Annual lecture confronts the uncomfortable parts of Canadiana
Guelph-based current events magazine Arts Everywhere held their annual Lecture On Being on Friday, Jan. 25 at the River Run Centre.
The lecture confronted Canadians with the often uncomfortable aspects of Canadiana, such as our online life and nation-to nation-relationship with Canada and its Indigenous communities.
Esi Edugyan reading and signing
Two-time Man Booker finalist and two-time Giller prize winner Esi Edugyan read from her critically-acclaimed novel Washington Black to begin the talk, showing Canadians the new generation of literary talent. The historical novel draws parallels with 19th century adventure novels from the point-of-view of a young boy born into slavery. She sat at a small table after the event to sign books and talk with audience members.
On new and traditional media and Canadians online life
After Edugyan, the keynote lecture given by Haroon Siddiqui focused on Canada’s dying legacy media (Toronto Star, National Post, Globe and Mail, and other local print papers) and the transition to the digital media landscape. Siddiqui, Editorial Page Editor Emeritus of the Toronto Star and Distinguished Visiting Professor at Ryerson University, touched on issues regarding the lack of regulation on Canada’s digital landscape, including the lack of taxes on American Big Tech giants like Facebook, Google, and Netflix. Siddiqui also pointed to the European Union as an example on how to regulate unruly Big Tech. The festival opened up the floor for questions allowing Canadians to ask Siddiqui about fake news, social media as a tool for social justice, and questions concerning the environment and the Wet’su’wen crisis.
Tanya Tagaq reads and performs
Inuit writer and musician Tanya Tagaq headlined the event and began by reading from her critically-acclaimed book, Split Tooth. Tagaq read a handful of poems and her favourite story from the novel, which featured a mythical retelling of a dream about a fox spirit and a blowjob. Following her reading, Tagaq performed her contemporary throat singing, which was entirely improvised. My personal favourite part of the performance was when Tagaq yelled “Colonizer!” repeatedly at a crowd full of middle-class, predominantly white, Guelphites.
__________________________________________________________________________________________________
Feature photo courtesy of Ryan Edwardson/Arts Everywhere Festival.