Research & Publications
Main fields of interest and areas of expertise: Postcolonial, Canadian, and African literatures in English.
Laura Moss is a specialist in Canadian literature, African literatures, postcolonial theories, and environmental art. Her research interests lie in four intersecting categories: 1. literary theories of environmentalism, postcolonialism, diaspora, nationalism, and multiculturalism, 2. intersection of art and public policy, 3. literary history, 4, art and activism.
Books | Selected Articles & Chapters | Editorials | Invited Lectures
Books:
Leaving the Shade of the Middle Ground The Poetry of F.R. Scott. Selected and Edited by Laura Moss with a scholarly Introduction by Laura Moss and an Afterword by George Elliot Clarke, Wilfrid Laurier University Press Poetry Series, Waterloo: WLUP. http://www.wlu.ca/press/Catalog/moss-scott.shtml |
Canadian Literature in English: Texts and Contexts, Vol. 2. Laura Moss and Cynthia Sugars. Pearson Education Canada, 2009. 768 pp. http://vig.pearsoned.ca:8081/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0321494008-FEA,00.html |
Canadian Literature In English: Texts and Contexts, Vol. 1. Laura Moss and Cynthia Sugars. Pearson Education Canada, 2009. 592 pp. http://vig.pearsoned.ca/catalog/academic/product/0,1144,0321313623,00.html Canadian Literature in English:Texts and Contexts is a comprehensive, multi-genre Canadian literature text that strives to give a broad picture of the history of English-Canadian poetry, short fiction, pamphlets, nonfiction, and essays, ranging from the sixteenth century to the present. The text includes important writings by canonical and non-canonical, literary and “non-literary” Canadian authors for each of seven time periods, and combines these with visual materials and contextual pieces such as political speeches, government documents, maps, photographs, paintings, newspaper articles, cartoons, autobiographical statements, songs, and popular culture texts. Introductory essays begin each chronological section, providing historical, cultural, and literary context. |
Is Canada Postcolonial? Unsettling Canadian Literature. Laura Moss, ed. Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2003. 376 pp. (2nd printing 2004) http://www.wlu.ca/~wwwpress/cgi-bin/wlup.cgi?page=Catalog/moss.html&cart_id=687619_21154 |
Frances Brooke, The History of Emily Montague, Critical Edition, Laura Moss, ed. Canadian Critical Editions Series, Tecumseh Press, 2001. |
Selected Articles, Chapters, Interviews, and Stuff:
- “Modified Seeds and Morphemes: Going from Farm to Page.” The Other Side(s) of 150. Ed. Sarah Henzi and Linda Morra. Waterloo : Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2021. 66-79. Collection awarded the 2021 Prize for the Best Edited Collection in Canadian Studies by the Canadian Studies Network.
- “Infinitely Surveying CanLit.” Surveying CanLit: A Presentation-Interview Panel on Course Syllabi. Edited by Manina Jones and Laura Moss. Canadian Literature web, canlit.ca. (2020).https://canlit.ca/resources/special-projects/surveying-canlit-a-presentation-interview-panel-on-course-syllabi/#LauraMoss
- “25 Ways to Increase Your Chances at Publication.” Inside Higher Ed. Opinion. May 2019. https://www.insidehighered.com/advice/2019/05/15/how-increase-your-chances-getting-your-work-published-scholarly-journal-opinion.
- “On Not Refusing CanLit” Refuse: CanLit in Ruins, Ed. Hannah McGregor, Julie Rak, and Erin Wunker. Toronto: Book*hug, Fall 2018. 146-148.
- CanLit Guides: The 2018 Collection. Co-edited by Kathryn Grafton, Ceilidh Hart, Laura Moss, and Shannon Smyrl. 16 new, peer reviewed chapters. http://canlitguides.ca/chapter-categories/2018collection/ (Awarded the 2019 Scholarly and ResearchCommunication Journal Innovation Award).
- “On Refugees, Running, and the Politics of Writing: An Interview with Lawrence Hill.” Laura Moss, Brendan McCormack, and Lucia Lorenzi. Canadian Literature 232 (Winter 2017): 11-27.
- With Cynthia Sugars. “Performing Editors: Juggling Pedagogies in the Production of Canadian Literature in English: Texts and Contexts.” Editing as Cultural Practice: Institutional Formations, Collaboration, and Literatures in Canada, Ed. Dean Irvine and Smaro Kamboureli Waterloo: WLUP. (2016): 169-187.
