Research Clusters and Working Groups

Thematic Clusters

Click on Cluster titles for full descriptions and associated History Faculty, extra-departmental Faculty, and graduate students.

History of China Working Group

This is a regular series of bi-weekly brown bag lunch meetings of the faculty and graduate students working on Chinese history in the History Department and Asian Studies. The focus is to consider China in world history. This responds to the changes in the field ranging from research and publishing worlds, how we conceptualize our work on China in a global context, and engaging China knowledge in a range of thematic clusters from environment to women to indigenous studies to science and medicine.

History of Medicine Working Group

The study of the history of medicine offers unique possibilities for exploring such diverse issues as constructions of the body and illness, the practice and legitimacy of state power, identity, and many other particular problems in medicine which connect across time (from the early middle ages to the present day), and region (Asia, Europe, and North America).

History of Science, Technology and Medicine Working Group

The history of science, technology and medicine cluster has had a successful year. During the academic year we met monthly to discuss the work in progress of faculty members and graduate students as well as published articles. Our meetings and discussions established a good mix of conviviality and professionalism, thanks to coffee, pastries and lunch. The highlight of last year was a trip by

History of Tourism and Recreation Working Group

Tourism and recreation are among the most important global commercial sectors of the modern world with yearly values in the trillion-dollar range. How we understand the historical development of these massive industries, however, is only just beginning to be explored. While leisure and travel have histories that stretch back for many centuries, mass tourism is a relatively recent phenomenon which has emerged only in the past two hundred years. Examining the rise of this massive cultural transformation, however, provides important insights into the functioning of many cultures across the globe. This thematic cluster on the history of tourism and recreation aims to bring together a wide range of faculty and graduate students to share insights and approaches to studying these emerging historical fields. The cluster has no set geographic parameters but instead will use tourism and recreation as avenues to explore issues of class, gender, place, memory, mobility, cultural encounters, the environment, and globalization. Through regular meetings and activities, we will help each other expand our understanding of the history of tourism and recreation.

Early Modern Atlanticists Working Group

This group will create a dialogue between the different Atlantic historians in the lower mainland - including faculty such as Willeen Keogh at Simon Fraser University and Benjamin Schmidt at the University of Washington. We will host open events such as guest lectures as well as maintain a monthly reading group to provide feedback on articles before they are submitted for publication. This cluster will create a community for Atlanticists and give us the opportunity to share our work with colleagues at UBC.

Regional Clusters

Asia

[caption]<img data-cke-saved-src="" src="" alt="" />This is an image caption[/caption] Brook, Timothy Late Imperial and Modern China.

Peterson, Glen Modern China; education and the construction of modern Chinese political and cultural identities; China and the overseas Chinese; history of Chinese transnationalism.

Nappi, Carla Early Modern China; History of Science and Medicine; Exchange between China and the Islamic World; Translation; Sensory History; Historical Epistemology; Synonyms; Disorientation

Roosa, John Southeast Asia; South Asia; nationalism, colonialism, oral history, social memory, genocide.

Shin, Leo Later Imperial China; cultural and social history.

Canada

Ducharme, Michel British North American colonies (1749-1873).

Lee, Steven Canadian and American diplomatic history; Cold War; modern Korea.

Loo, Tina 19th century Canada; law and society; British Columbia; environmental history.

McDonald, Robert Canadian West; British Columbia; Canadian social history; the North American city.

Myers, Tamara Gender/Women's history; crime and delinquency; adolescence and the family; Quebec/Canada.

Newell, Dianne Canadian social and economic history; history of technology; aboriginal women in the industrial economy; Pacific fisheries; women in postwar science fiction.

Raibmon, Paige First Nations history.

Ward, W Peter Canadian social history; history of health in the modern west.

Europe

Booker, Courtney Intellectual and political history of Carolingian era; historiography; rhetoric, narrative, and hermeneutics; codicology, transmission of texts, intertextuality; medievalism.

Brain, Bob History of science, technology, and medicine; modern European cultural and intellectual history.

Dixon, Joy Nineteenth and century Britain; cultural and intellectual history; gender, sexuality, and the body; history of religion; empire and postcolonialism.

Friedrichs, Christopher Early modern urban and social history; German history, 1500-1800; the Reformation; German Jewish history.

Glassheim, Eagle East/Central Europe; The Habsburgs; modern Germany; environmental history.

Gorsuch, Anne Soviet Union, cultural history, tourism and travel, youth, empire, gender.

Kojevnikov, Alexei Russian Empire and Soviet Union, 20th century Europe, science and society.

Menkis, Richard Middle East; Holocaust; Jewish history.

Safier, Neil Early Modern European cultural and intellectual history.

Latin America

Bronfman, Alejandra Caribbean and Latin America; race and ethnicity, history of social science, history of sound and listening.

French, William Latin America; Mexico (19th and 20th century); labour and social history; working class culture; gender.

Neil Safier Colonial Latin America; Brazil; Amazonia; Andes; scientific travel, encounters, and exploration

United States

Krause, Paul African-American, politics and political culture (esp. 19th century), and labour. US Map

Paris, Leslie Modern American social and cultural history; childhood and youth; gender and sexuality; popular culture.

Thrush, Coll Northwest Coast and the American West; place-based research and teaching; the aboriginal history and the cultures of colonialism; environmental history; history of food.

Vickers, Daniel Early America; social history of seafaring, work, and economic culture.

Wang, Jessica United States in the 20th Century.

Yu, Henry American intellectual history; Asian American history; race and immigration; social science and social theory in US and Europe.

Working Groups

FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES

FIFTH INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON INTERDISCIPLINARY SOCIAL SCIENCES
University of Cambridge
Cambridge, UK
2-5 August 2010
http://www.SocialSciencesConference.com

The Social Sciences Conference and its companion journal provide a forum for discussion of disciplinary and interdisciplinary approaches to knowledge creation within and across the various social sciences and between the social and the natural and applied sciences.

This year's conference will feature the following plenary speakers:

- Jack Goody, Professor and Fellow, St. John's College University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Rom Harre, Professor, University of Georgetown, Washington, DC, USA
- Gerassimos Kouzelis, Professor, University of Athens, Athens, Greece
- Juliet Mitchell, Professor, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
- Dr. Janet Stephenson, Prof Gerry Carrington, Prof Rob Lawson, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand

In addition to plenary presentations, the Social Sciences Conference includes parallel presentations by practitioners, teachers, and researchers. We invite you to respond to the conference call-for-papers. Presenters may submit their written papers for publication in the peer reviewed 'International Journal of Interdisciplinary Social Sciences'. If you are unable to attend the conference in person virtual registrations are also available which allow you to submit a paper for referring and possible publication. You also have the ability to upload your presentation to the Social Sciences YouTube channel.

We also invite you to subscribe to our free, monthly email newsletter, and subscribe to our Facebook, RSS, or Twitter feeds at http://thesocialsciences.com .

The deadline for the next round in the call for papers (a title and short abstract) is 13 July 2010. Future deadlines will be announced on the conference website after this date. Proposals are reviewed within two weeks of submission. Full details of the conference, including an online proposal submission form, may be found at the conference website: http://www.SocialSciencesConference.com.

We look forward to receiving your proposal and hope you will be able to join us in Cambridge in August.

Yours Sincerely,

Gerassimos Kouzelis
Professor of Philosophy of Science and Sociology of Knowledge
Department of Political Science and Public Administration
University of Athens, Athens, Greece
For the Advisory Board, Social Sciences Conference and Social Sciences Journal

International Perspectives - 27 February to 4 March, 2012

A listing of international events in Vancouver compiled by the School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University.

