Descriptions Archive

Winter 2027

Professor John Walsh

Source: Archives of Ontario, RG 5, B354957, Folder 3.6, Lure Books
 
Scope & Objectives:  This course explores the political, cultural, and social histories of cartography in Canada with a particular concern to address the methodological and epistemological opportunities (and challenges) that arise when we historians encounter maps in the archive. To that end we ask a series of interconnected questions:  what historically has been a map? What mapping practices historically created and used maps? How might scholars read maps – their visuality, numeracy, and textuality – as historical evidence? How are scholars to understand the visual, numeric, and textual traces associated with mapping practices that were and are often archived separate from the maps that were published and circulated? 
 
Class Format: To answer our core questions, this is not just a course that reads and discusses readings, although there is plenty of that. It is also a course that has regular workshop elements working with historical maps and mapping archival materials. Students will reflect regularly on the connections between the literature, discussions, and workshops in semi-regular course diary entries (done on the course website) responding to prompts provided by the course instructor. Feedback will be provided for each entry as it is done, with the intent to continue our shared learning.
 
Assignments:  The course diary entries will be near-weekly for the first 6 weeks of the course and then the last months of the course will be dedicated to a research project (details to come).
 
Evaluation (tentative):
 
Weekly Engagement – 25%
Course Diary  – 35%
Research Project – 40%
 
To learn more about the course, feel free to contact the course instructor via email.
 

HIST 2301A

Summer 2026 (May – June)

Instructor: Kerry Badgley, PhD

Introduction: This is a survey course in Canadian political history that covers the period from Confederation to the Pierre Elliott Trudeau administration of the late twentieth century. The primary goal is for you to become familiar with a solid, factual account of our national political evolution. The emphasis is on the historical/chronological evolution of our politics.

During the course, you will be introduced to themes such as political parties, pressure groups, and social movements. We will also evaluate the leaderships traits of our prominent political actors to give you the opportunity to build upon your own leadership awareness and potential.

The focus will primarily be on federal politics, but the development of provincial political power will be raised whenever it is relevant to do so. There will be sweeping interpretations as well as detailed case studies that will illuminate the particulars. And there will be biographical interpretations of political leaders that demonstrate the impact of personality on politics and peoples.

Class Format: We meet twice each week in three-hour lecture blocks. The normal distribution of time will be dedicated largely to lectures and to some class critical thinking exercises based on the examination of historical documents, images, and films. Of course, there will also be plenty of time to respond to your questions and to engage in discussions!

Aims and Goals: The content of this course allows students to put their contemporary political experiences into broader contexts, and to appreciate the deep power relationships that have historically formed them. The course also provides a learning opportunity of how to plan and manage a significant research project (essay), a skill that translates well to a wide range of academic and professional work situations.

Assessment: The course has a combination of a written final exam and assignments designed to reflect the course themes and also build specific research and communication skills.

Text: The textbook is free and online:

Belshaw, J.D. Canadian History: Post-Confederation. Victoria, B.C.: BCampus, 2015: https://opentextbc.ca/postconfederation/

Questions? Please email me at: KerryBadgley@cunet.carleton.ca or contact me via phone at (613) 325-9097.

HIST 2401A

Online Asynchronous

Summer 2026 (July – August)

In this half-credit course we will study the history of the United States from colonial settlement up through the Civil War. During this period many people came to America because they sought greater economic opportunity for themselves and their children. Others were inspired to make the move because of a belief in radical political and religious ideas. Some were dragged to America in chains. Native peoples were already present when the first Europeans arrived. We will seek to understand American history and the American experience from the point of view of all of these people as they tried to make sense of the world around them while dealing with the myriad of conflicts, challenges, and opportunities life in America presented.

This asynchronous on-line course will consist of weekly lectures, reading assignments in a textbook, and additional outside texts including primary sources.  Lectures and assignments will be posted on Monday and Thursday morning each week with students free to view lectures and submit assigned work anytime up to the deadline on the following Sunday evening.  In addition, students will write one short essay on a designated text, have a take-home assignment which measures the quality of their study and reading of the material in this course, and a short assignment which requires them to carefully read and interpret a primary source of the instructor’s choosing.  There is no exam.

Fall 2026

Instructor: Professor Laura Madokoro

Introduction: Historians ask unique and probing questions about both the past and present. They conduct original archival, oral history and other forms of research in an innovative fashion. Much of the historian’s craft involves bringing together different sources and literatures into conversation, making the discipline of history an inherently creative one. 

This course is about the historian’s craft as an imaginative and intellectual process.

It is an invitation to consider how historians do their work in an applied fashion. Combining a mix of multi-media workshops, readings, discussions, and applied activities, you will have the opportunity to do the work of a historian: to develop critical questions about the past and present, explore original primary sources, and to conduct research and analysis with particular communities and audiences in mind. This work will provide a solid foundation that you can use in other history courses while also fostering a broader engagement with audiences within, and beyond, the historical professional. The emphasis is on applied knowledge, robust exchanges, and learning as we go. 

Class Format: The class will meet in-person once a week in a 3-hour block format with time split between lectures, discussions, and applied methodologies. Where possible or necessary, field trips and / or virtual meetings will be organized. 

