Gin and Tonic. Image from Wikipedia.
By Jay Young
The Gin and Tonic – what better a drink during the dog days of summer? Put some ice in a glass, pour one part gin, add another part tonic water, finish with a slice of lime, and you have a refreshing drink to counter the heat. But it is also steeped in the history of medicine, global commodity frontiers, and the expansion of the British Empire. Continue reading
Constructing a tipi at the Home Again 2012 reunion. Photo by the author.
By Ryan O’Connor
One of the defining countercultural phenomena of the 1970s was the back-to-the-land movement. During this period, tens – maybe hundreds – of thousands of North Americans abandoned their urban dwellings for a rural lifestyle. This movement, which eschewed the postwar consumer culture, brought thousands of people “from away” to Prince Edward Island. Some stayed a few weeks; others a few seasons. Some never left. Continue reading
By Dr. Joseph Tohill
There’s nothing like a bit of neoconservative propaganda gussied up as a hip, edgy CBC radio program to get your blood boiling on a hot summer’s day. The Invisible Hand, a mid-week staple of Radio One’s summer schedule hosted by Vancouver broadcaster Matthew Lazin-Ryder, bills itself as “a defiantly non-dismal take on the ‘dismal science’ of economics.” Revelling in its role as cheeky iconoclast, the show seeks to upend the conventional wisdom about greedy price gougers, rapacious capitalists, and exploitative sweatshop owners.
Behind The Invisible Hand’s irreverence, however, runs a deep-seated conservative ideology that the show seeks to pass off as hipster wisdom or indisputable truth. From beginning to end, each episode of the show is a resounding affirmation of the basic tenet of capitalist theology, that nothing promotes the public good more than the grasping, amoral pursuit of individual self-interest. Greed is good; government is bad; and any well-meaning attempt to interfere with the invisible hand inevitably causes more harm than good. Continue reading
Völkerschlachtdenkmal Leipzig, Anti-Nazi-Plakat, Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0
By Erica Fagen
Share. Like. Tweet. Favourite.
Social media has a large presence in today’s culture, but how can it be useful for historians? For the past three months, I have worked on “Hate 2.0: Combatting Right-Wing Extremism in the Age of Social Technology,” which looks at how individuals and organizations are using social media to counter hate. I am exploring this question of social media for historians in an article I am co-writing with Jennifer Evans (article excerpts and reflections on the project can be seen here). Beyond the questions of what social media can do for historians, the research done for this project makes me think of the role of social media in public memory and historical consciousness. This is apparent in both activists who get rid of Nazi symbolism, and those who use Nazi imagery to oppose neo-Nazis. Continue reading
Postal Station K. Image from “Save Historic Postal Station K” Facebook page.
by Tom Cohen
“Postal Station K!” Poetic resonance: none! Just one more slightly surplus postal station – in this age of electronic mail, a property easily unloaded, after all. A splendid spot on Yonge Street, in booming North Toronto, just perfect for a big condominium, with a shopping podium at sidewalk level. So sell it, right!
Now wait a minute. Take a good hard look at Station K. Look above the door, right between the lion and the unicorn. That’s “ER” – Elizabeth Regina, The Queen.
Ooops! Look again! Between the E and the R we have not “II” but “VIII”! Who in heaven’s name is that? Why, it’s Edward. Edward the Almost Eighth! The King Who Never Was, gave up the crown to marry Wallis Simpson and eke out his exiled life in love of Hitler. That “royal cipher” is a royal rarity. There are few indeed in Canada, or anywhere. Continue reading
One weekly share of produce from a CSA
By Krista McCracken
In recent years Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) operations in Canada have increased dramatically in number and their popularity continues to grow. The state of CSAs in my area speaks to the rising success of the CSA movement; all of the established CSAs in my area are no longer taking members or have a waiting list. Across the country CSAs have become an increasingly popular way to obtain local, seasonal, or organic produce.
So how does as CSA work? Typically a CSA operates by having consumers provide farmers with a set fee prior to the growing season. In return for this fee, the consumers receive weekly shares of vegetables throughout the harvest season. Typically, no farm work is required by the shareholders and their financial contribution helps support the farm and local agricultural community. Some CSAs also include dairy or meat products. Variations of this CSA model, with different levels of participation can now be found in both rural and urban centers across the country. Continue reading
By Christine McLaughlin
My background in the history of women and gender has led me to be critical of treating history as a linear march towards progress. In spite of this, I have very much taken for granted what I thought was a much safer and open space for women in my contemporary time and place.
I realized how deeply my own personal experience shaped this point of view when I was sexually violated. This experience emphasized that a safe space in many ways is very much a state of mind, while a state of mind can very much be shaped by experience. Continue reading
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In this edition of the History Slam I talk with Victoria Lamb Drover about the history of Participaction. Discussion includes Body Break, the use of the media, and Hal Johnson’s mustache. Got any personal stories of your involvement with Participaction? Let Victoria know at victoria.drover@gmail.com and be sure to subscribe to the History Slam on iTunes!
By Jeffers Lennox
I can trace my interest in the past to a single book: Jack Whyte’s The Skystone, a story set in the time of the legendary King Arthur. First published in 1992, when I was 12, The Skystone had just about everything necessary to hook a young kid: historical imagination, magic, war, heroism, and enough “adult” subject matter to make this my childhood version of 50 Shades of Grey. My dad gave me the book – a fact I desperately tried to forget while reading some of the more erotic passages – and he continued providing me with whatever Whyte wrote until I was sick of stories about King Arthur and the Knights.
Fast-forward twenty years, and I’m once again reading historical fiction. Both my father and my father-in-law suggested Hilary Mantel’s Man Booker prize-winning Wolf Hall, the story of Tudor England told through the fictionalized life of Thomas Cromwell. I haven’t read fiction for years, but thought I’d give it a try; once again, I find myself hooked. And I’m obviously not the only one. The success of Wolf Hall has led me to wonder if this is someone else’s The Skystone, and what future academic work might be traced back to a few evenings spent with Thomas Cromwell? I found myself particularly interested in Henry VIII and his court during a recent trip to England and France. While I was wandering Versailles I was struck by the fact that Louis XIII’s hunting chateau (which served as the foundation for the great palace) was constructed over eighty years after Thomas Cromwell lost his head. Continue reading
Is race something we wear on our faces? Does it lie our skin colour, place of origin, or ancestry? Is it tangible? Two online exhibits challenge these ideas.
The White Australia Policy began in 1901. Years of xenophobia and racial tensions, caused by increasing immigration, labour disputes, and competition in the Australian goldfields, fostered the passing of the Immigration Restriction Act in the newly formed Australian Parliament. Australia was to be a visibly ‘white’ place. The Act was only the beginning of the White Australia Policy, a series of laws that encouraged and privileged ‘white’ British migrants. These systems discriminated against Indigenous Australians, Asians, and non-caucasian Europeans, making it difficult and almost impossible for them to integrate freely into Australian society. As a result of their skin colour, non-caucasian immigrants were monitored by the Australian government and part of this monitoring involved portraiture. Continue reading
