Pluralism

Scholars, Educators, and Researchers

Pluralistic Societies: Epistemic Pluralism and Ecologies of Knowledges 

Globally and locally, we are witnessing societies shaped by increasing human entanglements and social polarization.  Pluralism in the city, what might be called pluralism from below, recognizes the need for an active engagement that creates a society of shared values and peace and prosperity from a diversity of civilizations, cultures, peoples, groups, and entities. It addresses the wicked social challenges associated with the super-diversity and hyper-diversity of our time: social disconnection, division, distrust, dehumanization, religious intolerance and political strife. Pluralism is inextricably concerned with depolarization.  It is fundamentally concerned with how to make diversity work so we can live well together. It requires actively cultivating an understanding of different perspectives and facilitating how this multiplicity shapes social transformation for the better. Pluralism is what can emerge from relationship building and intercultural engagement, bridging divides, social healing, collaborative problem solving, and interfaith engagement. This context calls for a paradigm shift for bold solutions, culture change, shifting values, norms, skills, behaviours, how we see ourselves and others, and how we see ourselves in relation to diverse others. The University of Calgary has been laying the groundwork toward a Pluralism Strategy for many years and is currently seeking to recruit a global leader in Epistemic Pluralism and Ecologies of Knowledges. 

The knowledge domain has become a site of struggle and increasing demands for epistemic pluralism. At the centre of the struggles are calls for institutional transformation, recognition of diverse ways of knowing and redefinition of social relations. There is a resurgent and insurgent epistemological decolonization targeting intersectional inequalities concerning race, class, gender and other vectors of social exclusion, advocating the reclaiming of worldviews and epistemologies that have been pushed to the margins of modern societies; cultivation of new consciousness predicated on decoloniality and humanity in all of its diversity.

The core team is diversely constituted, consisting of researchers at various career stages working in different faculties, departments, and research areas.

Dr. Pallavi Banerjee, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology, Role: Core Team Member specializing in Sociology of Immigration and Refugee Studies; Transnationalism; Families; Gender; Critical intersectional feminism; Qualitative Methods; and the Global South. 

Dr. Pallavi Banerjee

Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Department of Sociology

Core Team Member specializing in the Sociology of Immigration and Refugee Studies; Transnationalism; Families; Gender; Critical intersectional feminism; Qualitative Methods; and the Global South. 

Dr. Aleem Bharwani, Clinical Associate Professor, Cumming School of Medicine, Role: Co-Lead, Institutional Pluralism 

Dr. Aleem Bharwani

Clinical Associate Professor, Cumming School of Medicine

Co-Lead, Institutional Pluralism 

Dr. Michael Hart, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Research), Indigenous Engagement, Office of Indigenous Engagement, Role: Lead, Indigenous Engagement 

Dr. Michael Hart

Professor and Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Research), Indigenous Engagement, Office of Indigenous Engagement

Lead, Indigenous Engagement 

Dr. Clara Joseph, Professor, Faculty of Arts, Department of English, Role: Core Team Member specializing in nonviolence; South Asia; India; Thomas Christians; Portuguese colonization; freedom movement; literary analysis; history; travelogue; and Eastern Christianity 

Dr. Clara Joseph

Professor, Faculty of Arts, Department of English

Core Team Member specializing in nonviolence; South Asia; India; Thomas Christians; Portuguese colonization; freedom movement; literary analysis; history; travelogue; and Eastern Christianity 

Dr. Ben McKay, Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Department of Anthropology and Archeology, Core Team Member specializing in critical agrarian studies, land politics, rural development, global food politics, and food sovereignty 

Dr. Ben McKay

Associate Professor, Faculty of Arts, Department of Anthropology and Archeology

Core Team Member specializing in critical agrarian studies, land politics, rural development, global food politics, and food sovereignty 

Dr. Hieu Van Ngo, Associate Professor, Faculty of Social Work, Role: Core Team Member, specializing in Diversity, equity, inclusion, anti-racism, youth crime prevention, inclusive education, immigration, multiculturalism 

Dr. Hieu Van Ngo

Associate Professor, Associate Dean - Teaching and Learning Faculty of Social Work

Core Team Member, specializing in equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, youth crime prevention, inclusive education, immigration, multiculturalism 

Dr. Roberta Rice, Faculty of Arts, Department of Political Science, Role: Core Team Member specializing in Indigenous movements; Global South: resource conflicts; Indigenous and environmental activism; decolonization; and depatriarchalization. 

