Impossible Projects 2018 Symposium

Impossible Projects Working Group 
Presents its Biennial Symposium

Challenging Barriers of Expression and Promoting Social Change

Interdisciplinary Conversations on Power, Activism, and the Academy

Border Graffiti Juarez, Chihuahua/El Paso, Texas, June 2018, Photo credits: Claudia Hoffmann

September 26-29, 2018
@ Catharine Parr Traill College
Trent University, Peterborough ON

This symposium is a site for interdisciplinary conversations about contemporary and historical power inequalities and the resulting challenges for scholars and practitioners studying and engaging with vulnerable populations and silenced voices. These conversations are particularly important in light of recent political and social developments that have changed both the conditions and the stakes of our research. The rise of anti-intellectual, anti-immigrant, and nationalist sentiment in the US and across Europe is a threat to open and evidence-based decision-making at all levels of society.  It is more important than ever, in this climate, to forge new alliances, deepen established research communities, and foster new ones.

In this context, the symposium will explore ways of harnessing our work to produce social change by challenging inequalities and analyzing the complicated relations of power brought into being by efforts to respond to marginalization through academic, artistic, and grassroots practices. It will create opportunities to bridge the gaps between academic research, art, and activism and actively think about how to better communicate the importance of what we do—not only to the public, but to ourselves as academics, across disciplines and with practitioners on the ground. By coming together in a multi-disciplinary setting that reaches across academic boundaries, we hope to forge productive and lasting collaborations across borders, fields, methodologies, and actors.

Questions we ask ourselves include:

  • How can scholars, artists, activists, and practitioners mindfully represent stories of marginalization?
  • How can we become and remain aware of the power structures within which we produce our work and our complicity in those structures?
  • How can we productively and critically address the re-affirmation of our own power and privilege as we do our work?
  • How can we negotiate our desire to represent marginalized and vulnerable populations and the impossibility of fully representing them?
  • How can we bring the necessity of failing into our classrooms and teach our students the limitations imposed on us by our own frame of reference?
  • How can other disciplines inform our own with regard to methodologies and frameworks that provide more complex perspectives?
  • How can scholars, activists, and practitioners collaborate more frequently and productively?

Organizing Committee:

Jenn Cole, Department of Women’s and Gender Studies, Trent University;

Claudia Hoffmann, Department of Humanities and Social Science, Clarkson University;

Sarah Kastner, Department of English, York University;

Jennifer Knack, Department of Psychology, Clarkson University;

Lisa Propst, Department of Humanities and Social Science, Clarkson University;

Annegret Staiger, Department of Humanities and Social Science, Clarkson University

Wednesday September 26
  • 4:30-5:00: Arrival at Scott House Junior Common Room, Traill College, Trent University
  • 5:00-6:00: Welcome and Introductions: Participants briefly describe their research
  • 6:00-6:45: Moderated Open Discussion: Interdisciplinary Capacities for Social Change. Moderators: Jenn Cole and Lisa Propst
  • 7:00-8:30: Dinner reception at The Trend, Traill College
Thursday September 27

8:30-10:00: Panel I: Expressions of Silences and Ways of Hearing. Moderator: Lisa Propst. Scott House Senior Common Room.

