Because, let’s face it – who has time to catch up on all the journal articles published in Canadian history?
Welcome back to the Best New Articles series, where each month, I post a list of my favourite new articles! Don’t forget to also check out my favourites from previous months, which you can access by clicking here.
This month I read articles from:
- Canadian Historical Review 100, no. 2 (June 2019)
- Histoire Sociale 52 no. 105 (2019)
- Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française 72, no. 3 (Hiver 2019)
- Canadian Military History 28, no. 1 (2019)
- BC Studies 201 (Spring 2019)
- British Journal of Canadian Studies 31, no. 2 (2018)
- Historical Studies in Education 31, no. 1 (Spring 2019)
- Labour/Le Travail 83 (Spring 2019)
- Manitoba History 89 (Spring 2019)
- Ontario History 11, no. 1 (Spring 2019)
- Urban History Review 46, no. 1 (Fall 2017)
- Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien 69 (2019)
- American Review of Canadian Studies 49, no. 1 (2019)
- Archivaria 87 (Spring 2019)
- Individual articles
Here are my favourites:
*Special thanks to Carly Ciufo and Shannon Stettner for their help on this piece!
“Historical Perspectives: Reconsidering 1969: A ‘Turning Point” for Canada?” Canadian Historical Review 100, no. 2 (June 2019): 202-273.
What it’s about:This section of the latest CHR contains reflections by several scholars on the idea of 1969 as a watershed moment in Canadian history. These essays are mainly historiographical, on subjects ranging from official languages, to the Modern Indigenous Rights Movement, abortion access, and homosexuality.
What I loved:These are all fantastic reflections, and I really love to see this kind of cross-disciplinary conversation. I would especially recommend Sarah Nickel’s (Tk’emlupsemc (Kamloops Secwepemc), French Canadian and Ukrainian) piece, “Reconsidering 1969: The White Paper and the Making of the Modern Indigenous Rights Movement” and Katrina Ackerman and Shannon Stettner’s “’The Public is Not Ready for This’: 1969 and the Long Road to Abortion Access.” Each of these pieces also serves as a great introduction to their particular fields of study
Favourite quote: “Shannon Stettner is a precarious labourer in the Department of Women’s Studies at the University of Waterloo.” p. 256.
Suggested uses:I would love to see someone assign all of these readings together in a graduate level course on Canadian history, and see the discussion that arises. Or a series of blog posts…. 😉 These would also make really great case studies for creating lectures on these subjects.
Laura Madokoro, “Exclusion by Other Means: Medical Testing and Chinese Migration to Canada, 1947-1967,” Histoire Sociale 52, no. 105 (May 2019): 155-170.
Author’s Twitter: @LauraMadokoro
Link: https://hssh.journals.yorku.ca/index.php/hssh/article/view/40991
What it’s about: Officially, race-based immigration regulations were supposed to have ended with the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1947. But as Madokoro shows in this paper, Chinese families continued to be specifically targeted through medical discrimination as part of the immigration process. Unlike immigrants from Europe, family class migrants from China were required to submit to a variety of medical tests for diseases that Canadian officials believed were “endemic” to China, special X-rays to verify the ages of the children being sponsored, and blood-type testing to ensure that the family members under consideration were related to one another. Not only were these tests intrusive, but they were expensive, difficult to obtain, and unreliable. While these technologies and practices were used during the 1950s to specifically exclude Chinese family-class migrants, by the 1960s, immigration officials had switched to a policy of conditional inclusion.
What I loved: I loved this piece for a number of reasons. It is masterfully written and argued. Madokoro does a wonderful job of showing the arrogance and callousness of immigration officials, and the devasting impacts that these tests had on Chinese families. But at the same time, Madokoro emphasizes the agency of family class migrants from China, and how they continually tried to fight, adapt to, or circumvent these regulations. Further, considering the times in which we currently live, this piece is a devastating critique of supposedly “neutral” immigration policies, and the ways in which officials can get around legislation by using techniques that are supposedly “scientific and unbiased”. Finally, I feel that this is a really important historiographical intervention for Canadian history as a whole, complicating the narrative of immigration policies in the latter half of the twentieth century while also tying race-based exclusion to the larger white settler colonial project.
Favourite quote: “Case #1 Routine blood grouping conducted. [Father/husband] in Canada (group “A”) wife in Canada (group “O”), alleged son in Hong Kong (group “AB”). This case has been referred to National Health and Welfare for confirmation. Appears that these persons could not be the parents of the child, andthat the group “O” woman could not give birth to a group “AB” child. This would rule out the possibility of her claiming him as an illegitimate son.” P. 167-168.
Suggested uses:This would be a great reading for an undergraduate course. It’s easy to read, and the stories within are extremely compelling. And of course, anyone who is interested in the history of race/ethnicity and immigration in Canada should read this.
