Massey Lectures

{{for|the William E. Massey Sr., Lectures at Harvard University|Massey Lectures (Harvard University)}}

The Massey Lectures is an annual five-part series of lectures given in Canada by distinguished writers, thinkers, and scholars who explore important ideas and issues of contemporary interest.{{cite web| url = https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/past-masseys-lectures-1.4439273| title = Archives {{!}} CBC Massey Lectures {{!}} CBC Radio}} Created in 1961 in honour of Vincent Massey, a former Governor General of Canada and coordinator of the 1951 Massey Report, it is widely regarded as one of the most acclaimed lecture series in the country.

Notable Massey lecturers have included Northrop Frye, John Kenneth Galbraith, Noam Chomsky, Jean Vanier, Margaret Atwood, Ursula Franklin, George Steiner, Claude Levi Strauss, and Nobel laureates Martin Luther King Jr., George Wald, Willy Brandt, and Doris Lessing.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-massey-lectures|title=The Massey Lectures | the Canadian Encyclopedia}} In 2003, novelist Thomas King was the first person of Cherokee descent to be invited as a lecturer.{{cite news| url = https://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/thomas-king-still-not-the-indian-you-had-in-mind/article4426067/| title = Thomas King, still not the Indian you had in mind – The Globe and Mail| website = The Globe and Mail| date = 19 July 2012| last1 = David| first1 = Daniel}}

Sponsorship

The event is co-sponsored by CBC Radio, House of Anansi Press and Massey College in the University of Toronto. The lectures have been broadcast by the CBC Radio show Ideas since 1965.

Prior to 1989, the lectures were recorded for broadcast in a CBC Radio studio in Toronto. From 1989 to 2002, the lectures were delivered before a live audience at the University of Toronto. Since 2002, the lectures have been presented and recorded for broadcast at public events in five different cities across Canada.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-massey-lectures|title=The Massey Lectures | the Canadian Encyclopedia}}

The lectures are broadcast each November on Ideas and published simultaneously in book form by House of Anansi Press.{{Cite web|url=https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/the-massey-lectures|title=The Massey Lectures | the Canadian Encyclopedia}}

Many of the lectures can be listened to online on the Ideas website, while others can be purchased on various sites.{{cite web| url = https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/past-masseys-lectures-1.4439273| title = Archives {{!}} CBC Massey Lectures {{!}} CBC Radio}}

In addition to the print version for each individual year, several of the earlier lectures are available in compilations, including The Lost Massey Lectures.{{Cite web|url=https://houseofanansi.com/products/the-lost-massey-lectures|title = The Lost Massey Lectures}}

Massey lecturers

Image:Barbara Ward.gif, the first Massey Lecturer]]

