Courses Offered
Fall 2008
HIS 451/WOM 452 – Women and Gender Relations in North America: Historical Issues and Interpretations
Taught by Canadian Studies' Pathy Chair Professor Joan Sangster
This course examines selected themes relating to women and gender relations in Canada and the United States, from the late 19th century to the 1960s. A comparative approach will be emphasized, as well as a strong focus on the experiences of women. Throughout the course, we will be querying the theoretical assumptions underlying and framing the historical texts we are studying, as well as the different paths historical interpretation and analysis have taken in Canada and the U.S. Students will be introduced to a variety of sources, including novels, autobiographical accounts, films, and secondary texts, all of which will be assessed critically as historical sources.
We will cover a range of themes, including labor, politics, the welfare state, sexuality, and criminality, looking at women’s experiences as individuals and in social groups, how women’s roles and actions were interpreted at the time, and also how they were subsequently interpreted by historians. Since gender never exists in isolation, particular emphasis will also be put on the way in which class, race, language and culture, shaped women’s lives, creating a diversity of women’s histories that were both distinct, but always closely interrelated. There are many themes in women’s history which translate well across the 49th parallel, indicating similar experiences, controversies and interpretations in both countries, but there are other themes that are quite distinct. The history of ‘race’ is quite different in the U.S. and Canada, as are the politics of feminism, issues of language and culture, and competing conceptions of ‘nation.’
Spring 2008
HIS404/ANT 434 – Native Americans in North America: History and Anthropology.
Taught by Prof. Skip Ray
This course examines the history of indigenous rights struggles in North America after the Second World War. It focuses on the use of diverse lines of historical evidence and various disciplinary perspectives (anthropology, historical geography, and history) in different dispute resolution forums (mostly claims commissions and the courts). The course also considered how claims related research challenges the accepted Cultural histories of various Native people, raised issues about the legitimacy of applied history, and cast doubt about applying American and Canadian litigation procedures to resolve historical questions.
Fall 2007
HIS406 – Borderland histories: Historical perspectives of Native People living in the Canada-United States borderland
Taught by Prof. Skip Ray
The Canada-United States border is a product of British and American colonial struggles. It was drawn with little regard to the realities of Aboriginal North America and has had a profound impact on the historical experiences of native groups who live in the borderland regions. This course will explore the impact of the border on selected First Nations, Métis communities, and Indian tribes. Representative groups will be selected from the native North American cultural realms defined by anthropologists (the Northeast, the Great Lakes, the Plains, the Plateau, and the Pacific Northwest).
Past Courses in Canadian Studies
- “Canadian Women Writers” (1994-95; Karen McPherson)
- “Canadian History” (1995; Richard Challener)
- Graduate seminar on comparative federalism (1996; Jim Doig)
- Freshman Seminar: “Federalism in the USA: Rhetoric, Risks and Opportunities” (1996; Jim Doig)
- “Canadian-American Relations” (1998-99; Richard Challener)
- “Canadian Poets” (2000; Eva Kushner)
- “Exploring the New World” (2000; Jonathan Hart)
- "The Benefits and Dangers of Federalism: Experience in the United States, Canada, and Beyond" and "Canada and the United States: Individualism, Paternalism, and the Evolution of Legal Rights in Government Power" (2007; J.W. Jameson Doig)