Episodes
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I have a new podcast, Listening T.O. History! Here's a quick announcement about it and the trailer. Check it out here: https://open.spotify.com/show/17OnQyM5pOXgcflZbBBlno.
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Today we’re digging into the history of urban planning in twentieth-century Canada and the US! Particularly, we discuss why our cities came to be oriented around car-dependent suburbs, and what consequences that style of design has for our lives today.
In this episode, I’m joined by fellow Torontonian and historian, Dr. Hana Suckstorff. Our conversation today responds to ongoing political debates about urban design in the Greater Toronto Area; anyone living in southern Ontario knows that we have had multiple recent provincial and municipal elections (and soon will have another) in which our urban design has been a major political issue. While our discussion centers on these debates in the GTA, many of the themes we get into are applicable to cities across Canada and the US. We get into why governments, businesses, and ordinary people took up car-dependent suburbanization in the mid-twentieth century; the roles of race, class, and gender in this history; why this history matters for current political debates about the issue; and much more.
For those interested in learning more local Toronto history on this topic, check out Richard Harris's Unplanned Suburbs: Toronto’s American Tragedy, 1900-1950 (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1996). For those interested in a more general history focused on the US, have a look at Kenneth T. Jackson’s Crabgrass Frontier: The Suburbanization of the United States (New York: Oxford University Press, 1985). Also, if you’re interested in learning more about Hana’s work in educating people about WWII in Asia, check out ALPHA Education’s website here: https://www.alphaeducation.org/.
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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Episodes manquant?
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On today’s episode, we chat about all things historical movies! I’m joined by Kevin Winterhalt, previous Off-Campus History alumnus and PhD Candidate at the University of Colorado-Boulder. His research examines the intersection of professional sports and politics in the modern United States.
It’s a bit more of an informal chat today as we dive into our thoughts on historical films generally. When it comes to movies, what does “historical accuracy” really mean to us? What are some of the best historical films we’ve seen, and what are some of the worst? Plus, we talk about some historical events and figures that would make for interesting and/or important movies!
For those who’d like to learn more about on-screen portrayals of history, check out Monica MacDonald’s book Recasting History: How CBC Television Has Shaped Canada’s Past (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s, 2019). Also, for those interested in the biography of J. Robert Oppenheimer biography mentioned toward the end of the episode, that was Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin’s American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer (New York: A.A. Knopf, 2005).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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Today we’re discussing the 1992 Heritage Minute “Nitro” and its depiction of Chinese Canadian history, as well as Heritage Minutes more generally!
For those unfamiliar, Heritage Minutes are a series of 60-second short films intended to depict major moments in Canadian history. “Nitro” introduces viewers to the experiences of Chinese workers who built the Canadian Pacific Railway in the 1880s. You can watch it here: https://youtu.be/EE3ISzalVuo.
To discuss this clip, I’m joined by Melanie Ng. Melanie is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Toronto, a museum educator with the Royal Ontario Museum, and a trained public school teacher. Her research focuses on clandestine Chinese migration to North America in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries! In our conversation today, we get into the history of Chinese migration, what aspects of Chinese Canadian history this Heritage Minute reveals and what it obscures, and the genre of Heritage Minutes themselves.
For those who would like to learn more about the history of racist immigration restrictions in Canada and abroad (which we discuss in the episode), check out Marilyn Lake and Henry Reynolds’s book Drawing the Global Colour Line: White Men’s Countries and the International Challenge of Racial Equality (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2008). Those interested in the history of Canada’s Chinese community should also check out Lisa Rose Mar’s Brokering Belonging: Chinese in Canada’s Exclusion Era, 1885-1945 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2010). Also check out the RepresentASIAN Project, which discusses Asian representation and seeks to elevate Asian voices in popular media: https://representasianproject.com/!
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s episode, we dig into the history of the Mau Mau Rebellion with someone working on a film about it!
I’m joined by Julie MacArthur, Associate Professor of History at the University of Toronto, to discuss a feature film she is presently co-writing. The film, currently with a working title of Kimathi at War, will centre on the experiences of Mau Mau rebels who fought against British colonial rule in Kenya during the 1950s. Julie is herself an expert on the history of the Mau Mau, as well as on African cinema!
In our conversation today, we discuss the history of the Mau Mau Rebellion, why it makes for a fascinating film topic, and how it and other aspects of African colonial and anti-colonial history have been depicted in film. We also get into what it’s like to research and write a historical film.
