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Watch Humanities Professor and Director of the Institute for the Humanities at SFU, Dr. Samir Gandesha discusses his new book and a post-pandemic future in his May 2, 2020 interview: Europe in crisis and the specter of fascism (E330)

Remembering Mary-Ann Stouck (1941-2020)

Dr Mary-Ann Stouck, a long-time member of the English Department, died on April 4^th. Highly regarded by her colleagues and students, she will be remembered for her outstanding commitment to university teaching and for her personal qualities of intelligence, honesty, kindness, and “self-depreciating wit.” 

Mary-Ann and her husband David were a part of the 1966 generation of SFU teachers and scholars. A graduate of McMaster University and the University of Toronto, she epitomized the primary concern of Canadian universities for exceptional undergraduate and graduate teaching. She was a Professor of Middle English at SFU over 37 years and, as a colleague remarks, “she loved teaching Chaucer.” A former student, who followed her into the profession of English, remembers “A learned and warm-spirited guide who took students seriously, and prepared them to engage with medieval tales on their own—in, of course, the deeply, expertly informed historical, conceptual context she provided…. And she gave students the very special gift of learning how to hear Chaucer in his own voice, firsthand. From her instruction, they learned habits of scholarship, the delights that follow the discipline.” 

She was a knowledgeable and effective committee member in the English Department and a highly successful administrator.  Late in the 1980’s, the Co-coordinator of the Humanities Minor Program invited her to teach an occasional course on the ‘Saints.’ But when Paul Dutton became Chair of History, “she agreed to step in as Co-coordinator (from 1993-1995) and spear-headed the drive to create a major program in Humanities and set up our joint major and minor programs with other departments. It was thus Mary-Ann who put us on a course to departmental status, which happened under Steven Duguid.” She also played a key role in the Canadian Society of Medievalists in the 1990’s.

After her retirement Mary-Ann served the West Vancouver SPCA with great dedication and, reflecting her love of animals, wrote two children’s books: Jeannie Houdini, A Hamster's Tale and A Fine Winter's Cap. Also in the 1990’s she was appointed as a board member to the Leon and Thea Koerner Foundation, published Medieval Saints: A Reader (1999), and the extremely popular A Short Reader of Medieval Saints (2009) which is not just an abbreviated version of her earlier book but “a quick transfusion of Saints for the busy student and reader.”

Most striking was Mary Ann’s great courage during the final two years of her life, after she had been officially diagnosed as suffering from mesothelioma.  She continued to meet friends and to say her good-byes without a trace of self-pity. When breathing became more difficult for her and ventilators were in demand at hospitals and care homes, she turned to MAiD for assistance. She died at home with her family around her, with dignity and grace.

By Sandra Djwa (with Tirthankar Bose, Paul Dutton, Janet Giltrow, and Kathy Mezei)

Humanities Professor and Director of the Institute for the Humanities at SFU, Dr. Samir Gandesha, shared his reflections on Covid-19 for Lacan Salon. He also wrote an essay for "Splinters--short essays on the here & now" in openDemocracy. 

His recent and forthcoming books are: Spectres of Fascism: Historical, Theoretical and Contemporary Perspectives ; and Crossing Borders: Essays in Honour of Ian H. Angus, Beyond Phenomenology and Critique.

Access his author profile here

Professor Samir Gandesha will be a commentator on the panel discussion "Palestine: The Settlers' Town is a Strongly Built Town: Fanon in Palestine" at Birkbeck College on Dec 8th. He will also speaking at the "Authoritarianism Today" conference at the Centre Marc Bloch in Berlin on December 12th and will be presenting a keynote address at the "Adorno and the Media" conference at the Hochschule für Gestaltung in Karlsruhe on December 14th and talking about SFU's Institute for the Humanities as a model for critical public engagement at Vienna's Academy of Fine Art on December 16th. 

'Below the Radar' podcast - Episode 23 - SFU's Director of the Institute for the Humanities, Samir Gandesha, talks about the neo-liberal personality and the rise of authoritarianism around the world

Congratulations to HUM Professor David Mirhady for his July 2019 election as Vice-President of the International Society for the History of Rhetoric! He will succeed to be its President after the 2021 meeting in Nijmegen, the Netherlands, and host the 2023 meeting in Vancouver. Keep tuned!

On 21-22 March, Dr. Samir Gandesha will participate in an international workshop  on "What is 'New' About the New Authoritarianism?" organized by the Department of the Sociology of Law, Lund University, Lund, Sweden.

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Humanities Roundtable Discussion Series!  

Please join us every first and third Thursday of the month in a graduate student-led series of presentations on current themes within the Humanities. Our next installment "Chinese Culture and the Lunar New Year" is Feburary 7th in AQ 5118 beginning at 12:30pm. See our roundtable event page for more information. Hope to see you there!