Academic Absences, Disciplinary Siloes and Methodological Prejudices within the Political Science Discipline in Canada

Abstract

Canadian political science has changed over the past 50 years; however, these changes have come slowly and lag behind larger societal demographic transformations. While early attention to diversity concentrated on the place of women within the discipline, more recent attention focuses on the presence of Black, Indigenous and other political scientists of colour. Accompanying a diversification of personnel has been a broadening of the substantive focus of our research, as well as an expansion in the epistemological and methodological approaches applied to the study of politics. Yet despite these adaptations, the study of political science in Canada remains siloed and often exclusionary, challenging our ability to train the next generation of scholars to be capable of addressing the issues facing a world that is increasingly complex and diverse.

Language Matters: The Study of Canadian Politics through an Exploration of Syllabi and Comprehensive Exams

“…However, we still know too little about how Canadian politics is taught. There have been a few exceptions, such as the insightful work of Tolley (2020) and Everitt (2021), which has provided a better understanding of our blind spots on the discipline 10 . However, to our knowledge, there is no systematic analysis that incorporates information on language—and would thus build on Rocher's (2007) findings.…”

“…In this article, we focus on scholars’ language, but it is worth noting that the same rationale applies to the representation of different groups, such as women and Indigenous peoples (Choquette, 2017; Dion and Mitchell, 2020; Everitt, 2021; Hardt et al, 2019; Kim, 2017). As in the case of other groups, one of the most significant normative reasons for encouraging Canadian politics scholars to include the work done by speakers of the other official language is to enrich their own findings.…”

“…The authors concluded that “Canadian IR [international relations] continues to perpetuate the anglo-normativity writ large ” (22, emphasis in original), with most of the journals being US-based or UK-based (while French works are rare and not necessarily from Canadian-based journals) 3 . Finally, Everitt (2021) devoted her recent presidential address to the members of the Canadian Political Science Association (CPSA) to the problem of “academic absences” and raised fundamental issues in connection with it. Focusing on the people involved in the association and political science departments, she showed that some traditionally underrepresented groups are becoming more present, although they are still underrepresented and are usually burdened with more invisible labour.…”

In memoriam: Vincent Seymour Wilson, CPA Editor (1987‐1992)

“…Vince returned to Carleton as faculty member in 1969, first in Political Science, then the School of Public Administration, eventually returning to Political Science, for a career that spanned four decades . He was one of the two first Black political scientists hired into a tenure-track position in Canada (Everitt, 2021).Professor Wilson's early teaching and research reflected the trajectory of the rapidly growing field of public policy and public administration during the 1960s and 1970s in Canada. One strand of his early research was part of a significant effort by him and others to develop a foundational Canadian literature on public policy, policy-making, and key institutions (…”

“…Vince returned to Carleton as faculty member in 1969, first in Political Science, then the School of Public Administration, eventually returning to Political Science, for a career that spanned four decades (1969‐1997). He was one of the two first Black political scientists hired into a tenure‐track position in Canada (Everitt, 2021).…”