Have you ever wondered what form research takes in the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences?

Acclaimed novelist and assistant professor Lisa Moore wondered about that, too. The depth and breadth of research in the faculty was one of the first things she noticed when starting work at Memorial four years ago.

“You walk down the corridor and you find yourself in a conversation about the earliest record of a Shakespeare play being performed in St. John’s. Or you’re learning about the different panels in a comic book and the different framing devices in a graphic novel,” she said.

“You head down the stairs and somebody is talking about Muskrat Falls, or the economics of the health-care system or, how policing, over the decades has shifted from, say, protecting labourers on a picket line to protecting the interests of multinationals. You turn another corner, you’re talking about crab asthma, or the politics of migrant labourers headed for the tar sands, or even the politics of the term “tar sands,” not to mention Heidegger and the nature of time, and food security and the best contemporary Irish novelists.”

In State of the Arts, a monthly Facebook Live broadcast on the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences Facebook page, Ms. Moore is digging deep into all of this research and giving faculty members an opportunity to “share this stuff.”

"I am so excited about this series," says Lisa.

State of the Arts is produced with assistance from Phillip Cairns, Ben Smith, Benjy Kean, Paul Hayward, directed by Mark Shallow, all from  Memorial's Centre for Innovation in Teaching and Learning.

Janet Harron, communications advisor for the Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, is producer and creator of State of the Arts.