Democracy, Diversity, Dignity

The Central European Association for Canadian Studies (CEACS), in conjunction with Comenius University, is pleased to announce its 6th Triennial International Conference. The conference will be held in Bratislava, Slovakia, from 12-14 October 2012. The following distinguished academics have accepted invitations to deliver keynote speeches:

• Professor Antonia Maioni, Department of Political Science, McGill University, Montreal, former long-time Director of the McGill Institute for the Study of Canada
• Professor Daniel Coleman, Research Chair in Critical Ethnicity and Race Studies, McMaster University, Hamilton
• Dr. Susan Hodgett, Senior Lecturer at the School of Sociology and Applied Social Studies at the University of Ulster (Northern Ireland), Director of the Canadian Studies Research Programme at the Institute for Research in Social Science.

The themes of the conference – democracy, diversity and dignity – were chosen as being concerns that reflect essential Canadian values, values that are also central to Canadas international image and are linked to a whole range of issues of particular relevance to the countries of Central Europe. Ethnic, political, linguistic and religious diversity, deeply rooted yet evolving democratic processes, a complex history of majority/minority cooperation and confrontation, international commitment – in these and many other areas, Canada has experienced a long development that can serve both as a model and as an object of comparison and critique. In this sense, the Canadian Space should be interpreted as encompassing not only the space of Canada itself (literally and metaphorically), but all those spaces outside Canada to which it is connected by historical, cultural, economic and political links as well as by innumerable personal ties.