Monday, 27 February

"They Slept With Me" Film Screening

First Nations, Aboriginal, and Indigenous History

In this field, we place the experiences of Indigenous peoples at the core of historical inquiry, and examine the ways in which those peoples shaped broader patterns of history. While our primary research interests are in the territories that have become Canada and the United States, we are also interested in comparative studies, particularly of other former British colonies. Temporally, our interests range from the early colonial period to the present. We are particularly interested in the practice of ethical collaboration with Indigenous communities and in creating conversations between Indigenous history and other fields. Our specific strengths in this field include the Northwest Coast and the Pacific, the environment, research methodologies, urban places, migration, the cultures of colonialism, and Indigenous encounters with modernity.

International Perspectives, from 14 March to 20 March

International Perspectives
A listing of international events in Vancouver compiled by
the School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University.

Please note that the event "Resonances: Clinical and Sacred Life" featuring Tarek Elhaik on
17 March has been CANCELED.

From 14 March to 20 March 2011

Monday, 14 March

Honours Classes

Honours seminars facilitate exploration and training in how to think historically. They bring students together to consider problems of wide import to the discipline. All students in the first year of honours take HIST 333, which introduces them to the philosophy and practice of history, as well as teaching them how to conceptualize and complete a research project. In the second or graduating year, students take HIST 433 in which they will discuss the research and writing of the senior thesis, as well as study a broad issue of current concern to the discipline.

The additional semester-long tutorials present large units of history in terms of region, period or, most often, theme. Each tutorial, small in size, is open to both third- and fourth-year honours students. Students are required to take one tutorial each year. To account for therir intensity, they are worth twice the usual number of credits

History honours students are required to take a history department "capstone" course as well as nine credits of upper division history courses, which should include an upper division history course in a field related to their thesis topic.

International Perspectives - Nov. 1-8 - various events

International Perspectives --
A listing of international events in Vancouver compiled by the School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University.

From 1 November to 7 November October 2010

Wednesday, 3 November

Canadian Multinational Enterprises in China: How Entrepreneurial Are They?

Dr. Alain Verbeke, holder of the McCaig Research Chair in Management at the Haskayne School of Business at the University of Calgary, speaks about China's rapid economic growth and the increasingly important topic of subsidiary entrepreneurship. 2:00 to 3:30 p.m., Room 2270, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver. For more information, click here.

The Politics of Climate Change

Martin Toren, former professor of political science at Langara College, will present on the threat of global warming and ineffective action on dealing with climate change. 12:00 to 1:00 p.m., Alma VanDusen/Peter Kaye Room, Lower Level, Central Library, 350 W. Georgia St., Vancouver. For more information, click here.

Thursday, 4 November

Tortured Bodies: Speaking Terror and the Epistemic Violence of the Chilean Commission on Torture and Political Imprisonment

Teresa Macias, assistant professor at the University of Victoria, examines the relationship between torture experiences and politics of representation, arguing that national interests have a fundamental influence in processes by which nations account for state-organized violence. 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m., Room 134, Anthropology and Sociology Building, UBC, 6303 NW Marine Dr., Vancouver. For more information, click here.

Upcoming Events
Monday, 8 November to Sunday, 21 November

Monday, 8 November

Dead Aid

Dr. Dambisa Moyo, international economist and author, will discuss her book on why aid is not working, and how there is a better way for Africa. 12:00 p.m., Chan Centre, UBC, 6265 Crescent Rd., Vancouver. For more information, click here.

Tuesday, 9 November

Beyond Good Intentions

Judy Han, post-doctoral fellow at UBC, will present on geopolitics and Korean evangelical missions in Afghanistan as a part of the UBC's Department of Geography colloquia series. 12:30 p.m., Room 212, Geography Building, UBC, 1984 West Mall, Vancouver. For more information, click here.

Return to El Salvador

The Liu Institute for Global Issues, the International Development Research Network, and the Centre for Global Environmental and Natural Resource Law present a screening of a documentary on the post-civil war challenges facing El Salvador. Following the film, there will be a discussion on free trade agreements, investor-state disputes, and corporate accountability. 12:30 to 2:30 p.m., Liu Institute for Global Issues, UBC, 6476 NW Marine Dr., Vancouver. For more information, click here. To RSVP, click here.