- “‘Beyond the Hungry Edge’: An Interview with Daphne Marlatt.” Laura Moss and Gillian Jerome. Studies in Canadian Literature1 (2016): 248-65.
- “From haa-huu-pah to the Decolonization Imperative: Responding to Contemporary Issues through the TRC.” Learn, Teach, Challenge: Approaching Indigenous Literatures. Ed. Deanna Reder and Linda M. Morra. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier UP, 2016. 429-35.
- “Canadian Postcolonial Studies.” The Encyclopedia of Postcolonial Studies. Ed. Sangeeta Ray and Henry Schwarz. Oxford: Wiley-Blackwell, 2016. 232-242.
- “‘A Science of Uncertainty’: Bioethics, Narrative Competence, and Turning to the ‘What If’ of Fiction.” Studies in Canadian Literature 40.2 (2015): 1-20.
- “Pipelines, Decomposition, and Poetic Activism.” Canadian Literature 218. (Fall 2013) 140-143. (review of Decomp by Stephen Collis and Jordan Scott and The Enpipe Line: 70,000 kilometers of poetry written in resistance to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal by The Enpipe Collective.) (http://canlit.ca/reviews/pipelines_decomposition_and_poetic_activism
- “Measuring Canadian Support on the “Literary Assembly Line.” Canadian Women in the Literary Arts. (http://cwila.com/wordpress/measuring-canadian-support-on-the-literary-assembly-line/). (July 2013)
- “Is Canada Postcolonial? Re-Asking Through ‘The Forgotten’ Project.” TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies, (Spring 2012, 27). 47-65.
- “The Multinational’s Song: The Global Reception of M.G. Vassanji.” Global Reception of Post-liberalization Indian Novels in English. Ed. Aysha Viswamohan. New Delhi: Anthem-Wimbledon, 2012.
- “Song and Dance No More: Tracking Canadian Multiculturalism Over Forty Years.” Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 59, 2011. 35-57.
- “Hesitating Readers: When The Turn of the Screw Meets Disgrace in the Classroom.” English Studies in Canada 35/ 2-3. (September 2009): 129-144.
- “Nice Audible Crying: Editions, Testimonies, and Country of My Skull.” Research in African Literatures 37. 4 (Winter 2006). 85-104.
- “Between Fractals and Rainbows of Truth: Criticizing Canadian Criticism.” Tropes and Territories: Short Fiction, Postcolonial Readings, Canadian Writing in Context, ed. Marta Dvorak & W.H. New (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP) 2007: 17-32.
- “Margaret Atwood: Branding an Icon Abroad.” Margaret Atwood: The Open Eye. John Moss and Tobi Kozakewich, eds. Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press (2006): 19-33.
- “Reconsecrating Hybrid Ground in Wole Soyinka’s The Beatification of Area Boy.” S. Izevbaye Festschrift. Remi Raji, ed, Ibadan: Bookcraft, 2006.
- “The Politics of Everyday Hybridity: Zadie Smith’s ‘White Teeth.” Wasafiri. 39 (Summer 2003): 11-18.
- “Is Canada Postcolonial? Introducing the Question,” Is Canada Postcolonial? Unsettling Canadian Literature. Laura Moss, ed. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, (2003): 1-26.
- “Car-Talk: Interview With Peter Carey” Ariel: A Review of International English Literature. University of Calgary 32. 3 (Summer 2001): 1-14.
- “Colonialism and Postcolonialism in The History of Emily Montague,” Frances Brooke The History of Emily Montague, Scholarly Edition, Laura Moss, ed. Canadian Critical Editions Series, Tecumseh Press, (2001): 451-459. (see Books #2)
- “‘Forget those damnfool realists!’ Salman Rushdie’s Self-Parody as the Magic Realist’s Last Sigh.” Ariel : A Review of International English Literature.University of Calgary 29. 3 (October 1998): 121-139. Reprinted in Twentieth-Century Literary Criticism 110, Ed. Linda Pavlovski, Bloomfield: Gale Group, 2001: 231-238.
- “Can Rohinton Mistry’s Realism Rescue The Novel?” Postcolonizing the Commonwealth: Studies in Literature and Culture. Rowland Smith, ed. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press (2000): 157-165.
