Regional Spotlight

The location of the Annual Meeting in Montréal affords meeting attendees a special opportunity to see interesting sites and discuss political and cultural issues bubbling in this historical city. President Cynthia Fuchs Epstein appointed a local support committee comprised of Michele Ollivier, co-chair (Université d’Ottawa), Christopher McAll, co-chair (Université de Montréal), Ronald Babin, (University of Moncton), Paul Browne (University of Quebec at Hull), Jules Duchastel, (University of Quebec at Montréal), Marcel Fournier, (Université de Montréal), Jack Jedwab, (Association for Canadian Studies), Simon Langlois, (Laval University), Greg Nielsen, (Concordia University and Center for Broadcasting Studies), Amelie Quesnel-Valee, (McGill University), and Suzanne Staggenborg, (McGill University), to propose special panels, develop a program of local tours, prepare a restaurant guide, and write special articles for ASA Footnotes.

You have already enjoyed some of the special feature articles about Montréal that have appeared in this newsletter. Check the Tours section below for information about the guided tours and sightseeing opportunities being offered to meeting attendees. Look at the Regional Spotlight on the website for details on the interesting topics covered by this year’s spotlight sessions, including:

• Acadia: Maintaining Cultural Identity and Transnationalism
• Canadian Social Movements in Comparative Perspective
• Cities, Space, and State Restructuring
• The Greatest Divide? Health Care in Canada and the United States
• Social Capital and Policy-Making in Canada
• Bread
• Circuses

The ASA has partnered with the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association (CSAA) and the l’Association canadienne des sociologues et anthropologues de langue française (ACSALF) to develop a set of co-sponsored sessions:

• Doing Sociology in Quebec: Influences and Contributions (co-sponsored with ACSALF)
• Escape to Canada or Canadian Experience as Cautionary Tale: Making Sense of Conflicting American Perceptions of Canadian Society (co-sponsored with CSAA)
• First Nations, Immigration, and Diversity in Quebec (co-sponsored with ACSALF)
• Myths and Realities: Canadian Health Care in Practice (co-sponsored with CSAA)

  And, don’t forget to look for the local restaurant guide prepared by Ollivier Riopel, Claudio Del Grande, and Christopher McAll, all from Université de Montréal. Each registrant will receive a copy of that guide in the Final Program packet distributed on-site in Montréal.