Concordia Philosophy Student Weekly Tabloid Vol. 37
I hope everyone is enduring their semester and not overwhelmed at this point. We’re just passing the 2/3 mark of the semester now, so it’s we’re in the last leg!
Usually around this time of the semester I can feel a bit burnt out and hoping it to be over already. A reminder that Concordia has mental health services, Zen Dens, workshops on reorienting yourself and tackling your semester if you’re lost… and last but not least, therapy dogs 🐶(but unfortunately not this week though) 🥲!
Take advantage of these resources because while your GPA and intellect matters, your body and wellbeing matter more. Taking time to care for yourself is also being productive, because a strained mind and body isn’t efficient.
Without further ado, here’s the 37th Volume of the Concordia Philosophy Student Weekly Tabloid, which brings you all the hottest and best events and relevant philosophy news.
This week, we tell you about:
- SoPhiA Election Results
- A memorial event
- The SoPhiA Review—final call for submissions
- Forces Avenir awards
- Our Sheila Mason Bursary
- A philosophy speaker talk
- A Champlain College Speaker Series
- People’s Potato emergency food baskets
- Various Concordia events
SoPhiA Election Results
The MA General Elections are over and the results of the elections have been posted.
I’d like to welcome our newest cohort of SoPhiA Executives for the 2023-2024 academic year! Mandates for these executives will begin on June 1st, 2023; however, they may be invited to our executive meeting and an MA retreat (for welcome, training, and a social) in the month of May.
Elected executives (or any student) are also welcome to participate in any of our executive meetings at any time! It can be good to keep tabs on what SoPhiA is doing.
2023-2024 executive list
- Academic Accessibility Representative: Erik Wawin
- Accountant and Budget Coordinator: Vacant
- ASFA Representative: Noah Birdsell
- Chair and Executive Coordinator: Vacant
- Events Coordinator: Lily Dauriac
- Inter-University Liaison: Sindy Ann Fernando
- Internal Relations and Faculty Liaison: Jennifer Francis
- Outreach and Communications Coordinator: Sebastian Pineiro
- SoPhiA Review Editor-in-Chief: Gabriel Bidner
- Sustainability and Inclusivity Advisor: Vacant
If you would like to contribute to SoPhiA or are interested in helping out in the vacant positions, please contact us.
Memorial event for Nicolas gaudreau
As most of you are aware by now, a student enrolled in the honours philosophy program passed away a few weeks ago.
The philosophy department is holding a memorial service for Nicolas Gaudreau on Thursday March 30th from 12-2pm in Multifaith and Spirituality Center in the Z-annex.
See a message from the department:
Dear philosophy community,
I hope this email finds you well. It’s with a heavy heart I share with you the sad news that Nicolas Gaudreau, an Honours in Philosophy student, recently passed away suddenly and for causes unknown. Nicolas was in his third year of study.
A special memorial gathering will take place in the Multifaith and Spirituality Centre, Z-Annex, 2090 Mackay Street, on Thursday, March 30th, from noon to 2 p.m. University Chaplain Jen Bourque will lead a moment of remembrance starting at 1 p.m. If you wish to speak at the event, please contact me [Departmental Assistant Candace Mooers]. Light refreshments will be served.
If you cannot attend, but would like to share a message of condolence intended for Nicolas’s family, we have a paper scroll (instead of a card) you can sign. Please drop by ER-633, 2155 Guy Street, weekdays (except Tuesday) from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. before March 30.
What: Memorial service for Nicolas Gaudreau
When: March 30, 12-2pm
Where: Multifaith and Spirituality Centre, Z-Annex, 2090 Mackay Street
The SoPhiA Review: Call for Submissions (deadline this Saturday)
Deadline is this Saturday, April 1st
Have your written a philosophical work that you’re proud of and want to show off to the world? The SoPhiA Review, SoPhiA’s undergraduate journal of philosophy, is now accepting submissions! Please consider submitting a paper or philosophical piece of art to our journal for this year. We accept art and creative works, so long as the philosophical content is substantial. Want to write and draw a short philosophical comic? Send it to us for publishing! This is a great chance to have your work peer-edited and published in an academic journal.
