History (HIST)

Students explore changes in women’s legal rights, entitlements and duties in England and (to a lesser extent) Wales and Scotland over the course of more than four centuries. Topics include property rights, inheritance practices, domestic violence, rape, female citizenship and nationality, and women’s suffrage.

In this course on the long history of communications and the media, students will cover topics such as the making of medieval manuscripts, the printing revolution, censorship, the rise of the newspaper, the creation of public libraries, the inventions of photography, the telegraph, telephone and television, and the shift to digital formats and social media.

The histories of Shakespeare and London intersect in interesting ways. Students explore topics such as theatres and theatregoers, education, law and litigation, the royal court, the topicality of particular plays, censorship, and the cosmopolitan mix of nationalities in the fastest growing city in Europe.

Students use project development and management skills to critically think about the practical value of intellectual training to civil society. Individual responsibility as a means of building collective prosperity is emphasized, with the goal of helping students develop important outreach and public engagement skills. Students are challenged to think about the broad application of evidence-based Arts and Humanities research, communication, and critical-thinking skills through guest lectures, innovative learning materials and project creation. Classes 3 hrs. and lab 3 hrs. a week.

This course introduces students to both the field of public history and to the application of history and historical methods in a variety of workplace settings. Public history, which involves the practices and presentation of history outside academia, is the domain of a wide variety of practitioners including historians, museologists, archivists, journalist, museum workers, genealogist, film makers and researchers. This course will examine the evolution of public history as a field of study since the 1960s and will focus on analysis of the presentation of history in a variety of films, presentations, and historic sites. The course content will be primarily Canadian and American, examining questions about ethics, standards and audience. The course will have both a classroom and an applied history or workplace component. Seminar three hours per week, plus successful completion of eight hours weekly of mentored volunteer work in a public history setting.

This course will examine the relationship between biography and history, beginning with consideration of how far the essentials of historical methodology can be followed in biographical study. A variety of forms of biography will then be examined, including private and public approaches to biography, autobiography, and popular biography. Specific biographical subjects will be explored in detail as case studies. The central question considered throughout will be whether biography, in any of its forms, can be considered either as a form of historical enquiry or as a valid historical source.

This course will examine the reasons and consequences of migration to Latin America since the early colonial period. It will emphasize the forced migration of Africans and the free migration of Europeans and Japanese to countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba and Peru.

During the nineteenth century Ireland had the highest emigration rate in Europe. In order to better understand this phenomenon, this seminar course will focus on the literature that discusses the nature of Irish migration and settlement from the eighteenth to early twentieth centuries. While the course will examine Irish immigrants in their various destinations, it will focus in particular on Irish settlement in North America.

From the late eighteenth to the middle of the twentieth century, Scotland had one of the highest emigration rates in Europe. This seminar course will examine a wide range of literature that discusses Scottish migration to various overseas destinations in order to place the Scottish presence in Nova Scotia in historical context.

Students examine memories of the Asia-Pacific War in China, Korea and Japan. Students investigate how history and politics have been shaping and shaped by collective and individual memories of this conflict.

Although a product of the same era in global history as other nineteenth- and twentieth-century empires, the Japanese Empire was more subject to distinctly Asian influences. This particular historical experience is explored through an examination of social, intellectual, and cultural concerns alongside the more usual issues involving economics and international relations.

Students explore select topics in East Asian history in an interdisciplinary manner and then examine a specific topic in detail in consultation with the instructor. Student term papers must consider that topic from at least two different disciplinary perspectives, one being the discipline of history.

Students examine China’s environmental challenges and their historical roots. Key topics include philosophies of nature, human and non-human relations, natural disasters, sustainability, environmental governance and public engagement.

Students examine how gender intersects with cultural norms, social expectations, political agendas, and economic development in modern East Asia, including China, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan

This interdisciplinary seminar will adopt a thematic approach in order to explore ideas in history across borders, cultures and centuries. Topics for exploration may include the media, the law, the family, gender and/or sexuality.

This seminar course will examine selected topics in the history of East Asia. The topics to be studied will be chosen by the instructor. As part of the course requirements, students will write a major research paper and present it to the seminar.

A specific historical period or topic will be selected by the instructor and each student will be assigned a particular historian or historical school for the purpose of writing a paper. The seminar will address a variety of historical viewpoints and demonstrate the influence of one’s milieu on the writing of history.

A seminar on selected topics in the history of modern Europe, 1800 to present, intended for history majors in their graduating year, honors, and graduate students. Topics to be examined will be selected by the instructor; students will be required to research and write a major paper on the topic selected, and present it to the seminar for discussion and criticism.

This compulsory seminar will examine selected contemporary historiographical issues and guide candidates in the preparation of their thesis proposals.

The Department of History has strengths in Atlantic Canada and Quebec, East Asia, the Americas, Britain and Europe from the 16th century to the present. Research areas include: imperialism, nationalism and colonialism; law and society; emigration and immigration; health, leisure and tourism; social, political and intellectual movements; Public and oral history. The one year M.A. program in History at Saint Mary’s combines course work and thesis research and caters to both full and part time students.

This seminar focuses on the Atlantic Region from 1720 to 1870. It will examine the interactions among the colonies in the region, as well as their relationship to other colonies in the New World and to imperial powers. The seminar will also consider the history of ethno-cultural communities within the region, including aboriginal peoples and European settlers. Topics to be covered will be chosen by the instructor. Seminars concentrate on group discussion and the presentation of substantive research papers that use primary sources.

This seminar focuses on the social and cultural history of the Atlantic Region from 1870 to the present. Topics to be covered will include approaches to social and cultural history as they apply to the study of region, regional identity, gender, ethnicty, cultural production, and a range of other topics. Seminars concentrate on group discussion and the presentation of substantive research papers that use primary sources.

Migrants from the British Isles established settlements in places as far afield as Jamaica, South Africa, New South Wales and Vancouver Island. This course will examine some of the recent literature that touches on such diverse topics as: the encounter with indigenous peoples, the pioneering experience and the formation of colonial settlement identity.

Students will engage in the research and writing of a thesis under the supervision of a thesis supervisory committee. The student must satisfy the supervisor that thesis research and all other methodological and disciplinary preparation for the successful handling of the thesis topic have been completed. Supervisors may require a demonstration of language competence or extra course work as preparation for the treatment of certain thesis topics. Students will publicly defend their thesis, following which a final grade will be determined by the supervisory committee.