The Robarts Lecture series presents the work of distinguished Canadianists honoured for their career-long contributions to their various disciplines. These internationally recognized scholars from areas such as English, History, Political Science, Economics and the Fine Arts provide a synthesis of their original and thought provoking work on the most pertinent issues facing Canada and the world today. Since the inaugural Robarts Lecture by Fernand Oulette on April 22, 1986, fifteen of these lectures were given by holders of the prestigious Robarts Chair in Canadian Studies. Other lectures, the Distinguished Robarts Lecture Series, were presented by holders of Canada Research Chairs at York University. In recent years, the relaunched Annual Robarts Lecture in Canadian Studies and the Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies Talks continue to examine issues in Canadian Studies.
A Conversation with Kenneth McRoberts on Canada/Quebec & Spain/Catalonia (video)
by Kenneth McRoberts (York University) – Book Launch – 21 September 2022
Art, Culture, & Sovereignty Across Inuit Nunaat & Sápmi: Mobilizing the Circumpolar North (video)
by Anna Hudson (York University) – Robarts Centre 8th Annual Lecture in Canadian Studies – 6 May 2022
Funny not funny, here not here: Navigating the Canadian in contemporary popular culture (video)
by Jody Berland (York University) – Robarts Centre 7th Annual Lecture in Canadian Studies – 7 April 2022
From Away: How Teaching Americans Changed the Way I See Canada (video)
by Claire Campbell (Bucknell University) – March 3, 2020
Energy Democracy in Neoliberal Contexts: Lessons from Aotearoa, New Zealand (video)
by Julie MacArthur (University of Auckland) – February 3, 2020
What is Heritage? (video)
by Susan Ashley – Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies Talk – November 20, 2019
A Collaborative Turn: Youth-led Organizing & Communities of Care (video)
by Miranda Campbell – Sixth Annual Robarts Lecture in Canadian Studies – May 2, 2019
Why was Glenn Gould Canadian? A Japanese Perspective on the Pianist’s Mind (video)
by Junichi Miyazawa – Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies Talk – February 14, 2019
Theatrical Protest Before Decriminalization: The Gay Politics of John Herbert’s Fortune and Men’s Eyes at Toronto’s Central Library Theatre (video)
by J. Paul Halferty – Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies Talk – November 29, 2018
Canada@150: Where is the “Truth” in the Reconciliation Process (video)
by Bonita Lawrence – Fifth Annual Robarts Lecture in Canadian Studies – April 20, 2017
The Truth and Reconciliation Commission and a New Reconciliation Proclamation: How far have we come? (video)
by Deborah McGregor – Fourth Annual Robarts Lecture in Canadian Studies – April 28, 2016
Polish Adventurers in the Northwest Passage in the 20th Century (video)
by Marcin Gabryś – Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies Talk – 21 March 2016
Citizens of Empire: Education and Teacher Exchanges in Canada and the Commonwealth, 1910-1940 (video)
by Benjamin Bryce – March 7, 2016
Hackneying Hybridity? – Fending Off Foreignness in the Age of Globalization in the Narratives of M.G. Vassanji (video)
by Shilpa Bhat – Visiting Professor in Canadian Studies Talk – December 7, 2015
The People Who Led to My Ideas: Thinking About Black Canadian Studies (video)
by Leslie Sanders – Third Annual Lecture in Canadian Studies – April 17, 2015
Working for Care: Caring for Work (video)
by Pat Armstrong – Second Annual Robarts Lecture in Canadian Studies – October 3, 2013
Appendix (356K Excel file)
by Leah F. Vosko – Distinguished Robarts Lecture Series 2002 – April 11, 2002
Citizenship After Orientalism (51K)
by Engin F. Isin – Distinguished Robarts Lecture Series 2002 – March 21, 2002
The Digitalization of Knowledge: Tribal Ignorance and the African Diaspora
by Paul E. Lovejoy FRSC – Distinguished Robarts Lecture Series 2002 – February 7, 2002
“Canadian Movies, Eh?” (43K)
by Seth Feldman – Fifteenth Annual Robarts Lecture – April 5, 2001
The Writer’s Conscience: or why reports of the death of the author have been greatly exaggerated (36K)
speaking notes by Susan Swan – Fourteenth Annual Robarts Lecture – March 21, 2000
Theatre and Transformation in Contemporary Canada (160K)
by Robert Wallace – Thirteenth Annual Robarts Lecture – March 15, 1999
Defining Aboriginal Title in the 90’s: Has the Supreme Court Finally Got it Right?(121K)
by Kent McNeil – Twelfth Annual Robarts Lecture – March 25, 1998
Queer Nation? (58K)
by Terry Goldie – Eleventh Annual Robarts Lecture – March 4, 1997
Where is Here? Canadian Cultural Policy in a Globalized World (62K)
by Joyce Zemans – Tenth Annual Robarts Lecture – March 13, 1996
In our own Image: The Child, Canadian Culture and our Future (81K)
by Carole H. Carpenter – Ninth Annual Robarts Lecture – March 29, 1995
Politics on the Boundaries: Restructuring and the Canadian Women’s Movement(81K)
by Janine Brodie – Eighth Annual Robarts Lecture – March 1, 1994
1492 and All That: Making a Garden out of a Wilderness (56K)
by Ramsay Cook – Seventh Annual Robarts Lecture – October 14, 1992
English Canada and Quebec: Avoiding the Issue (110K)
by Kenneth McRoberts – Sixth Annual Robarts Lecture – March 5, 1991
Beyond the Artifact: Native Art as Performance
by Joan Vastokas – Fifth Annual Robarts Lecture – March 7,1990