In interviewing Julie, I learned a lot about the history of the Mau Mau Rebellion, a topic I knew very little about coming into it. The interview is also a rare chance to peek behind the curtain of the early stages of an early historical film. So I think you’re going to really enjoy our conversation!
For those interested in learning more about the history of the Mau Mau Rebellion, I strongly recommend checking out Julie’s edited volume Dedan Kimathi on Trial: Colonial Justice and Popular Memory in Kenya’s Mau Mau Rebellion (Athens: Ohio University Press, 2017). The book features a combination of scholarly interpretations and primary-source historical documents that together make it a really useful and fascinating read. For those interested in learning more about the origins of the Mau Mau rebellion, also have a look at Tabitha Kanogo’s Squatters and the Roots of Mau Mau 1905-63 (London: James Currey, 1987).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s episode, we’re talking about the history of fast food! Specifically, our conversation today focuses on the 2016 film The Founder. The film follows the early years of McDonald’s as a fast food chain in the 1950s, with Ray Kroc employing cutthroat business tactics to transform the restaurant into a huge chain and achieve what he views as success. Michael Keaton stars as Ray Kroc; Nick Offerman, John Carroll Lynch, Laura Dern, Linda Cardellini, and B.J. Novak all also star in key roles.
Today we dig into the history behind The Founder. Why do fast food franchises take off when they do, after the Second World War? How does the fast food industry fit into the bigger picture of the history of capitalism? How innovative was McDonald’s in its business model and system of food production? And what do we make of this historical film genre that traces the biography of a successful businessperson?
To discuss all this with me and much more, I’m joined by Steve Penfold. Steve is a Professor of History at the University of Toronto whose research interests include the history of fast food, as well as capitalism, car culture, and consumerism in Canada. For anyone interested in a fascinating case study in fast food history, read Steve’s book The Donut: A Canadian History (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2008)! For those interested in learning more about the history of McDonald’s and fast food generally, check out Steve’s chapter “Fast Food,” in The Oxford Handbook of Food History, ed. Jeffrey M. Pilcher (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 279-302.
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today's episode, we’re discussing the 1975 film Hester Street and its depiction of Jewish immigration to the United States at the turn of the twentieth century!
Hester Street is based on an 1896 novella by Abraham Cahan named called Yekl: A Tale of the New York Ghetto. The film follows a Jewish immigrant family in 1890s New York who come into conflict over the extent to which they should adopt aspects of American culture and the extent to which they should maintain aspects of the culture they grew up with in eastern Europe. The film stars Carol Kane and Steven Keats; Kane was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance. Also worth mentioning is that much of the film is in Yiddish, which gives us an opportunity to talk about the history of the Yiddish language!
Today we dig into the history behind Hester Street, discussing the role of Yiddish in Jewish-American life at the time, how Jewish immigrants to the United States navigated the process of acculturating in America, how the Jewish immigrant experience compared to those of other immigrant groups like the Irish, and much more.
To discuss all this with me, I’m joined by Miriam Borden. Miriam is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto specializing in Yiddish Studies. She’s an expert in the history of the Yiddish language in North America as well as Jewish culture and history. Check out some of her awesome Yiddish history finds on Instagram over at https://www.instagram.com/bikher_chick/ and every Friday at https://www.instagram.com/ontariojewisharchives/!
For those interested in the lives of turn-of-the-century Jewish immigrants, check out Susan A. Glenn’s Daughters of the Shtetl: Life and Labor in the Immigrant Generation (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1990). For those who’d like to learn more about Yiddish in the United States, have a look at Reuben Iceland’s From Our Springtime: Literary Memoirs and Portraits of Yiddish New York, trans. Gerald Marcus, 1st English ed. (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2013).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today's episode, we’re discussing 1992’s The Last of the Mohicans. This epic adventure film stars Daniel Day-Lewis and was adapted from an 1826 novel by James Fenimore Cooper.
The film is set during the Seven Years War—sometimes known in the United States as the French and Indian War. The story centres on Hawkeye, the adopted son of a Mohican chief, who seeks to protect two daughters of a British military officer from an Wendat warrior who wants them killed. Both the film and the novel on which it’s based have been very popular.
Today we dig into the history behind The Last of the Mohicans, discussing how it depicts Indigenous people, relations between various Indigenous nations and European empires, and the Seven Years War in North America.
To discuss this with me, I’m joined by Jonathan Bayer. Jonathan is a PhD candidate in history at Western University who studies eighteenth and early nineteenth century North America. His research focuses on American media portrayals of Canadians during this period.
