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Faculty Details

Faculty (Alphabetical) --- Faculty (by Research Interest)


Dr. Struan Sinclair (on leave)

Associate Professor
Office: 233 St. John's College
Phone: (204) 474-8519
Email: struan.sinclair@umanitoba.ca

 

 

 Struan Sinclair


Recent Courses:

  • Psychology and Literature
  • Short Fiction
  • Digital Culture  

Research and Teaching Fields:

Literature and computing, digital humanities, creative writing, literary theory, literature of crime, British literature and culture, literature and affect, visual culture, cognitive approaches to literature, philosophy of mind, philosophical aesthetics.

Selected Publications:

Books:

  • Tomorrowless. Virtual graphic novel. Winnipeg: Electric Monk Media/Alchemical Press. 2015. Forthcoming.
  • Automatic World. Toronto: Doubleday, 2009. Reprinted in trade paperback by Anchor Books, October 2010.
  • Everything Breathed. London: Granta, 1999.
  • Strange Comforts. Gutter Press: Toronto, 1998.

Chapters in edited books, collections and refereed journals:

  • “Diaspora.” The Southampton Review. Spring/Summer 2015.
  • “Engaging Machines: Experience, Empathy, and the Modern Museum.” (with Adam Muller and Andrew Woolford). First author. The Idea of a Human Rights Museum. Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2015. (5466 words, forthcoming 2015)
  • “Trophy Season: Literary Prizes and Cultural Institutions.” TOPIA: Canadian Journal of Cultural Studies. 2015. Forthcoming.
  • “‘An Apartment So Bedizzened:’ Edgar Allan Poe’s Superperceivers.” La Questione Romantica. 2012. 43-58.
    • ----. Revised and expanded version reprinted in Romantic Crime Fiction and the Sublime. Monte Carlo: LiberFaber, 2014.
  •  “Archaeology.” Short story. Reprinted in The Winnipeg Review. April 2011.
  • “Cal.” Prairie Fire: Home Places 3. April 2009.
  • “The Familiars.” Orkney: Imagined Futures. Stromness: Brae Editions, 2009.
  • “Whispering Blame.” Proceedings of What Lies Beneath: The Underworld 1850-2000. Eds. Clare Horrocks et al. London: U of London P, 2005.
  • “Islander.” Northwards. (Summer, 2003).
  • “Limpet.” Anonymous Juice.  (Vol. 3, 2002).
  • “Skin Rain.” Paperplates. (Vol. 4.1, 2000).
  • “Building Marrakesh.” Included in the anthology Dreaming Home: Stories by New Writers. Toronto: Paperplates Editions, 2000. 72-88.

Selected Presentations:

Keynote and invited papers:

  • “Circling to the Left in the Mist: Pass Notes on John Rae’s Nature Letters.” Invited address, Orkney Book Festival, May 2013.
  • “Immoderate Icarus: Attention and Interpretation in Munro and James.” Invited paper/Special address. School of English, Communication and Philosophy, Cardiff University, April 2011.
  • Invited paper and public reading. English Language Artistry. Manitoba Association of Teachers of English Conference. Winnipeg, October 2009.
  •  “Nine Ways of Looking at Reading.” Keynote address. Manitoba Libraries Conference 2009: Future Generations, Evolving Services. Winnipeg, May 2009.
  •  “Complex Creativity: Cognition and Literary Process.” Invited paper. University of British Colombia Okanagan, May 2008.
  • “Attention.” Invited paper. University of New Brunswick Fredericton, February 2008.

Scholarly presentations:

