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One of the aims of the Debrecen University Symposium series is to enhance the international reputation and recognition of the University of Debrecen (DE) and the city of Debrecen through scientific events related to the history of the University.
This year's Looking Back and Ahead: Exploring Uniquely Canadian Cultural Narratives - Debrecen University Symposium, 2024, the Centre for Canadian Studies at DE BTK AAI organized an international conference, which was attended by Canadian universities - McGill, Concordia, Ottawa, York, Sherbrooke, Northern Lakes College - as well as researchers from Albania, the Czech Republic, Croatia, China, Slovenia, Turkey and China, and several representatives of national higher education institutions, including UD, presented their research.
The workshop also provided an excellent opportunity for participants to learn about the latest scientific advances, the successes of the past forty years, ongoing Canadian research and international collaborations.
On the opening day of the event, François Lafrenière, Canadian Ambassador to Hungary and Helga Pritz, Consul General of Montreal, visited the University of Debrecen on their first visit to Debrecen. Elek Bartha, Vice-Rector for Education, presented the educational, training and research activities of the institution to the guests, while also describing the history and development of the university.
The 13 faculties of the University have extensive international links in all fields of science and higher education.
- Among these, the faculty of languages and culture has a special place, including the courses offered by the Institute of English and American studies. The fact that our students can also study in the field of Canadian Studies, and that our teachers and researchers have been doing academic work and achieving results in this highly prestigious field for decades, is also important for the university, the country and our Canadian partners," said Elek Bartha at the opening of the conference.
In his welcome address, Ambassador François Lafrenière, underlining the importance of Canadian-Hungarian relations, expressed his appreciation for UD's commitment to Canadian studies. Helga Pritz also praised Canadian-Hungarian relations and the role of the research projects carried out at the institution in the life of the Hungarian diaspora in Canada.
On the first day of the event, Judit Molnár, retired associate professor who introduced Canadian Studies in Debrecen, emphasized the importance of international relations, the diversity of Canadian Studies research fields and the variety of courses offered, which students are keen to take and which are chosen in large numbers.
Péter Szaffkó, who has also done a great deal to foster relations with Canada as former head of the Anglo-American Institute, summarized the development of cooperation between UD and a number of Canadian institutions.
Balázs Venkovits, the main organizer of the conference, the head of the Institute of English and American Studies and the Canadian Centre for Canadian Studies, together with his Montreal colleagues presented the project on the almost one hundred year history of the Hungarian community in Montreal, which will soon produce its first publication and a test version of an interactive map.
- Our predecessors have left us a strong Canadian studies programmed and centre, strengthened by international cooperation, on which we can build a secure future. This is what we are trying to do, as our latest interdisciplinary research project, in which researchers from the Department of Sociology and Social Policy of UD Faculty of Humanities, in addition to the Consulate General of Montreal and Concordia University, are involved, is a good indication of this - Balázs Venkovits told hirek.unideb.hu portal.
The director of the institute stressed that he wished to thank the University for organizing the event as part of the Symposium series, and the development of the central element of the project, an interactive map, could not have been possible without the support of the developers of the university's WAV centre.
The symposium continued with presentations by invited guests, including literary historian David Staines, political scientist Daniel Béland, historian Barbara Lorenzkowski, writer and former Canadian Member of Parliament Dennis Gruending, and Hungarian-born poet Endre Farkas and writer Anna Porter.
The second day of the conference was dominated by scientific presentations: eight thematic panels presented the latest research findings in the fields of literature, history, cultural anthropology, film studies and maternity research.
Zsuzsanna Lénárt-Muszka, co-organizer of the conference and adjunct professor of the North American Studies Department at UD, thanked the Faculty of Arts and Humanities and the University of Debrecen University and National Library for their support and said that the conference also presented several publication forums that could be attractive to participants, thus creating opportunities for further international collaboration.
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