I have to tell you, I had a really hard time figuring out what to write about this week. Between the current strike by college professors in Ontario, the attacks online against feminist and socially progressive scholars, and the latest insanity happening down south, there are so many current events emerging right now that it seemed impossible to figure out a place to start. But two not completely unrelated events stand out in my mind. The first is the passage of Bill 62 in my home province, and the other is the disciplinary action faced by Masuma Khan, a student at Dalhousie, for speaking out against Canada150 on Facebook. To my mind, these events have something important in common: they are both based around particular narratives of history and identity. So in today’s blog post, I’m going to talk about the events in question, imagined communities, the backfire effect, and why it is important that we teach history responsibly.
Krista McCracken is a public history professional currently working as an Archives Supervisor at Algoma University’s Arthur A. Wishart Library and Shingwauk Residential Schools Centre. Krista’s research primarily focuses on community archives, residential schools, access, educational outreach and Northern Ontario. She lives and works on the traditional territory of the Anishinaabe and Métis people.
Jessica Knapp is a public historian working at Canada’s History Society. In her role as the Online Engagement Coordinator, she creates and shares engaging digital content that directly connects Canada’s History Society with a variety of history oriented communities, such as, teachers, museum and history professionals, and academic historians. She is active in the public history community in Canada and internationally through the National Council on Public History.