Benoît Grenier, “Sur les traces de la mémoire seigneuriale au Québec : identité et transmission au sein des familles d’ascendance seigneuriale,” Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française 72, no. 3 (Hiver 2019): 5-40.
Link: https://www.erudit.org/fr/revues/haf/2019-v72-n3-haf04608/1059979ar/
What it’s about: This is the first publication to come out of a larger study on the persistence of the seigneurial system in Quebec. Though the seigneurial system was technically abolished in 1854, remnants persisted in some locations until the 1940s, and its legacy remains strong. This particular study focused on the so-called “last seigneurs,” the descendants of the last group of ruling families, and how they have preserved both the historical memory of the seigneurial system and particular seigneurial practices. Relying on archival documents, material objects, and interviews with thirty-four individuals, Grenier argues for the existence of a distinct seigneurial family culture, characterized by connections to the land, an ongoing otherness from the communities in which they live, a sense of themselves as long-term caretakers for their communities, and an emphasis on values like noblesse oblige and bilingualism.
What I loved: First of all, the methodological rigour of this article is just a thing of beauty. Fully half of this lengthy article is devoted to an exploration of how the research team, under Grenier’s direction, selected participants, conducted interviews, and so on. But what I also loved about this article was how it connected the past, present, and future together. Not only does this piece examine the actual history of these last seigneuries, but it also looks at how these systems are remembered, and how these memories are fading in the youngest generations. It also reveals the extent to which people’s lives in rural areas of Quebec continue to be structured by historical relationships and systems that date back hundreds of years. Finally, I really appreciated Grenier’s attention to detail and careful analysis of the historical memory and family histories of the descendent seigneurial families. I look forward to reading the second article to come out of this project, based on the experiences of the other individuals who were involved in the seigneurial system.
Favourite quote: “On était [mon frère et moi] les petits seigneurs au manoir. […] Je me souviens quand on allait au village avec grand-papa pour aller chercher la poste ou aller à la boulangerie, on était des petits Monsieurs! Donc, il y avait cette distance qui était… concrète et qui était respectée de part et d’autre. Quand Elzéar venait porter la crème en charrette ou le beurre dans les moules, il aurait été extrêmement inconfortable si grand-maman l’avait invité à entrer dans la cuisine. Il fallait vraiment respecter son rôle.” [We, my brother and I, were the little lords of the manor. I remember one day, we had gone to the village with grandpa to pick up to the mail or go to the bakery (we were already little Misters!). There was this distance between us and them, concrete and respected on both sides. When Elzéar came to bring the cream in his cart or molded butter, he would have been extremely uncomfortable if grandmother had invited him into the kitchen. He had to really respect his role.] P. 25
Suggested uses:The methodological aspects of this article alone would make it a good fit for research methods courses. It will of course be of interest to anyone who studies historical memory, family history, and the history of Quebec.
Also Recommended:
- Krista McCracken, “Challenging Colonial Spaces: Reconciliation and Decolonizing Work in Canadian Archives,” Canadian Historical Review 100, no. 2 (June 2019): 182-201.
- I would love this piece even if I wasn’t friends with Krista! This is a great consideration of the work going on in Canadian archives about decolonization, indigenization, and reconciliation. It holds many lessons for the discipline of history as a whole.
- Julie Mushynsky “Don’t Talk About Your Fallout Shelter: Civilian Perceptions of Threat and Structural Responses during the Cold War in Regina, Saskatchewan,” Canadian Military History 28, no. 1 (2019): 1-35.
- This is just an absolutely delightful look at fallout shelters in Regina, from an archaeological perspective. If you don’t use this in your course, you’re missing out.
- Steven High, “Little Burgundy: The Interwoven Histories of Race, Residence, and Work in Twentieth-Century Montreal,” Urban History Review 46, no. 1 (Fall 2017):23-44.
- A beautiful portrait of a historical Black community in Montreal.
- Franca Iacovetta, “Writing Women’s Community-Based Pluralism into the History of Canadian Multiculturalism,” Zeitschrift für Kanada-Studien69 (2019): 28-45. [direct link not available]
- Fantastic look at the important role that women played in the development of Canadian multiculturalism, particularly as front-line workers.
- Kassandra Luciuk, “More Dangerous Than Many a Pamphlet or Propaganda Book: The Ukrainian Canadian Left, Theatre, and Propaganda in the 1920s,” Labour/Le Travail 83 (2019): 77-103.
- Fascinating look at the history of the Ukrainian left and a powerful argument about the impact of media on our politics.
I keep promising that I’m all caught up, and then failing. So I think I’m just going to stop. 😛 Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the latest Best New Articles! If you did, please consider sharing it on the social media platform of your choice. And don’t forget to check back on Sunday for a brand new Canadian history roundup. See you then!
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