Active History

The Aestheticization of Politics at the Olympic Games

February 17, 2014 2 Comments

By Eric Wright

Disclaimer: I am an athlete and sports fan, despite what this article may lead you to believe.

The 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics has been embroiled in controversy from the start. The games will be the most corrupt in history based on dollar value, with an estimated one third of the games’ $51 billion price tag attributable to corruption. Then there is the ongoing controversy over whether Russia should have been awarded the games in the first place given its homophobic laws against “gay propaganda.” Added to this is the persistent allegation that these are “Putin’s Games”—an act of personal aggrandizement.

In spite of these controversies, roughly three billion people worldwide will watch the Sochi games. So it is safe to say that the “controversies” plaguing these games are not imperilling their legitimacy. Instead, the controversies have been folded into the larger media narrative of the games, providing additional dramatic fare to the larger sporting spectacle, becoming yet another tool to market the games to spectators. A perpetually bored and channel-flicking public consumes these “controversies” as sideshows to the larger media narrative about the Olympic games.

Of course, there are those who oppose the games on the grounds of these controversies rather than simply consuming them as additional dramatic flair. Continue reading →

Opening the Academy: New Strategies for Exploring and Sharing African Nova Scotian History

February 15, 2014 1 Comment

On Friday, February 28^th, a Royal Society of Canada-funded symposium will be held in the Fountain Commons at Acadia University. This Open Academy brings together scholars and members of the general public, including high school, community college, and university students and members of the African Nova Scotian descendant community. The event’s main objective is to share recent scholarly research in African Nova Scotian history with the community, and to strategize how broad, ongoing public access to new data may be facilitated in the future.

We have engaged renowned researchers and accomplished storytellers – all well-versed in Canada’s Black past – to lead discussions that will explore heritage resources that can and should frame future discussions about everything from community history to the ongoing experiences of racial discrimination to which African Nova Scotians continue to be subjected. This symposium is an opportunity to engage scholars directly with the community in a discussion on how to establish and improve popular access to newly acquired data and how information can be made available to all Nova Scotians, to further the cause of intercultural understanding and respect.

Panel 1: 10:00 a.m.: Researching the History

Dr. Henry Bishop, NSCC Halifax/Dartmouth
Dr. Afua Cooper, James R. Johnston Chair in Black Canadian Studies, Dalhousie University
Dr. Karolyn Smardz Frost, Harrison McCain Visiting Professor, Acadia University

Panel 2: 1:00 p.m.: ‘Getting it our There’ – Sharing the History

Dr. Sylvia Hamilton, University of Kings College, Halifax
Quanda Johnson, Fullbright Fellow, Dalhousie University
El Jones, Poet Laureate, Halifax Regional Municipality

Panel 3: 2:45 p.m.: Educational Strategies Going Forward

Ken Fells, President, Black Educators Association
Krishinda McBride, Race Relations, Cross Cultural Understanding and Human Rights Coordinator, AVRSB
Dr. Leslie Oliver, Professor Emeritus, Acadia University

Women, Religion and the Quebec Charter of Values: An Historical Perspective

February 14, 2014 1 Comment

By Beth A. Robertson, Ph.D., Carleton University

Since it was first announced in May of 2013, the proposed Quebec Charter of Values, or Bill 60, has launched a flurry of commentary, with some prominent public figures lauding it as a much needed step in addressing reasonable accommodation in the province, and others, such as the Quebec Human Rights Commission, denouncing it as an affront to civil liberties. If you are a CBC radio junky such as myself, you have probably already heard many of these debates, such as this one, or, more recently, this.

For anyone unfamiliar with the bill and what it proposes, it is intended as a means of promoting secularism in Quebec’s public sector. Its most controversial tenets include enforcing the “religious neutrality” of state-funded educators and health care workers, banning the wearing of “conspicuous” religious symbols by public servants (including the hijab, niq?b, or burqa, the kippah, turbans, as well as larger crosses and religious pendants) and disallowing the covering of one’s face when providing or receiving a state service. (If you’re really keen, take a look at the Charter yourself here.)