    • Anna Sheftel: Making Space for Socioeconomic Inequality in the Study of Memory of Atrocity: Intersectional Approaches to Memory Studies
    • Jenn Cole: Researching Fractured Histories: An Anishinaabeg Search for her Bundle in the Fallout
    • Annegret Staiger: Do Sex Clients Deserve Compassion? Client Self-Loathing and Stigma and how to Represent Them
    • Joanne Freed: Telling the Stories of Imaginary People: Narrative Focalization and Social Justice
  • 10:00-10:15: Coffee break
  • 10:15-11:45: Roundtable Discussion: Undocumented Immigration, Refuge, and Asylum – Advocacy and Activism across Borders. Moderator: Claudia Hoffmann. Fry Lodge 104.
    • Speakers: Nisha Toomey, Rita Chahal, Nancy Landa, Yes, and Aly Wane
  • 12:00-1:00: Lunch with talk by Michael Eamon, Principal of Catharine Parr Traill College, on the history of Traill. Kerr House Porch.
  • 1:00-2:30: Roundtable Discussion: Creative Work for Social Change in Nogojiwanong. Moderator: Jenn Cole. Fry Lodge 104.
    • Speakers: Nadine Changfoot, Hilary Wear, and Mindy Knott.
  • 2:30-2:45: Coffee break
  • 2:45-4:15: Roundtable Discussion: Storying Activisms in Nogojiwanong: Reflections on Intergenerational Storytelling as Methodology, Pedagogy, and Praxis. Moderator: May Chazan. Fry Lodge 104.
    • Speakers: Melissa Baldwin, Ziysah von Bieberstein, Melissa Hunt, and Mehrangiz Monsef
  • 6:30-7:30: Performance and Talkback: The Chemical Valley Project by Broadleaf Theatre at the Theatre on King, downtown Peterborough
  • 7:30: Reception at the Theatre on King
Friday September 28
  • 8:30-10:30: Panel II: Representations of Violence and Injustice. Moderator: Annegret Staiger. Scott House Junior Common Room.
    • Claudia Hoffmann: Border Artifacts, Undocumented Material Culture, and the Ethics of Appropriation
    • Lisa Propst: Suffering, Injustice, and the Complicities of Readers
    • Sarah Kastner: Making Suffering Matter: Late Liberal Scenes of Reading and Witnessing in the 21st Century
    • Ihor Junyk: What Good is History? Past and Present in the Age of Trump
    • Sabrina Swain: An Exploration of Poultry and their Keepers
  • 10:30-10:45: Coffee break
  • 10:45-12:15: Moderated Open Discussion: Stories of Silencing in the Classroom.
    • Moderators: Sarah Kastner and Annegret Staiger. Scott House Junior Common Room.
  • 12:30-1:30: Lunch. Kerr House Porch.
  • 1:30-3:00: Panel III: Performing Transformations. Moderator: Sarah Kastner. Scott House Junior Common Room.
    • Bang Geul Han: Through the Gaps between my Teeth: Using Art to Approach Intangible Injustices
    • Melissa Baldwin: This is Where the Poetry Comes Out: The Peterborough Poetry Slam as Resistant Space-Making
    • Julie Salverson: Sitting Still in the Trouble
    • Catherine Graham: Transforming Stories: Reflections on Community-Campus Partnerships and Performance as a Research Strategy
  • 3:00-3:15: Coffee break
  • 3:15-5:00: Film screening: Paywall – The Business of Scholarship, followed by Moderated Open Discussion with Michelle Young (film participant). Scott House 105.
Saturday September 29
  • 8:30-10:00: Moderated Open Discussion: Collaborating across Fields and Disciplines. Moderators: Jennifer Knack and Claudia Hoffmann. Fry Lodge 104
  • 10:00-10:15: Coffee break
  • 10:15-11:45: Panel IV: Charting Paths to Social Justice. Moderator: Claudia Hoffmann. Fry Lodge 104.
    • Priya Eimerbrink: “Engaging in Community Conversations:” Establishing a Framework for the SUDS of Hope Initiative
    • Jennifer Knack: College Students use Indicators of Depression on Mock Social Media Profiles to Form Impressions of Poster
    • Amy Smith: What about Us? Aging Concerns of LGBTQ+ Older Adults in North America
    • Laura Ettinger, Nicole Conroy, and William Barr II: The Voices of Late-Career and Retired Women Engineers: Challenges and Choices in Context
  • 12:00-1:00: Lunch and concluding discussion: Future Directions. Moderators: Sarah Kastner and Lisa Propst. Scott House Senior Common Room.

If you would like assistance to walk to or from the conference, please call Walkhome, at
705-748-1748 or Text 705-931-0032 during our hours of operation
Hours of Operation (September to April):
Monday to Friday:  7 p.m. to 1 a.m.
Saturday & Sunday:  9 p.m. to 1 a.m.

Broadleaf Theatre Presents: The Chemical Valley Project
About the show:
In Sarnia, Ontario, an Indigenous community of 800 residents is smothered by the Canadian petrochemical industry. Two sisters from Aamjiwnaang First Nation, Vanessa and Lindsay Gray, have dedicated themselves to fighting environmental racism and to protecting their community’s land, air and water.
A unique blend of documentary-theatre, playful projection design, and a charismatic script and performance engage and implicate audiences in The Chemical Valley Project. This urgent production delves into difficult conversations on Indigenous treaty rights, the nature of contemporary Canadian identity and values, and Canada’s notorious “Chemical Valley.”

