Rebecca Friend

Current Program: M.A. Public History (2018)

Supervisor): Prof. Monica Patterson

Academic Interests: History of childhood, critical children’s museology, monuments and national identity, curatorial studies, commemoration.

Select Publications and Current Projects:

Friend, Rebecca. “Identity Formation and National Celebration: Canada 150 Edition.” Quebec Heritage News 11, no. 4 (2017): 10-11.

Friend, Rebecca. “Mark Your Calendars, Canada: The Evolution of our National Holiday.” Montreal Mosaic, June 1, 2017.

Friend, Rebecca. “Masking Multiculturalism: Montreal West and Canada 150.” Montreal Mosaic, June 23, 2017.

Friend, Rebecca. “Celebrating Citizenship in Westmount, Canada 150.” Montreal Mosaic, July 11, 2017.

Teaching experience:

Childhood in a Global Context (Dr. Julia Sinclair-Palm), Fall 2018.

Description of Research:

My research seeks to enhance our understanding of how children are represented in commemoration projects, including monuments and public markers. The ways in which children have been accounted for as visitors to these historical sites is of equal importance. To counter the neglect of children’s participation, I intend to incorporate feedback of children and youth into my project. By analyzing monuments across Canada that feature symbols of children and childhood, I plan to engage with a source base that will demonstrate how children have often been depicted symbolically, rather than as historical actors with agency. In tandem, a review of documents pertaining to the development of these commemorative markers will uncover what aspects of the process considered young visitors. I will then design a research creation project that allows for the perspectives of contemporary Canadian children to filter into our studies of memory-making and nation building.