Ottawa’s $1.4-billion social sciences research program is funding studies into Arctic climate comics, Canadian dancefloors, low-carbon videogames and the “contested meaning” of former prime minister Justin Trudeau’s speeches.
A Canadian Taxpayers Federation analysis of federal grant data found the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council awarded $43,693 to an Ottawa professor who plans to analyze 326 Trudeau speeches.
The research will track Trudeau’s use of words including “feminist,” “reconciliation,” “protest” and “freedom.”
“Studies about climate comics and the state of Canadian dancefloors don’t sound like studies that matter most to Canadians like the government claims,” said CTF federal director Franco Terrazzano.
Other grants include $78,623 to study the “state of the dancefloor in Canada,” $79,999 for research into “nasal harmony in Amazonian languages” and $88,591 to examine Arctic climate comics.
Concordia University professor Antonia Hernández received $99,850 for a project called A Liquid Frontier: Water Governance through Choral Storytelling. One of the project’s co-applicants is a theatre professor specializing in puppetry.
An Alberta-based professor received $37,275 for a “Low-Carbon Game Jam.” Her previous work included placing a solar-powered server on an apartment balcony to host video games, even though the server can shut down during dark or cloudy weather.
Another $70,529 will fund research into the “sounds of horror cinema.”
The taxpayers’ group identified at least 50 projects concerning other countries that collectively received nearly $3.9 million. They include $93,467 for a digital edition of a 1908 book about Sri Lankan art, $65,833 to study Western-style sweets in Japan and $30,987 for research into “struggling temple brewers in sixth century BCE Mesopotamia.”
“A government that can find $30,987 for temple brewers in ancient Mesopotamia can find savings for Canadian taxpayers,” Terrazzano said.
The council has previously funded studies into the “birth, life and death” of a grocery cart, gender politics in Peruvian rock music and casual sex among young adults living in Jasper.
Hellbound and Down 