Celebrating Excellence: The 2024 Humanities and Social Science Canada Prize Winners Announced
The Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences earlier this month recognized five books and their authors that offer fresh perspective on key topics, contribute to our collective understanding of the world, and celebrate the richness and diversity of Canadian scholarship.
Funded by the Scholarly Book Awards and juried by the Scholarly Book Awards Academic Council, the Canada Prizes have been awarded annually since 2011 to celebrate outstanding voices in the humanities and social sciences, highlighting the transformative impact of scholarly books. The awards’ roots date back to 1989 in various incarnations – the Harold Adams Innis Prize for the best English book in the social sciences and the Prix Jean-Charles-Falardeau for the best French book in the social sciences, and the Raymond Klibansky Prize and the Prix Raymond-Klibansky for the best book in the humanities in English and French respectively.
Books are assessed on their inspiration, impact, and transformative qualities, with an emphasis on their role in connecting the past, present, and future. There are five CAN$4,000 awards, with some guidelines on recipients: at least one book by a first-time English-language author, one by a first-time French-language author, and at least one additional French-language book.
This year, the prizes jury has selected the following five books and their respective authors.
Villian, Vermin, Icon, Kin
Villain, Vermin, Icon, Kin examines the evolving role of wolves in Canada’s national narrative, from monstrous fiends to revered symbols. Author Stephanie Rutherford traces the social history of wolves in Canada, weaving together historical and contemporary texts, ideas, and practices in human-wolf relations. From provincial bounties to Farley Mowat’s Never Cry Wolf, Rutherford reveals how Canada’s story has been shaped by its interactions with nonhuman animals.
“Wolves themselves can teach us what forms of multispecies justice can look like, if we care to listen. Their howls carry stories too, signaling not just loss, but co-presence, renewal, and the potential for new ways of sharing the land,” says Rutherford.
About the Author
Stephanie Rutherford is an interdisciplinary environmental scholar, associate professor in the School of Environment, and director of the Sustainability Studies Master’s program at Trent University. She writes on topics such as human-wildlife conflict and coexistence, environmental and multispecies justice, and environmental politics.
Autobiography as Indigenous Intellectual Tradition
Autobiography as Indigenous Intellectual Tradition – Cree and Métis âcimisowina critiques Western approaches to Indigenous texts and proposes a new framework based on Indigenous life writing practices. Author Deanna Reder challenges the idea that Indigenous individuals are reluctant to discuss their lives, assuming autobiographies are a European invention, and instead highlights the longstanding autobiographical traditions in Cree and Métis (nêhiyawak) cultures. Reder explains, “I was raised listening to my mother’s âcimisowina [autobiographical vignettes], I was not surprised that many of the Indigenous authors in Canada I had begun reading as an adult included – and relied upon – their own life stories. What did surprise me, however, was that this archive has been understudied and undervalued.”
Drawing on family stories and historical research, Reder examines suppressed writings by nêhiyawak intellectuals like Maria Campbell, Edward Ahenakew, and James Brady. Grounded in nêhiyawak ontologies that view life stories as intergenerational knowledge transmission, this study urges a re-evaluation of Indigenous storytelling across academic disciplines.
About the Author
Deanna Reder is a professor in the Department of Indigenous Studies and the Department of English at Simon Fraser University. She is one of the founding members of the Indigenous Literary Studies Association and served as the series editor for the Indigenous Studies Series at Wilfrid Laurier University Press from 2010-21.
Penser la «pervertibilité»
Penser la «pervertibilité» explores the concept of “pervertibility,” a notion revived in the context of philosopher Jacques Derrida’s work, to challenge common misunderstandings. Positioned at the intersection of literature, philosophy, and psychoanalysis, the book highlights the significance of this idea for Derrida, tracing key moments that form an unthought dimension of his philosophy.
Through a detailed analysis of Derrida’s texts, author Nicolas Cotton takes a multidisciplinary approach to track the evolution of this idea throughout the second half of the 20th century, while respecting the complexity of Derrida’s deconstruction. Rather than glorifying the subversive nature of literature, the book examines the “perverse” mechanisms within philosophical thought and the act of writing.
“Initially, I was mainly interested in the literary 19th century, and I wanted to work on Baudelaire and his borrowings from the American writer Edgar Allan Poe, including the notion of perversity, which had nothing to do with what is generally understood by this word in common language, which intrigued me greatly,” said Cotton.
About the Author
Nicholas Cotton is a teacher-researcher at Collège Édouard-Montpetit in Longueuil, Canada. He is a member of the international committee responsible for publishing philosopher Jacques Derrida’s seminars, and he is an active member of the Bibliothèques et Archives nationales du Québec users’ committee and co-hosts the podcast Mythes de rien.
Regards sur le monde
Regards sur le monde explores the role of ethics in contemporary literature, focusing on two key principles: conflict and thought. It examines how both novels and fragmented forms of text serve as platforms for ethical exploration. Through the works of authors like Milan Kundera, Michel Houellebecq, Camille Laurens, Éric Chevillard, and Pascal Quignard, author Pascal Riendeau highlights how novelistic forms and fragmentary writing engage with moral questions, whether seriously, ironically, or critically.
Despite their aesthetic differences, Riendeau draws attention to the authors’ shared interest for the complexity of ethical discourse in literature. “I’m a literature professor who sincerely believes in the importance of literature for pleasure, learning, and above all, understanding the world. I think it’s highly relevant to take an interest in all art forms (literature, film, visual arts, etc.) to try to understand the world around us” said Riendeau.
About the Author
Pascal Riendeau graduated from UQAM (B.A. and M.A.), then from Université de Montréal (Ph.D.). After three years as a postdoctoral researcher, he began his teaching career at the University of Toronto Scarborough, where he teaches French and Quebec literature.
Cripping Intersex
Cripping Intersex examines three key themes: the medical management of people with intersex characteristics; the mainstream, academic, and medical fascination with sport sex-testing policies and procedures; and the eugenic implications of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, a reproductive screening technology that can accompany in vitro fertilization. Author Celeste E. Orr investigates how intersex and interphobia intersect with disability and activism to propose a new field – crip intersex studies.
Cripping Intersex critiques the medical violence inflicted on intersex variations and offers a fresh perspective of intersex with disability. By expanding societal knowledge of intersex histories, experiences, and embodiment beyond the frameworks of feminist and queer theory alone, the book aims to strengthen intersex human rights claims and highlight the experiences of intersex people living with the disabling effects of medical intervention.
“If anything, I hope readers, namely those who are unfamiliar with intersex studies and the Intersex Rights Movement become motivated to learn more about intersex studies, activism, and the Intersex Rights Movement as well as take action against interphobia in whatever way they can” says Orr.
About the Author
Celeste E. Orr is an assistant professor of sociology and the Wendy J. Robbins Professor in Gender & Women’s Studies at the University of New Brunswick. Orr’s interdisciplinary research focuses on intersex studies, disability studies, and queer studies, among other broad areas. Orr’s work interrogates and opposes culturally mandated or compulsory modes of being.