Assessment: As this class emphasizes engaged historical practice, assessment will be based on applied activities and assignments, including discussions and various written projects.  

Text: There are no texts to purchase for this course. Readings will be provided online, via Brightspace, or MacOdrum Course Reserves.

HIST 4916:

Fall 2026

Overview: This seminar explores the material culture and culture of consumerism in 1980s Canada, from malls and marketing to forms of technology and media that became fundamental components for the formation of social identities. We will think about what it means to study media, technology, and culture in what was arguably the last analog decade. We will bring a distinctly Canadian view on what the 1980s meant, from Expo ’86 to CanCon regulations to moral panics over music, sexuality, and games. We will discuss bad fashion, good music, and consider how nostalgia has shaped our views of the decade that shaped Generation X.

Your research projects will explore and present the multiple meanings attached to 1980s material culture through interviews and research on how consumer objects were marketed. As a seminar in Public History, our overall objective is to consider how we can tell stories about past material objects and past technologies, even if these are ‘recent’ pasts. How can we avoid reactive forms of nostalgia and use objects to reflect on wider social practices?  How can we comprehend the wider significance of consumer items between the marketing assumptions and the stories of their use? What stories of media consumption can we (should we) tell of a pre-digital age, and what are the limitations in what can be told?

Class Format: This is an in-person, student-led seminar in a three-hour block. Some weeks may be set aside for off-site visits, tbd.

Text: No textbook is required but you may be required to watch 80s media content of questionable taste.

Questions? Please email me at: james.opp@carleton.ca

HIST 2314A:

Winter 2027

Instructor: Professor James Opp

Introduction: This course addresses a wide range of issues in Canadian social and cultural History by examining three distinct but overlapping spheres of “social” life: Home, Work, and Play. Dividing the course into thematic sections allows for a deeper investigation of gender, class, race, sexuality, and the spaces where they interact. It is impossible to cover every aspect of Canada’s social history, but we will selectively explore how the textures of everyday life have changed between the beginning of the nineteenth century and the end of the twentieth.

History 2304 also introduces students to the methodological and conceptual issues involved in doing social-cultural history. In this vein, we will discuss many of the problems and issues facing social and cultural historians and how they have sought to overcome the inherent limitations of historical work in this field.

Class Format: This class meets twice a week ; some classes will be lecture-based, some will be designated workshop periods, and some will combine both elements to different degrees.

Aims and Goals: The content of this course allows students to put their contemporary social and cultural lives into a broader context, and to appreciate the deep power relationships that have historically formed them. The course also provides a mentored learning experience of how to plan and manage a significant research project. Finally, there is a unique focus in the course in learning how to give historical, deconstructive “readings” of a wide range of visual culture – advertising, photography, film, comics, and other media.

Assessment: Students can expect a combination of reading quizzes, section exams, workshop activities, and a laddered research project. Exact details on these TBC.

Text:  James Opp and John C. Walsh, eds., Home, Work, and Play: Situating Canadian Social History 3^rd ed. (Oxford University Press, 2015).  Please note the third edition is 65% different from the second edition and 95% different from the first edition.  It is therefore critical to have the correct version!

Questions? Please email james.opp@carleton.ca

2027 Winter Term
Instructor: James Opp
 



Photograph of a colour slide from
the South Street Seaport Museum
Barbara Mensch
“The Nobility of Work” exhibition
Detail from Danish Photo Album, 1971
Royal Library, Copenhagen
 
 
Scope & Objectives: This course explores the social history of photography/photographic practices, with an eye towards unravelling the methodological and theoretical issues that complicate the use of photographs as evidence of “the past.” Through seminar discussions and assignments, we will contextualize the historical production of photographs while at the same time problematizing how photographs are used to visualize history. By exposing the power relations invested in photographic practices, we will critically assess how the archiving, collecting, publishing, and exhibiting of photographs have historically and continue to serve as sites of contested memory.
 
This course does not aspire to offer a comprehensive survey of photographers, detail the technical history of cameras and film, or compare photographic styles as a function of art. No photographic technical ability is required. Rather, through selective themes and case examples, we will trace the power of photographic representations, consider their materiality, and reconsider how scholars employ, utilize, and come to terms with photographs and photographic practice.
 
Class Format & Readings: This is an in-person, student-led seminar in a three-hour block. Some weeks may be set aside for field trip or archive work, depending upon availability and access. Graduate-level participation and engagement with the course material will be expected. No textbook for this class is required, but readings will be made available. 
 
Assignments: Assignments will focus on analyzing and working with photographs in spaces of public history. Exact form and format, TBA.  
 
Who do I contact?  Please email james.opp@carleton.ca  (see also jamesopp.com for more information about the instructor)

HIST 2915A: History of the Modern Middle East
Winter 2027

Instructor: Hussam R. Ahmed

Course Description: 

This course equips students with the tools necessary to think, read and write critically about the modern Middle East. We will be dealing with the political, social and cultural history of the region following the end of the First World War to the Arab Spring.

