Active History

The Public’s Role in Active History

April 4, 2012 3 Comments

"The Discovery of Canada" by Kate Beaton (www.harkavagrant.com)

by Jeffers Lennox

Historians of Canada specifically, and academics generally, have found themselves of late at the business end of some harsh criticisms. To believe the editorials in major newspapers, academics write about obscure topics for the benefit of a small handful of other academics; we find students and teaching to be a distraction from our esoteric research projects; and we have no qualms about abdicating our public responsibility, even though most of us are paid from the public purse. Based on these kinds of charges, it is no surprise that many Canadians are calling for reform in the university system. But what about demanding more of Canadians themselves? Continue reading →

Aboriginal History in Ontario’s Cottage Country

April 3, 2012 7 Comments

By Thomas Peace

Frequently, when I am ‘up north’ and discussing my research on northeastern Aboriginal peoples during the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, I am asked one of two questions: Why were there no Aboriginal people living here? Or, what happened to the Aboriginal people who were here?

The questions are good ones, and reflect the absence of Aboriginal people from general discussion of Muskoka’s (and much of cottage country’s) past. Though it is changing, many of cottage country’s local museums, community websites and history books focus on the arrival of Europeans and creation of the towns with which we are familiar today, leaving the discussion of Native people to a short handful of sentences to mark what took place before Europeans arrived. Aside from Bruce Hodgins and Jamie Benidickson’s The Temagami Experience, which doesn’t exactly focus on the heart of cottage country, and Patricia Blair’s Lament for a First Nation, there are few scholarly monographs or articles that address Aboriginal people in central Ontario. Like in many places across Canada, history in this part of Ontario is told as a veritable clear-cutting of the past where Aboriginal people were replaced by the lumber industry and subsequent European settlement of the region.

It was with this context in mind that, a week and a half ago, I was pleased to see that Peter Kent, the cabinet minister overseeing Parks Canada, designated the displacement of the Anishinaabeg of Southern Georgian Bay a National Historic Event as one of 13 new National Historic Sites, Persons and Events related to Aboriginal people. Continue reading →

Where’s the History? The absence of history on History Television

April 2, 2012 1 Comment

By Alison Deplonty, MA Candidate, Department of Anthropology, University of Western Ontario

What do Top Gear, Ax Men, and Rodeo: Life on the Circuit have in common with Greatest Tank Battles, Lost Worlds, and Battle 360? They’re all programs on History Television. If you’re like me and you’re wondering what the former have to do with history, you’re not alone. What happened to the evenings of Digging for the Truth, Underworld Histories, and Patton 360? The History Television bio on Twitter says that they provide “entertaining programs that bring to life people and events from the past and history in the making.” Maybe the folks at History Television think that Around the World in 80 Ways, Ice Road Truckers, and similar programs depict history in the making, but I don’t—no matter how entertaining they may be. Continue reading →

The Ordeal: Evaluation and the Production of Historians

March 29, 2012 3 Comments

By Greg Kennedy

I remember being so exhausted that I seriously considered breaking from the column and lying down in a ditch. I remember being so angry that I almost punched my instructor. And I remember the sense of accomplishment when I finally finished basic training, the confidence that has become a continual source of strength. In the military, “the ordeal” is not just a test, it is a fundamental experience which forces recruits to experience exhaustion, anger and frustration so that they can master these emotions and be able to perform in the most stressful of situations.

Many professions, including that of historian, employ an ordeal to test its candidates. I remember my PhD thesis defence. From the sound of the bell, my external examiner tried to knock me out with an all-out attack, criticizing everything from the organization and the methodology to the conclusions of my work. My certification and my job prospects depended on this man. My heartbeat elevated and I felt cold. I remember taking a few moments to gather my thoughts and steady my voice, and virtually nothing else. But I must have done all right because here I am; a historian and professor. Continue reading →

Remembering Uganda

March 28, 2012 1 Comment

Laura Madokoro with Mike Molloy (President, Canadian Immigration Historical Society)

This year marks the fortieth anniversary of the Ugandan Asian refugee resettlement movement to Canada. It is an event that not many people remember, or have even heard about. We believe it is something we should all know about – especially in the current climate when contentious debates over refugee policy are the stuff of daily headlines. At the same time, commemorating mass resettlement efforts raises important and complicated questions about how we understand the history of refugee policy in Canada. We look at the significance of the Ugandan Asian refugee movement and then give some thought to how the event should be commemorated this year.

