Governor General's International Award for Canadian Studies:
2003 - Karen Gould
Karen Gould has been one of the leading scholars of Quebec feminist writing and a major figure in both the national and international Canadian Studies communities for over two decades. . Although she began her scholarly career with two books on French novelist Claude Simon, Professor Gould shifted her focus to Quebec women writers at the beginning of the 1980s and since then she has been in the forefront of Quebec literary studies. As she demonstrated in her groundbreaking 1981 article in the feminist journalSigns (“Setting Words Free: Feminist Writing in Quebec,” Signs 6.4), she is able to use French, American, and Canadian feminist theory to explain extraordinarily difficult experimental texts in clear language. Since the 1980s, she has published a steady stream of journal articles and book chapters on Marie-Claire Blais, Nicole Brossard, Louky Bersianik, Madeleine Gagnon, France Théoret, Suzanne Lamy, Madeleine Monette, Monique LaRue, Elise Turcotte, and Ying Chen. The publication of her brilliant book, Writing in the Feminine (Southern Illinois, 1990), was a major event in Canadian feminist literary studies and her close readings made the works of Quebec’s most important experimental women writers accessible to all students of francophone literature. With her fine critical sensibility and her deep understanding of Quebec history and politics, she was been able to contextualize feminist poetry and prose in a way that leads to a deeper understanding of Quebec intellectual history. Currently, she is completing a book project on contemporary women’s writing, Women Mapping Culture in Quebec, 1980-2000.
Recognition for her scholarly excellence has come in the form of numerous research fellowships and grants. The Canadian Government awarded her the Senior Research Fellowship in 1986 and the Fulbright Foundation named her as one of the first Fulbright Scholars to Canada in 1992-93. Professor Gould’s work is cited not only by U.S. feminist scholars, but also by major Canadian and Quebec scholars such as Patricia Smart, Janet Paterson, and Lori Saint-Martin. Her participation in Canadian Studies conferences in South America and Europe has earned her the respect of leading Canadianists internationally.
Professor Gould has also proved herself as an energetic editor. In 1988, she assumed the editorship of Québec Studies, the interdisciplinary journal published by the American Council for Quebec Studies. During her five years as editor, she was responsible for eight volumes of the journal, whose reputation was enhanced under her leadership. With William Metcalfe and Joseph Jockel, she edited Northern Exposures (ACSUS, 1993), a collection of essays on scholarship on Canada in the United States. She also co-edited an important collection of essays on women writers entitled Postcolonial Subjects: Francophone Women Writers (Minnesota, 1996) and a collection entitled Canadian Distinctiveness into the XXIst Century (Ottawa, 2003).
In addition to being a teacher, scholar, and editor, Karen Gould has held a number of important elective positions in various academic organizations. As a member of the Modern Language Association’s executive committee for Francophone Studies, she organized sessions at MLA that included presentations on French-Canadian literature. After serving as a councillor for the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, she was elected Vice-President and then President. In those positions, she was responsible for expanding the size of the organization and its conferences. Recently served a term as President of the International Council for Canadian Studies. In that role, she traveled widely and gave freely of her time to promote Canadian Studies around the world. She has been a friend and mentor to scores of young scholars entering the field and a valued colleague to her peers.
As Professor Gould moved from full time teaching into administration, she has been able to use her positions to promote the institutionalization of Canadian Studies in the academy. First as Associate Dean of Graduate Students at Bowling Green State University (OH), then as Dean of Arts and Letters at Old Dominion University (VA), and in her current position as Dean of Arts and Sciences at the University of Cincinnati (OH), Gould has been able to strengthen support for graduate students and academic programs. This is very important to the future of Canadian Studies in the United States.
Professor Karen Gould has made many important contributions to the field of Canadian Studies, which has grown enormously in the last two decades with her help. She is, indeed, a worthy recipient of the Governor General’s International Award in Canadian Studies.