Submit here or to [editor-chief dot sophia at asfa dot ca]
Who: The SoPhiA Review
What: Call for submission of philosophical works
When: Deadline is April 1st
Where: Submit on our website
Why: Publish and publicize your work!
Forces Avenir: Student Engagement Awards
Are you hoping to contribute to your community as a socially conscious, responsible, active and persevering citizen? Do you have a project in mind which benefits for the good of your community? Forces Avenir are offering students awards of $2000-$4000 and one lucky winner up to $15,000!
Eligibility:
For Individuals
- Be registered as a full-time student (or recognized as such) for at least one semester during the eligibility period (April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023)
- No more then 35 years of age
- Cannot be a former recipient of a Forces Avenir university award in the Personality Avenir category
For Projects
- The project must not be carried out as part of a university undergraduate program worth more than three (3) credits
- The project must not take place in context of a course or a research program which is part of the requirements for obtaining a graduate degree
- At least 80% of the students involved in the project must meet the criteria for individuals
- The project application must focus on activities undertaken, completed, or accomplished during this academic year (April 1, 2022 to March 31, 2023).
- The project must not have already received a Forces Avenir university award in the Project Avenir category
Who: Forces Avenir
What: Student engagement awards
When: Start application by March 31st and submit by April 11th
See the Concordia website for more info.
Sheila Mason Bursary: Submissions due next Saturday!
Each year, SoPhiA provides our Sheila Mason Bursary, an essay-based student bursary, to one or more lucky students! We do not evaluate academic performance or GPA, but how well the student engages in promoting diversity and inclusivity in the philosophy or Concordia community.
The bursary is restricted to current undergraduate students enrolled in a major, minor or honours program in the philosophy department.
Those eligible for application include (as self-disclosed):
- Women
- LGBTQAI+ (lesbian, gay, bi, trans, queer, asexual, intersex, and others included in this umbrella)
- BIPOC (black, indigenous, people of colour)
- Students with disabilities
The application process typically includes:
- Personal statement, which must include a description of community involvement, how the individual is working towards creating an inclusive environment within philosophy, and an explanation of financial need.(500-750 words)
- Essay, on the topics of queer, postcolonial, intersectional, feminist, or race theory (1500-2000 words)
- Letter of recommendation (e.g., from teacher, advisor, employer, etc.)
- C.V. (resume), updated to include information pertinent to the award
Start thinking now about compiling your application and if you have a great essay on queer, postcolonial, intersectional, feminist, or race theory topics from one of your courses, that’s completely acceptable as a submission! Or you can write your midterm in one of your courses on this topic and use it as a submission.
See more information from our 2022 bursary, including previous year’s winners, on our Inclusivity Project page.
Stay tuned with more updates on exactly how and when to apply!
Who: Undergrad philosophy students who self-identify as: women, LGBTQAI, BIPOC, or disabled
What: An essay-based student bursary
When: Deadline for application is April 1st, 2023
Philosophy Speaker Series: Early Modern Theories of Racism
Dr. Julia Jorati, Professor of Philosophy in the College of Humanities and Fine Arts at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, will give a talk on Early Modern Theories of Racism on April 3rd from 3-5pm in LB 362.
“Early modern authors started theorizing about racism at around the same time when they started theorizing about race. Their theories are often surprisingly insightful and can help us gain a deeper understanding of racism’s origins. This talk will examine some of the most intriguing early modern analyses of racism from Britain and North America and reflect on the methodology of studying early modern racism.”
Who: Dr. Julia Jorati
What: Philosophy Speaker
When: April 3rd, 3-5pm
Where: R. Howard Webster Library, (LB) room 362
Champlain College Speaker Series: Plato on Dialectic, Being, and The Good
Champlain College is hosting a speaker series of undergraduate and graduate students in philosophy. Many of these speakers are your own peers, including Ashkan Haghighat, Sarah Fortin, and Dean Joseph!