- “’The Plague of Normality’: Reconfiguring Realism in Recent Postcolonial Theory.” Jouvert North Carolina State University 5.1. (Fall 2000) (http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/index.htm ). Reprinted in Twentieth Century Literary Criticism 146 Ed. Linda Pavlovski, Bloomfield: Gale Group, 2004:154-162 (http://social.chass.ncsu.edu/jouvert/index.htm).
- “The Re-Emergence of a Nation: Ian Wedde’s Symmes Hole. ” The Frontenac Review. 12 (1995): 52-66.
- “Perceptual Differences: A Comparative Study of the Theories of Ngugi wa Thiongo and Chinua Achebe,” In-Between: Essays and Studies in Literary Criticism. University of New Delhi 2.1 (1993): 29-35.
Editorials for Canadian Literature:
- Canadian Literature 241 (2020), Reading, Writing, and Listening Issue, Moss, Editor; Editorial “111 Days of COVID and Reading.” 6-15. (190 pages) https://canlit.ca/article/111-days/
- 60th Anniversary Issue. Canadian Literature 239 (2020), L. Moss, Editor; Editorial “A Diamond Anniversary.” 6-9. (190 pages). https://canlit.ca/article/a-diamond-anniversary/
- Lost and Found Issue Canadian Literature 236 (Spring 2018), L. Moss, Editor; Editorial, “An Editor’s Advice: How to Increase Your Chances of Publication in an Academic Journal.” 6-13. (192 pages). /https://canlit.ca/article/an-editors-advice-how-to-increase-your-chances-of-publication-in-an-academic-journal/
- Literary History Issue. L. Moss, Editor. Canadian Literature 233 (Spring 2017); Editorial “Business Arising.” 6-9. (https://canlit.ca/article/literary-history-business-arising/)https://canlit.ca/article/literary-history-business-arising/
- Meanwhile, Home Issue. L. Moss, Editor. Canadian Literature 232 (Winter 2017); Editorial, Laura Moss and Brendan McCormack. “Meanwhile, Home: Tinder-Dry Conditions.” 6-9 (https://canlit.ca/article/meanwhile-home-tinder-dry-conditions/) https://canlit.ca/article/meanwhile-home-tinder-dry-conditions/
- “Emerging Scholars 2” Double Issue. L. Moss, Editor. Canadian Literature 228-9 (Spring/Summer 2016); Editorial, “Notes from a Can Lit Killjoy.” 6-17. https://canlit.ca/article/notes-from-a-canlit-killjoy1/
- Radio, Film, and Fiction Issue. L. Moss, Editor. Canadian Literature 225 (Summer 2015); Editorial, L. Moss. “Canadian Literature 6.0.” 6-10. (https://canlit.ca/article/canadian-literature-6-0/)
- “Tracking CanLit” Issue, L. Moss, Editor. Canadian Literature 220 (Spring 2014). Editorial: “Auditing, Counting, and Tracking CanLit.” 6-15. http://canlit.ca/editorials/22037
- “Contested Migrations” Issue, L. Moss, Editor. Canadian Literature 219 (Winter 2014). Editorial: “Sustaining the Humanities.” 6-13. http://canlit.ca/editorials/21965
- “Gendering the Archives” Special Issue, L. Moss, Editor. Canadian Literature 217 (Summer 2013). Editorial “Intro:Guy-Guys, CWILA, and Going Down the Hall to the Archives.” 6-16. http://canlit.ca/editorials/22004
- “Queerly Canadian” Special Issue. Guest Co-Editor (with Janice Stewart). Canadian Literature 205, (Summer 2010). http://canlit.ca/issues/205
- “50th Anniversary Interventions” Special Issue. Section Editor, “Interventions Section.” Canadian Literature 204 (Spring 2010), 103-160; “Introduction: Generous and Grounded Connections.” “50th Anniversary Interventions” Special Issue. Canadian Literature 204 (Spring 2010), 103-108. http://canlit.ca/issues/204
- “Canada and its Discontents” Issue, Acting Editor; Guest Editor, Smaro Kamboureli. Canadian Literature 201 (Summer 2009). http://canlit.ca/issues/201
- Editorial, “Strategic Cultural Nationalism.”Canadian Literature 200. Strategic Nationalism Issue (Spring 2009). 6-14. http://canlit.ca/issues/200
- Editorial. “Playing the Monster Blind? The Practical Limitations of Updating the Canadian Canon.” Canadian Literature 191 (Winter 2006): 6-10. http://canlit.ca/issues/191
- Editorial. “Beyond the Belly: Canadian Literature 186 (Fall 2005): 6-8. http://canlit.ca/issues/186
- Editorial. “Canada Reads.” Canadian Literature 182 (Fall 2004): 6-10. http://canlit.ca/issues/182
Editorial Collaborations with Guest Editors of Canadian Literature
- Canadian Literature 240 (2020), Decolonial Revisions of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror L. Moss, Editor; with Guest Editors Lou Cornum and Maureen Moynagh. (190 pages) https://canlit.ca/full-issue/?issue=240
- Canadian Literature 238 (2019), Rescaling CanLit: Global Readings. Issue. L. Moss, Editor; with Guest Editor Eva Darias-Beautell.
