Sali Lafrenie
| Degrees: | BA Honours History - Gender Studies (Queen's University), Certificate in International Studies (Queen's University), MA Public History - Digital Humanities (Carleton University) |
Sali Lafrenie is a recent graduate of Carleton University’s Public History MA program, with a specialization in Digital Humanities. She also holds a BA Honours in History with a minor in Gender Studies and a Certificate in International Studies from Queen’s University.
Her project Heads or Tales?: Analyzing and Resisting Canadian Myths Through the Royal Canadian Mint’s “Create A Centsation” Millennium Coin Campaigns, 1999 to 2000 is a critical visual and material investigation of Canadian commemorative coins using Reflection Transformation Imaging (RTI). Focusing on the Royal Canadian Mint’s 1999 and 2000 “Create a Centsation” millennium coin campaigns, Lafrenie examined six coins and their respective narratives. Through her analysis of these coins, readers are asked to participate in a close reading of each coin and to challenge the myths and colonial narratives constructed throughout both millennium coin campaigns. By close reading, this performance actively re-lights millennium coins. “Heads or Tales?” identifies the banal nationalistic power of coins and critically engages with the colonial myths and stories of a nation becoming etched onto each coin.
Lafrenie hopes that her work will encourage others to study Canadian numismatics and aims to continue contributing to the fields of numismatics, public history, and digital humanities.
Select Publications and Current Projects
Lafrenie, Mariam. “A diplomat, a Prime Minister, and a scholar: remembering Lester B. Pearson,” The Discover Blog, December 27, 2017 (8:00 a.m.), https://thediscoverblog.com/2017/12/27/a-diplomat-a-prime-minister-and-a-scholar-remembering-lester-b-pearson/.
Lafrenie, Mariam. “Accessing our history: a project about prime ministers.” The Discover Blog, October 11, 2016 (10:00 a.m.), https://thediscoverblog.com/2016/10/11/accessing-our-history-a-project-about-prime-ministers/.
Lafrenie, Mariam. “69 Days as Prime Minister: The Legacy of Sir Charles Tupper,” The Discover Blog, August 24, 2016 (10:00 a.m.), https://thediscoverblog.com/2016/08/24/69-days-as-prime-minister-the-legacy-of-sir-charles-tupper/.
Select Conference Publications
Lafrenie, M.S. “Heads or Tales?: Analyzing and Visualizing Canadian Narratives and Numismatics.” Poster presented virtually at the National Council on Public History Annual Conference, Atlanta, GA, March 2020.
Lafrenie, M.S. “Accessing our history: The prime ministers’ speeches project.” Poster presented at the Undergraduate Student Summer Research Fellowship Celebration, Kingston, ON, October 2017.
Lafrenie, M.S. “À la Croisée des Chemins: Canada Imagined and Interpreted.” Poster presented at the Undergraduate Student Summer Research Fellowship Celebration, Kingston, ON, October 2016.