When Sune Hamparian heard that Dean of Arts Lisa Shapiro had invited students, staff and faculty to participate in a monthly reading-and-discussion group, the U0 student from Washington, D.C. felt it was too interesting an opportunity to pass up.
Certainly, the last place she had expected to find herself was across the table from Shapiro in a small meeting room, exchanging ideas about the readings Shapiro had selected.
“I was especially excited by the chance to interact not just with other U0 students, but with graduate students, professors and members of the wider academic community,” Hamparian said. “It felt like a unique chance to hear how those with completely different perspectives were thinking about the same text in completely different ways.
“McGill is a big campus,” she said. “But the Dean’s Reading for Perspective [offers] a way to feel more connected to the Arts community.”
A chance to make sense of ‘this crazy world’
Universities have long been places of communal gathering, where knowledge and ideas are exchanged in the hopes of creating a better world. The Dean introduced the reading group this year to create another space for dialogue and reflection on a range of texts and timely topics. Typically, about 15-20 people attend the in-person event.
“I thought engaging faculty, students and staff in a conversation on topics like the uses and abuses of both language and education, would help in building community as we make sense of this crazy world,” said Shapiro. “It’s been great to hear in the discussions the voices of faculty and students at all stages.
“We are in the middle of a period in which the world around us is changing rapidly, and reading a wide range of works helps me make sense of the current context and gain some perspective, especially as it relates to the impact on the University.”
Students, staff and faculty are encouraged to attend when they can. Discussion topics have included excerpts from a book discussing the foundational principles of universities and Orwell’s writings on the relationship between politics and language.
Reflecting on the Bouchard-Taylor Report
One recent meeting focused on Quebec in the context of the 2008 Bouchard-Taylor Report, the fruit of a commission co-chaired by McGill professor emeritus Charles Taylor that focused on “reasonable accommodation” of religious minorities in Quebec.
With almost 30 per cent of McGill’s students coming from outside of Canada, the reading group can foster better understanding of Quebec and, by extension, McGill.
“What stood out to me was how [the report] broke down the gap between widespread public narratives and the reality shown through data,” said Hamparian. “It revealed how many of the stereotypes about immigrants at the time were factually incorrect, yet still shaped public discourse and policy debates.
“That really stuck with me. It made me realize how much of today’s polarization and fear-based politics can be challenged through accessible and accurate information,” she said.
Among those participating in that session was Alain Farah, Professor in the Département des littératures de langue française, de traduction et de création. In addition to his academic work, Farah is a prominent novelist who won the Governor General’s Award for French-language fiction in 2022.
‘A necessary and important exercise’
“Taking the time to sit around a table, to meet with colleagues and students to discuss and reflect on our time based on the reading of several texts, is a necessary and important exercise,” said Farah. “It was a long-awaited wish to have further intellectual exchanges with my peers and I am happy that we can finally do it!
“These meetings confirm to me that our faculty can be a place of exchange where bridges are built between all of us who come from such different backgrounds. I found the meeting where we collectively discussed the Bouchard-Taylor report particularly moving because there was around the table a tangible desire to better understand Quebec,” Farah said.
Also present was Stéphan Gervais, Scientific Co-ordinator at the Centre for Interdisciplinary Research on Montréal (CIRM).
“Silos often exist within work environments, including universities, but these sessions have helped break down those barriers, allowing me to engage with diverse perspectives and voices,” Gervais said.
During the discussion, many present, including Farah and Gervais, shared their lived experiences in connection to the reading, allowing participants to connect not only on an intellectual level, but as people and members of a community.
“These meetings confirm to me that our faculty can be a place of exchange where bridges are built between all of us who come from such different backgrounds,” said Farah.
Shapiro said she looks forward to welcoming more members of the McGill Arts community when the conversations continue in the Fall semester.