Smaro Kamboureli - Avie Bennett Chair in Canadian Literature

  • Home
  • Research
    • Books
    • TransCanada Series
    • Writer as Critic Series
    • Recent Articles & Chapters
    • CCPPA
  • Literature Matters
  • Events
    • the endless need to begin: Re: Turning to the Canadian Long Poem
      • Presenters
      • Photos
      • Videos
    • Twenty Years of Writing thru “Race”: Then and Now
      • Registration
      • Program
      • Speaker Bios
      • Learn about Writing thru “Race”
  • Conference 2017
    • Registration
    • Accommodation
    • Program
    • Abstracts
    • Keynote Speakers
    • Plenary Speakers
    • Literary Authors Featured
    • Location
    • Hospitality Info
    • Organizing Committee
    • Sponsors
    • Call for Papers
  • TransCanada Institute (Archive)
    • Colloquia
    • Conferences
    • Publications
    • Projects & Workshops
    • Lecture Series
    • TransCanada Institute Literary Reading & Performance Series
    • Conferences (Archive)
      • TransCanada One: Literature, Institutions, Citizenship
        • Program
        • Featured Speakers
        • Reports & Recommendations from Research Cells
        • The Organising Committee
        • Audio
      • TransCanada Two: Literature, Institutions, Citizenship
        • Program
        • Papers
        • Audio
      • TransCanada Three: Literature, Institutions, Citizenship
        • Program
        • Who’s Who
        • Organizing Committee
  • Archived Journals
    • Line
    • Signature
  • Robert Kroetsch
  • Contact

About The Book

Is market-driven research healthy? Responding to the language of “knowledge mobilization” that percolates through Canadian postsecondary education, the literary scholars who contributed these essays address the challenges that an intensified culture of research capitalism brings to the humanities in particular. Stakeholders in Canada’s research infrastructure—university students, professors, and administrators; grant policy makers and bureaucrats; and the public who are the ultimate inheritors of such knowledge—are urged to examine a range of perspectives on the increasingly entrepreneurial university environment and its growing corporate culture.

Reviews

“Profit is a fine motivator, but it should never be the only motivator. Retooling the Humanities: The Culture of Research in Canadian Universities looks at what is propelling researches in Canadian universities today, hoping to bring Canada into the debate on the purpose of secondary education and its institution. An assortment of essays for those who want to see a better tomorrow for Canada’s colleges and universities. Discussing everything ranging from bureaucracy to public relations and much more, “Retooling the Humanities” is a scholarly discussion on the future of Canada’s research and education.” Library Bookwatch, May 2011

“We’ve heard much about the modern corporate university….at stake are issues that extend beyond the quality of degrees to no less than intellectual freedom and the social valuation (and very definition) of knowledge itself.  Enter Retooling the Humanities, in which 13 literary scholars reflect the ‘the culture of research capitalism’ currently directing the profession and study of the humanities…. As several contributors emphasize, basic science and any curiosity-driven field where knowledge can’t be readily patented are at risk. But humanist research faces particular challenges. To this end, the book sets out not only to offer a critical analysis of the situation, ‘but to explore the possibilities for “re-tooling” the humanities…. Retooling [the Humanities] seems geared to academics, administrators and  policymakers…such in-house discussion is badly needed.” Christine Wiesenthal, Alberta Views,

Publications (Archive)

  • TransCanada Series of Books
  •  Trans.Can.Lit (2007)
    • About The Book
  • Transnational Canadas: Anglo-Canadian Literature and Globalization (2009)
    • About The Book
    • Excerpt
  • Cultural Grammars of Nation, Diaspora, and Indigeneity in Canada (2012)
    • About The Book
    • Excerpt
  • Shifting the Ground of Canadian Literary Studies
    • About The Book
  • Producing Canadian Literature Authors Speak on the Literary Marketplace (2013)
    • About The Book
  • Trans/acting Culture, Writing, and Memory Essays in Honour of Barbara Godard (2013)
    • About The Book
  • Scandalous Bodies Diasporic Literature in English Canada (2009)
    • About The Book
  • Other TCI Publications
    • Retooling the Humanities
      • About The Book
    • Disappearance and Mobility
    • Discourses of Security
      • About This Special Issue
    • Writing the “Foreign” University of Toronto Quarterly (2013)
  • TCI Sponsored Publications
    • Citizenship and Cultural Belonging
    • Aptechka
    • Art and Cold Cash
  • Writer as Critic Series
  • Recent Publications by the TCI Director
  • Archived Journals

TransCanada Institute (Archive)

  • Archive Home
  • Colloquia
  • Conferences
  • Publications
  • Projects & Workshops
  • Lecture Series
  • Reading Series

Copyright © 2025