Dr. Roberta Rice

Faculty of Arts, Department of Political Science

Core Team Member specializing in Indigenous movements; Global South: resource conflicts; Indigenous and environmental activism; decolonization; and depatriarchalization

Dr. Malinda Smith, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Research), Equity, Diversity and Inclusion, Role: Institutional lead on EDI in Research and Plural Societies 

Dr. Malinda Smith

Professor and Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Research), Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Institutional lead on EDI in Research and Plural Societies 

Dr. Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike, Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts, Department of English, Role: Core Team Member specializing in Black and African literature; masculinities; ethics; decolonial/postcolonial; feminist; cultural studies. 

Dr. Uchechukwu Peter Umezurike

Assistant Professor, Faculty of Arts, Department of English

Core Team Member specializing in Black and African literature; masculinities; ethics; decolonial/postcolonial; feminist; cultural studies. 


Pluralistic Societies: Transdisciplinarity, Cognitive Justice and Education 

Globally and locally, we are witnessing societies shaped by increasing human entanglements and social polarization.  Pluralism in the city, what might be called pluralism from below, recognizes the need for an active engagement that creates a society of shared values and peace and prosperity from a diversity of civilizations, cultures, peoples, groups, and entities. It addresses the wicked social challenges associated with the super-diversity and hyper-diversity of our time: social disconnection, division, distrust, dehumanization, religious intolerance and political strife. Pluralism is inextricably concerned with depolarisation.  It is fundamentally concerned with how to make diversity work so that we can live well together. It requires actively cultivating an understanding of different perspectives and facilitating how this multiplicity shapes social transformation for the better. Pluralism is what can emerge from relationship building and intercultural engagement, bridging divides, social healing, collaborative problem solving, and interfaith engagement. This context calls for a paradigm shift for bold solutions, culture change, shifting values, norms, skills, behaviours, how we see ourselves and others, and how we see ourselves in relation to diverse others. The University of Calgary has been laying the groundwork toward a Pluralism Strategy for many years and is currently seeking to recruit a global leader in Transdisciplinarity, Cognitive Justice and Education. 

The core team is diversely constituted with representation from different career stages, faculties and disciplines in support of the transdisciplinary research.

Dr. Jennifer Adams, Associate Professor and CRC in Creativity in STEM, Faculty of Science and Werklund School of Education, Role: Lead, Creativity, Equity, & STEM 

Dr. Jennifer Adams

Associate Professor and CRC in Creativity in STEM, Faculty of Science and Werklund School of Education

Lead, Creativity, Equity, & STEM 

Dr. Gabriela Alonso Yanez, Associate Professor, Werklund School of Education, Role: Lead, Partnerships and Sustainability 

Dr. Gabriela Alonso Yanez

Associate Professor, Werklund School of Education,

Lead, Partnerships and Sustainability 

Dr. Aleem Bharwani, Clinical Associate Professor, Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Medicine, Role: Co-Lead, Institutional Pluralism Initiative 

Dr. Aleem Bharwani

Clinical Associate Professor, Cumming School of Medicine, Department of Medicine

Co-Lead, Institutional Pluralism Initiative 

Dr. Michael Hart, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Research), Indigenous Engagement, Office of Indigenous Engagement, Role: Lead, Indigenous Engagement 

Dr. Michael Hart

Professor, Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Research), Indigenous Engagement, Office of Indigenous Engagement

Lead, Indigenous Engagement 

Dr. Susan Kutz, Professor, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Role: Lead, Arctic One Health 

Dr. Susan Kutz

Professor, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine

Lead, Arctic One Health

Dr. Jennifer Markides, Assistant Professor, Werklund School of Education, Role: Lead, Curriculum Studies 

Dr. Jennifer Markides

Assistant Professor, Werklund School of Education

Lead, Curriculum Studies 

Dr. Yvonne Poitras-Pratt, Associate Professor, Werklund School of Education, Role: Lead, Adult Learning

Dr. Yvonne Poitras-Pratt

Associate Professor, Werklund School of Education

Lead, Adult Learning

Dr. Pratim Sengupta, Professor, Werklund School of Education, Role: Lead, Learning Sciences 

Dr. Pratim Sengupta

Professor, Werklund School of Education

Lead, Learning Sciences 

Dr. Malinda Smith, Professor and Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Research), Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, Role: Lead, EDI in Research and Plural Societies 

Dr. Malinda Smith

Professor and Vice-Provost and Associate Vice-President (Research), Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion

Institutional lead on EDI in Research and Plural Societies 

Dr. Rahat Zaidi, Professor, Werklund School of Education, Role: Lead, Language and Literacy

Dr. Rahat Zaidi

Professor, Werklund School of Education

Lead, Language and Literacy