Meet the Professors Lecture Series
On Thursday, March 15, 2007 Professors presented 5' x 3" posters of their research at the Meet the Professors Open House. This event provided an opportunity to talk in more detail with the professors and to have a look around the Campus.
The English Department's Alice den Otter, Linda Rodenburg, and Derek Irwin presented the following:
![](http://orillia.lakeheadu.ca/uploads/images/denOtter.jpg)
Dr. den Otter, who <div">relocated from Lakehead University's Thunder Bay campus, now coordinates the Honours Arts and Science program in Orillia. <div"> <div">
Abstract: This presentation will consider the paradoxes of gift-giving in several texts by Romantic poet William Blake (1757-1827). Beginning with exploring the social dynamics of gift-giving as well as Blake's biographical experiences with gifts, this paper will explore various poetic acts of giving and receiving. Does one need to give in order to receive? Can one give if there is no one to receive it?
Professor Linda Rodenburg presented a lecture entitled "Alter/Native Citizenship: Re/placing the 'Native' in Relation to Canadian <div">'Multiculturalism'". Professor Rodenburg specializes in postcolonial literatures with a particular interest in Indigenous cultural theory. She currently teaches English courses in both literature and composition. <div"> (See below for a report of the lecture)
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Abstract: Canada's Native peoples have been written into (and out of) discourses of multiculturalism. Although people around the world envision Canada as a multicultural utopia enabling equality for all, this talk argues that official Canadian multiculturalism excludes contemporary Native world views and focuses on stereotypical Native cultures as central to Canada's history. At the same time Native Canadian peoples are required to assimilate into the 'progressive' nation-state. This talk will discuss alter/native forms of citizenship for Canadians today.
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Professor Derek Irwin, Professor of English, gave a talk entitled "From Primate to Primate: How Bonobos and Humans Converse". (see the report below).
Click below to read the report from this lecture
![](http://orillia.lakeheadu.ca/uploads/images/irwin.jpg)
He has a particular interest in analyzing the origins of <div">language structure in unusual settings, including the grammar of non-verbal infants and Bonobo monkeys. Mr. Irwin teaches Inquiry and English. <div">
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Report
Abstract: Bonobo chimpanzees and their caretakers engage in a kind of dialogue approximating human language. Through a focus on Kanzi, a language-acculturated bonobo, this talk explains some of the basic methods of analyzing human conversations, before moving on to an examination of cross-species communication. This presentation raises some very important questions on language as a "uniquely human phenomenon."
Click below to read the report from this lecture
![](http://orillia.lakeheadu.ca/uploads/images/symbols/pdf.jpg)