- “Concepts of Vancouver: Media, Text, Art.” Special issue. L. Moss, Editor, with Guest Editors Gregory Betts and Julia Polyck-O’Neill. Canadian Literature 234 (Summer 2017).
- “Indigenous Literature and the Arts of Community” Special Issue. L. Moss, Editor, with Guest Editors Sam McKegney and Sarah Henzi. Canadian Literature 230-1 (Fall/Winter 2016).
- “Asian Canadian Critique: Beyond the Nation” Special Issue. L. Moss, Editor, with Guest Editors Christopher Lee and Christine Kim. Canadian Literature 227 (Winter 2015).
- “Of Borders and Bioregions” Special Issue. L. Moss, Acting Editor, with Guest Editors Robert Thacker and Anne Kaufman. Canadian Literature 218 (Autumn 2013).
- “Canada and its Discontents” Issue. L. Moss, Acting Editor, with Guest Editor Smaro Kamboureli. Canadian Literature 201 (Summer 2009).
Invited Lectures/ Plenaries/ Presentations:
- ‘The intoxicated octopus and the garlic-kissed prawn’: Geoffrey Davis in Canada.” Memorial Tribute. Association of Commonwealth Literature and Languages (ACLALS Triennial). Auckland, New Zealand. July 2019.
- “Modified Seeds and Morphemes: Going from Farm to Page.” The Centre for Creative Writing and Oral Culture and the Centre for Globalization Studies, University of Manitoba, October 2017.
- “How Do We Study Cultural Institutions?” Cultural Institutions and Cultural Power Workshop. Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada. October 2015.
- “Past, Present, and Future: Indigeneity, Multiculturalism, and Environmental Citizenship in Canadian Literature.” University of La Laguna, Tenerife, Spain, April 27-28, 2015. (Invited, Visiting Lecturer, 10 hour intensive class).
- “Postcolonialism, Multiculturalism, and Rohinton Mistry’s ‘Squatter.’” University of Huelva, Spain. January 2015. (Invited, Visiting Lecturer).
- “‘A Science of Uncertainty’: Bioethics and the Possibilities of Fiction as Case Study.” School of English, University of Leeds, England. November, 2014. (Invited Presentation).
- “Green Grass, Running Water and Intertextuality.” University of Zagreb, Croatia. October 2014. (Invited, Visiting Lecturer)
- “Rethinking the Humanities as a Thriving Ecology, Or, How Can We Better Sustain the Ecosystem of Graduate Training?” Sustainability, Mentorship, and Intellectual Production: The Present and Future of Emerging Scholars in Canadian Literary Studies Think Tank. TransCanada Institute, University of Guelph. April 2013. (Invited workshop participant)
- “Performing Editors: Juggling Pedagogies in the Production of a ‘Canadian’ Literature.” Co-presented with Cynthia Sugars. Editing as Cultural Practice: Institutional Formations, Collaboration, and Literatures in Canada: Editing Modernism in Canada and TransCanada Institute Workshop. TransCanada Institute, University of Guelph. October 20-22, 2011. (Invited workshop participant)
- “Is Canada Postcolonial? Re-Asking the Question A Decade Later” (plenary). Post/Kolonialismus neu denken, Rethinking Post/Colonialism, Repenser le post/colonialism. Gesellschaft für Kanada-Studien/ Association for Canadian Studies in German-speaking countries. Grainau, Germany, February 2011.
- The Dappled Foal of National Literatures in Canada” (plenary). Flogging a Dead Horse?: Are National Literatures Dead? Conference, University of Victoria, Wellington New Zealand. December 2008.