China's Water Crisis

Chinese journalist and environmental activist, Dai Qing, will speak about Beijing's crippling water shortage and the environmental and social destruction resulting from the Three Gorges Dam project. 6:00 to 8:00 p.m., Fletcher Challenger Theatre, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver. For more information, click here.

Friday, 12 November

Autumn Gem

The David Lam Centre presents a documentary film on the life of Qui Jin, writer, feminist, and anti-Qing revolutionary. Following the film, Shuyu Kong, professor at SFU in the Department of Humanities, will join the film's directors in a discussion. 6:30 to 8:30 p.m., Room 7000, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver. For more information, click here. To RSVP, click here.

Saturday, 13 November to Sunday, 14 November

World Peace Forum Teach-in

This two day teach-in, presented by the World Peace Forum Society, will focus on political and cultural development in the 1950s, globally a time of reconstruction and revolution. A variety of academics and lecturers will present on topics including the Cold War and New Imperialism. 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Building A, Langara College, 100 W. 49th Ave., Vancouver. For more information, click here.

Monday, 15 November

Interrogating Development: Reflecting on India's Experience with Growth and Development

Dr. Padmini Swaminathan, Director of the Madras Institute of Development Studies, is an internationally recognized scholar of development and feminist economics and will explore the linkages between the themes of industrial organization, labour, education and health, all from a gender perspective. 12:00 to 1:30 p.m., Room 7000, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver. For more information, click here.

Thursday, 18 November

Iranian Concepts of Liberty and Law in Comparative Perspective

Dr. Homa Katouzian is the speaker at this year's Drs. Fereidoun and Katherine Mirhady Endowed Lecture in Iranian Studies. A social scientist, historian, and literary critic, he is also Iran Heritage research fellow, St. Antony's College and a faculty member of Oriental Studies at the University of Oxford. 7:00 to 9:00 p.m., Fletcher Challenger Theatre, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver. For more information, click here. To RSVP, click here.

Neoliberalism and Food Security

Dr. Gerardo Otero, professor of sociology at SFU, presents "The New Division of Labour in NAFTA Countries and Migration" as a part of the Faces of Human Security in Latin America Speakers Series. 7:00 p.m., Room 7000, SFU Harbour Centre, 515 W. Hastings St., Vancouver. For more information, click here.

Saturday, 20 November

Sima Samar on International Human Rights

The inaugural UBC-Laurier Lecture on Human Rights features Dr. Sima Samar, Chairperson of the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission. She has participated in many international forums on human rights, democracy and transitional justice and will be addressing the question, "How can the west support human rights in other parts of the world?" Tickets are $26.40, $14.40 for students. 8:00 p.m., Chan Centre for the Performing Arts, UBC, 6265 Crescent Rd., Vancouver. For more information, click here. To RSVP, click here.

Local Food - Global Food: The Future of Food Security

Dr. Peter Timmer, professor of development studies at Harvard University, will examine issues such as the 'supermarket revolution' in developing countries and its impact on the poor, as well as the political economy of agricultural policy. 8:15 p.m., Lecture Hall No. 2, Woodward IRC, UBC, 2194 Health Sciences Mall, Vancouver. For more information, click here.

All events free and open to the public, unless otherwise indicated.

Change to course or program

Please read closely the information and links on this page, particularly if this is your first time making an application to teach a new course (Category 1) or make changes to an existing one (Category 2).

Guides:

International Perspectives - 28 November to 4 December 2011

A listing of international events in Vancouver compiled by the School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University.

Monday, 28 November

The G20 at the Crossroads (or Critical Juncture): Parsing Asian Roles and the Changing Balance of Power
**Please Note Day/Time/Location Change**
Yves Tiberghien, professor of political science at UBC, will share his views on the evolution of global governance, the current world order, and economic challenges following his experience as official observer of the G20 Summit in Cannes. 12:00 to 1:30 p.m., Room 120, C.K. Choi Building, UBC, 1855 West Mall, Vancouver. For more information, click here. To RSVP, click here.

