Paul Barrett

My research is situated at the intersection of Canadian literature and digital humanities. I am the author of Blackening Canada: Diaspora, Race, Multiculturalism (Toronto),  the editor of 'Membering Austin Clarke (Wilfrid Laurier), the co-author of The Routledge Introduction to Canadian Literature and Digital Humanities, and the co-editor of Future Horizons: Digital Humanities in Canada (Ottawa). I recently published "Unjust Readings: Against the New, New Criticism" (Digital Humanities Quarterly) and "Austin Clarke's Digital Crossings" in The Digital Black Atlantic. 

My academic life began in Computer Science, gradually shifted into literary study, and I’ve now found a balance between the two in my work in digital humanities. I am interested in both the application of digital techniques of reading and interpretation as well as the way in which new technologies transform how we conceive of the relationship between the humanities and discourses of humanism. For more about my work in digital humanities, check out the Culture & Technology Studies program here at Guelph. 

I am currently working on a monograph entitled The Map and the Territory: Canadian Literary Humanism. This book attempts to read the humanist underpinnings of Canadian literature from its earliest days to the present with chapters focused on John Norton, Susanna Moodie, Hugh MacLennan, Dionne Brand, Austin Clarke and others.

I am currently leading a SSHRC Insight Grant with Rick Monture of McMaster University in which we are studying John Norton's (Teyoninhokarawen) 1806 journal of his travels from Canada to England. Interested graduate students are welcome to inquire about being involved in this project. 

I am interested in working with and learning from students that are eager to think about Canadian literature and culture, diaspora, race, digital culture, digital humanities, or popular culture. I welcome projects that are interested in exploring cultural contradictions, thinking through the relationship between the public and literary discourses, reading closely and intensely, while also trying novel new methods for engaging in criticism.