Overview

Description

CALENDAR DESCRIPTION:

A survey of major themes in Canadian social history, which is the examination of past lived experiences. Particular attention will be paid to developing an anti-racist and feminist historical analysis of how race, gender, sexuality, and class shape everyday life, and how and why lived experiences change over time. Breadth-Humanities.

COURSE DETAILS:

HIST 204 offers a selective survey of nineteenth- and twentieth-century events in the lands currently known as Canada through the lens of social history. Originally described as history “from below” or “from the bottom up,” social history aims to recover the experiences of non-elite members of society, including (but not limited to) women, members of the working class, ethnic minorities, and Indigenous peoples. To avoid being overwhelmed by the sheer scope of this historical project, we will focus upon a handful of social spaces in which people residing in Canada have lived, worked, and played over the last two centuries. We will learn how these spaces materially and imaginatively shaped how people conducted their lives, what kinds of choices they were able to make, and what effects their actions had on others and on the times in which they lived. As we move through these spaces, we’ll encounter some key concepts used by social historians. These include the intersecting categories of gender, race, and class, which people have understood and performed differently in different times and places. We’ll also encounter different kinds of sources and consider how social historians work with various records and objects to glean information and build arguments about the past. 

Grading

Materials

REQUIRED READING:

REQUIRED READING NOTES: