Unwritten Histories

The Unwritten Rules of History

Tag: colonialism (Page 7 of 9)

CHA Reads: Samuel McLean on Colonial Relations: The Douglas-Connolly Family and the Nineteenth-Century Imperial World

May 24, 2017 / / 0 Comments

CHA Reads Header

What is CHA Reads? Find out here!

 

Samuel McLean defending Colonial Relations: The Douglas-Connolly Family and the Nineteenth-Century Imperial World.

Adele Perry’s Colonial Relations: The Douglas-Connolly Family and the Nineteenth-Century Imperial World is a nuanced and textured consideration of families, relationships, authority, and colonialism, examined through the lens of the family of colonial governor James Douglas and his wife, Amelia Connolly. However, this book is not a biography. Rather, as Perry herself notes, “I utilize available archival evidence about one extended family to anchor an analysis of the nineteenth-century imperial world, to ground and focus these wide, wandering, and sometimes daunting histories.”(p. 5) Based on research conducted at twelve different archives on three different continents, this book is a veritable tour-de-force that blows all of its competition out of the water.

Continue reading

CHA Reads: Sean Carleton defends Imperial Plots: Women, Land, and the Spadework of British Colonialism on the Canadian Prairies

May 24, 2017 / / 2 Comments

CHA Reads Header

 

What is CHA Reads? Find out here!

 

Sean Carleton defends Sarah Carter, Imperial Plots: Women, Land, and the Spadework of British Colonialism on the Canadian Prairies (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 2016).

This year’s shortlist for the CHA book prize is impressive and features five excellent titles. While each book is worthy of recognition for different reasons, I have been asked to speak to the strengths of Sarah Carter’s latest book, Imperial Plots: Women, Land, and the Spadework of British Colonialism on the Canadian Prairies. The book is “a project of unravelling the profound entanglement of colonial and metropolitan histories, and of discovering how the colonial culture of prairie Canada was constituted through a complex interplay of the local, the region across borders, the national, and the imperial” (19). The book at once grapples with the global and local and displays an incredible breadth of focus without sacrificing detailed precision. Imperial Plots, in short, showcases the skill of Carter’s historical storytelling in spades.

Continue reading

Canadian History Roundup – Week of May 14, 2017

May 21, 2017 / / 0 Comments
Canadian History Roundup - May 14, 2017

Inauguration de c première rame du métro à la Canadian Vickers, en présence notamment du cardinal Paul-Émile Léger et du maire Jean Drapeau. Août 1965. VM94-Md19-006. Archives de la Ville de Montréal/Inauguration of the first metro line at Canadian Vickers, in the presence of Cardinal Paul-Émile Léger and Mayor Jean Drapeau. August 1965. VM94-Md19-006. Archives of the City of Montreal. CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

 

The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.

 

Continue reading

An Ode: A History of Lilacs in Canada

May 2, 2017 / / 12 Comments

The History of Lilacs in Canada

 

[The guest post that was planned for today has been postponed. Instead, here is a meditation on a history that is very personal to me. Special thanks to Pete Anderson for his help in researching this post, and for providing the photograph below.]

 

Spring is a very special time of year for me. For the most part, this has to do with lilacs, my favourite flowers. When I was a little girl, my elderly neighbour, Mr. Sullivan, had the most amazing lilac bush. He had planted several seedlings together when he first bought the house in the 1950s, so that by the 1980s, they had grown together into this massive tree. Every May, since this was Montreal, the tree would explode into bloom. This was my favourite time of the year, and one I looked forward to for months. The tree was next to my second-story bedroom window, so whenever my window was open, the scent of lilacs permeated my room. Mr. Sullivan would also bring over armfuls of lilac flowers for my family, and I always begged to be allowed to put a bouquet of them in my room. Over the years, lilacs have come to represent spring, joy, and wonder for me.

So, when I spotted a blooming lilac bush during a run the other day, I got to wondering about the history of lilacs, particularly in Canada. My husband was dubious; after all, who really cares about the history of a particular flower, even if it is really pretty? But, as I’ve discovered with my research, there is more to this flower than meets the eye.

 

Continue reading

Canadian History Roundup – Week of March 5, 2017

March 12, 2017 / / 0 Comments

 

Canadian History Roundup - March 5, 2017

“‘The rebel maid’ – Montague F. Phillips will be presented by The Vancouver Opera Society under the direction of Jas. C. Welch, First produced in London England in 1921.” 19121. AM54 – Major Matthews collection. City of Vancouver Archives. (This is a “snipe,” is a glass lantern slide that would be shown in a movie aside from the film and/or trailers. This snipe was used in movie theatres in Vancouver during the 1920s.)

The latest in blog posts, news, and podcasts from the world of Canadian history.

 

Continue reading

Of Cemeteries and Settlement: How a Battlefield Burial Ground Creates Retroactive Canadians

January 31, 2017 / / 3 Comments

Adam

Note from Andrea: As promised, here is the first of two special guest posts while I’m recovering from surgery (which went great!). First up is a post by the fabulous Dr. Adam Barker, who is not only one of my favourite humans, but also such an awesome academic that if I didn’t like him so much, I’d have to kill him (jk). 🙂 Born and raised in Hamilton, Dr. Barker is an expert in the history of colonialism in North America. In his academic work, he studies historical and contemporary relationships between Indigenous peoples and Canadian Settlers, while also working to provide the tools and frameworks that are needed to forge new and better ones. He, and his super-smart wife, Dr. Emma Battell Lowman were the ones who introduced me to the idea of settler colonialism back when we were all in graduate school (in the dark ages). He spends much of his spare time with Xena, pictured to the left,   and just generally kicking butt on Twitter. If you like this post, I would highly recommend picking up the latest book from Drs. Barker and Battell Lowman, Settler: Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada.

 

Continue reading

« Older posts Newer posts »

© 2024 Unwritten Histories

Theme by Anders Noren — Up ↑