CAUTG/APAUC Annual Conference, virtual May 30-June 2, 2021: Updated program, Information/Context, Registration etc.

As organizers of this year’s CAUTG / APAUC conference at Congress, we’d like to invite you to participate in our 2021 online conference. Attached find the most recent draft of the conference program for this year’s CAUTG/APAUC virtual annual meeting (as part of the Virtual Congress of Humanities and Social Sciences in cooperation with the University of Alberta). The program features a record number of exciting paper presentations, three keynotes, three new discussion sessions & workshops reflecting on EDID and our Association’s relationship to the Federation/Congress, & numerous award ceremonies including a Boeschenstein medal ceremony, a Dissertation award and two MA thesis awards.

First, we would also like to quickly outline the reasons why we – as CAUTG/APAUC Co-Program Chairs –think this conference supports our commitment to advancing decolonial scholarship and dismantling systems of oppression that target racialized and otherwise minoritized groups. We would like to continue to hold the conference as part of this year’s Congress for the following reasons (for further context see https://germanstudiescanada.org/2021/03/05/letter-to-the-membership-march-4-2021/): 

• It is essential to have live discussions this year to address how we can work together to confront racism and colonialism – including anti-Black racism. 
• “Northern Relations” is a topic that directly connects to racism and colonial violence experienced by Canadian Indigenous peoples, and with the keynotes by Lana Whiskeyjack and Susan McHugh we can address this important topic and combat the silence that often surrounds the genocide experienced by Canadian Indigenous peoples. 
• After cancelling our 2020 conference, this year’s conference offers a much-needed opportunity to present research and make connections, which is especially important for graduate students and junior scholars on the job market. 
• The CAUTG does not have the technical expertise to organize an online conference independently from Congress in such a short period of time, so Congress offers the only platform that enables us to hold our 2021 meeting as planned and take important steps towards social justice and breaking the silence together.

Further details on our meeting: We will also offer a welcoming booth/greeting table (open 24/7) for questions, our live lounge (open 9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.) for continuing discussion and mingling, and our Poster Hall (open 24/7) for asynchronous poster presentations by graduate students, newest research & pedagogy in Canadian German Studies, information on the host institution, city, and region, and more!

A call for graduate student posters will go out soon. All graduate students are strongly encouraged to participate and possibly submit a poster. If you want to publish a flyer in the poster hall on newest research publications, new pedagogy, travel programs, or other initiatives, please let us know.

A virtual conference, a first at the CAUTG/APAUC, is also a tremendous opportunity to expand the scope of the society. Please encourage colleagues and graduate students in Canada and across the world to participate. Registration provides access to not just our conference but also to all open events of the Federation and about 40 associations at Congress.

If you have not yet registered (https://congress2021.ca/registration), note that the early bird rate deadline is “prior to March 31” (rates are considerably reduced in comparison to an in-person meeting). Note that you need to register for the Congress and the association meeting to participate in the conference in any way and to receive the access links.

The CAUTG / APAUC is proud to announce that both graduate students and underemployed scholars are eligible to receive a Conference Registration Subsidy Award covering the full registration fee (at the early bird rate) generously provided by the journal “Seminar.” If you have any questions on this,  contact James Skidmore (skidmore@uwaterloo.ca) . For non-paper presenters to receive the full subsidy award we ask you to volunteer two hours at the conference welcoming table. This will allow you to participate in Congress and the CAUTG/APAUC conference for free. Reimbursements will be issued soon after the conference has ended. Please have a look-out for our volunteer call a bit closer to the conference, and let us know if you are able to volunteer.

If you are a graduate student who self-identifies as black or Indigenous, simply use the following link for a complimentary pass to Congress and our Association meeting which is https://fhss.swoogo.com/21-registration-inscription/register?reg_type_id=153497 (saving you the reimbursement procedures).

Finally, we still need many more session chairs, so please volunteer and send us an email indicating your interest to chair a session in general or a specific session that still needs a chair.
Don’t hesitate to send us an email if you have any questions. We are looking forward to seeing many you all virtually in Edmonton.
Stephan & Belinda
(Belinda Kleinhans (Belinda.Kleinhans@ttu.edu) & Stephan Jaeger (stephan.jaeger@umanitoba.ca),
Co-program chairs CAUTG/APAUC 2021