FINNO-UGRIC STUDIES ASSOCIATION OF
CANADA
(FUSAC)
ANNOUNCEMENT FOR PAPERS FOR FUSAC
CONFERENCE, MAY 26, 27, and 28, 2012, WILFRID
LAURIER UNIVERSITY AND THE UNIVERSITY OF
WATERLOO, ONTARIO PROVINCE (GREATER
TORONTO AREA)
To FUSAC Members and to Other Specialists Interested in Uralic Studies:
The Finno-Ugric Studies Association of Canada (FUSAC) will hold its
biennial conference in the Greater Toronto area on Saturday, May 26; Sunday, May
27; and Monday, 28, 2012. The Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social
Sciences (CFHSS) will host our meeting, along with at least 68 other academic
associations, at its annual Congress from Friday, May 25 through Saturday, June 2
at Wilfrid Laurier University (WLU, 13,000 students) and the University of
Waterloo (UW, 27,000 students) in Waterloo, Ontario Province. Waterloo
(population, 122,000) is part of the greater Toronto hub and is 80 km. to the west of
Toronto, Canada’s most populous city and a major North American cultural
destination. Waterloo is easily accessible from Toronto’s major airport (see
Transportation below).
The campus centers of WLU and UW are one kilometer apart. The great
majority of association meetings will be held at WLU, and WLU has the living-
quarter space to house all Congress delegates for the duration of the Congress.
Special Congress shuttles and city busses will travel quite frequently between the
two universities.
FUSAC and CFHSS Congress Academic Activities
Our May 2010 Montreal association meeting lasted three days and was a
resounding success. Our participants traveled from Europe, Australia, and North
America, and presented incisive research on linguistic, literary, historical, and
sociological topics concerning the Finno-Ugric experience in Eurasia, North
America, and the Western Pacific Basin. A round-table discussion, a presentation by
the Estonian cultural attaché from Ottawa, a book exhibit, an evening of Finnish
and Hungarian film, and a superbly collegial dinner at a local Hungarian restaurant
imparted special flair to our meeting. We will strive to make our 2012 meeting an
equally memorable event.
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We look forward to May 2012 and seeing you in Waterloo! Please submit to
me (pbrown@ric.edu) by the end of December 2011 a proposal (working title and a
one-paragraph description) and one-page curriculum vitae listing degrees, on-going
research, selected publications, and current place of work or study.
We await your participation, and encourage you to inform other colleagues
and advanced graduate students engaged in Uralic studies about our forthcoming
meeting. FUSAC, an international, Canadian-based scholarly organization, aims to
promote the advancement of all aspects of Finno-Ugric studies: anthropology,
archaeology, economics, ethnic studies, folklore, history, linguistics, literature,
migration, music, political science, sociology, and other disciplines.
The CFHSS Congress is a major North American academic event bringing
together a couple thousand academic specialists from all over the globe, and is an
opportunity for FUSAC attendees to participate in other association meetings
convening concurrently. These include the Association for the Advancement of
Scandinavian Studies in Canada (May 27-30), Canadian Association of Applied
Linguistics (May 28-30), Canadian Association of Geographers (May 28-June 2),
Canadian Association of Slavicists (May 26-28), Canadian Association for
Commonwealth Literature and Language Studies (May 26-28), Canadian Comparative
Literature Association (May 27-29), Canadian Historical Association (May 28-30),
Canadian Linguistic Association (May 28-30), Canadian Society for the Study of
Names (May 26-27), Canadian Society of Medievalists (May 27-29), Canadian
Sociological Association (May 29-June 2), Film Studies Association of Canada (May
29-31), Folklore Studies Association of Canada (May 26-28), Hungarian Studies
Association of Canada (May 26-28), and others.
Always of compelling interest, the Congress book exhibit brings together a
large number of major Canadian and other national academic publishers, many of
which cannot be found at European, Asian, and U.S. conferences. As was true in
Montreal 2010, a real intellectual tour de force awaits us.
FUSAC’s Background
FUSAC has existed since 1982, and is the sole North American organization
devoted to Finno-Ugric studies. The Finno-Ugric peoples subsume a large number of
peoples (e.g., Estonians, Finns, Hungarians, Karelians, Mordvins, Sami, Udmurts,
Voguls, Votyaks) who in the past inhabited the northern and even central regions of
much of Western Eurasia and Northwestern Siberia. Their cultural and social
development has been diverse and self-generative. Both directly and indirectly
Finno-Ugric peoples over the millennia have exerted profound influences upon the
larger Indo-European and Altaic populations and social organizations they have
come in contact with. In diaspora the Finno-Ugric peoples have been important in
North America and elsewhere. FUSAC welcomes all disciplines, periods of study,
and comparative scholarship involving other peoples and continents. Visit our
website: www.ric.edu/fusac/index.html or search FUSAC.
