ISA attendance

[Harrison, Kathryn]

Dear Colleagues,

 

A couple of weeks back I posed a message to the group expressing my ambivalence about “business as usual” attendance at ISA as a scholar from outside the US, given all that Trump and, at his bidding, the US is doing. On Saturday, the combination of news of the horrific impacts of USAID cuts and punitive and unjustified tariffs on my own country (with veiled threats about Canada becoming the 51^st state), helped me make my decision. I won’t be attending ISA in person, nor crossing the border anytime soon, but hope to be able to participate in my panel virtually. I can appreciate that may not work, not least because ISA meetings aren’t set up for that, alas.

 

I will share one last observation.  I think all of the colleagues who “replied to all” in response to my post made the case – thoughtfully and respectfully! – against a boycott. In contrast, all but one of those who reached out to me one-to-one were ambivalent or not attending ISA. The numbers were not large on either side, but the contrast was striking nonetheless.

 

Best wishes to all in dark times,

Kathryn

 

 

Kathryn Harrison

McLean Family Chair in Canadian Studies

Professor of Political Science

University of British Columbia

Vancouver, BC

Canada V6T 1Z1

Tel: 604 822-4922

 

I work on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil Waututh peoples.