- “Canada v. Australia: Multiculturalism In Policy and Arts Practice.” Citizenship and Globalisation Seminar Series, Deakin University, Melbourne. Australia, April, 2007.
- “Canadian Literature Today.” School of English, Media, Communication Seminar Series, UNSW, Sydney Australia, May 2007.
- “Is the National Postcolonial?” (plenary panel). Association of Studies in Australian Literatures (ASAL), University of Queensland, July 2007.
- “’The Quotidian Is Where It’s At’: Portraits of Diasporic Everydayness.” Reading Postcolonial Short Fiction: Tropes and Territory Conference, Sorbonne Nouvelle, Paris, France, 21-23 April 2005.
- “Is Canada Postcolonial?” Canadian Studies Speakers Series, Trent University, Peterborough Ontario, October 27, 2003. (Reviewed by Maggie Quirt, “Is Canada Postcolonial? On Hyphens and Hybridity,” Frostline (Winter 2003/4):7).
- “Framing Hybridity: From Contamination to Celebration and Beyond.” Transculturalisms Symposium in the Transculturalisms Research Project, International Council for Canadian Studies, the University of British Columbia, February 2002.
- “From Death and The King’s Horseman to the Beatification of Area Boy : Reconsecrating Hybrid Ground.” Pre, Post, and Neo-Imperialism: Wole Soyinka and Contemporary Theatre Conference, University of Toronto, Graduate Centre for the Study of Drama, Oct 20, 2001.
Conference Paper Presentations
- “Experiential Learning: Talking Circle.” ACLALS, Toronto Metropolitan University. July 2022
- “Roundtable: Artists, Activists, Academics, and ALECC,” Saskatoon, June 2022
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“Doing Magic at the University: Roundtable” ACCUTE, Montreal, May 2022.
- ”Douglas Coupland’s Vortex: The White Saviour Meets the Anthropocene.” Association of Commonwealth Literature and Languages (ACLALS Triennial). Auckland, New Zealand. July 2019.
- “Plastic Bag and Vortex, Or, Living With Waste.” The Poetics and Ethics of “Living With”: Indigenous, Canadian and Québécois Feminist Production Today, Banff AB, October 2018.
- “Infinitely Surveying CanLit.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English Conference (ACCUTE). University of Regina, Regina, May 2018.
- “Modified Seeds and Morphemes: Going from Farm to Page.” Mikinaakominis / TransCanadas: Literature, Justice, Relation University of Toronto, Toronto. May 2017.
- “Untold Environments: From Farming Long Poems to Docudramas of Agribusiness.” Untold Stories University College Dublin, Ireland. April 2017.
- “What Stories Float Afar?: A Completely Fictional Correspondence.” Association of Commonwealth Literature and Languages (ACLALS Triennial). Stellenbosch, South Africa. July 2016.
- “What Stories Float Afar? Disassembling Expectations in Global Literature.” Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference (CACLALS). University of Calgary, Calgary. May 2016.
- “‘A Science of Uncertainty’: Bioethics in Bloodletting and Miraculous Cures.” Récit littéraire, corps biomédical, citoyenneté / The Literary Narrative, the Biomedical Body, and Citizenship Conference. Université de Limoges, France. December 2014 (due to illness, paper delivered in absentia via electronic distribution to all conference members).
- “Metacriticism, Digital Humanities, and Teaching Canadian Literature to Digital Natives (Part Two),” with Margery Fee. Association of Commonwealth Literature and Languages (ACLALS Triennial). St. Lucia. August 2013.
- “Metacriticism, Digital Humanities, and Teaching Canadian Literature to Digital Natives (Part One),” with Karen Correia Da Silva. Association of Canadian and Quebec Literatures Conference (ACQL). University of Victoria, Victoria. June 2013.
- “Environmental Poetry and Drawing an Enpipe Line in the Sand.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English Conference (ACCUTE). University of Victoria, Victoria. June 2013.
- “On Not Being ‘Pained, Hurt, Stabbed or Seared by Beauty’: The Transformation of Nature Writing in Canadian Poetry.” Beyond the Nature of Culture University of British Columbia, Vancouver. September 2012.
- “Public Art and the Ethics of Rendering Found Texts.” Crossroads in Cultural Studies Sorbonne University and UNESCO, Paris, France. July 2012.
