Massey Lectures return to Concordia

The titular “paradox” reflects Clarkson’s belief that citizens shape their personal identity most keenly through their commitment to community.

Following the Montreal launch, Clarkson will deliver lectures in Halifax, Saskatoon, Vancouver and Toronto. The complete lecture series will be broadcast on the CBC radio program Ideas and published by House of Anansi Press.

Clarkson’s views on citizenship and identity are informed by her personal experience of arriving in Canada with her family in 1942 as refugees from Hong Kong.

“My Massey Lectures are about something really important to me personally because the theme is belonging, and that’s been the theme of my life,” she says.

Clarkson emphasizes that she and her family were made to feel they belonged in Canada.

But she also feels she contributed to Canada’s transformation into the multicultural society it is today, in part through her very visible presence as a broadcaster on CBC television beginning in 1965.

Writing the lectures provided Clarkson with an opportunity to reflect on her relationship with her adopted country. “I wanted to analyze that. I wanted to make it clear to other people exactly what it is to belong in a country like Canada today.”

Get your tickets for the October 8 lecture.