For those of you interested in reading an overview of the Seven Years’ War in North America, check out William M. Fowler, Jr.’s Empires at War: The Seven Years’ War and the Struggle for North America, 1754-1763 (Vancouver: Douglas and MacIntyre, 2005). For those who’d like to learn more about media portrayals of Indigenous people, have a look at Robert J. Berkhofer’s The White Man’s Indian: Images of the American Indian from Columbus to the Present (New York: Vintage, 1979). (Note that both of these books use dated terminology in reference to Indigenous people.)
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s episode, I’m joined by Professor Benjamin Hoy to discuss teaching history through board games, with a specific focus on the 2013 game Lewis & Clark: The Expedition as well as board game portrayals of Indigenous history.
Lewis & Clark is based on—you guessed it—the Lewis & Clark expedition of 1804 to 1806 that was sent by US President Thomas Jefferson to explore lands in the Louisiana Purchase. The game sees players race each other to be the first to complete the trek from St. Louis to the Pacific Coast. Players will rely on extracting labour from, and trading goods with, Indigenous people in order to make their journeys. Thus, the game is an important depiction of relations between Indigenous people and Euro-Americans in the North American West.
My guest today, Benjamin Hoy, is an Associate Professor of history at the University of Saskatchewan whose research focuses on Indigenous people’s relationships to the creation and enforcement of the Canada-US border. Benjamin also researches the history of how Indigenous people have been represented in popular board games, and is an advocate for using games to teach history in classroom settings—he’s even designed his own historical board game.
Today we dig into the history behind the Lewis & Clark board game, and discuss historical board games more generally. How do board games teach history differently than other media like print or film? How have depictions of Indigenous people in board games changed over time? How does the game depict relations between Indigenous people and the Lewis & Clark expedition, and how does that compare to the historical reality? As we note in the episode, the game draws upon some tired and offensive stereotypes of Indigenous people—why do games continue to include these? And what advice does Benjamin have for educators who want to use board games to teach history?
If you’d like to learn more about representations of Indigenous history in board games, check out Professor Hoy’s article “Cardboard Indians: Playing History in the American West,” Western History Quarterly 49, no. 3 (2018): 299-324. Also check out his article “Teaching History with Custom-Built Board Games,” Simulation & Gaming 49, no. 2 (2018): 115-133. Last but not least, read his book A Line of Blood and Dirt: Creating the Canada-United States Border Across Indigenous Lands (New York: Oxford University Press, 2021), which won (among other awards) the Canadian Historical Association’s Best Book Prize!
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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Today we’re discussing the 2014 film ’71 and its depiction of the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
For those who aren’t familiar, the Troubles was a period from the late 1960s to the late 1990s. The Troubles saw significant political unrest and violence waged by paramilitary organizations and British forces over the status of Northern Ireland. The majority of the island of Ireland had secured political independence from the United Kingdom and the British Empire by the mid-twentieth century, but Northern Ireland remained—and continues to remain—part of the UK. During the Troubles, Irish nationalists and republicans who were mostly Catholic wanted Northern Ireland to unite with the rest of Ireland; loyalists and unionists, mostly Protestants, wanted Northern Ireland to maintain its connection to the United Kingdom.
’71, a British-made movie, follows Gary Hook, a British soldier deployed to Belfast amid political unrest. Hook becomes isolated from his army unit in a republican-controlled part of the city and traverses Belfast to return to his unit. In doing so, Hook witnesses disturbing scenes of guerilla war.
Today we dig into the history behind the movie. Why did the Troubles begin, and why did they end? Does the film accurately depict Belfast in the 1970s, and how widespread was violence of the type shown in the film? How does the film depict relations between Catholics and Protestants, and how does that match the historical reality? And how do we think an Irish-made film would look different?
To discuss all this and more, I’m joined by Nick Baker. Nick is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Toronto whose research focuses on the history of paramilitarism in Northern Ireland.
For those who want to better understand a complicated event, have a look at David McKittrick and David McVea’s Making Sense of the Troubles: A History of the Northern Ireland Conflict, Revised and Updated (London: Penguin, 2012). Those interested in the IRA could consult Richard English’s Armed Struggle: The History of the IRA (London: Macmillan, 2003), and those wanted to learn more about loyalism in Northern Ireland should read James W. McAuley and Graham Spencer, eds., Ulster Loyalism and the Good Friday Agreement: History, Identity, Change (Basingstoke: Macmillan, 2011).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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Today we’re discussing the 2013 film Dallas Buyers Club and its depiction of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s.
