Noah Richler to speak at UNB about how we talk about war
Author: Communications
Posted on Nov 2, 2012
Category: UNB Fredericton
Noah Richler, author of the Governor General's Award-nominated What We Talk About When We Talk About War, will be delivering a talk on Wednesday, Nov. 14, at 7 p.m. at the UNB Fredericton Wu Conference Centre.
As part of this year's annual Dominick Graham Lecture on war and society, Richler argues that the net effect of 9/11 and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan has been a discrediting of Canadian multilateralism. Since 2001, Richler contends that Canada has become the "Warrior Nation" and that the utility and vocabulary of peace operations have been seconded to war-fighting and the interests of "national security," narrowly defined.
As Canada's standing at the United Nations continues to be diminished - as that organization is discredited and the Canadian government embarks on smaller,more practicable strategic alliances, Noah Richler considers the evolution of Canadian foundation myths and political narratives that have permitted these changes, asking whether or not Canada's leading role in meaningful multilateralism is effectively past.
Hailed as "a rarity in the modern age: a true man of ideas” by the Western Standard, "a first-rate polemicist" by Maclean's and "that genuine article, of which there are so few, a public intellectual unafraid of discussion and disagreement" by The Globe and Mail, Noah Richler takes on the role of advocate and activist with wit and vigour.
Richler has made documentaries and features for BBC Radio and been books editor and literary columnist for The National Post. He has contributed to numerous publications, including The Guardian, Punch, The Daily Telegraph, The Walrus, Maisonneuve, The Toronto Star, and The Globe and Mail. He is author of This Is My Country, What's Yours? A Literary Atlas of Canada, winner of the 2007 British Columbia Award for Canadian Non-Fiction. What We Talk About When We Talk About War began as a provocative lecture at the 2010 Frye Literary Festival in Moncton. Richler lives in Toronto and on Digby Neck, Nova Scotia.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
This year marks the 12th Annual Dominick Graham Lecture on War and Society in Fredericton, which was inaugurated in 2000 in honour of Professor Dominick S. Graham, who established the Military and Strategic Studies Program in 1971 and in 1980 was one of the founding members of UNB’s Centre for Conflict Studies (both precursors to The Gregg Centre for the Study of War and Society).