Pierre Anctil, director of the Canadian Studies Institute and a professor in the Department of History is one of 10 Canadian scientific researchers recently awarded a Killam Research Fellowship, valued at $70,000, as a result of the 41st annual competition administered by the Canada Council for the Arts.
A specialist in Canadian Jewish Studies, Professor Anctil received the fellowship in anthropology in order to further his research efforts in regards to Yiddish poet Jacob-Isaac Segal.
“It is a great honour to be awarded this prize and is an exceptional opportunity for a professor to be able to focus on his research effort on a full-time basis,” says Professor Anctil. “The origins of Canadian diversity are a particular interest of mine. The migratory waves at the turn of the 20th century were among the most significant in Canada. The linguistic and cultural offerings of those immigrants were very rich. Among individuals who arrived during this period, there were many writers, particularly the Montreal-based poet Jacob-Isaac Segal, who published 12 Yiddish poetry books, a language that has become relatively inaccessible to Canadians.”
The Canadian Council for the Arts’ Killam Research Fellowships are among the most prestigious fellowships in Canada. They allow Canada’s premier researchers to focus on their research on a full-time basis, for a two-year period.
