Dalhousie Institute for Society and Culture (DISC)
Director: Associate Dean, Research in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences
Email: discfass@dal.ca
Website: http://arts.dal.ca/Research
Established in 2008, the Dalhousie Institute on Society and Culture serves as the virtual home for the many divergent research activities and initiatives within the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences. Its primary function is to support research within the Faculty through various fellowship programs, publicity and fund raising initiatives, publishing ventures, conferences and lecture series, and cross-disciplinary exchanges.
The Institute encompasses two broad and overlapping research clusters: Societies in Local, National, and Global Contexts, and Cultural Representations and Presentations. The former cluster aims to develop new knowledge about political, social, and economic transformations, about national and regional identities, and about global relations, whereas the latter seeks to investigate and preserve cultural traditions, literatures, and languages, to foster studies and theories of cultural identity, to stimulate artistic innovation, to examine the shaping influence of beliefs and religions, and to contribute to the cultural life and profile of the province. These two clusters, with a flexibility and breadth unequalled in Eastern Canada, are uniquely equipped to analyze social and cultural change.