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Campus Location
The WLU and UW campuses are located on the main east-west artery
coursing through Waterloo, which is University Avenue. WLU is on the south side
of University Avenue and UW is on the north side, 1200 meters further west. WLU
borders on its eastern side the major north-south artery, King Street.
Registration and FUSAC and Congress Fees
The Congress registration center is located immediately adjacent to where
the shuttle and Mississauga Transit busses (see pp. 5-7) will be pulling in. All
FUSAC attendees must register as Congress delegates. The Canadian Federation for
the Humanities and Social Sciences assesses an attendance fee for all who
participate. Their fee structure, in Canadian dollars, is: (1) Early registration fee by
March 31: students, retired, and unwaged delegates $57, postdoctoral fellows $72,
regular delegates, $155; (2) late registration fee by April 1: students, retired, and
unwaged delegates $72, postdoctoral fellows $87, regular delegates $175; and (3) on-
site registration fee as of May 25: students, retired, and unwaged delegates $77,
postdoctoral fellows $92, regular delegates $190. Delegates can register for the 2012
Congress, starting in January 2012. One may register online via secure server at
www.congress2012.ca. One may also register by fax (613) 238-6114 or by mail:
Congress 2012, 275 Bank Street, Suite 300, Ottawa, ON K2P 2L6. The website of
the Canadian Federation of the Humanities and Social Sciences is
www.congress2012.ca. The main website of the Canadian Federation is
www.fedcan.ca.
Please Note: All delegates must pay the general Congress registration fees. The
revenue collected from general Congress registration fees supports the long-term
development of Congress and keeps the annual meeting format viable by ensuring
that infrastructure and services are in place.
Please Note Also: the Finno-Ugric Studies Association of Canada survives on its
membership dues, which to date are payable once every two years since we meet
only once every two years. Unhappily, there have been FUSAC participants in years
past who did not pay their FUSAC dues. Our fee structure is quite reasonable, even
significantly lower than it is for other Canadian academic associations. Please make
a point of helping to keep your organization financially viable by paying dues on
time.
Download and print the Membership Application Form. Attach to it your
payment of dues ($40 for regular members, $20 for students, retired individuals,
and senior citizens) to our Treasurer: Professor Päivi Koskinen, Modern
Languages Department, Kwantlen Polytechnic University, 12666 72d Avenue,
Surrey, British Columbia V3W2M8, Canada.
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Anyone wishing to deliver a paper at the FUSAC conference must pay
FUSAC’s organizational dues. Delegates who have not paid their FUSAC dues by
March 15 will be charged $50 and payment of onsite dues in late May will be $60.
Association Meeting Room Facilities
The Congress, WLU, and UW automatically provide the following audio-
visual services for our room: data projector, projection screen, Ethernet cable,
Internet access, and sound system. FUSAC will rent a computer for all three days.
Inform me whether an overhead transparency projector, a DVD/VCR
player, a 35 mm. slide projector, and a document camera are needed. Please let me
know by March 1. If you need a student worker for assistance, let me know by
February 15.
Please indicate what special needs you may wish to have provided for: special
food-catering needs, handicap-assistance (e.g., wheelchair accessibility, level-entry
situations, special pillows, assistive-listening issues ).
Accomodations
Wilfrid Laurier University will provide dormitory and other on-campus
accommodations for all Congress delegates. Contact Wilfrid Laurier University
Residences, phone: 519-884-0710, extension 3958, conferences@wlu.ca. When
further details become available, I will let you know.
If one wishes to find accommodation off-campus, there are many off-campus
locations, situated at various distances from WLU and UW, to choose form. If one
books through them, be sure to quote the booking code or mention “the Congress of
the Humanities and Social Sciences” in order to gain the special discounted rates.
