HIST 4304B: Nationalism, Internationalism, and Political Culture – from the Age of Mackenzie King to the Age of Donald Trump
Fall 2020-Winter 2021
Instructor: Professor Norman Hillmer
E-Mail: norman.hillmer@carleton.ca
Canada is celebrated as a country of immigrants with close personal, political, and economic links to the international community and a tradition of responsible involvement in the world. Canadians set themselves apart, insisting that they are a superior people living in harmony with the United States on the North American continent, all the while criticizing the US as a flawed experiment, entirely too violent, extreme, and materialistic. After the First World War, Canadian nationalists championed the idea of a country coming into its own among the powers of the world – tolerant and democratic, peaceful and united. In the post-Second World War years, Canada identified itself with the search for a more co-operative global order and acquired a reputation for international activism and peacekeeping. The country also developed as a welfare state, and promoted policies of bilingualism, multiculturalism, enlightened immigration, and human rights. Canadians congratulated themselves on their unique capacity for conciliation and compassion.
The seminar will subject these smug images to critical analysis, examining the ways that Canadians have defined themselves and their world from the First World War to the present. The canvass is broad, and our project will be a shared one, which can evolve into discussions of politics and political leadership; commemoration, identity, and memory; culture, immigration, and ethnicity; gender; the economy; the environment; the monarchy; government and governance; law and justice; the public mood and the media; and war, the military, and defence. The shape of the Winter term will entirely be determined by seminar members.
The course is centred on the weekly seminar, which will usually begin with a presentation or presentations by course members or guest experts, and on a research paper on a subject of the student’s choice, in consultation with Professor Hillmer. The completion of the research paper, with its extensive use of primary sources, will be preceded by the handing in of a detailed outline and rough draft of the paper. These three assignments, taken together, will constitute fifty percent of the final course mark. The other fifty percent of the course grade will be based on seminar presentations and participation.
The seminar will, of necessity, be held online. It will take place during the scheduled hours, and the aim will be an enlightening and stimulating discussion of the course’s themes and subjects. Professor Hillmer and seminar members will work together to devise ways to enhance the online experience, and there will be a preminium placed on individual meetings with the Instructor, particularly at the beginning of the year and in the second term, as the research paper is drafted, revised, and polished.
For further information, please contact Professor Hillmer at norman.hillmer@carleton.ca.