- April 5: Angelo Fata (Champlain College, St-Lambert, McGill, University of Montreal): A Moment with Plato’s Parmenides
Talks take place in the Champlain College Amphitheatre from 12:30-2:30pm.
What: Speaker Series: Plato on Dialectic, Being, and The Good
When: Every second Wednesday of February and April
Where: Champlain College Amphitheatre (Champlain College of Saint-Lambert)
People’s Potato Emergency Food Baskets
Are you low on food or money? Don’t despair, People’s Potato is here!
People’s Potato is a nonprofit organization within Concordia that provides food for students and they are serving emergency food baskets throughout the term. (They also serve meals on the daily).
The emergency food baskets are on specific dates and they ask you to bring your own bags. First come, first serve.
Dates:
- Mar 31, 3:30pm
- Apr 14, 1pm
- Apr 21, 1pm
- Apr 28, 1pm
Check out their website for more information
Follow them on Facebook
Who: People’s Potato
What: Emergency food baskets
Where: Hall 7th floor
When: Various dates
Various Concordia Events
There are several events in the next week that may be interesting to philosophy students.
- Human-Centered Computing for Addressing Complex Sociotechnical Problems: March 27, 10am
- “In this talk, I present examples of my recent work on building and studying community-centered tools to empower the general public to engage in real-world sociotechnical problems such as urban planning and climate change and bring their ideas and comments for shaping future policies. I then describe a vision for expanding my research to further advance democracy, equity, well-being, and sustainability by fostering the inclusion and empowerment of marginalized populations. I close with a discussion of how my work can be applied to other sociotechnical problems, such as health informatics and learning sciences.”
- An Unrealised Kinship in ‘The Historical Age’: David Hume and Adam Ferguson on Politics and the Study of History: March 29, 4pm
- Racialized people on the front lines of environmental justice: How are racialized activists transforming environmental struggles?: March 30, 7pm
- “The environmental crisis affects all of us. However, both here and around the world, it harms racialized communities the most. This fact is often ignored in the work of white-dominated environmental movements. This conversation will explore links between environmental crises, (post-)colonialism, imperialism, and social and economic injustices. We will also explore inspiring initiatives led by racialized people to transform our relationship to the world, with humans and with non-humans. ”
- Worlding Tiohtià:ke/Montreal: Bridging Knowledges, Practices, and Beings: March 31, 8:30am.
- “The WPC 2023 Worlding Tiohtià:ke/Montreal colloque and exhibition ask three main questions: To what extent do current scholarship in global art histories, museum studies, and radical pedagogies demonstrate critical awareness of and engagement with, diverse ethnocultural communities who are at home in diaspora and/or unsettled racialized arrivants on unceded Indigenous lands? How can we understand Global South and Global North not as binary categories, but as overlapping networks and territories? How are these networks emerging in and being engaged within Montreal’s culturally and linguistically diverse art and cultural landscape?”
See more of Concordia’s events. Many exciting events happening this week in AI, sustainability, nature and everything else!
SoPhiA Book Library: Book Recommendation
Current highlighted book:
Nothing for you this week!
If you didn’t know, SoPhiA has a library of over 650 books! We have books from different domains of philosophy and some outside philosophy (psychology, business, political science, and even novels). We even have textbooks for some of your courses! (e.g., PHIL-210, 235, 260, 266, and more)
You can borrow a book for an hour, or even the whole semester. Just drop by our office or send us an email.
You can see our complete library of books online on our Librarika virtual library.
What: Books!
Where: The SoPhiA library (in our office space)
Do you know of any cool philosophy-related events in Montreal or the Concordia Community? Please let us know and we will advertise them here!
**Pictures are for representative effect only and aren’t actual photos of the events, products, or services we report on.
Students of Philosophy Association 