History Slam Episode Twenty-Nine: Canada’s Cross-Country Train

By Sean Graham

Whenever I have to fly, I generally feel like this and assume that the flight is going to end like this. As a result, when I learned that Congress this past spring was going to be held in Victoria, my initial reaction to having to confront two cross country flights in the matter of days was something like this – although I will say that being able to watch Airplane on the flight out did make the entire experience much more bearable.

It quickly dawned on me, however, that I could take advantage of being on the west coast by taking the train back to the Eastern Time zone. Often included in those ‘100 Things To Do’ lists, the train follows a northern route out of Vancouver and stops in Jasper, Edmonton, Saskatoon, and Winnipeg on its way to Toronto. I had done the trip between Saskatoon and Toronto a couple of times, but I had never done the whole route, which takes parts of five days (the train left Friday night and arrived on Tuesday morning). While the amenities were nice – the beds are surprisingly comfortable, the food is outstanding, and the inclusion of an on-board shower is critical – the opportunity to really soak in the country was what really made the trip worthwhile. From the mountains to the Prairies to the Canadian Shield, there is a chance to see the diversity of Canada’s landscapes. Continue reading

125 Years of Stanley Park: Before and After

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By Sean Kheraj [also see Sean’s website for a version with the Before and After plugin]
stanleyparkaerialbefore1926stanleyparkaerialafter2004

 

Stanley Park, Vancouver, British Columbia, 1926 & ca. 2004. Sources: City of Vancouver Archives, Photograph Collection, Van Sc P66; Stanley Park Ecology Society, Aerial Photograph of Stanley Park, ca. 2004

 

Stanley Park has changed quite significantly since it first opened to the public in 1888. In my new book Inventing Stanley Park: An Environmental History, I explore some of the major landscape transformations of this relatively small peninsula located adjacent to downtown Vancouver. I found that the greatest landscape changes occurred after it became a public park. Aerial photography can provide some insights into those changes.

At first glance, it might appear that the park has changed very little. The peninsula is still mostly forested with a variety of conifers. Its shoreline is mainly intact. The boundary between the park and the city seems to be identical. But upon closer inspection there are several substantial landscape alterations that reveal the complicated environmental history of this urban park.

spreservoir1926spreservoir2004

 

Prospect Point

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Miss Representation: A Must-See

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By Christine McLaughlin

Miss RepresentationMiss Representation (2011) is a documentary film that challenges the limiting representations of women in American media, exploring how these impact girls’ and women’s sense of self-worth and emotional health, while contributing to the overall devaluation of women in contemporary culture. Building from the premise that the medium is the message, the film is a call for media makers to be more socially responsible by employing positive female role models.

Written, directed and produced by Jennifer Siebel Newsom, the film begins on a very personal level, tracing her childhood through to the birth of her daughter. In asking what kind of future her daughter can look forward to, the film quickly shifts onto highly political terrain. An analysis of portrayals of women in the media, which are all too often belittling, demonizing and objectifying, reinforces the argument that “you can’t be what you can’t see.”

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Podcast: “History Under Harper: A Micro-Lecture Discussion”

As part of Congress 2013, the Canadian Historical Association co-sponsored a panel with the Canadian Political Science Association on Wednesday June 5 entitled “History Under Harper: A Micro-Lecture Discussion.” Featuring 10 panelists and two discussants, the session analyzed the Harper Government’s use and understanding of Canadian history. An extremely well-attended panel, the discussion featured lively debate and a wide variety of opinions on the state of history in Canada.

The session was chaired by Matt James of the University of Victoria. The panelists were:

  • Yasmeen Abu-Laban (University of Alberta)
  • Adam Chapnik (Canadian Forces College)
  • Lyle Dick (Independent Scholar, Former President, CHA)
  • Alvin Finkel (Athabasca)
  • Kiera Ladner (University of Manitoba)
  • Jocelyn Létourneau (Laval)
  • Alain Noel (Université de Montréal)
  • Veronica Strong-Boag (University of British Columbia)
  • Daniel Weinstock (McGill)
  • Reg Whitaker (University of Victoria)

The two discussants were Avigail Eisenberg from the University of Victoria and Bryan Palmer from Trent University.

Please note that the opinions expressed are those of the speakers and do not necessarily reflect the views of their respective associations and affiliations.

Chemical Weapons and Conventional Bombs

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Guernica by Pablo Picasso. 1937. Oil on canvas.

Guernica by Pablo Picasso. 1937. Oil on canvas.

By Jim Clifford

Over the past few weeks that world has watched as the United States threatened to bomb Syria to punish the Assad Regime for using chemical weapons against his population. I, like many other people have wondered why chemical weapons are a “Red Line”, but deadly and efficient conventional weapons remain a widely used and legitimate. Conventional attacks can kill large number of people. Aerial bombing or shelling with high explosive chemicals or incendiary chemicals inevitably lead to civilian deaths.   The Syrian civil war has killed more than a hundred thousand people, but the Obama administration only reacted when chemical weapons killed 1300 (CNN). I expect the ratio of deaths between conventional bombs and chemical weapons in the 20th century were equally disproportionate.  Does history provide any insight into why chemical gases are taboo and chemical high explosives conventional? Continue reading

Vancouver lecture series: “Heroes and Villains: Rethinking Good and Evil in History”

Heros-and-Villains-banner

Heroes and Villains: Rethinking Good and Evil in History
2013-2014 Lecture Series
Presented by the Department of History at SFU

It can be tempting to look at historical figures as either wholly good or wholly evil; as heroes or as villains. Mahatma Gandhi: high-minded hero. Rodrigo Borgia: scheming villain.

