• Ordinary Women – Jeanne Dugas of Acadie

    Stephanie Pettigrew [This essay first appeared at UnwrittenHistories on September 25, 2018, and is re-posted here through collaboration with editors Andrea Eidinger and Stephanie Pettigrew.] The summer before I started my PhD, there was a massive reunion of my grandmother’s side of the family in my hometown of Cheticamp. It’s the type of thing that… Continue Reading

  • Hope and Despair in the Meghalayan Age

    Gregory Kennedy Note: This is the fourth in a series on environmental history and early modern history cross-posted with  NiCHE, the Network in Canadian History & Environment. Life as an academic often feels like constant movement between hope and despair. Hope that our research will have an impact, and be accepted our peers … despair at the latest… Continue Reading

  • Stewarding a Canadian Culture of Comity

    Elizabeth Mancke The election of Donald Trump as US president raises concerns about the impact on Canada: on trade, energy policy, currency exchanges, pipelines, climate change. Most anxiety inducing is the toxic turn of civic discourse, as the US political process tolerated expressions of racism and sexism, as well as outright lies and intimidation. The… Continue Reading

  • The Environmental and Cultural History of the St. John River

    Jason Hall Rivers have been foundational to the development of historical thinking since the Greek philosopher Heraclitus coined the expression “no man can cross the same river twice,” 2,500 years ago. Many scholars have subsequently encouraged students to “think like rivers” to recognize the inherently transient nature of the world. My dissertation, River of Three… Continue Reading