| CALL FOR PAPERS For a conference on "Linking research on Quebec's English-speaking communities to policy & action" May 7-8, 2012, 80e Congrès de l'Acfas, Palais des congrès de Montréal Organizers: Eastern Townships Resource Centre and Quebec English-Speaking Communities Research Network in partnership with the Équipe de recherche interuniversitaire sur la littérature anglo-québécoise and the QCGN.Rationale: Many publications focus on Québec's Anglophone population. A recent example is volume 36 of Journal of Eastern Townships Studies with proceedings of the QUESCREN/ETRC 2010 Acfas conference. Additionally, bibliographies by Brendan O'Donnell list thousands of theses, monographs and articles on the subject, classified into themes including history, literature, ethno-cultural communities, etc. Of these many publications, however, few take the approach of viewing English-speakers as one of Canada's two official language minority communities, and even fewer examine the question of communities' vitality (Bourhis, 2008). This is despite growing evidence that the English-speaking communities of Quebec are experiencing increasing poverty and social exclusion (Pocock, Warnke and Carter, 2010). This hinders capacity to create evidence-based development strategies in a context of community decline.Our conference aims to address the question of linking ESCQ research to policy development and action. It will look at both research that directly addresses community concerns, including vitality, and research that does not. It will address if and how the research may be used to enrich our understanding of community issues and help us develop strategies for community vitality promotion. It will also help us set priorities for new research including fruitful methods, partnerships and subjects.Conference goals: 1) To share the knowledge we have started building at our conferences at Acfas 2010 and Acfas 2011; 2) to continue developing "ESCQ studies" as a research field; 3) to promote community-university collaboration 4) to provide evidence that community and government decision makers need to develop policies and programs, thus helping enhance ESCQ vitality. Main conference themes: This conference explores the topic of linking research on the English-speaking communities of Quebec (ESCQ) to policy and action. The conference will explore questions such as:· How can formal academic research, often focused and specialized in fields such as literature, history or anthropology, be used to support English-speaking communities of Quebec and promote their vitality? Can community groups and policy makers (government, NGOs) locate the research and interpret it in meaningful ways for their work? · How can researchers respond to community needs and policy directions? · How can we collectively build participatory action-based research projects and transfer knowledge in ways that respect the needs of both researchers and community?· What possibilities and challenges are involved in building links between researchers, community groups and government?· What research infrastructure (research groups, bibliographies, websites, conferences, etc.) is needed to facilitate effective partnerships between the research, government and community sectors?The conference will examine these questions in sessions (including roundtables) organized by discipline such as education, history, diversity and immigration, economic situation, health and literature. There will also be a roundtable addressing the state of the research.To propose a paper or session: Researchers, professors, students, community organizers and policy makers are warmly invited to propose an individual paper (presentation) or a session grouping together three or four papers around a specific theme. Please follow these guidelines for each paper proposal:· Name, job title, organisation, email address of paper presenter· Text of approximately 400 words including the following elements if applicable: 1) subject of research; 2) methodology; 3) brief presentation of results; 4) short bibliography (max. 1 page) supporting the proposal; 5) brief biography (5 lines)Please send your proposal in electronic format by January 15, 2012 to the following address: etrc@ubishops.ca. For information, contact Dr. Cheryl Gosselin, Department of Sociology, Bishop's University, at cgosseli@ubishops.ca or Dr. Lorraine O'Donnell, Coordinator-researcher, QUESCREN, at lorraine.odonnell@concordia.ca.Evaluation of proposals: A scientific conference committee headed by Drs. Gosselin and O'Donnell will evaluate proposals. Authors of proposals retained by the committee will be informed by email in mid-February.Language of presentation: presentations may be in French or English. French is preferable, given that Acfas is a French-language venue. Authors presenting in spoken English will be requested to provide written titles and summaries in French before the conference date, and a written support (eg., PowerPoint presentation or handout) in French on the conference date. The conference organizers will be pleased to help provide English-to-French translation of conference material.Publication of conference proceedings: The conference organizers will be exploring options for publishing conference proceedings if there is an interest on the part of the presenters.About attending the Acfas congress: The ETRC/QUESCREN conference is part of the annual Association francophone pour le savoir (Acfas) congress, which brings together hundreds of smaller academic conferences such as ours. Acfas 2012 takes place May 7-11. Presenters will be required to register and pay entrance fees that give access to the entire congress. For information: www.acfas.ca. |