The course starts with a survey of the Ottoman Empire that dominated much of the region from the 16^th Century. We then have a close look at the shifting balance of power with Europe and the rise of European imperialism in the 19^th century. Next, we have a close look at how the First World War drew the map of the region as we study the formation of new states and their development in the interwar period. We then follow a number of key issues that have dominated 20^th-century Middle Eastern history. Among them are, Zionism, Israel and the Palestinian struggle for nationhood; Nasserism and Pan-Arabism; the Lebanese civil war, the Iranian Revolution and the rise of political Islam; the politics of oil and the Gulf War. We end the course with a look at the unprecedented wave of revolutionary activity that engulfed the region in the 21^st century.

Organization:

This class will meet in person. Our time will be split between lectures and in-class discussions.

HIST 4915A: Anti-Colonial Resistance in the Modern Middle East
Winter 2027

Instructor: Hussam R. Ahmed

Course Description: 

By the end of the First World War, European powers had colonized much of the Middle East, triggering strong responses from the peoples of the region. In this course, we will focus on various forms of resistance to British and French colonialism in the Middle East in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. By taking an in-depth look at Greater Syria and Algeria, we will cover the following themes: similarities and differences between British and French forms of colonial rule, colonial government and bureaucracy, colonial education, mediating elites and colonial citizenship, anti-colonial thought and preparation for self-rule, as well as anti-colonial organizations, armed rebellion and decolonization. We will also look at the legacies of anti-colonial resistance through selected readings from the more contemporary period, including fiction and film.

Organization:

This class will meet in person. It will be organized into three-hour seminars.

HIST 5906A: Narrating the Self: Modern Arab Memoirs as Historical Texts
Fall 2026

Instructor: Hussam R. Ahmed

Course Description:

This graduate seminar explores modern Arab memoirs as historical texts and literary expressions of selfhood. Through autobiographical writings by Muslim, Christian, and Jewish Arab authors, the course examines how individuals narrate their lives in relation to broader historical, political, and cultural contexts. The seminar engages critically with questions of narratability, identity, religion, gender, and sexuality, analyzing how memoirs function as sources for understanding modern Arab history as well as the construction of memory and meaning. Students will interrogate the memoir as a genre, its historical value, and its role in shaping and contesting narratives of modern Arab experience.

Organization:

This class will meet in person. It will be organized into three-hour seminars.

HIST 3516A: The Wilsonian Moment
Fall 2026

Instructor: Hussam R. Ahmed

Course Description: 

This course explores how the collapse of the Ottoman Empire after the First World War reshaped the modern Middle East. It examines how ideas such as Woodrow Wilson’s advocacy of self‑determination, the creation of the League of Nations, and international diplomacy drew the map of the Middle East as we know it today. Structured around key case studies, such as the British Mandates for Iraq and Palestine, the course introduces students to the primary sources available for analyzing the characteristics, local responses and consequences of these major transformations. Students will learn how to locate, categorize, and critically assess the strengths and weaknesses of these sources in order to construct coherent historical arguments and persuasive interpretations of the past.

Organization:

This class will meet in person. Our time will be split between lectures and in-class discussions.

HIST 3908B: Playing History

Fall 2026
 
Professor Pamela J. Walker
 
In this course, we will study history by playing games.
 
For many decades, university professors, politicians and parents have lamented that university students seem more interested in having fun than studying.  In 1913, a Harvard professor lamented that his students “could not be much stimulated by any inducements a teacher could suggest.” Reacting to the Past (RTTP) takes a different approach to university studies and makes subversive play integral to a historical study. It makes studying history fun, serious fun. Students who enjoy theatre, debating, public speaking, role playing games, board games, sports, and problem solving will have opportunity to use those talents in this course.
 
RTTP draws students into the past, promotes engagement with big ideas, and develops intellectual and academic skills. Reacting roles, unlike those in a play, do not have a fixed script or outcome. Students will be obliged to adhere to the philosophical and intellectual beliefs of the historical figures they have been assigned to play and they must devise their own means of expressing those ideas persuasively, in papers, speeches, or other public presentations. Students must also pursue a course of action they think will help them win the game. Students will collaborate and compete with others. They will work to understand historical documents and to develop their response to the central problems of the game. Together they may develop ideas for debates, engage in skullduggery, or plot to sabotage their opponents. After the game, the professor will organize a debrief session to consider what students learned and how the historical events differed from the way the game unfolded.
 
We will play two games and students will play historical roles in both games that will involve research, writing, giving speeches, and debating. You will have some choice of role you will play and different roles allow for different ways to participate in the game. You will have to purchase a game book for each game and other course materials will be posted on Brightspace. The games both ask questions about Christianity, religious change, and the relationship between religion and politics in modern European history.
 
We will play:
Ending the Troubles: Religion, Nationalism, and the Search for Peace and Democracy in Northern Ireland 1997-98
https://reactingconsortium.org/games/troubles1997
 
Henry VIII and the Reformation Parliament
https://reactingconsortium.org/games/henryviii
 
Students will be required to purchase paper copies of the game book.
 
Students will be graded on their engagement with class discussions of the assigned reading, participation in the game which includes speaking, writing, research, collaboration, and planning, and on the quality and depth of their written work. There are no exams in this course.