Many feminists have spoken against the charter, arguing that it is an attack against Muslim women in particular. Just a few days ago, the Quebec Women’s Federation held a brunch to offer women a space in which to voice their concerns over the charter and what it will mean. As president of the Federation, Alexa Conradi, has insisted, women of all backgrounds need to hold firm together to ensure that women’s rights are not infringed upon. And she has a right to be concerned. If this bill is passed, many women of faith will be forced to make a decision—either relinquish their ability to adhere to their religious beliefs or lose their job. Continue reading →

Canada’s Historical Newspaper Digitization Problem, Part 2

February 13, 2014 69 Comments

Man reading “The Standard” newspaper, 1940s. Source: City of Vancouver Archives

By Sean Kheraj

Nearly three years ago, I wrote a post called “Canada’s Historical Newspaper Digitization Problem” in which I agreed with the findings of a Higher Education Academy study that found that Canada lagged behind the US, UK, Australia, and New Zealand in the digitization of historical newspapers. I found that Canada’s online historical newspaper archive is very limited, fragmented, and difficult to access. One of the reasons this became one of the most popular posts on my website was that I included an index of online sources for digitized Canadian newspapers. It turns out that there are a lot of people out there in search of historical Canadian newspapers on the Web and there doesn’t seem to be an adequate national index.

Over the past fifteen years, the limited and fragmented character of Canada’s online historical newspaper archive has had an impact on Canadian history scholarship. As Ian Milligan wrote in Canadian Historical Review last year, “It all seems so orderly and comprehensive.” Yet the incomplete record of digital newspapers in Canada creates an illusion of comprehensive research. With a few keystrokes, we can search any word in any newspaper. Right? As Milligan revealed, not only is the archive limited to a handful of newspapers, the Object Character Recognition software used to make the newspapers text searchable has numerous flaws and limitations. Milligan wrote this article, in part, to call upon historians to think critically about their methodologies when it comes to digital historical scholarship. But his article also raises the important matter of the sorry state of Canada’s digital newspaper archive.

So, how far have we come since I wrote that first post in 2011? I wanted to write this sequel post as a follow-up on the state of the Canadian digital newspaper archive. What follows is an updated list of online historical Canadian newspapers: Continue reading →

History Slam Episode Thirty-Three: The Wind is Not a River by Brian Payton

February 12, 2014 1 Comment

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

By Sean Graham

Brian Payton, The Wind is Not a River: A Novel (Toronto: Harper Collins, 2014), 308 pp.

In 1942 Japanese forces took control of the islands of Attu and Kiska, which are part of the Aleutian Islands in Alaska. For a year American and Canadian forces fought the Japanese for the islands, with the toughest fighting coming in May 1943 on Attu. Proportional to the number of men engaged, only Iwo Jima proved as costly to the Americans. Despite this, the story of the only battle of the Second World War fought on American soil does not resonate when most people think back on the war. The Alaskan campaign tends to get lost to the stories of D-Day and Hiroshima.

From that lost history comes a story of love and survival from author Brian Payton. The Wind is Not a River follows reporter John Easley’s struggle for survival in the Aleutians during the Japanese occupation. After his plane is shot down by anti-aircraft fire, Easley is left to live on the inhospitable island. Occasionally noble, occasionally heinous, Easley’s efforts to survive the island take readers on a journey through the extremes to which human beings can be taken.

Continue reading →

Showing the human face of the humanities – the Humanities Matter Web Series and Bus Tour

February 11, 2014 1 Comment

Things aren’t looking very bright for the arts and humanities at the moment. In our current age of austerity, arts and humanities budgets are easy targets for spending reductions. In both the United States and Canada, politicians seem focused on cuts. During his 2012 presidential campaign, Mitt Romney identified the National Endowment for the Humanities and the National Endowment for the Arts as programs that should be “eliminated.” Even after softening his tone regarding the arts and humanities, Romney continued to advocate for harsh cuts that legislators are still trying to pass.

Things are not better in Canada. In 2012 the Government of Canada cut the budget of the Social Science and Humanities Research Council by 14 million dollars. In efforts to make the most with their budgets, some Canadian universities are also restricting admission to arts and humanities program, like the University of Alberta that suspended admission to 20 humanities programs in 2013.

While the arts and humanities aren’t likely to disappear any time soon, there is an increasing narrative forming that the arts and humanities don’t matter. Some of us want to change the tone of this discussion, showing the human value of the humanities and making it clear that the humanities matter. Continue reading →

Hi-Ho Mistahey!, Shannen’s Dream, Youth Activism, and the Struggle for Indigenous Schooling

February 11, 2014 2 Comments

Scene from Hi-Ho Mistahey!

