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ACAM 300 – Dis/Orienting Asian Canada: Asian Canadian Histories for Our Times
History 235 – History of Canada: Moments that Matter
History 236 – Public History in Canada: Memory, Representation, and Interpretation
History 304 – Researching Local History from the Ground Up
History 305 – History of British Columbia
History 420 – Topics in Canadian History – Gender and Sexuality in Canada
History 420 – Topics in Canadian History – Drugs in Canadian History
Asian Canadian & Asian Migration Studies (ACAM) 300 – Dis/Orienting Asian Canada: Asian Canadian Histories for Our Times
What do Asian Canadian histories have to do with the present? What good can historical knowledge, understanding, and thinking do now? Driven by these questions, ACAM 300 is an Asian Canadian history course for our times. We will explore how Asian Canadian histories are portrayed and used in a range of contexts today – from scholarship and textbooks to political apologies and media coverage, from films and museum exhibits to community festivals and family stories. We will consider what role these diverse historical representations play in the present. And we will develop our own ideas about what other histories need to be told about people of Asian descent in northern North America, and explore how and why we might do so. Overall, you can expect to learn about some important topics in Asian Canadian history; understand why these histories – and how they are told – matter today; build skills related to digital and ethical community-engaged historical work; and, in the process, contribute to histories that can make a difference in our times.
- UBC, ACAM 300 – Dis/Orienting Asian Canada: Asian Canadian Histories for Our Times, 2020, syllabus (online, mixed asynchronous and synchronous)
- UBC, ACAM 300 – Dis/Orienting Asian Canada: Asian Canadian Histories for Our Times, 2021, syllabus (hybrid – asynchronous online, optional in-person elements)
- UBC, ACAM 300 – Dis/orienting Asian Canada: Asian Canadian Histories for Our Times, 2022, syllabus (multi-access – any combination of in-person and asynchronous online)
History 235 – History of Canada: Moments that Matter
History 235 is an unconventional team-taught introduction to Canadian history. Rather than a broad survey, the course investigates different interpretations of a number of “defining moments” that have shaped northern North America. More specifically, the course revolves around the question – what “moments” have mattered in Canada’s history, and why? – and the wide range of ways in which we might answer this question. Lectures are delivered by different Canadian historians from the UBC Department of History, who each draw on their particular areas of expertise in order to answer the question posed by the course. Readings, assignments, and tutorial discussions and activities then give students further opportunity to assess lecturers’ answers, to understand each “moment” in its broader historical context, to make connections between different “moments,” and to explore other possible responses to the question. Like other 200-level courses in the department, History 235 is also designed to introduce key areas of historical practice including primary source analysis, historical writing, library and media skills, and public history. The wide range of students and instructors offer new perspectives every time I walk into the classroom, and overall, the course really reveals the vibrancy, creativity, and rich diversity of Canadian history.
- UBC, Hist 235 – History of Canada, 2014-15, syllabus (in-person)
- UBC, Hist 235 – History of Canada, 2015-16, syllabus (in-person)
History 236 is an introduction to public history in Canada. It explores how and why Canadian history gets interpreted or represented in public (ie. outside of academia), and considers why it matters. This involves engaging with Canadian history in a wide range of media and contexts. We reflect on museum exhibits and city murals. We watch films and look at comics. We debate statues, state apologies, and place names. We think about how history has been represented in beer advertisements and music, banknotes and Wikipedia, skateboards and even animals. And in the process, we develop our own ideas about what kinds of Canadian history should be told in public, how and where they should be represented and interpreted, and why. Students even get an opportunity to put these ideas into practice and plan your own original public history project! From this course, you can expect to learn about some important topics in Canada’s past, major issues in its public representation today, and (like all 200-level courses in the department) key methods of historical practice including primary source analysis, historical writing, library and research skills, and public history. These are things that you might find useful in future courses and careers, or even just conversations across the dinner table. In the process, History 236 aims to provide food for thought on some important questions: Why study history? Can historical understanding make a difference in the world? Why are historical topics so hotly and publicly contested today? What role do you want to play in those debates, if any? And for what might a History degree prepare you?
History 304 – Researching Local History from the Ground Up
Interested in learning how to conduct historical research? Want to make new discoveries or uncover stories about a local community? Wondering how you can connect your History courses with the wider world, or hoping to use your studies to contribute to public knowledge about the past? HIST 304 is designed around these priorities, with an emphasis on learning through hands-on practice and regular reflection. Through interactive lectures, guided activities, discussions, and assignments, the course will introduce you to local history as a field of study, build your research skills, and offer you the chance to explore how you could apply this learning to the world beyond the university.
