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Canada Day 2026 - Resilient Communities

In recent years, resilience has become a buzzword in Western societies because of the increasing rise of governments inspired by authoritarian power structures and inclined to claiming the protection of its citizens against threats that either do not exist or have been invented as coming from opponents’ perspectives. Moreover, those regimes work with people’s fears, rewrite history, and redefine language to suit their needs. The resulting political atmosphere is often full of xenophobia, racism, and anti-elitist sentiments that polarize groups against each other. The “us vs. them” narrative is a frequent factor in such a regime’s search for scapegoats. Looking at the current situation in North America, we notice the rise of authoritarianism, on the one hand, and the need for resistance and community-building, on the other hand. While the United States and Canada have turned from partners to opponents and Canada has to withstand U.S.-American aggression on a national basis, resilient communities have always also developed intra-nationally. In Canada, Québec demonstrates this as well as, for example, minority cultures such as African Canadians, First Nations People, Muslim Canadians, and queer communities. 

The contributions to this Canada Day 2026 will look at selected communities in Canada in the course of its history – past, present, future – and will discuss their need for community-building, their resilience to do so, and their ways in which they do so. Contributions from all disciplines are invited – such as literary and cultural studies, historiography, political sciences, religious studies, gender studies as well as art history. 

Program

Please register via mail until June 29: birkle@uni-marburg.de