The 11th International Tartu Conference on Canadian Studies: "Water"

On 11-12 October 2025, the University of Tartu hosts the 11th International Tartu Conference on Canadian Studies. The theme of this year’s conference is “Water”.

The conference is part of the tradition of the annual rotating Canadian Studies conference in the Baltic States, established in 2002.

The theme “Water” has been chosen as it is a central notion that unites the diverse ways of looking at Canada to deal with its cultural, social, environmental, historical, political, geographic, and economic issues. With this conference, we seek to explore water from multiple interdisciplinary and theoretical perspectives of the humanities, as well as natural and social sciences.

The conference marks the anniversary of the beginning of John Franklin’s 1845 expedition of the Northwest Passage, which is important in Canadian history and culture. Traditionally, the conference addresses the themes that unite Canada and Estonia, and there is a conference exhibition that this time brings to the Lossi 3 hallway gallery a selection of photographs from the voyages of the sailing ship “Admiral Bellingshausen” in Antarctica and the Arctic.

The plenary speaker from Canada is Professor L. Anders Sandberg (Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change, York University). The plenary speaker from Estonia is CEO Maris Pruuli (Käsmu Maritime School), who is also the curator of the conference exhibition together with Tiit Pruuli.

Conference Committee:

• Eva Rein (Department of English Studies)
• Ene-Reet Soovik (Department of Semiotics)

Registration

To participate, please register here by Monday, 6 October.

Conference Information