1961 – Barbara Ward, The Rich Nations and the Poor Nations
1962 – Northrop Frye, The Educated Imagination
1963 – Frank Underhill, The Image of Confederation
1964 – C. B. Macpherson, The Real World of Democracy
1965 – John Kenneth Galbraith, The Underdeveloped Country
1966 – Paul Goodman, The Moral Ambiguity of America
1967 – Martin Luther King Jr., Conscience for Change
1968 – R. D. Laing, The Politics of the Family
1969 – George Grant, Time as History
1970 – George Wald, Therefore Choose Life
1971 – James Corry, The Power of the Law
1972 – Pierre Dansereau, Inscape and Landscape
1973 – Stafford Beer, Designing Freedom
1974 – George Steiner, Nostalgia for the Absolute
1975 – J. Tuzo Wilson, Limits to Science
1976 – No Lecture
1977 – Claude Lévi-Strauss, Myth and Meaning
1978 – Leslie Fiedler, The Inadvertent Epic
1979 – Jane Jacobs, Canadian Cities and Sovereignty Association
1980 – No Lecture
1981 – Willy Brandt, Dangers and Options: The Matter of World Survival
1982 – Robert Jay Lifton, Indefensible Weapons
1983 – Eric Kierans, Globalism and the Nation State
1984 – Carlos Fuentes, Latin America: At War with the Past
1985 – Doris Lessing, Prisons We Choose to Live Inside
1986 – No Lecture
1987 – Gregory Baum, Compassion and Solidarity: The Church for Others
1988 – Noam Chomsky, Necessary Illusions: Thought Control in Democratic Societies
1989 – Ursula Franklin, The Real World of Technology
1990 – Richard Lewontin, Biology as Ideology: The Doctrine of DNA
1991 – Charles Taylor, The Malaise of Modernity
1992 – Robert Heilbroner, Twenty-First Century Capitalism
1993 – Jean Bethke Elshtain, Democracy on Trial
1994 – Conor Cruise O'Brien, On the Eve of the Millennium
1995 – John Ralston Saul, The Unconscious Civilization
1996 – No Lecture (see Notes below)
1997 – Hugh Kenner, The Elsewhere Community
1998 – Jean Vanier, Becoming Human
1999 – Robert Fulford, The Triumph of Narrative
2000 – Michael Ignatieff, The Rights Revolution
2001 – Janice Stein, The Cult of Efficiency
2002 – Margaret Visser, Beyond Fate
2003 – Thomas King, The Truth About Stories
2004 – Ronald Wright, A Short History of Progress
2005 – Stephen Lewis, Race Against Time: Searching for Hope in AIDS-Ravaged Africa
2006 – Margaret Somerville, The Ethical Imagination
2007 – Alberto Manguel, The City of Words
2008 – Margaret Atwood, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth
2009 – Wade Davis, The Wayfinders: Why Ancient Wisdom Matters in the Modern World
2010 – Douglas Coupland, Player One: What is to Become of Us
2011 – Adam Gopnik, Winter: Five Windows on the Season{{Cite web|url=http://www.anansi.ca/titles.cfm?pub_subid=1268|title=Anansi.ca: TITLES|access-date=2011-06-21|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927164212/http://www.anansi.ca/titles.cfm?pub_subid=1268|archive-date=2011-09-27|url-status=dead}}
2012 – Neil Turok, The Universe Within: From Quantum to Cosmos{{cite web|url=http://www.houseofanansi.com/The-Universe-Within-P1853.aspx|title=House of Anansi: The Universe Within|access-date=30 May 2012|archive-date=29 May 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529052842/http://www.houseofanansi.com/The-Universe-Within-P1853.aspx|url-status=dead}}
2013 – Lawrence Hill, Blood: The Stuff of Life{{cite web|url=http://www.houseofanansi.com/Blood-P2155.aspx|title=House of Anansi:Blood|publisher=House of Anansi Press|access-date=5 October 2013}}
2014 – Adrienne Clarkson, Belonging: The Paradox of Citizenship{{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/episodes/massey-lectures/2014/11/10/the-2014-cbc-massey-lectures-belonging-the-paradox-of-citizenship/|title=The 2014 CBC Massey Lectures}}
2015 – Margaret MacMillan, History's People: Personalities and the Past {{cite web|url=http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/2014/08/04/margaret-macmillan-to-deliver-the-2015-cbc-massey-lectures/|title=Margaret MacMillan to deliver the 2015 CBC Massey Lectures|access-date=2014-11-29}}{{cite web|url=http://houseofanansi.com/collections/all/products/historys-people|title=Margaret MacMillan: History's People|access-date=2015-11-05}}
2016 – Jennifer Welsh, The Return of History: Conflict, Migration and Geopolitics in the Twenty-First Century{{Cite web|url=http://houseofanansi.com/products/the-return-of-history|title=The Return of History|website=House of Anansi Press|access-date=2016-07-11}}