- “Teaching Literary Prizes: A Critical Dialogue on Theory, Practice, and Pedagogy,” with Sophie McCall. Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference (CACLALS). University of New Brunswick, Fredericton. May 2011.
- “Leaving the Shade of the Middle Ground: Connecting with F.R. Scott’s Call to Social Action.” Association of Canadian and Quebec Literatures Conference (ACQL). Concordia University, Montreal. May 2010.
- “Eclectic Detachment: Selling Diversity in Nineteenth-Century Emigration Narratives.” Ottawa Symposium on Early Nineteenth Century Literature. University of Ottawa, Ottawa. April 2010.
- “Why National Literatures Are Not Finished, Yet.” Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference (CACLALS). Carleton University, Ottawa. May 2009.
- “Canadian Literature and Pedagogy.” Association of Canadian and Quebec Literatures Conference (ACQL). Carleton University, Ottawa. May 2009.
- “Managing Diversity: Integrating Models of Multiculturalism and Immigration.” 2008 Metropolis Conference. Halifax, April 2008 (due to back surgery in April 2008, this paper was delivered in absentia by M. Stone).
- “Our Present Imperfect Autonomy: Towards A Canadian Literature Anthology for Our Times,” with Cynthia Sugars. Association of Commonwealth Literature and Languages (ACLALS Triennial). Vancouver. August 2007.
- “Does ‘Canadian’ Mean the Same Thing in 1971 and 2006? Neither Does Multiculturalism.” Australasian Languages and Literatures Association (AULLA) 34. Sydney, Australia. February 2007.
- “The History of Multicultural Literature in Canada.” American Studies Association (ASA). Oakland, California, USA. October 2006.
- “Hesitating Intersections: Henry James and the Postcolonial Gothic.” Jamesian Relations University of Manitoba Institute for The Humanities, Winnipeg, Manitoba. September 2006.
- “Playing the Monster Blind or Mainstreaming Multiculturalism? The Practical Limitations of Updating the Canadian Canon.” TransCanada One: Literature, Institutions, Citizenship Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. June 2005.
- “Icon Abroad.” Margaret Atwood: The Open Eye University of Ottawa, Ottawa. April 2004.
- “Indeterminacy and the Ethics of Postcoloniality in Canada: A Monologue in 3 Acts.” The Taylor Conference on the Politics of Postcoloniality. McMaster University, Hamilton. October 2003.
- “Mainstreaming Multiculturalism: Canada Reads In the Skin of a Lion.” Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference (CACLALS). Dalhousie University, Halifax. May 2003.
- “Responsibility, Exploitation, and Betrayal in Antjie Krog’s Country of My Skull.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English Conference (ACCUTE), Dalhousie University, Halifax. May 2003.
- “Boutique Multiracialism? Writing Mixed-Race.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English Conference (ACCUTE). University of Toronto, Toronto. May 2002.
- “Is Zadie Smith’s Hybridity Post-post-colonial?” Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference (CACLALS). University of Quebec, Quebec. May 2001.
- “Is Canada Postcolonial?” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English Conference (ACCUTE). University of Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke, Quebec. June 1999.
- “‘Excellent all these for Colonization’: Fashioning the Colonial Gentleman in The History of Emily Montague.” The Taylor Conference on Eighteenth Century Literature. McMaster University, Hamilton. March 1999.
- “Can Rohinton Mistry’s Realism Rescue the Novel?” Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Triennial “Commonwealth in Canada” Conference. Wilfrid Laurier University, Waterloo. November 1997.
- “Reconfiguring a Postcolonial Realism.” Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference (CACLALS). Memorial University, St. John’s. June 1997.
- “‘Not the real reality’: Alternative Forms of Realism in Alice Munro’s Recent Fiction.” North-East MLA Conference (NEMLA). Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. April 1997.
- “A Theory of Alternative Realities.” Comparative Study of Social Transformations Workshop. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA. December 1996.
- “Parsing the Grammar of Postmodernism.” Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English Conference (ACCUTE). Brock University, St. Catharines. May 1996.
- “Moreas Fathered by Saleem: The Moor’s Last Sigh, Magic Realism, and Midnight’s Children.” Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference (CACLALS). Brock University, St. Catharines. May 1996.
- “Postcolonial Pygmalion.” Canadian Association for Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies Conference (CACLALS). University of Calgary, Calgary. June 1994.
