What is a boundary?

What is a boundary? A boundary is a border, a line, a division that not only separates but also gives shape and definition. Boundaries can be enabling, they can give a sense of knowing, of comfort and of identity. Staying within boundaries, however, can mean that you are unaware of possibilities that lie beyond them, potential new ways in which to be and think. Boundaries are complicated, filled with power dynamics and issues of inclusion and exclusion. Therefore, exploring the possibilities, discomforts, and ideas beyond the boundaries within which we have come to understand ourselves, our work and our ways of thinking can be exhilarating, terrifying and, for scholars, necessary.

As graduate and professional students, it is imperative that we network beyond the bounded circles and lines of thought to which we have become so accustomed, the boundaries of our disciplinary lenses, or our defined areas of geographical focus. How do those working in different disciplines see the same subject? To borrow from Jennifer Robinson (2015), how can we “think through elsewhere?” We suggest that one way is to provide spaces that are germane to the sharing and the generation of new ideas.

To this end, the Society of Graduate and Professional Students (SGPS) at Queen’s University is excited to call for graduate and professional students to present papers at the second annual Scholarship Beyond Boundaries conference happening online from March 20-21, 2021. As alluded to above, this conference aims to facilitate conversations between scholars of different disciplines through multidisciplinary and/or multi-spatial panels. By making participants aware of literature in other fields, or considering their work from different perspectives, these panel discussions have the potential to strengthen lines of inquiry and inspire new ones. As such, we are seeking presentations for our sponsored panels that avoid language that may not be understood beyond the boundaries of any specific discipline. Further, panelists who are selected will be encouraged to collaborate with their fellow panelists prior to the conference by sharing their papers and providing feedback on each other’s work.