2017 – Payam Akhavan, In Search of a Better World: A Human Rights Odyssey{{Cite web|url=https://houseofanansi.com/products/in-search-of-a-better-world|title=In Search of A Better World|website=House of Anansi Press|language=en|access-date=2017-07-07}}{{Cite web|url=https://www.mcgill.ca/law/about/profs/akhavan-payam|title=Payam Akhavan {{!}} Faculty of Law - McGill University|website=www.mcgill.ca|language=en|access-date=2017-07-07|archive-date=2017-07-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170719141620/https://mcgill.ca/law/about/profs/akhavan-payam|url-status=dead}}
2018 – Tanya Talaga, All Our Relations: Finding the Path Forward{{Cite web|url=https://site.houseofanansi.com/2018-cbc-massey-lectures|title=Toronto Star investigative journalist Tanya Talaga to deliver 2018 CBC Massey Lectures|website=House of Anansi Press|language=en|access-date=2018-04-27|archive-date=2018-04-28|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180428181541/https://site.houseofanansi.com/2018-cbc-massey-lectures/|url-status=dead}}
2019 – Sally Armstrong, Power Shift: The Longest Revolution{{Cite web|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/cbc-massey-lecturer-sally-armstrong-argues-gender-equality-is-crucial-to-a-thriving-future-1.5220275?cmp=newsletter-CBC+Books%3A+July+30|title=CBC Massey Lecturer Sally Armstrong argues gender equality is crucial to a thriving future|date=July 22, 2019|website=CBC|access-date=September 5, 2019}}
2020 – Ronald J. Deibert, Reset: Reclaiming the Internet for Civil Society{{Cite web|date=July 7, 2020|title=2020 Massey Lectures: Renowned tech expert Ronald J. Deibert to explore disturbing impact of social media|url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/2020-massey-lectures-renowned-tech-expert-ronald-j-deibert-to-explore-disturbing-impact-of-social-media-1.5640204|website=CBC News}} (shortlisted for the 2020 Donner Prize)
2021 – Esi Edugyan, Out of the Sun: On Art, Race and the Future[https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/acclaimed-author-esi-edugyan-to-deliver-2021-massey-lectures-on-art-and-race-1.5965136 "Acclaimed author Esi Edugyan to deliver 2021 Massey Lectures on art and race"]. CBC Radio One, March 29, 2021.
2022 – Tomson Highway, Laughing with the Trickster: On Sex, Death and Accordions{{Cite web |date=June 20, 2022 |title=Tomson Highway to explore life through laughter in 2022 CBC Massey Lectures |url=https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/2022-massey-lectures-tomson-highway-1.6492707 |access-date=June 20, 2022 |website=CBC.ca}}
2023 – Astra Taylor, The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart
2024 – Ian Williams, What I Mean To Say: Remaking Conversation in our TimeVivian Rashotte, [https://www.cbc.ca/arts/q/politeness-constrains-us-massey-lecturer-ian-williams-on-developing-our-own-opinions-amid-cancel-culture-1.7166702 "'Politeness constrains us': Massey lecturer Ian Williams on developing our own opinions amid cancel culture"]. CBC News, April 10, 2024.

=Notes=

For Lawrence Hill's Massey Lectures in 2013, the CBC Radio website featured a visual narrative to accompany that year's theme Blood: The Stuff of Life. The story included full-screen images of blood, animations that visually demonstrated historical attitudes towards blood and videos of people affected culturally by it.

1996 did not feature a lecture because Ideas producers and the selected Lecturer Robert Theobald could not agree on an appropriate manuscript for the programme.{{cite news| pages = A15| last = Valpy| first = Michael| title = The Massey Lectures you won't be hearing| work = Globe & Mail| location = Toronto, Canada| date = 1996-09-17}} The theme was to have been on the future of work. Theobald later published his manuscript as Reworking Success: New Communities at the Millennium (1997).{{cite news| issn = 0319-0781| pages = –6| last = Smith| first = Cameron| title = The Massey Lecture we didn't hear| work = Toronto Star| location = Toronto, Ont., Canada| access-date = 2017-01-16| date = 1997-03-29| url = http://www.cameronsmith.ca/index2.php?option=com_content&do_pdf=1&id=331; }}