  • “‘Virtually Representing a Group’s Destruction: Reflections on Technology and Method.” International Association of Genocide Scholars Annual Meeting. Yerevan, Armenia, July 8-12, 2015.
  •  “Animating the Archive: Digital Technology, Traumatic Experience, and Canada’s IRS Legacy.” With Andrew Woolford. The Knight Symposium. The Archive and Reconciliation: Re-Membering the Residential School Experience. University of Manitoba, October, 2014.
  • “Engaging Machines: Experience, Empathy and the Modern Museum.”  With Adam Muller and Andrew Woolford. The Idea of a Human Rights Museum: Symposium and Workshop. February 1-3, 2013.
  • “Brave New Words: Digital Culture and the New Narrative.” Canadian Creative Writers and Writing Programs Conference. Creative Writing in the 21st Century: Research and Practice. Humber Institute of Technology and Advanced Learning, May 2012.
  • “Embodying Empathy.” Beyond Testimony and Trauma: Oral History in the Aftermath of Mass Violence. Montreal, Concordia University, March 2012.
  • “Spatializing Suffering.” The Idea of a Human Rights Museum. Centre for Human Rights Research Initiative, University of Manitoba, October 2011.
  • “Impossible Readings: Transparency and Opacity in Poe’s Urban Imaginary.” Capital Crimes: Reading and Writing Crime and Cities. Crime Narratives in Context Research Group. Cardiff University, October 2009.
  • “Murder Most Ordinary: The Attribution of Blame in the Newgate Calendar.”  Media and Communication. Canadian Society for Eighteenth-Century Studies XXXIIIrd Conference. Winnipeg, October 2007.
  • “Naming and Knowledge: Historical Truth and the End of Narrativism.” With Dr. Adam Muller. Canadian Comparative Literature Association Conference. Saskatoon, May 2007.
  • “Open-Ended: Critical Theory and the New Textuality.” Computing and Literature Panel, MLA. Washington, DC, December 2005.
  • “Hand to Mouth: Gossip as Utility.”  Victorian Criminalities Conference. Exeter University, April 2005.
  • “Fiction and Emotions.” Art and Emotion Panel and Public Forum. Winnipeg Art Gallery, March 2005.
  • “Difficulty.”  Institute for the Humanities. University of Manitoba, March 2005.
  • “The Men of the Crowd: Transparency and Opacity in the Victorian City.” City Limits Conference. University of Manitoba, April 2004.
  • “Sweet Sensation: Pollution and the English Novel.”  Infection and Contamination Conference. Lancaster University, July 2002.
  •  “Whispering Blame: Gossip & the Whodunit.” What Lies Beneath: The Underworld 1850-2000. Edge Hill College, July 2001.MAJOR HONOURS AND AWARDS

Major Honours and Awards:

Prizes and Awards:
2012
  • Finalist, Manitoba Reads, Automatic World, 2012
  • Nominated, University 1 Excellence in Teaching Award, University of Manitoba, 2012
2011
  • Manitoba Arts Council Writers “A” Grant, 2010-11
2010
  • Rh Award for Outstanding Contributions to Research and Scholarship (Creative Works), 2010
  • Finalist, Margaret Laurence Award for Fiction, Automatic World,  2010
  • Finalist, McNally Robinson Book of the Year, Automatic World,  2010
2009
  • Finalist, 2009 CBC Literary Awards (short fiction)
  • Arts Program Development Fund Grant, 2009
  • Faculty of Arts Outstanding Achievement Award, 2009
  • UMFA Merit Award for Research, 2009 

2007
  • University of Manitoba Creative Works Grant, 2007
    University of Manitoba Arts Program Development Fund Grant, 2007
2002-2003
  • Scottish Arts Writing Fellowship, 2002-2003
  • Canada Council for the Arts Emerging Writer’s Grant, 2002
Grants and Fellowships:
2014
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Development Grant. Co-applicant (Principal Investigator 2015-16). $195,657
    • Project: Embodying Empathy: Fostering Historical Knowledge and Caring through a Virtual Indian Residential School.
2012
  • Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Development Grant. Collaborator. $198,764.00.
    • Project:The Affect Project: Memory, Aesthetics, and Ethics
2009
  • Conference Travel Grant, Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba
2007
  • Travel Grant, Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba 2005
  • Conference Travel Grant, Faculty of Arts, University of Manitoba
2000-01
  • New London (UK) Writer’s Award for Fiction (Automatic World manuscript)
  • Banff Centre for the Arts Scholarship Canada Council for the Arts Emerging Writer’s Grant
  • Commonwealth Fellowship, 1996-2000
  • SSHRC Doctoral Fellowship, 1996-2000
1995-99
  • BBC Radio 4 Write Out Loud Bursary,
  • London Arts Board Bursary
  • Travel Grant, Cardiff University
  • Banff Centre for the Arts Scholarship
  • Solvay Fellowship, McGill University
  • Humanities Research Grant, McGill University
  • Max Binz Major Fellowship, McGill University
  • Mary Keenan Scholarship, McGill University
  • Dean's Honour List, McGill University, 1991-3
  • James McGill Award, McGill University
Teaching and Residencies:
  • Visiting Scholar. University of Bologna, July 2014.
  • Associate Professor. University of Manitoba, 2010-present.
  • Assistant Professor. University of Manitoba, 2004-2010.
  • Visiting Fellow, Banff Institute for New Media, 2008-09.
  • Resident, Banff Leighton Studios, 2004, 2006, 2008, 2009
  • Tutor. The Short Story. Cromarty Book Festival, Scotland, 2003.
  • Writing Fellow. Scottish Arts Council. Orkney, 2002-2003.
  • Instructor. Twentieth-Century Literature. University of Manitoba, 2002.
  • Instructor. Writing and Composition. University of Manitoba, 2002.
  • Course Assistant. Modern British Literature. Cardiff University, 1998.
  • Course Assistant. Introduction to Crime and Detective Fiction. Cardiff University, 1997.
  • Research Assistant. McGill University, 1993-1995.
  • Teaching Assistant. Critical Approaches to Cultural Studies. McGill University, 1992-1993.
  • Associate Professor. University of Manitoba, 2004-present.