This perspective contains elements of truth, but also ignores the more complicated and compelling reality that both good and evil reside within us all. In its 2013-2014 lecture series, “Heroes and Villains: Rethinking Good and Evil in History,” the SFU History Department hopes to break down the good-evil binary by revisiting and re-evaluating the lives of some notorious heroes and villains of history.

All lectures will be held in the Fletcher Challenge Theatre at the Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver, BC.

September 19, 2013 | 5:30 p.m.
Rebel Life: The Life and Times of Robert Gosden, Revolutionary, Mystic, Labour Spy
Book launch and talk
Mark Leier

October 24, 2013 | 5:30 p.m.
Great Soul or Great Schemer? Exploring the Myth of Mahatma Gandhi
Bidisha Ray

November 28, 2013 | 5:30 p.m.
Trudeau 2.0: Pierre’s Legacy and Justin’s Future
A panel discussion with Elise Chenier, Nicolas Kenny, and Allen Seager.
Hosted by Roxanne Panchasi

January 23, 2014 | 5:30 p.m.
The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Reflections on the Renaissance Papacy
Emily O’Brien

February 26, 2014 | 5:30 p.m.
The Yin-Yang of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr.
Karen Ferguson

March 27, 2014 | 6:30 p.m. 
Ottoman Hero or Frontier Villain? Ahmed Feyzi Pasha (1839-1915)
Thomas Kuehn

Website: https://sfu.ca/history/events/heroesandvillains.html
Contact: Allison McMahon, (778) 319-3853, histcomm@sfu.ca

Tone Up, Tone Out, Tone Deaf: Author attitude and writing history

By Merle Massie

I’m working on a new manuscript set during the Great Depression in Canada. The exploratory process of writing (for me, the weft) is threaded through the warp of reading – be that primary documents, oral history, my family history, or secondary sources. Sometimes I’ll catch myself. My writing style can change in response to whatever I’m reading. A chiding interdepartmental memo from 1936 on ‘sub-marginal lands’ elicits austerity and submissiveness; a bleak personal history will leave my words equally bereft; a newspaper article extolling the virtues of ‘poor man’s land’ might have me cheering and piling on the adjectives.

I’ve come to realize that it is not the words or the subject matter that I’m responding to. In all of these examples, the subject matter is more or less the same. I am responding, quite simply, to the tone of the work. Tone, as noted here in the blog Daily Writing Tips, is “what the author feels about the subject.” (This is different from voice, which is the author’s personality.) The authorial attitude toward subject of the penned work – do they like it? Support it? Hate it? Abhor it? Embrace it? Fear it? Look down on it? Love it? – infuses the word choice, the pace, the arc of its narrative, its tone. Continue reading

Heavy Metal: The History of the Coin

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Canadian PennyBy Amanda Walters

It’s something we seemingly can’t live without, and something most of us know very little about. Coins, and all forms of money for that matter, are an important part of our lives, allowing us to buy food, drinks and other products as well as to pay for parking and for services. Yet we don’t tend to stop and think about how far they’ve come since they were first brought into circulation.

Over the past few month, news hit that the look of British currency will change. Author Jane Austen will appear on the £10 note in place of Charles Darwin, following criticism that the Bank of England had ignored important women in British history with its announcement that Winston Churchill will replace prison reformer Elizabeth Fry on the £5 note. Back in 1998, the bank introduced the £2 coin into circulation, the most recent addition to British currency.  And across the ocean, the Royal Canadian Mint ended production of its one-cent penny coin in February. These recent news items illustrate that money changes over time and has quite a history. Continue reading

Lessons from the past: “So What is Government for Anyway?”

By Greg Kennedy

I have recently made a habit of asking this question at opportune moments in classes and public lectures.  Hilarious bewilderment usually ensues.  Younger people shrug, while older people often get angry because of corrupt senators.

I am increasingly convinced that this has become an esoteric question in our modern society.  Political scientists for example, would probably answer with some notion of the social contract – the idea that we accept certain limitations on our freedom (to obey laws, to pay taxes) in return for protection and services that only a centralized sovereign government can provide.  When I ask the follow-up question “why do you pay taxes?” people generally respond along these lines, with reference to education and healthcare.

As a historian of the early modern period (we call it the colonial period in Canada), I have the annoying habit of comparing the present with the past.  If you ever want to be rid of the notion of human evolution, just become a historian.  Here are a couple of examples involving government where the present sounds a lot like the past: Continue reading

The Internet Archive Rocks, or, Two Million Plus Free Sources to Explore

Checking out a 1857 book from the Internet Archive, no big deal.

Checking out a 1857 book from the Internet Archive, no big deal.

By Ian Milligan

For many students, it’s back to school season. For me, that means it is time to think about some of the resources and tools that are out there. If you want to research a topic, it’s worth keeping in mind some great repositories online. The big one online is the Internet Archive – which is not just old websites.

I’ve written about the Internet Archive before, and it’s actually the main source base for my current major research project. But today I want to give a brief sense of what else you can find there in terms of digitized primary sources, amongst this massive newfangled Library of Alexandria that should be so central to many of our workflows. If you’re a historian, or are interested in history, I guarantee you’ll find something useful in the Internet Archive. Heck, if you use Mozilla Firefox, install a search plug-in right now for it. We’ll be here when you get back.

The inspiration for this post is the accomplishment of yet another major milestone: two million books, all freely downloadable, generated by a large network of some 33 scanning centres around the world. And that’s just books – there are additionally millions of texts. Continue reading