International events lectures

Humanities-Natural Science Integration

I have long felt that the humanities has been paralyzed over the past few decades by extreme forms of social constructivism or “postmoderism,” to use a term that no one likes but that I think is quite description and accurately picks out a theoretical stance that is not only very much alive, but still the default position in the fields in which I was trained (religious studies and Asian studies), as well as many other core humanities fields (literature, art history, cultural anthropology, etc.). My last monograph made the case to my fellow humanists for why we need to move beyond postmodernism and embrace “vertical integration” or “consilience” with the natural science; making this theoretical argument, in various forms, has been my central focus for the past few years. I am now turning more toward applications or “proof of concept”—actual applications of cognitive science or evolutionary theory to my areas of study—but am still very much involved in defending and advancing the cause of science-humanities integration at a meta-theoretical level.

Call for Papers – 2012 UBC Anthropology Graduate Conference - Deadline extended!

Culture and Change: Towards a Dynamic Anthropology

The Anthropology Department at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver, is pleased to announce that Dr. Yongming Zhou, Professor of Anthropology at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, will be the keynote speaker for the 2012 graduate student conference to be held at UBC Friday, March 2nd, and Saturday, March 3rd, 2012. Additional information, advance registration, and banquet ticket reservations are now available on the conference website at http://anthgradconf.alyanne.net/index.html.

Anthropologists recognize that cultures are dynamic and changing. Recent global events, such as the uprising in Egypt and the Occupy Movement, have pushed these notions of social dynamism to the forefront of public consciousness. How do global forces combine with local dynamics to shape the futures of communities around the world? Scholars from the traditional fields of anthropology, as well as geography, political science, law, and other disciplines are engaging with this question in new ways.

International Perspectives, 26 September to 2 October 2011

International Perspectives
A listing of international events in Vancouver compiled by the School for International Studies, Simon Fraser University.

International events lectures

Funding Announcement: Eight International Research Funders Announce Round Two of the Digging into Data Challenge

The Second Competition of the “Digging Into Data Challenge”.

Digging Into Data is an international and collaborative funding competition, intended to support humanities and social sciences research on cyberscholarship. It is sponsored by eight leading funders from four countries, including: SSHRC, the Institute of Museum and Library Services (United States), National Endowment for the Humanities (US), the National Science Foundation (US), the Joint Information Systems Committee (United Kingdom), the Economic and Social Research Council (UK), the Arts and Humanities Research Council (UK), and the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research.

History of Children and Youth

The faculty in the Children and Youth cluster consider age as a central category of historical analysis. Our areas of research include the historical experiences of children and adolescents, and the cultural and political meanings of childhood and youth in diverse times and places. Faculty expertise ranges geographically from North America to the Soviet Union, and includes such broad areas of inquiry as youth labor, culture and recreation, girlhood, juvenile justice, children's bodies, and education.

Call for Applications and Nominations for Editor(s) of BC Studies

Established in 1969, BC Studies is a peer-reviewed quarterly publishing scholarly articles and book reviews written from any disciplinary perspective on the cultural, political, and economic life of British Columbia, past and present. The journal seeks to appoint an editor or co-editors for a three- to five-year term beginning April or July 2011.

Call for Proposals: A Thorn in the Side of Feminism: Interventions to Challenge Complacency

The Centre for Women’s and Gender Studies at the University of British Columbia invites scholars to submit to an interdisciplinary Graduate Student Conference entitled A Thorn in the Side of Feminism: Interventions to Challenge Complacency.

The conference will be held on April 4th, 2012 from 10am-5pm at the Liu Institute for Global Issues on UBC’s Vancouver campus.

Keynote Speaker: Dr. Sunera Thobani

Department of History

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