By Sean Carleton

Indigenous filmmaker Alanis Obomsawin has created yet another gripping and sober documentary about Indigenous issues in Canada. With 2013’s Hi-Ho Mistahey! (which roughly translates as “I love you forever” in Cree), Obomsawin showcases her filmmaking prowess as she examines the educational experiences and frustrations of the Attawapiskat First Nation in northern Ontario.

I recently had the opportunity to see Obomsawin’s newest release at the Re-Frame International Film Festival in Nogojiwanong (Peterborough), Ontario. As with Obomsawin’s previous films such as Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance and Our Nationhood, Hi-Ho Mistahey! blends history, politics, and storytelling. The result is a powerful film that brings much needed attention to the inspiring youth activism and struggle for Indigenous schooling in the North. Continue reading →

Did the Steam Engine or Spinning Mule lead to the Industrial Revolution?

February 10, 2014 2 Comments

From Wikipedia “The introduction of the Spinning Mule into cotton production processes helped to drastically increase industry consumption of cotton. This example is the only one in existence made by the inventor Samuel Crompton. It can be found in the collection of Bolton Museum and Archive Service.” Image by Pezzab.

By Jim Clifford

I recently introduced a group of students to this question by asking them to listen to an episode of In Our Time from BBC Radio 4. After about ten minutes of background conversation the episode devolves into an ongoing argument between the host, Melvyn Bragg and Pat Hudson, one of the leading historians of this time period. The dispute begins when Hudson refuses to focus on the role of innovative Britons in developing new technology that triggered industrialization. Instead, she insists on discussing the underlying environmental and global economic factors that made it possible for Britain to sustain long-term economic growth. This was not the explanation Bragg wanted to focus on and he begins to debate Hudson, demanding that she give British culture its due:

Bragg: … Oh it’s all to do with the broad sweep of history. Listen people invented things that hadn’t been there before which enabled things to happen that had not happened before.

Hudson stood her ground and tried in an increasingly tense conversation to explain why historians moved away from this traditional interpretation of the history of the industrial revolution. In doing so, she comes close to calling the host a racist:

Hudson: Can I say that that really does characterise nationalistic accounts of the period with a peculiar sort of emphasis on British genius or…

Bragg: I didn’t say that!

Hudson: Or the superiority of the British as a race, this characterises some really almost racist accounts of the Industrial Revolution…

Bragg: OH NO! COME ON—THAT’S RUBBISH!![1] Continue reading →

Nature’s Past Episode on the Closing of Federal Libraries

February 7, 2014 2 Comments

Nature’s Past is a regular audio podcast series produced by Sean Kheraj on the environmental history research community in Canada. It is published by the Network in Canadian History and Environment. The show features interviews, round table discussions, and lectures on a wide range of topics in environmental history, including climate change, urbanization, natural resource development, conservation, and food production. This is the latest episode, first published on the NiCHE website on February 3.

Episode 41: Closing Federal Libraries, 3 February 2014 [45:45]
Download Audio

A dumpster at the Fisheries and Oceans Canada library in Mont-Joli, Quebec in an image sent by a federal union official.

Continue reading →

Death or Deliverance: Canadian Courts Martial in the Great War

February 6, 2014 No Comments

Reviewed by M. Wayne Cunningham

On 27 March 1917, a cold wind blew, and showers of sleet rained down on the small village of Mont St. Eloi, located in northern France. On this bleak day, a young Canadian soldier, twenty-one year-old Arthur Lemay, stood before a field general court martial, the army’s highest wartime court. He had been there before. (p.1)

So begins the Introduction to Teresa Iacobelli’s fascinating study, Death or Deliverance: Canadian Courts Martial in the Great War. Lemay’s case is only one of the many Iacobelli draws on to challenge the conventional understanding that the Great War courts martial discipline was harsh and unrelenting.

Lemay’s record of poor performance and desertion earned him a suspended death sentence. Now, he was being charged with two more counts of desertion. Nothing good was said about Lemay at his trial, and all of his commanding officers recommended that he face a firing squad at dawn. Nevertheless, when Commander-in-Chief Sir Douglas Haig deliberated on whether to sentence him to death or deliverance, he chose (for undeclared reasons) to sentence Lemay to five years of incarceration. In less than six months, Lemay was back with his 22^nd Battalion comrades. Iacobelli cites Lemay’s case as an example of how deliverance, instead of death, was more often the ultimate sentence. Continue reading →

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