The Humanities Council is pleased to announce the appointment of Simon Morrison, Professor of Music, to direct the Princeton University’s Fund for Canadian Studies.
Professor Morrison—a scholar of 20th century music – has deep interest and experience in Canadian arts and culture and views Canada as a site of exciting innovation in literature, music, urban studies, and film.
“Canada is a nexus for human rights and environmental issues of global significance,” says Morrison, citing the First Nations Truth and Reconciliation Commission, the unfolding global warming catastrophe in the far north, linguistic tensions, and cultural politics around the Asian diaspora, especially in British Columbia. “A resource-rich country of 50 million, with Toronto as the third largest city in North America, Canada’s history of liberal immigration policy makes it a particularly diverse and powerful site of inquiry on crucial topics.”
Morrison grew up outside of Winnipeg and attended college in Toronto and Montreal, working in between at the Ontario Arts Council as a literary arts administrator. He has a particular interest in the literature, film, and musical production of Canada, as well as First Nations, Métis, and Inuit achievement – a point of focus at the University of Manitoba, Simon Fraser University, and other Canadian campuses. He also looks forward to bringing a range of scholars to Princeton interested in exploring Cape Breton’s indigenous music.
Morrison describes potential for Canadian Studies to building bridges to other units and programs—to exploring questions of the Asian diaspora with American Studies, the strong connection of Russia and Canada, due to its welcoming of émigrés during the Cold War with the Slavic Department, and to exploring the politics of the arctic circle with the Woodrow Wilson School.