Best Western St. Jacob’s Country Inn Hampton Inn and Suites
Phone: 1-800-972-5371 or 519-884-9295 Phone: 1-877-600-6090 or
Booking Code: 105789 by phone only. 519-650-6090
Booking Code: CON by
Comfort Inn Kitchener phone or
Phone: 1-866-373-4910 or 519-894-3500 www.hamptoninnkitchener.com
Booking Code: CFHSS-2012 by phone only. By phone quote “the Congress of
the Humanities and Social
Comfort Inn Waterloo Sciences”
Phone: 519-747-9400
Booking Code: LCFHSS by phone or Holiday Inn Kitchener-Waterloo
cn314@whg.com Phone: 1-866-375-8240 or
519-893-1211
Delta Kitchener-Waterloo Booking Code: CFHSS-2012
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Phone: 1-888-483-7812 or 519-744-4141
Booking Code: CFHSS-2012 by phone Howard Johnson Kitchener
or www.deltakitchener.com/cfhss2012 Phone 1-800-446-4656 or
519-893-1234
Destination Inn & Suites Booking Code: CONG 2012
Phone: 1-866-222-9175 or 519-884-0100
Booking Code: CFHSS by phone or Radisson Hotel Kitchener-
www.destinationinn.com Waterloo. Phone: 1-800-333-3333
or 519-894-9500
Walper Terrace Booking Code: Congress of the
Phone: 519-745-4321, extension 116 Humanities and Social Sciences
Booking Code: CFHSS
Waterloo Inn & Conference Hotel
Waterloo Hotel Phone: 1-800-361-4708 or
Phone: 1-877-885-1890 or 519-885-2626 519-884-0221
Booking Code: CFHSS-2012 Booking Code: CFHSS-2012
To book: by phone or online at
www.waterlooinn.com and then
click on “Make your reservation”
and select “Groups” at the top of
the screen and then enter the
booking code to proceed and
receive the group rate.
Transportation
Airplane
Waterloo is easily accessible. All airplane flights originating outside Canada
(from Europe, Russia, Asia, Australia, and the U.S.) come to Toronto Pearson
International Airport (Pearson, for short), located 40 km to the southwest of
downtown Toronto and 40 km to the southeast of Waterloo. By having our first
actual meeting day on a Saturday, this should enable members to travel to Waterloo
on Friday, thereby locking in a weekend (and cheaper) rate.
There are two methods of travel between Pearson and Waterloo. The first
are Congress shuttle busses that travel non-stop between Pearson and the center of
WLU. Estimated time of travel is one hour or less. The Canadian Federation will
provide more details later about these shuttles. The second is to take a bus from
Terminal One at Pearson (handily reached by taking the Link Train from Terminal
Three [to where international flights land]), where one boards a Mississauga Transit
bus ($3 one-way) for a 45-minute ride to the GO Transit bus terminal in the nearby
town of Mississauga. The GO Transit buses cost $12.55 one way to WLU, take 85
minutes, and leave every hour at 40 minutes past the hour from the late morning
until mid-evening and once every two hours at 40 minutes past the hour early
morning and late evening. The return GO Transit busses from WLU to Mississauga
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and from there via Mississauga Transit to Pearson leave at similar intervals and cost
the same. There is no train service between Mississauga and Kitchener.
Canadian FUSAC delegates electing to travel by air (Air Canada, Toronto
Air Lines, Porter Air, West Jest, Bearskin) can fly to Pearson, Billy Bishop Airport
(formerly Toronto City Center Airport/Toronto Island Airport), and to the Region
of Waterloo International Airport. Travelers arriving at Billy Bishop Airport in
Toronto would have to take a train or a bus to Waterloo (see Train and Bus below).
Train
Canadian delegates traveling by train from the west and east of Toronto will
detrain at Union Station in downtown Toronto and transfer to a train leaving for
Kitchener (population, 205,000). Kitchener is the city immediately to the south of
Waterloo. As of October 2011, the train departures from Toronto to Kitchener are
10:55 a.m., 5:40 p.m., and 10:10 p.m. Travel time is one hour and 40 minutes. Train
departures from Kitchener to Toronto are at 6:29 a.m., 9:10 a.m., and 9:35 p.m. The
one-way fare, depending upon whether one purchases his/her ticket before 72 hours,
between 72 and 24 hours, and on the same day is respectively $25.99, $31.64, and
$35.03. Round trip fares costs twice as much.
The distance from the Kitchener train station to WLU is three (3) kilometers.
Take the no. 8 bus that travels along Weber Street (a north-south street) bordering
the western side of the Kitchener train station. The bus fare is $2.50. (The $2 piece is
called a “toonie,” the $1 piece is called a “loonie,” and 25-cent pieces are called
“quarters.”) The bus ride is between 15 and 20 minutes. Weber Street is parallel to
King Street and is one block to the east of King St. The no. 8 bus, when it reaches
University Avenue, will turn left and head west along it in the direction of WLU.
