Critical Humanities Commons
Rooted in care. Driven by ideas.
The Critical Humanities Commons is a space where interdisciplinary scholarship unfolds through creativity, conversation, and commitment to social justice. Located at the heart of the Faculty of Humanities, the Commons brings people together to think, learn, and teach across disciplines to create new approaches for public dialogue. Four pillars animate the Commons mission:
Collectively, the Commons is directed by three guiding principles:
- EQUITY: reject extractive research practices and center marginalized epistemologies. Integrate undergraduate and graduate students as co-organizers, researchers, and decision makers, rather than passive learners.
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ACCESSIBILITY: uphold disability justice as a core dimension of social integrity and to foster inclusive participation, particularly for community members whose knowledge contributions are undervalued.
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COMMUNITY: include non-academic collaborators as co-creators and partners in knowledge production.
Our space
Located on the third floor of the Clearihue Building, the Commons evokes the spirit of its original architectural design as the heart of the Faculty of Humanities. The space is split into the Commons Hub (collective area) and Commons Lab (collaborative space) and the Director’s office.
Commons Hub
A welcoming collective area designed for informal social gatherings, open dialogue, and interdisciplinary exchange. The Hub is a flexible, inclusive space where faculty, students, and visitors can meet causally, host drop-in conversations, or engage in spontaneous collaborations for teaching, research, creative, or community. Comfortable seating, communal tables, and accessible resources make the Hub a dynamic social and intellectual crossroads in Humanities.
Commons Lab
A dedicated collaborative for focused scholarly work and innovation. The Critical Encounter speaker series will be hosted here, as well as other Commons programming to be rolled out over the year. This includes the Collaborative Syllabus Workshops and the Humanities Collective, an initiative for faculty and students to convene around shared project themes, exchange drafts, provide feedback, and experiment with new ideas in a supportive, structured environment. Through the Humanities Collective and Collaborative Syllabus Workshops, faculty and students convene around shared project themes, exchanging drafts, providing feedback, and experimenting with new ideas in a supportive, structured environment. The Lab encourages sustained partnership and mentorship through the Collective, guiding approaches for creating radical transdisciplinary outputs for collective knowledge-building.
Critical Encounters
A free monthly speaker series curating encounters that apply humanistic thinking beyond the academy. The aim is to underscore the public relevance of the humanities in responding to uncertainty and possibility, through programming that appeals to a broad range of interests on campus and community. These events will be accompanied with modest refreshments to foster informal exchange.
The 2025-2026 schedule will be posted in September.
The Director
Jaipreet Virdi (she/her/hers) is a historian of science, technology, and medicine who specializes in disability. As a scholar activist, she uses research as a tool for influencing public discourse and policy and has produced numerous interdisciplinary works in public humanities. As a deaf person with chronic pain, she relies on her service dog, Lizzie, who loves to meet new people. Stop by and say hello!
Contact
Courier or in-person address:
CHC - Critical Humanities Commons
University of Victoria
Clearihue C305
3800 Finnerty Rd.
Victoria BC V8P 5C2
Mailing address:
CHC - Critical Humanities Commons
University of Victoria
PO Box 1700 STN CSC
Victoria BC V8W 2Y2
Canada