The University of Winnipeg is pleased to announce the official opening of the Centre for Research in Cultural Studies (CRiCS) and the re-opening of the Centre for Research in Young People’s Texts and Cultures (CRYTC).
Co-located in UWinnipeg’s Centennial Hall, the two cultural studies centres share a newly configured joint space funded through the Canada Foundation for Innovation’s John R. Evans Leaders Fund, Research Manitoba, and The University of Winnipeg. The renovation project, which began in fall 2017, was completed in the summer of 2018 and the finishing touches for the space were completed earlier this month. It features:
- A collaborative research and knowledge mobilization lab for workshops, cultural production, curatorial design and display, other forms of research creation, in-person meetings, and video conferencing
- A workspace for research assistants
- An open workspace for the research coordinators of the centres
- Office spaces for the centres’ directors
- A resource area
- An interview and data management room
- An office space for visiting scholars and postdoctoral fellows
Dr. Angela Failler
CRiCS is the initiative of founding Director Dr. Angela Failler, UWinnipeg’s Canada Research Chair in Culture and Public Memory. The Centre will, in turn, support Failler’s research programs, including her work on the 1985 Air India bombings and a SSHRC-funded partnership project called Thinking through the Museum. It will also serve as a hub for UWinnipeg’s Cultural Studies Research Group; provide a context for student training, workshops, and other knowledge mobilization activities; and raise the national and international profile of UWinnipeg as an outstanding place to do cultural studies research.
“Collaborative research space is critical given cultural studies’ commitment to interdisciplinarity and working with researchers from various other sectors and communities,” said Failler. “It also helps us meet the goals of UWinnipeg’s 2016 – 2019 strategic plan.”
This work will be carried out alongside the long-established CRYTC, directed by Dr. Mavis Reimer, Dr. Doris Wolf, and Dr. Heather Snell. CRYTC provides a focus for research in the field at UWinnipeg, houses the journal Jeunesse: Young People, Texts, Cultures, facilitates the development and management of collaborative national and international research projects, hosts visiting speakers and researchers, and maintains links with other research centres in children’s studies nationally and internationally.
CRYTC currently supports a number of projects, including the RISE (Respect, Inclusion, Safety, Equity) research program on gender and sexual diversity in education (funded primarily by SSHRC and led by Dr. Catherine Taylor) and the Six Seasons of the Asiniskow Ithiniwak: Reclamation, Regeneration, and Reconciliation (funded by a SSHRC Partnership Grant and led by Mavis Reimer), which aims to move forward the ongoing work of reclaiming Indigenous languages, histories, and knowledge among the Asiniskow Ithiniwak (Rocky Cree).
Dr. Mavis Reimer ©UWinnipeg, Cory Aronec
“Training the next generation of humanities and social science researchers is a significant component of the work of the centres, as the generous space allocated for students in the new configuration signals,” notes Reimer. “Researchers affiliated with the centres are committed, in particular, to mentoring graduate students and Indigenous students at all levels as they investigate and intervene in the social, political, economic, and cultural formations that shape our lives.”
For more information on the centres, please visit on CRiCS and CRYTC.
UWinnipeg gratefully acknowledges the funding we receive from the Government of Canada Research Support Fund in aid of our research infrastructure. Every year, the federal government invests in research excellence in the areas of health sciences, engineering, natural sciences, social sciences, and humanities through its three granting agencies. The Research Support Fund (RSF) reinforces this research investment by helping institutions ensure their federally funded research projects are conducted in world-class facilities with the best equipment and administrative support available. Please visit RSF.
