Joel Castonguay-Belanger

Associate Professor

Research Classification

Research Interests

History of the book and print culture
Québec literature and culture
Science and literature
The Enlightenment and the French Revolution

Relevant Thesis-Based Degree Programs

 
 

Recruitment

Master's students
Doctoral students
Postdoctoral Fellows
Any time / year round

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Attend an information session

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ADVICE AND INSIGHTS FROM UBC FACULTY ON REACHING OUT TO SUPERVISORS

These videos contain some general advice from faculty across UBC on finding and reaching out to a potential thesis supervisor.

Great Supervisor Week Mentions

Each year graduate students are encouraged to give kudos to their supervisors through social media and our website as part of #GreatSupervisorWeek. Below are students who mentioned this supervisor since the initiative was started in 2017.

 

My supervisor is brilliant. His patience and humour buoy even the most floundering of minds (fact of which I am empirical proof). A good thing: there are great supervisors aplenty. A magical thing: my supervisor understands me and helps me to understand myself.

Juliette Christie (2019)

 

Graduate Student Supervision

Doctoral Student Supervision

Dissertations completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest dissertations.

Construction et transformation de l'imaginaire social de la religieuse au XVIIIe siecle (2020)

Eighteenth century authors’ fascination with the figure of the nun is attested by its presence in the literary landscape. This presence has led us to question the social stakes behind its protean representations. Utilization of this figure is far from being insignificant as it often appears to be strategic, and above all, is highly rooted in the social and political context of the century. Although the tactical use of nuns as characters is extensive throughout the eighteenth century, it is even more prominent in the last two decades due to the wake of revolutionary events. During that time a radicalization of certain traits in the representations of nuns is especially perceivable.Exploration of a heterogeneous corpus emphasizes the implications of the social imagination of the nun in the evolution of revolutionary discourse, and in the final decision to close the convents in 1792. Antagonistic characterization of nuns in some eighteenth-century literature is symptomatic of the spirit of anticlericalism spreading in the France of the Old Regime. Various sources (novels, theater pieces, letters written by nuns, etc.) highlight the process by which fiction participates in the construction of a negative social imagination of nuns and convents. The present study is a part of the New Cultural History, and exists at the intersection of literary and historical approaches. More importantly, this research sheds a new light on a social imagination that was prevalent in the eighteenth century, and is an original contribution to the study of representation of women in literature.

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Master's Student Supervision

Theses completed in 2010 or later are listed below. Please note that there is a 6-12 month delay to add the latest theses.

Pensees sur l'interpretation de la peinture On the interpretation of painting: an analysis of the thought of Denis Diderot (2020)

No abstract available.

 
 

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Read tips on applying, reference letters, statement of interest, reaching out to prospective supervisors, interviews and more in our Application Guide!