marlene Epp said, “Food issues have recently become of great interest to researchers, to the media, and to the general public. The Edible Histories project is a fascinating historical complement to a contemporary issue by demonstrating how significant food has been in shaping Canadian politics, culture and everyday social interaction.”

The workshop was also supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and by University of Waterloo’s Canada Research Chair in Gender and the History of Medicine, held by history professor Wendy Mitchinson.

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Two new degree programs approved

by Brandon Sweet, CPA

Senate approved two new academic programs this spring, one in the Faculty of Mathematics and the other in the Faculty of Engineering.

The Honours Bachelor of Mathematics, Information Technology Management, is available starting in September 2009. “The effective management of information technology is now a mission-critical component of virtually every enterprise,” reads the report of the Senate Undergraduate Council at Senate's April 21 meeting. “This plan is designed to equip new graduates with the skills necessary to apply modern technology solutions to business processes.”

Information Technology Management is a restricted-enrolment plan. Students interested in the plan will first have to enrol in the mathematics/business administration admission category in their first year, and if in their second year they remain eligible for inclusion in an honours program, they may select the plan.

Starting September 2008, a new graduate program in civil and environmental engineering will be available in both regular and co-op streams. The Master of Engineering (MEng) in Civil Engineering – Infrastructure Systems has been created to “provide graduate students with the opportunity to enhance their engineering education in the area of infrastructure systems by taking advanced courses and being exposed to the ideas of leaders in various infrastructure fields,” according to the Senate Graduate and Research Council, which submitted the plans to Senate for approval in March of this year.

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PhD oral defences scheduled

Geography. Christopher J. Lemieux, "Towards Climate Change Adaptation in Canada's Protected Natural Areas: An Ontario Parks Case Study." Supervisor, Daniel Scott. On display in the Faculty of Environment, ES 1 room 335. Oral defence Tuesday, September 2, 1:00 p.m., ES 1 room 221.

Statistics and actuarial science. Baojiang Chen, "Statistical Methods for Multi-State Analysis of Incomplete Longitudinal Data." Supervisors, Richard Cook, Grace Yi. On display in the Faculty of Mathematics, MC 5090. Oral defence Monday, September 8, 1:30 p.m., MC room 6027.

Mechanical and mechatronics engineering. Jie (Peter) Liu, “An Intelligent System for Bearing Condition Monitoring.” Supervisors, Wilson Wang and Farid Golnaraghi. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Tuesday, September 9, 9:00 a.m., Engineering III room 4117.

Statistics and actuarial science. Yan Yuan, "Prediction Performance of Survival Models." Supervisor, Jerry Lawless. On display in the Faculty of Mathematics, MC 5090. Oral defence Tuesday, September 9, 9:30 a.m., MC room 6027.

Earth and environmental sciences. Jesse R. Stimson, "Colloid Transport Through Basic Oxygen Furnace Slag as Permeable Treatment Media for Pathogen Removal." Supervisors, David Blowes and Carol Ptacek. On display in the Faculty of Science, ESC room 254A. Oral defence Tuesday, September 9, 1:00 p.m., Hagey Hall room 227.

Chemistry. Nicole Sukdeo, "Biochemical and Biophysical Investigations of Non-Zinc Dependent Glyoxalase I Enzymes." Supervisor, John Honek. On display in the Faculty of Science, ESC room 254A. Oral defence Tuesday, September 9, 2:00 p.m., Chemistry 2 building, room 361.

Physics and astronomy. Martin LaForest, "Error Characterization and Quantum Control Benchmarking in Liquid State NMR Using Quantum Information Processing Techniques." Supervisor, Raymond Laflamme. On display in the Faculty of Science, ESC room 254A. Oral defence Tuesday, September 9, 2:00 p.m., Research Advancement Centre, room 2004.

Computer science. Yi Lin, "Subseries Join and Compression of Time Series Data Based on Non-uniform segmentation." Supervisor, Michael McCool. On display in the Faculty of Mathematics, MC 5090. Oral defence Wednesday, September 10, 1:30 p.m., Davis Centre room 1331.

Management sciences. Maureen Nummelin, "Make or Buy? Professional Designations, Human Capital and Sustainable Competitive Advantage." Supervisors, Scott Jeffrey and Brian Cozzarin. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Thursday, September 11, 9:00 a.m., Engineering II room 3324.

Mechanical and mechatronics engineering. Calgar Elbuken, “Magnetic Levitation of Polymeric Photo Thermal Microgrippers.” Supervisors, Mustafa Yavuz and Behrad Khamesee. On display in the faculty of engineering, PHY 3004. Oral defence Thursday, September 11, 1:00 p.m., Engineering III room 4117.

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