Minutes of CACLALS AGM May 28, 2012
Respectfully submitted by Anna Guttman
In attendance: Jesse Arseneault, Kofi Campbell, Jagrati Chauhan, Margery Fee, Susan Gingell, Anna Guttman, Helen Hoy, Kasim Husain, Sam McKegney, Ranjini Mendis, Philip Mingay, Janet Neigh, Malissa Phung, Mariam Pirbhai, Heather Smyth, Heather Snell, Susan Spearey, L. Camille van der Marel
1. Adoption of the agenda S. Gingell presented the agenda. All agreed to accept the agenda as is. No vote was taken.
2. Adoption of the Minutes of the 2011 CACLALS AGM S. Gingell apologized for the sketchiness of the 2011 minutes. M. Fee moved that the minutes be accepted. P. Mingay seconded. Carried.
3. Business Arising from the Minutes a)Insurance (item 9 from 2011 Minutes) Getting insurance for the association will be expensive, and it is unclear if it is needed. Insurance would be to cover any liability that would arise on the part of the executive. Discussion ensued. As the 2011 AGM minutes arrived very late, S. Gingell did not have adequate time to follow up on this issue. N. Van Styvendale will follow up. b)Adoption of voluntary $5 fee for Congress delegates to support local Aboriginal communities or initiatives (Item 10 from 2011 minutes) S. Gingell approached the CFHSS with the proposal adopted by CACLALS at the 2011 AGM, however the resolution was rejected. Reasons given include unease about the possibility of tokenism and the difficulty of splitting up the money. Discussion ensued. Congress should be prompted to think of other ways to give back. The need for community impact was emphasized. S. Gingell agreed to write again to Congress organizers to revisit this issue. H. Hoy proposed forming an alliance with other organizations to pursue this issue. c)Graduate Student Prize (Item 11 from 2011 minutes) J. Forsyth consulted with graduate students about whether or not there should continue to be a single graduate student paper prize. Opinion among grad students was divided. Discussion ensued. The current structure will remain as is.
4. President’s report Most news was covered in the last issue of CHIMO. Thanks to Mariam Pirbhai who worked tirelessly to make the conference run smoothly. S. Gingell raised the possibility of forming an Indigenous literature association. S. McKegney discussed the desire to have an organization separate from Congress, using indigenous methodology and to advocate to institutions to build the field, and invited those interested to a meeting or to contact him by email.
5. Constitutional amendments. L.C. Van der Marel moved that the amendments be accepted. Philip seconded. a)Proposed Amendment 1 (revoke requirement that president and secretary-treasurer be from the same reason) Carried unanimously. b)Proposed Amendment 2 (change of length of term for president and secretary-treasurer) The amendment will take CACLALS out of sync with the cycle of ACLALS triennial conferences. Discussion ensued. Carried unanimously. c)Proposed Amendment 3 (change of past president’s term) H. Hoy moved (as a friendly amendment) adding the position of college rep to the description of the executive . K. Campbell seconded. Carried unanimously as amended. d) Amendment four (change of regional representatives’ terms) Friendly amendment Ranjini – College rep should also have a two year term. Margery seconded. All in favour – passed. Amendment as amended. Passed unanimously.
6. Secretary-treasurer’s report R. Mendis noted, as a friendly amendment, that CACLALS is funded by the Commonwealth Foundation, not the Commonwealth Association, and that the launch for Literature for our Times was sponsored by ACLALS Canada. K. Campbell moved that the report be accepted as amended. P. Mingay seconded. Carried unanimously. P. Mingay suggested that there ought to be the option of a two year membership term. Discussion ensued. K.. Campbell suggested a three year term might also be added. M. Phung inquired about the pricing structure of multi-year memberships. S. Spearey moved that two year memberships be made available for the next two years on a trial basis. R. Mendis seconded. Carried unanimously. A. Guttman will follow up with CFHSS about modifying the membership options accordingly.