On August 4, 1972, then President of Uganda, Idi Amin (made famous most recently by Forrest Whitaker’s portrayal of him in The Last King of Scotland) ordered the expulsion of the country’s Asian (mainly Indian) population. Claiming he had received the order from God, Amin gave the community ninety days to leave. At the time of the order, there were more than 80,000 Asians in Uganda. More than 27,000 of the expellees went to Great Britain and importantly, 6,000 came to Canada. Their resettlement was a significant milestone in the history of refugee resettlement in Canada. Resettlement refers to programs whereby refugees are selected overseas and their travel to Canada is financially supported by a government in Canada. Most of the refugees who were resettled in Canada after the Second World War were European. The first non-Europeans were only resettled in 1962 when one hundred Chinese families were resettled from Hong Kong. The Ugandan crisis, along with the Chilean crisis of 1973 hot on its heels, convinced Canadian policy makers that they were moving into an era where there would be a need for ongoing and often simultaneous resettlement programs. The resettlement of Ugandan Asians paved the way for later resettlement initiatives including the historic resettlement of Indochinese refugees in the late 1970s. Continue reading →

Illusionary Order: Cautionary Notes for Online Newspapers

March 26, 2012 5 Comments

By Ian Milligan

The splash page for the Globe and Mail's "Canada's Heritage Since 1844" website.

Online digitized newspapers are great. If you have access (either through a free database or via a personal or library subscription), you can quickly find the information you need: a specific search for a last name might help you find ancestors, a search for a specific event can find historical context for it (i.e. the Christie Pits Riots, or a certain strike), and generally the results are beautiful, render relatively well, and are – crucially – immediate.

In some ways, however, poor and misunderstood use of online newspapers can skew historical research. In a conference presentation or a lecture, it’s not uknown to see the familiar yellow highlighting of found searchwords on projected images: indicative of how the original primary material was obtained. But this historical approach generally usually remains unspoken, without a critical methodological reflection. As I hope I’ll show here, using Pages of the Past uncritically for historical research is akin to using a volume of the Canadian Historical Review with 10% or so of the pages ripped out. Historians, journalists, policy researchers, genealogists, and amateur researchers need to at least have a basic understanding of what goes on behind the black box.

Continue reading →

A Small Spark, a Big Flame: Two Wildcat Vignettes from the Summer of ’66

March 23, 2012 No Comments

By Ian Milligan

Today’s Air Canada wildcat strikes, which led to widespread delays and cancellations at Toronto’s Pearson and Montreal’s Dorval airports, surprised many Canadians. That it could all begin with a seemingly minor issue – the suspension of a number of workers who sarcastically applauded Labour Minister Lisa Raitt as she debarked from a flight last night – is, however, familiar when compared to the “wildcat wave” that was in full swing throughout the summer of 1966.

Indeed, the events of the last 36 hours are reminiscent of several large events that swept the Canadian industrial scene throughout that hot summer of labour unrest. In this post, I’ll take us back to that wild summer of unrest, and help show that the Air Canada wildcat strike is hardly a unique phenomenon. Continue reading →

Engaging Corporate Heritage: Struggling to Cultivate Institutional Memory

March 22, 2012 3 Comments

Almost everyone has at least one memory of working with a ‘lifer’ or ‘old-timer.’ In some cases these employees have been at the organization since its inception, in other cases they have worked there for their entire career or as long as anyone can remember. The phrase “can remember” is often at the heart of discussions about institutional memory.

The Society of American Archivists’ glossary of archival and records terminology defines institutional memory as:

“The information in records and in individuals’ personal knowledge that provide an understanding of an organization’s or group’s history and culture, especially the stories that explain the reasons behind certain decisions or procedures.”

All too often memories of an organization’s past projects, milestones, and failures are kept only in the minds of employees. When an employee moves on, retires, or simply ceases to remember, details these memories are lost to the organization. Without establishing a culture and practices which foster institutional memory the tangible past of an organization can quickly become non-existent.

Continue reading →

Ottawa House: Public History and Active History

March 19, 2012 No Comments

By Andrew Nurse, Mount Allison University

Ottawa House by the Sea is a museum on the Parrsboro shore in Nova Scotia. It is anything but polished. Ottawa House is old, at least by Canadian standards, and it did serve as Sir Charles Tupper’s summer home for nearly two decades. But, it is a far cry from the Georgian-styled “mansion” promised on tourist web sites. One could, in fact, argue that Ottawa House epitomizes everything that is wrong with small-town historic houses.

I don’t want to make this argument. Nor do I simply look to contend that local history sites are potential venues for active history. This point is self evident. Instead, this post tries to make the case that Ottawa House is already the site of a very interesting type of active history, even if that history might not be immediately recognizable as such. Continue reading →

History vs. Geography and Sourcemap.com

March 12, 2012 3 Comments

The interactive map above, produced by Leo Bonanni, the CEO of Sourcemap.com, demonstrates the impressive power of geographical analysis in the early 21st century. The map shows the supply chains for a typical laptop computer and provides a fascinating insight into the complicated mix of natural resources and manufacturing labour needed. It raises questions about the environmental and social consequences of the computers that many of us interact with daily.

To what extent has geography emerged as a more powerful tool than history to shed light on the social and environmental consequences of today’s global economic and political systems? Continue reading →

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