One should get off the no. 8 at the corner of University Ave. and King St. The no. 8
may or may not have a flashing electrical sign over the driver’s seat announcing the
next stop. The major east-west street that the Kitchener train station is located on is
Victoria Street (Route no. 7).
Bus
One can travel to and from Kitchener and downtown Toronto (Toronto
Coach Terminal) via Greyhound bus and GO Transit. The Kitchener bus terminal
(one block square) is on the western side of King Street. The Greyhound and GO
Transit buses leave for Toronto and come from Toronto several times during the
day. The Greyhound one-way fare is $25.43 one way, $50.86 round trip.
For travel along King Street into Kitchener, which has restaurants and other
points of interest, take the no. 7 bus that courses up and down King Street, coming
by every several minutes and taking 15-20 minutes to travel from the SW corner of
University Avenue and King Street to downtown Kitchener. The fare is also $2.50.
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The return bus will deposit one at the SE corner of University Avenue and King
Street.
Car
The major east-west highway/freeway one travels in order to reach Waterloo
is the no. 401. Take exist no. 278 and turn off the 401 heading north on Route no. 8,
which becomes King Street.
For U.S. delegates traveling from the Mid-West, the best port of entry in
terms of distance is through Detroit via the Friendship Bridge into Windsor. For
U.S. delegates traveling from the East Coast and New York State, the best route is
through the Lewiston-Niagara Falls port of entry. Try to avoid the Buffalo port of
entry, which takes more time. Allow 90 minutes plus from clearing Canadian border
control to reach WLU. The highway from the border is the QEW 405 that will skirt
Hamilton to the west and the Lake Ontario coastline to the east and at Burlington
will meet the QEW 403. There, one should get on the QEW 403 headed west for
several kilometers, and at exit no. 74 turn off the QEW 403 onto Route no. 6,
heading north. After traveling 10 kilometers on Route no. 6, get on the QEW 401
heading west. After 8 kilometers on the QEW 401, turn off at exit no. 278 and head
north on Route no. 8 into Kitchener and then Waterloo. At some point in Kitchener,
make a left turn onto King Street and keep going north. Some 300 meters before
reaching University Avenue, turn left into a parking area on the southern edge of a
WLU athletic field. Look for signs that will indicate Congress parking and “white
permit parking.”
Cultural Attractions
On Campus
Throughout the Congress’ duration, WLU and UW will promote a
formidable variety of on-campus events: musical performances, art displays,
movies, special lectures, and various receptions.
Toronto
Toronto beckons us. Visit the Montreal Chamber of Commerce website:
http://www.toronto.com.au. Any number of travel books provide thorough
information on Toronto.
Waterloo and the Waterloo Region
Our stay in Waterloo will be both academically broadening and culturally
rewarding. Waterloo and the areas close-by provide a large number of museums,
musical and theatrical events, exhibits, and other points of interest.
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Below are but a few of the attractions. Two to three kilometers north of
WLU is the start of the Village of St. Jacobs that stretches north a few kilometers
north. The Village of St. Jacobs is part of Jacobs Country, which historically was a
Mennonite area. The manufactories, shops, other artifacts, farms, and a village have
been preserved, and provide real insight into Canadian life during the Colonial
and Early National eras. The Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony will perform on May 25,
26, and 27 works by Beethoven. At the nearby Huether Hotel in Waterloo is The
Jazz Room where different combos play live jazz on Friday and Saturday nights.
Waterloo and Kitchener contain an impressive quantity of art and photography
museums (e.g., The Canadian Clay & Glass Gallery, the Kitchener-Waterloo Art
Gallery, Butterfly Art Allies, and the Homer Watson House & Gallery). During the
Congress there will be the on-going Contemporary Art Forum. In the adjacent city of
Stratford is one of the world’s largest working theater costume warehouses,
containing over 50,000 costumes and props on display.
A large number of coffee shops and diverse restaurants, representing many
world culinary traditions and waiting to delight our palates, are in Waterloo and
Kitchener.
Please provide me a preliminary indication on your desire to attend as soon
as you can. A simple “yes” or “no” at this point is sufficient.
I am always happy to answer any questions you might have.
Our warmest regards, and we look forward to seeing you all in Waterloo!
Sincerely,
Pete
Peter B. Brown, Professor
Russian and Eastern European Studies
President of the Finno-Ugric Studies
Association of Canada
Department of History
Rhode Island College
Providence, RI 02908
U.S.A.
office phone: 401-456-8167
pbrown@ric.edu
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