- UBC, HIST 304 – Researching local history from the ground up, 2019-20, syllabus (in-person)
- UBC, HIST 304 – Researching local history from the ground up, 2020-21, syllabus (online – asynchronous)
- UBC, HIST 304 – Researching local history from the ground up, 2021-22, syllabus (blended – asynchronous online & in-person)
- UBC, HIST 304 – Researching local history from the ground up, 2022-23, syllabus (in-person)
History 305 – History of British Columbia
HIST 305 examines the historical events and processes that have shaped the place currently called British Columbia, with an emphasis on the late eighteenth century to the present. Key themes include colonialism and migration; the role of race, gender, and class in shaping British Columbia and people’s experiences of it; and power, protest, and the making of a modern state. We will also reflect on how this past continues to shape the province and lives here today. HIST 305 also emphasizes understanding British Columbia through original research. Overall, the course aims to provide you with a solid understanding of British Columbia’s past and why it matters, as well as useful experience and expertise to take with you into the future.
Note: The syllabus for 2015-16 was for a two-semester course. The more recent syllabi are for a one-semester course.
- UBC, HIST 305 – History of British Columbia, 2015-16, syllabus (in-person)
- UBC, HIST 305 – History of British Columbia, 2018-19, syllabus (in-person)
- UBC, HIST 305 – History of British Columbia, 2019-20, syllabus (in-person)
- UBC, HIST 305 – History of British Columbia, 2020-21, syllabus (online, asynchronous with synchronous option)
- UBC, HIST 305 – History of British Columbia, 2021-22, syllabus (hybrid/mixed mode, online asynchronous, with option for synchronous/in-person elements)
- UBC, HIST 305 – History of British Columbia, 2022-23, syllabus (multi-access, in-person and/or online asynchronous)
History 420 – Topics in Canadian History – Gender and Sexuality in Canada
In History 420 (when taught as Gender & Sexuality in Canada), we investigate the changing meanings, lived experiences, and central roles of gender and sexuality in the history of northern North America, with a particular focus on the past two centuries. At its heart, the course explores two key ideas: 1) gender and sexuality have histories—that is, their meanings and experiences have changed across contexts and over time; and 2) gender and sexuality have not only been part of Canada’s history, but they have been fundamental to it—that is, we cannot understand Canada without taking seriously its histories of gender and sexuality. Through lectures, discussions, and assignments, we examine how gender and sexuality have shaped people’s lives, social institutions, popular culture, political policies, and the very meanings of Canada itself. In so doing, the course aims to build students’ critical understandings of a history that has been—and continues to be—intimately lived, urgently debated, and politically charged.
History 420 – Topics in Canadian History – Drugs in Canadian History
How can studying the past help us to understand drugs and their place in Canada today, from the recent legalization of cannabis to the ongoing public health crisis of opioid poisoning? This question drives the History 420 (when taught as Drugs in Canadian History), which examines the history of drugs in Canada since 1867. Over the past century and a half, Canada has played an important role in the continental and global history of drugs, while the study of drugs – from alcohol, tobacco, and cannabis to opium, amphetamines, LSD, and more – offers a remarkably revealing lens onto Canada, both past and present. Through lecture videos, readings, historical films, discussions, and assignments, HIST 420 examines the social, cultural, political, and legal histories of drugs; the people who have used them; and the changing meanings, regulation, and (de)criminalization of different drugs over time in northern North America. Major themes will include the relationship between ideas about drugs, gender, race, class, and national identity; debates about regulation, policing, legalization, and decriminalization; changing understandings of use, treatment, and addiction; and tensions between personal experiences, social meanings, popular culture, and medical, legal, and political approaches to different drugs.
- UBC, HIST 420D – Drugs in Canadian history, 2019-20, syllabus (in-person)
- UBC, HIST 420D – Drugs in Canadian history, 2020-21, syllabus (online, asynchronous with synchronous option)
- UBC, HIST 420D – Drugs in Canadian history, 2021-22, syllabus (hybrid/mixed mode, online asynchronous, with option for synchronous/in-person elements)
- UBC, HIST 420D – History of Drugs in Canada, 2022-23, syllabus (multi-access, in-person and/or online asynchronous)