Other Presentations: Academic
- “When and how to responsibly collect and make use of student demographic data in SoTL”. CTLT, UBC Oct 2022.
- “The Business of Canadian Literature to the Last Millennium, and Since: Conversations for an Oral History” Roundtable. Green College, November 2019.
- “The TrashCan: A Manifesto” Roundtable. Association of Canadian and Quebec Literatures Conference (ACQL). Ryerson University, Toronto. May 2017.
- “CWILA and the Challenge of Counting for Race” CWILA-GRSJ Network Panel Discussion, with Mary Chapman and Madeleine Thien. Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. March 2014.
- “Contemporary Issues” Workshop Presentation. “Approaching Indigenous Literatures in the 21st Century: How Shall We Teach These?” Simon Fraser University, Vancouver. February 2014.
- “Introduction to CWILA, Canadian Literature, and Gender Bias in Book Reviews.” Institute for Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Social Justice, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. September 2013.
- “Transforming Knowledge Dissemination in Quebec and ROC: A Bilingual Roundtable,” co-organized by Canadian Literature (UBC) and Canadian Studies Centre (U of Alberta). Association of Canadian and Quebec Literatures Conference (ACQL). University of Victoria, Victoria. June 2013.
- “The Crisis in the Humanities: Two Practical Approaches,” with Larissa Lai. “Rethinking the Humanities as a Thriving Ecology, Or, How Can We Better Sustain the Ecosystem of Graduate Training?” Department of English Research Series. University of British Columbia, Vancouver. March 2013.
- “Is Canada Postcolonial? Re-Asking the Question a Decade Later.” Department of English Research Series. University of British Columbia, Vancouver. March 2011.
- “Podiums diskussion mit kanadischen Gästen.” Post/Kolonialismus neu denken, Rethinking Post/Colonialism, Repenser le post/colonialism. Gesellschaft für Kanada-Studien/ Association for Canadian Studies in German-speaking Countries. Grainau, Germany. February 2011.
- “Opening Remarks: The Future of Canadian Literature/Canadian Literature” Workshop. University of British Columbia, Vancouver. October 1-2, 2009.
- “The Cultural Turn.” English Department Honours Colloquium. University of British Columbia, Vancouver. November 2006.
- “Mainstreaming Multiculturalism: Canada Reads In the Skin of a Lion.” English Department Honours Colloquium. University of British Columbia, Vancouver. January 2004.
- “What’s in a Name?” Departmental Speakers Series, Department of English, UBC, February 2003.
- Discussant, “Cultural Geographies: The Spatialization of Chinese-Canadian Identity in Two Vancouver Novels,” by Alison Calder. Community Construction: Examining Civil Society on Both Sides of the Atlantic 11th Manitoba/Trier Partnership Conference. University of Manitoba, Winnipeg. September 2001.
- “Opening the Question.” Is Canada Postcolonial? Winnipeg, Manitoba. September 2000.
Other Presentations: Community
- Arts Prof Talks: Making the Most of Your Time at UBC with Professor Laura Moss, Sept 2022
- Arts Prof Talks: Making the Most of Your Time at UBC with Professor Laura Moss, Sept 2021
- Refuse: CanLit in Ruins Launch Event with Public Reading, SFU, November 2018.
- CanLit Guides 2018 Collection, Launch Event with Public Reading. Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English Conference (ACCUTE). University of Regina, Regina, May 2018.
- “Disrupting Power: Women’s Fiction” Panel Discussion. Green College, UBC. October 2017.
- “On Stage Conversation with M.G. Vassanji.” Indian Summer Festival, Vancouver. July 2017.
- “What Business Has Fiction in Politics? Of Literature and Refugees, and How The Illegal Came to Life.” Public Conversation with Lawrence Hill. Department of English, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. April 2017.
- “Introduction of Margaret Atwood: Writing the Future.” The Terry Project Global Speaker Series. Chan Centre for Performing Arts, University of British Columbia, Vancouver. November 2013.
- “Canadian Literary History.” Esther Birney Literary Lecture Series. Brock House, Vancouver. January 2009.
- “A Brief History of Canadian Literature.” International Canadian Studies Institute at UBC, organized by the Canadian Consulate, Seattle, USA. July 2008.
- “Canada Reads.” Esther Birney Literary Lecture Series. Brock House, Vancouver. January 2005.
- “Canadian Literature.” Third Age Partners in Learning. University of British Columbia, Vancouver. February 2005.