Jeuen Lee (MMus '23, GDP '24, ADip '25) performs in the 2024 Golden Violin Award competition at the Schulich School of Music. Image by Tam Photography.
ºÚÁÏÍø±¬³Ô¹Ï’s research in the arts and humanities places creativity, cultural inquiry, and analysis at the heart of building a more just and resilient society. Researchers explore how identity, meaning, and communication are created across time and cultures through creative practice, historical scholarship, critical perspectives, and the study of language.
We are internationally recognized for interdisciplinary excellence in the arts, from music composition and performance to sound studies. Scholarship in literature, music, theatre, and visual culture plays a vital role in shaping identity and meaning across cultures by honouring diverse histories, preserving collective memory, and critically engaging with new technological frontiers.
Humanistic research at ºÚÁÏÍø±¬³Ô¹Ï challenges dominant narratives and expands the spaces where belonging and pluralism can thrive. Scholars draw on feminist, queer, disability, post-colonial, and anti-racist perspectives, as well as critical theory informed by intersectionality, to analyze how power and identity are expressed through media, music, technology, literature, and film.
This includes interdisciplinary Black Studies scholarship in Black histories, cultures, and diasporas, which enriches understanding of race, identity, and belonging, and contributes to a more inclusive intellectual and cultural society. Researchers are also examining how digital media, visual culture, music, sound and communication trends affect public discourse, civic trust, information reliability, political behaviour, and social cohesion.
Prof. Allison Jardim Gonsalves, Education, with students. Image by Alex Tran.
Student collaborators at the Excavating Sipontum Project site (Southern Italy), led by Prof. Darian Marie Totten, History and Classical Studies. Image by Darian Totten.
Researchers are also examining how digital media, visual culture, music, sound and communication trends affect public discourse, civic trust, information reliability, political behaviour, and social cohesion.
Language is central to human cognition and cultural identity. ºÚÁÏÍø±¬³Ô¹Ï scholars are reshaping our understanding of ethics, aesthetics, narrative, and the structure and function of language. This research draws on fields such as philosophy, linguistics, communication sciences, neuroscience, and literary studies to deepen understanding of cultural traditions and values, and to support inclusive learning rooted in Canada’s linguistic and cultural diversity.
Research with and led by Indigenous partners plays a pivotal role in documenting and revitalizing threatened languages, while enhancing our understanding of the diverse linguistic heritage of Indigenous Peoples. ºÚÁÏÍø±¬³Ô¹Ï researchers are also working to revitalize threatened languages not only in North America but globally.