‘No Free Man’ Wins 2017 Saskatchewan Book Award for Scholarly Writing
May 8, 2017 | Community, Featured
Bohdan Kordan, Regina.
The 24th Annual Saskatchewan Book Awards were held April 29, 2017 at the Conexus Arts Centre in Regina, Saskatchewan. The awards celebrate excellence in writing and publishing. Prof. Bohdan Kordan’s No Free Man: Canada, the Great War, and the Enemy Alien Experience was shortlisted and then selected as the recipient of the Jennifer Welsh Award in Scholarly Writing. The award is presented for the best contribution in book form to scholarly work in a particular area that “build[s] on theoretical work within a community of scholars and contribute[s] to the creation and transmission of knowledge.”
Examining Canadian government policy towards immigrants of “enemy” origin, No Free Man describes the precarious position of so called enemy aliens in Canada during WWI, assessing how broader concerns about public order and national security shaped government policy, including the internment of some 8,500 and the monitoring and surveillance of an additional 85,000 individuals.
Selected by a jury of distinguished academics, the panel described the book as “a comprehensive and compelling study.” Said to be “engaging” and “well-researched”, the work was cited for its wider significance “as we confront divided loyalties and the cultural impact of immigration both in yesteryear and today.”
In accepting the award, Prof. Kordan spoke of the experience “as a reminder about the fragility of the rights we hold in common,” underscoring, however, that it should also be considered something of “a cautionary tale.” Observing, “If it happened then, it could happen again today,” he noted, “It forces us to be vigilant and to remember.” Concluding his remarks, Prof. Kordan thanked the jurors for the honour bestowed on him but also “for paying homage to the memory of the experience, which we need to recover and hold dear for our sake and the sake of our children.”
Bohdan Kordan is professor of Political Studies, St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan and Director of the Prairie Centre for the Study of Ukrainian Heritage.
For more information on the book and the Saskatchewan Book Awards, see http://www.bookawards.sk.ca/
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