Reviews and Buzz for The Chemical Valley Project:

NNNN – Now Magazine Critics’ Pick
‘Wong is sensitive to the idea of cultural appropriation, and so he lets the siblings talk for themselves in audio interviews; in a video clip, he even shows them the work in progress and asks for suggestions, which he then implements”

alt theatre magazine
“I left The Chemical Valley Project with a sense of the value in stories, and with a model for what it takes to really listen and come to understand others’ lived experience. I really do admire Kevin’s stage-craft, but more than that I respect his approach to the material. His performance is compelling because it is earnest, accessible, and very well told.”

Film Screening: Paywall: The Business of Scholarship (2018)

Directed by Jason Schmitt
Followed by Moderated Open Discussion with
Michelle Young (Film Participant)

Academic publishing is a $25.2 billion a year industry. To put that into context, the publisher Elsevier’s journal Biomaterials costs an average of $10,702 for a yearly digital subscription. That’s a lot of money to pay for access to publicly funded research. In fact, in 1995, Forbes predicted that the internet and digital distribution of scholarly research would level the playing field on publishers and make them obsolete.

Nothing could be further from the truth. The film, produced and directed by Jason Schmitt, dives into the need for open access to research and science, questions the rationale behind the $25.2 billion a year that flows into for-profit academic publishers, examines the 35-40% profit margin associated with the top academic publisher Elsevier and looks at how that profit margin is often greater than some of the most profitable tech companies like Apple, Facebook and Google.

“I was drawn to this documentary topic when I learned that public funds, which come out of taxpayers’ pockets, fund important scientific research that is locked behind paywalls and inaccessible to the general public,” says Schmitt. “As I learned about these issues, I was struck by the global energy and enthusiasm toward open access and the strong resistance to the movement by many of the world’s top publishers.”

  • List of Participants and Affiliations
    • Melissa Baldwin, Trent University
    • Ziysah von Bieberstein, Aging Activisms
    • Rita Chahal, Manitoba Interfaith Immigration Council
    • May Chazan, Trent University
    • Nadine Changfoot, Trent University
    • Jenn Cole, Trent University
    • Michael Eamon, Principal of Traill College
    • Priya Eimerbrink, University of North Texas at Dallas
    • Laura Ettinger, Clarkson University
    • Joanne Freed, Oakland University
    • Catherine Graham, McMaster University
    • Bang Geul Han, College of Staten Island, CUNY
    • Claudia Hoffmann, Clarkson University
    • Melissa Hunt, Aging Activisms
    • Ihor Junyk, Trent University
    • Sarah Kastner, York University
    • Jennifer Knack, Clarkson University
    • Mindy Knott, Theatre Practitioner and Community Worker
    • Nancy Landa, Mundo Translated
    • Mehrangiz Monsef, Aging Activisms
    • Steven Pedersen, Clarkson University
    • Lisa Propst, Clarkson University
    • Julie Salverson, Queen’s University
    • Anna Sheftel, St. Paul University
    • Amy Smith, Trent University
    • Annegret Staiger, Clarkson University
    • Sabrina Swain, Trent University
    • Nisha Toomey, No One Is Illegal Toronto
    • Aly Wane, Workers Center
    • Hilary Wear, Theatre Practitioner and Community Worker
    • Yes, No One is Illegal Toronto
    • Michelle Young, Clarkson University
  • Thanks to our Sponsors:
    • President, Trent University
    • Provost, Trent University
    • Vice President of Research and Innovation Strategic Initiatives Fund, Trent University
    • Dean of Arts and Sciences, Trent University
    • Catharine Parr Traill College, Trent University
    • Vice President of Research and Scholarship, Clarkson University
    • Dean of Arts and Sciences, Clarkson University
    • Department of Humanities and Social Sciences, Clarkson University
    • Centre for Canadian Studies, Clarkson University
  • Get in Touch, Connect, Speak Out:
    • Webpage https://impossibleprojects.clarkson.edu/
    • Facebook https://www.facebook.com/groups/impossibleprojects/
    • Twitter https://twitter.com/ImpossProjects