Recent News

Devastating wildfires continue to scorch Western United States, an unprecedented and alarming addition to an already intense year of social, medical, and economic instability. We asked historian and MQUP author Alan MacEachern to reflect on the current disaster in the context of his book, The Miramichi Fire: A History.

On 7 October 1825, a … Read More >

“Confession is the primary modality of the internet. It is the force that maintained its impetus through the conversion from analogue to digital, and it remains at the centre of people’s interactions within online culture.” Thomas Waugh and Brandon Arroyo, I Confess!

Whether it be social media posts, online comment boards, or even … Read More >

“Notions of private and public are omnipresent in discussions of architecture and cities. Far from being neutral, they are formulated through normative notions of gender – the very same notions that queer thinking seeks to question.” Olivier Vallerand, Unplanned Visitors

For many, being in quarantine has meant having to adjust and redefine our … Read More >

“While diseases may differ one from another, these essays also show that human reactions to new diseases are relentlessly constant.” Jacalyn Duffin, SARS in Context

For many, when considering the current COVID-19 pandemic, the SARS outbreak that swept across the globe in 2003 comes to mind. While there are significant differences between the … Read More >

“As the Model T Ford was to the 1920s, so are the smartphone, and mobile devices more generally, to the present day.” Gregory Taylor and Catherine Middleton, Frequencies

Providing easy access to our pictures, our music, or social media, our technological identity is strongly dependent on, and affected by, smartphones and mobile devices. … Read More >

“… trust in technological fixes is a cultural perception having profound implications for human actions and power relations.” Sean Johnston, Techno-Fixers

In the 21st century, technology seems to provide solutions for almost any problem imaginable. From hi-tech medical equipment to an overabundance of varying phone apps, the implementation of technological fixes … Read More >

“If it is worth pausing and reflecting on the magnitude of the transformations of our world, it is also necessary to insist on the continuities.” Laurence B. Mussio, Whom Fortune Favours

“It is time to see discomfort as positive. My hope is that the reader will learn, as I have, that decolonization is not about “me” and that the journey forward is collective.” Denise Nadeau, Unsettling Spirit

Current events have undeniably led to significant changes in our individual lives and experiences. However, … Read More >

“In the age of alternative facts, facts have also been framed, that is, stripped of all the interpretative, institutional, and social support they once could count on.” Santiago Zabala, Being at Large

Amidst the whirlwind of changes we are currently experiencing, from a global pandemic to forced social-isolation, how do we interpret and internalize … Read More >

October’s MQUP Top 5 is from Alison Rowley, author of Putin Kitsch in America.

An examination of how the Russian president’s image circulates via memes, parodies, apps, and games, Putin Kitsch in America illustrates how technological change has shaped both the kinds of kitsch being produced and the nature of political engagement … Read More >