7. Election of Officers a)Election of president elect Call for nominations from the floor. None were received. Dorothy Lane is standing. S. Gingell shared the following information about in D. Lane’s absence: Dorothy F. Lane is Professor of English at Luther College, University of Regina, where she has held a faculty position since 1993. She graduated from Queen’s University in 1992, after completing a dissertation under Dr. John Matthews, on the island as site of resistance in New Zealand and Caribbean writing; she was also one of the first two Queen’s students to complete a comprehensive examination in “Commonwealth Literature.” Her dissertation was revised and published in 1995. She taught for one year at the University of British Columbia—including a senior-level summer course in her area of specialty—before moving to Regina. Her published research has focused on the intersection of discourses related to colonization and Christianization in texts from Australia, Canada, and South Asia; most recently, she has published and presented on postcolonial pilgrimage narratives from South Asia. During her first sabbatical she visited the Centre for Postcolonial Studies at Monash University in 2004, and participated in the “Postcolonialisms: Canada and India” Conference in Vadodara (India) in 1997; she has also participated in three ACLALS Conferences—in Colombo (1995), Canberra (2001), and Vancouver (2007)—assisting with vetting and organizing the programme for the UBC Conference. She also participated in EACLALS (1996) in Oviedo. At URegina, she regularly teaches senior-level courses and directs graduate work in postcolonial literatures and theory, and has also served as external examiner for three doctoral dissertations from the University of Madras. She is a long-time member of the editorial board for Postcolonial Text.
Dorothy has been a member of CACLALS since 1992, and has served on the Executive as College Representative. She also has served in a variety of administrative and leadership roles locally, most notably as President/Chair of the UR Faculty Association 2005-2008, and as head of the University’s English department 2008-2011. Her networks and connections include the Canadian Society for the Study of Religion and SHASTRI, of which she is also a long-time member. In the summer of 2000, she designed and led a study-abroad course in India, and is particularly interested in pedagogies of study abroad, cross-disciplinary initiatives, and transgression of boundaries between fiction and non-fiction—from exploration to travel/pilgrimage narratives. She is currently enjoying her second sabbatical, which ends June 30, 2012. M. Fee moved that Dorothy Lane become the president-elect of CACLALS. P. Mingay seconded. Carried unanimously. The membership expressed thanks to Dorothy Lane for taking on this important posituib. e)Election of graduate student representative (2012-2014) Nominations from the floor. None. Jesse Arseneault has agreed to stand. S. Gingell read the following information from J. Arseneault: Jesse Arseneault is currently a PhD Candidate at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario and a Research Associate at the University of the Free State in Bloemfontein, South Africa. Situated broadly in the burgeoning field of African Cultural Studies, his dissertation focuses on representations of animality in African cultural texts and the place of African nonhuman animals in global politics. He also has research interests in queer studies, critical race theory, violence, Marxism, postcolonial theory, and globalization. His forthcoming publication, “Queer Desire and the Men of the Nation: Reading Race, Masculinity, and South African National Identity in John Greyson’s Proteus,” will appear in a January 2013 issue of SAFUNDI. Outside of his work as a PhD student, Arseneault has also designed and taught a course for training incoming volunteers and counsellors with the Hamilton AIDS Network, at which he also served for two years on its board of directors.
Arseneault is entering his third year as a member of CACLALS. He has presented papers at its annual conference for the last two years, and was also the winner of its first annual graduate student essay prize in 2011. Moved by K. Campbell that J. Arseneault become the new graduate student representative. Seconded by A. Guttman. Carried unanimously. Thanks to J. Arseneault for taking on this role.
8. Proposal re: opposing outs at Library and Archives Canada M. Fee moved. H. Smyth seconded. Discussion ensued. Members were asked to write to the minister. Attention was drawn to the additional information on the CACLALS website. Carried unanimously.
9. Other business a) S. Spearey requested that it would be useful to include relevant undergraduate and graduate course syllabi on the CACLALS website. Text lists for PhD field exams were also posted on the website on the past and were useful to students. S. Gingell will follow up. b)D. Leahy dropped off a motion entitled “Moratorium on Quebec Tuition Increases & A Call for an Estates General.” Discussion ensued. L.C. van der Marel moved that the motion be accepted, but with an addendum emphasizing the association’s concern about rising tuition prices across Canada. S. Spearey seconded. Carried Unanimously. c)H. Hoy moved that S. Gingell be thanked for all her hard work. Seconded by K. Campbell. Carried. d)Attendees were reminded to submit the conference evaluation form.
10. Adjournment H. Smyth moved that the meeting be adjourned. A. Guttman seconded. No vote was taken. All presumed in favour!