We would like to thank Canada Hungary Educational Foundation Board member Christopher Adam for allowing us to reprint here a slightly edited version of his photo report of the 2015 annual conference of the Hungarian Studies Association of Canada (HSAC) first published in his online paper Hungarian Free Press on June 11th 2015.
The Hungarian Studies Association of Canada (HSAC) celebrated its 30th anniversary this year, at a conference held at the University of Ottawa from May 30th to June 1st, 2015. A member of the Canadian Federation for the Humanities and Social Sciences, the 2015 HSAC conference was especially dynamic, with 29 presenters coming from across Canada, the United States, Hungary, Romania, Slovakia and the United Kingdom. HSAC’s membership hovers between 75 and 90 members each year, and has shown signs of growth in recent years, especially among members from outside Canada. The two-and-a-half day conference began with a panel commemorating the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Canada and Hungary, with speakers including Agnes Pust and Greg Donaghy of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, as well as László Sinka of the Embassy of Hungary in Ottawa. The panel was followed by a reception offered by the embassy.
The conference’s highlights included a special 30th anniversary dinner at the Novotel Ottawa, with long-time member Eva Tomory of the University of Toronto compiling and presenting dozens of photographs documenting HSAC’s three decade-long history. Oliver Botar, Judy Young-Drache, Nándor Dreisziger and Margit Lovrics joined her in reflecting on the organization’s history and development. The other highlight of the conference, and a very moving one at that, was a talk given by Auschwitz survivor Ibi Gábori. You can watch the full video of her talk here.
The 2015 HSAC conference included a rich diversity of presenters, topics and disciplines. Our photo report aims to give a taste of the scope of HSAC’s annual conference at the 2015 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences.
This year’s conference was organized by Judy Young-Drache and a Program Committee chaired by Steve Jobbitt (Lakehead U), with members Christopher Adam (Carleton U), Oliver Botar, President of HSAC (U of Manitoba), Agatha Schwartz, Local Coordinator (Ottawa U), Judith Szapor (McGill), and Eva Tomory (U of Toronto).
View the Conference Photo Gallery
Author: Christopher Adam
Christopher Adam received a B.A. in history from Concordia University, an M.A. in East/Central European and Russian-Area Studies from Carleton University and a PhD in history from the University of Ottawa. His research focuses on the history of the Hungarian diaspora during the postwar period. Christopher is the founding editor of the Hungarian Free Press, as well as the founder and editor-in-chief of the Kanadai Magyar HÃÂrlap Hungarian-language paper, which won Hungary’s 2015 Free Press (Szabad Sajtó) Award. Christopher resides in Ottawa, Canada.