{"id":23761,"date":"2023-11-30T11:36:42","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T16:36:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/?post_type=cu-people&p=23761"},"modified":"2025-10-06T11:26:55","modified_gmt":"2025-10-06T15:26:55","slug":"steve-schwinghamer","status":"publish","type":"cu_people","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/people\/steve-schwinghamer\/","title":{"rendered":"Steve Schwinghamer"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n \n \n \n <\/h1>\n\n \n <\/header>\n\n\n\n\n\n

Current Program:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Ph.D. History (2023)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Supervisors:<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Prof. Laura Madokoro <\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Academic Interests<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Many! I’m a historian for the Canadian Museum of Immigration, so I have research projects that are aligned with the work of the institution, I have some personal projects, and I have a steady stream of engagement with public and professional inquiries about Canadian immigration that all come together to fill my days. First and foremost, though, I deal with the places and policies of Canadian immigration in the late 1800s and early 1900s. I’ve done lots of other interesting odds and ends across a broader timeline and encompassing public and oral history, too. For bite-size introductions to some of this, you could check my contributions for the Canadian Museum of Immigration at https:\/\/pier21.ca\/taxonomy\/term\/34<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publications<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For my fellow velocipedists: https:\/\/niche-canada.org\/2021\/10\/06\/indexed-shifting-past-and-present-from-the-bike-saddle\/<\/a>  It’s bikes, it’s history, it’s the nature of memory in public space, and also fun! It’s just one part of Claire Campbell’s wonderful Histoire en V\u00e9lo series for NiCHE & ActiveHistory; read one, read all, etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve done a number of short, solicited publications, such as \u2019This is Ticklish Business\u2019: Undesirable Religious Groups and Canadian Immigration After the Second World War\u201d, Canadian Issues, Spring 2017. Ever wonder why the Canadian government thought willingness to use a tractor should be used to select immigrants? This one’s for you. https:\/\/pier21.ca\/research\/immigration-history\/undesirable-religious-groups-and-canadian-immigration<\/a>  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The bulk of my more traditional scholarship has addressed the places of immigration in Halifax, Nova Scotia. My colleague Jan Raska and I wrote Pier 21: A History<\/em><\/a>, which the University of Ottawa Press released in 2020. Some related articles: \u201cRailroaded: A History of Halifax Immigration Facilities at Pier 2,\u201d and \u201c\u2019Altogether Unsatisfactory\u2019: Revisiting the Opening of the Immigration Facility at Halifax\u2019s Pier 21.” I\u2019ve also done an archaeological reconnaissance of the remains of the Lawlor\u2019s Island quarantine facility; that\u2019s on file with our friends at the Nova Scotia Museum, but you can see some photos of surviving resources at https:\/\/pier21.ca\/blog\/steve-schwinghamer\/lawlors-island-results<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ve had the good fortune to support some great projects at the museum, including the core exhibits on the history of Canadian immigration and of Pier 21 National Historic Site; a recent exhibit titled Refuge Canada<\/em> which deals with Canada as a sanctuary (or not) through the twentieth century; and I curated a little exhibit on skating and Canadian immigration titled Perfect Landings<\/em>, which Skate Canada \u2013 a partner on the content – liked enough to tour for a few years at their competitions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While my current projects do tend to move quickly, here\u2019s a fun recent blog of mine on soccer, migration, and belonging: https:\/\/pier21.ca\/soccer-and-belonging-sport-and-adaptation-canadian-migration<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Conferences:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Yes? Yes. I’ve presented at CHA a few times, at NCPH (including running an oral history workshop, which was great fun), and organized and presented at a bunch of other conferences. I do a fair few other kinds of presentations – public talks, media, and the like. Here\u2019s a public talk about the history of Pier 21, if you\u2019re curious: https:\/\/youtu.be\/7-ccjh2lzUU?si=CPHAP-ffliUxAsXU<\/a>. (Reminder: having a Soviet Cat astronaut as your avatar in Zoom is something you should check before doing a public talk.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Teaching<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

None in universities! (It’s weird. I should fix that, which is part of why I\u2019m pursuing a doctorate.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, if you’re teaching immigration history, public history, or oral history, and are interested in connecting with the Canadian Museum of Immigration for resources \/ guest lectures \/ etc., hit me up. My colleagues and I do this all the time, and it’s one of my favourite parts of my work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Research<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

My doctoral research project, which is funded by SSHRC via a CGS-D award, explores the historical development of the Canadian immigration branch as a small network influenced by both domestic pressures and supranational solidarities of race, class, economics, and empire (1867\u20131950). The branch was central to the selective machinery that produced a \u201cdesirable\u201d citizenry for the state, including by displacing Indigenous peoples and settling these preferred immigrants.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":23762,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"cu_people_first_name":"Steve","cu_people_last_name":"Schwinghamer","cu_people_initials":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"cu_people_type":[98,101],"cu_people_expertise":[],"class_list":["post-23761","cu_people","type-cu_people","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","cu_people_type-phd-student","cu_people_type-grad-student"],"acf":{"cu_people_job_title":"Ph.D. Candidate","cu_people_degree":"BA (UofT), MA (SMU)","cu_building":"","cu_people_office_num":"","cu_people_pronoun":"","cu_people_designation":"","cu_people_email":"steveschwinghamer@cmail.carleton.ca","cu_people_phone":"","cu_people_phone_ext":"","cu_people_linkedin":"","cu_people_bluesky":"","cu_people_twitter":"","cu_people_instagram":"","cu_people_facebook":"","cu_people_website":"","cu_people_orcid":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/23761","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/cu_people"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/23761\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27197,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people\/23761\/revisions\/27197"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23762"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23761"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"cu_people_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_type?post=23761"},{"taxonomy":"cu_people_expertise","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/history\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/cu_people_expertise?post=23761"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}