1944 (circa) Red Cross ‘PRISONERS PARCEL’ cut out with pre-printed from Switzerland and with red THE CANADIAN RED CROSS SOCIETY h/s at left. Scarce, Steve Drewett Stamp auction, https://www.stevedrewett.com/index.php?s=61 .
HIST 3111A: History of Humanitarian Aid
Winter 2021
Instructor: Professor Dominique Marshall
Introduction: A history of international humanitarian activities and agencies, both governmental and non-governmental, with particular attention to Canadian involvement.
Class Format: No participation in real time required. Within each week, there will be three hours of engagement with the class (watching, exchanging with class, one group, or the Instructor individually, as well as posting exhibit materials) with a flexible schedule. Besides, the course will require a weekly investment of an average of six hours of individual work. Students will work in groups which will each produce a historical product to the specifications of one of the NGO partners of the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History (CNHH). When possible, the students will have the opportunity to work with documents hosted by the Humanitarian Archives Rescue Project of Carleton’s Archives and Special Collections, and/or to interview veterans of the agencies with whom they are paired. The course is tagged for experiential learning and capped at 50 students.
Aims and Goals: The course will provide an opportunity to combine learning about the history of humanitarian aid, learning some skills of applied history, and putting both immediately into practice for a meaningful and useful purpose.
Assessment: The results of the work with NGOs will take different forms depending on the needs of the organizations: from materials for their website (chronology, virtual exhibit, digitized document), to material for their strategic evaluation, catalogue of their documents, interviews of their veterans, bibliography concerning their history, etc.) The mark will be a combination of self-mark by the student individually, the instructor, the group and the NGO. In addition, the material given in lectures and readings will be tested in an individual essay at the end of the term.
Text: There is not one textbook. One chapter or article a week on average, distributed through the library reserves (ARES).
Questions? Please email me at: Dominique_marshall@carleton.ca . To have a good impression of the type of research that will be addressed, also have a look at the website of the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History: http://aidhistory.ca/
(Field e). Prerequisite(s): a 2000-level history course or third-year standing and 1.0 credit in history. Individual and group work, three hours a week.