On our bookshelf
Now might be a good time to stock up on some good reading materials. The days are growing shorter, the weather is turning, and according to the experts, this pandemic is far from over. Time to curl up with a good book and get comfy – this could be a while!
We’ve asked our staff and faculty to recommend a few good reads. We’ll add to these recommendations throughout the school year so stay tuned for more!
Borders in Globalization Review
Recommended by: Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly (Professor, Public Administration & Centre for Global Studies)
“I’m reading about borders in the arts, humanities and social sciences in a new journal called Borders in Globalization Review.
The journal is open access and features essays, poetry, photography, and peer-reviewed academic articles, all relating to borders in the 21st century. It’s large, full colour, and handles like a magazine.
The current issue (the second issue) focuses on themes of human mobility and the ways in which borders obstruct movement but movement also subverts borders. There’s a beautiful portfolio of a so-called migrant caravan travelling to the US border. There’s a special section of six articles on the state of the EU’s internal borders in the wake of the refugee crisis. And more!”
They said this would be fun: Race, campus life, and growing up by Eternity Martis
Recommended by: John Threlfall (Communications Officer, Fine Arts)
“Looking for a sobering reflection of life as a Black university student in Canada? Eternity Martis’ 2020 memoir They Said This Would Be Fun: Race, Campus Life and Growing Up should be mandatory reading for anyone in the post-secondary world.
Now an award-winning journalist, Martis unflinchingly explores her experiences as an undergrad at Ontario’s Western University (2010-14). ‘From the ages of 18 to 22, I learned more about what someone like me brought out in other people than about who I was,’ she writes.
From racism (both overt and covert) and tokenism to sexual assault, outdated course material and more, They Said This Would Be Fun viscerally recounts the everyday realities that disproportionately affect Canadian students of colour—and reminds us all of how much still needs to change.”
Religion and the Decline of Magic by Keith Thomas
Recommended by: Simon Deveraux (Associate Professor, History)
“This is one of the greatest works of cultural history of the last fifty years. It has been enormously influential and, although it’s more than 700 pages long, its very readable. It’s clearly argued and full of interesting anecdotal information.
It’s a wonderful book. When I was a grad student, I picked it up with a sinking heart because of its size and because I knew I had to read it, because everyone else had done so. But I enjoyed every minute of it, and still do. For all of the limitations in it that have been suggested since it appeared in 1972, it remains a superlative example of a scholarly book that can be read with pleasure by everyone.”
