Peter Thompson

Currently serving as Associate Dean (Academic), Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences.

Biography

Peter Thompson grew up in Stellarton, Nova Scotia. He completed a B.A. in English at St. Francis Xavier University (2003), an M.A. in Atlantic Canada Studies at Saint Mary’s University (2004) and a Ph.D. in Canadian Studies at Carleton University (2009). His doctoral research examined representations of the natural environment in the fiction of Nova Scotia author Lynn Coady. His current research has two inter-related strands: 1. He is interested in the emergence of regionalist movements in Appalachia and Atlantic Canada and possible connections between the literature of these regions; and 2. Along with Peter Hodgins, he looks at the impact of “cultures of extraction” on the development of contemporary Canadian art and literature, particularly as this relates to the coal mining industry in northern Nova Scotia. Peter’s work has appeared in Studies in Canadian Literature, English Studies in Canada, Acadiensis, and Journal of New Brunswick Studies.

Courses Regularly Taught:

CDNS 1000: Introduction to Canadian Studies

CDNS 2210: Introduction to the Study of Canadian Culture

CDNS 4400: Cultural Landscapes and Cultural Identity

Selected Publications

Nights Below Foord Street: Literature and Popular Culture in Postindustrial Nova Scotia. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2019

“Ready to Do Battle with the Mountain: Masculinity, Nature, and Sacrifice in Spike TV’s Coal”Journal of Appalachian Studies 25.1 (2019): 72-86

“Passing: Herb Wyile and the Future of Atlantic-Canadian Literary Criticism” Studies in Canadian Literature 43.2 (2018): 5-25. With Alexander MacLeod and Paul Chafe.

“The Mississippi of the North: Trailer Park Boys and Race in Contemporary Nova Scotia.” Journal of Canadian Studies 49.1 (Winter 2015): 180-204.

“Extraction, Memorialization, and Public Space in Leo McKay’s Albion Mines.” Studies in Canadian Literature 37.2 (2013): 97-116.

“Representations of Region in Child of God and The Coming of Winter.” Journal of New Brunswick Studies 3 (2012): 24-35.

“’If you’re in quest of the Folk, you’ve come to the wrong place’: Recent Trends in Atlantic Canadian Literary Criticism” Acadiensis: Journal of the History of the Atlantic Region XLI no.1 (Winter/Spring 2012): 239-246.

“Taking the Romance out of Extraction: Contemporary Canadian Artists and the Subversion of the Romantic/Extractive Gaze.” Environmental Communication: A Journal of Nature and Culture 5.4 (December 2011): 393-410. (with Peter Hodgins)