Sharing research with students and faculty at Far Eastern National University in Vladivostok, Russia. October 2009
I enjoy sharing knowledge of the past and present in community halls, university classrooms, and conferences around the world. In addition to public talks on a range of topics, I have taught the following university courses in Canadian and World history:
HIST 132 History of Canada Since 1867
HIST 3332 The Canadian Worker Since 1914
HIST 358 British Columbia Since 1945
HIST 402 Problems in International Relations: History of the Peace Movement
HIST 469 Social Movements in World History
HIST 490 Labour and the Left in British Columbia
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ABOUT THE COURSES
HIST 132 History of Canada Since 1867
This course provides an introductory history of Canada since Confederation, combining “big picture” political and economic trends with the methods of social history and “history from the bottom up.” I will highlight the experience of diverse historical actors: working people, women, immigrants, and indigenous people. Key events and themes include the consolidation of Confederation in the years after 1867; the Riel Rebellions of 1869 and 1885; industrialism and working-class protest; immigration and urban settlement; the First World War and postwar labour and farmer revolts; social-welfare policy and the Depression of the 1930s; the Second World War and Keynesian welfare state; the Cold War and “Sixties” social movements; Quebec’s “Quiet Revolution”; and the impact of globalization and neoliberalism in recent Canadian history.
This course focuses on selected topics in the history of western Canada from 1670 to the present. Among the included topics are: First Nations and the fur trade; women and fur trade society; colonial society in Red River and Fort Victoria; the west and Confederation; Indian Treaties, the North West Mounted Police and Louis Riel; immigration and the homestead experience; social reform, farm and labour protest; the rise of Social Credit and the Cooperative Commonwealth Federation; and the “new” West post-World War II. As the listed topics suggest the course is focussed more on the prairie than Pacific west. This year-long course offers fruitful opportunities for film and multimedia, as well as students’ detailed exploration of topics of interest in assignments and discussions.
HIST 3332 The Canadian Worker Since 1914
This course focuses on the changing relationships between Canadian workers, employers, and governments from 1914 to the present – and how workers embraced collective agency to advance their interests. Major themes and debates in Canadian labour history will be explored through class lectures, assigned readings, group discussions, and multi-media such as films. Written assignments will encourage a critical approach to this subject and help students developprimary and secondary research skills.
HIST 358 British Columbia Since 1945
This course explores the interaction of power and protest in modern British Columbia: how elites have exercised economic and political power, and how workers, women, indigenous people, and social movements have responded with protest in order to exercise power for themselves. Key themes include: the Cold War and turbulent labour relations; the rise of social movements demanding “Red Power,” “Flower Power,” “Student Power” and “Women’s Liberation”; the Operation Solidarity mobilization and Clayoquot Sound environmental protests of the 1980s and 1990s; power struggles over social entitlements and worker’ rights during Gordon Campbell’s “new era.”
HIST 402 Problems in International Relations: History of the Peace Movement
From pre-modern times to the present, citizens across the globe have banded together in pursuit of peace. The peace movement has often reacted to military activities by states, while sometimes advocating alternatives for a non-violent world. At times, soldiers themselves have forcefully challenged militarism, turning to mutiny and desertion. The interaction of war and peace has motivated collective action and contributed to social tension between citizens, states, and elites — from the crusades of the Middle Ages, to the trenches of Flanders and jungles of Vietnam, to the hill villages around Kandahar. Engaging a diverse interdisciplinary literature, and oriented around a major research paper, this course harnesses the instructor’s expertise on social movements and militarism in twentieth-century world history, while introducing students to exciting and controversial themes.
HIST 469 Social Movements in World History
From slave revolts in the pre-modern world to the “alter-globalization” movement of the 21st century, we find the interaction between ruling elites and peoples’ movements. This engaging seminar course draws from a wide international and interdisciplinary literature to help you understand the role of social movements in World History. You will have the opportunity to focus you work around a particular social movement, developing expertise through readings, a primary research essay, and a class presentation. You will also engage the history of ideas, social relations, and economic and political power—at diverse moments in time and geographic settings around the globe.
HIST 490 Labour and the Left in British Columbia
From militant strikes of coal miners in the nineteenth century to twenty-first-century struggles of teachers, hospital workers, and other public-sector workers, labour relations has had a major impact in shaping British Columbia’s economic and political landscape. Politically, a shift can be discerned on the left, from labour-based socialist parties to modern movements influenced by environmentalism, globalization, and indigenous struggles. Engaging debates over class and power relations, this course reveals important linkages to real-world events and themes. Assignments build toward a major essay, grounded in archival records at the UBC Special Collections.