Dallas Buyers Club is based on a true story and follows Ron Woodroof, a straight, homophobic cowboy who contracts AIDS. In hospital, Woodroof meets a queer person who also has contracted AIDS named Rayon. The two of them start a business called the Dallas Buyers Club, in which they import and sell medication for AIDS that have not been approved by the FDA. The AIDS epidemic hit gay and bisexual men and other members of the queer community especially hard, and the movie is an important popular portrayal of LGBTQ+ history.
Today we dig into the history behind this portrayal. How does the US government’s response to the AIDS crisis compare to how it was depicted in the film, and how does it compare to places like Canada and the UK? How did the queer community respond to the AIDS crisis, and how did queer culture and society change as a result of it? We also chat about the film as an important depiction of the history of transgender and differently gendered people, and what the film does well and poorly in that regard.
To discuss all this with me and more, I’m joined by Elio Colavito. Elio is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto and an expert in LGBTQ+ history in late twentieth-century North America. Specifically, their research focuses on the history of transgender mutual aid networks in the late twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
For those who want to learn more about both government and community activist responses to the AIDS crisis, check out Jennifer Brier’s book Infectious Ideas: U.S. Political Responses to the AIDS Crisis (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2009). For those interested in learning more about American transgender history, check out Susan Stryker’s book Transgender History: The Roots of Today’s Revolution, 2nd ed. (New York: Seal Press, 2017). Also, you can find some of Elio’s work at https://lgbtqdigitalcollaboratory.org/!
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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Today we’re having a very meta discussion about history podcasts! As anyone listening to this right now can attest to, podcasting has become an important medium through which people learn about history, and enjoy history-focused entertainment. Shows ranging from Dan Carlin’s Hardcore History to Malcolm Gladwell’s Revisionist History to Leah-Simone Bowen and Falen Johnson’s The Secret Life of Canada and many, many more have become a huge part of how the public engages with history.
I’m joined by Sean Graham to discuss the history podcasting space. Sean is an adjunct professor of history at Carleton University whose research focuses on the early history of CBC radio. He’s also the host and producer of the History Slam podcast. History Slam is affiliated with ActiveHistory.ca and has been running for about 10 years—Sean has released almost 220 episodes at the time we’re releasing this podcast. His show features conversations with historians about a wide variety of topics, mainly on Canadian history. Often his episodes involve interviewing a historian about a recent book they’ve published. It’s a really great podcast and if you’re interested in my show, I think you’ll also like the work that Sean is doing over on the History Slam. You can find the History Slam at http://activehistory.ca/podcasts/ or wherever you get your podcasts, and follow Sean at https://twitter.com/theseangraham!
Today we chat about the world of history podcasting. To what extent was historical content a part of early CBC broadcasting, and how is podcasting today different from that? What are some of the decisions and considerations that Sean has made over the course of creating a long-running history podcast? Why are so few history podcasts run by academic historians, and what are the benefits of academic historians getting into podcasting? What do popular history podcasts do well, and what are some of the limitations of the medium? All this and more on today’s conversation!
For those interested in the early history of radio in Canada, check out Mary Vipond’s classic work Listening In: The First Decade of Canadian Broadcasting, 1922-1932 (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1992). For those looking for some analysis of the world of history podcasting, have a look at Janis Thiessen’s article “Canadian History Podcasts,” Acadiensis 50, no. 2 (Autumn 2021): 236-247.
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s podcast, we’re discussing the brand-new television series Our Flag Means Death! (Spoilers ahead!)
Our Flag Means Death is a romantic comedy about pirates in the early eighteenth century. The story follows Stede Bonnet (played by Rhys Darby), a landed gentleman who abandons his comfortable lifestyle and family to become a pirate. Unfortunately for Stede, he’s not very good at piracy, which leads him and his ragtag crew to many misadventures. Stede eventually meets up with Blackbeard (played by Taika Waititi), who teaches Stede about how to be a pirate while Stede teaches him how to have fun and how to be emotionally vulnerable. The two become very close and develop a romantic relationship.
Today we dig into the history behind the show. How does the show challenge assumptions about gender and sexuality in the eighteenth-century Caribbean? How did race and slavery historically relate to piracy, and how does the show depict those subjects? And we often think of the late seventeenth and late eighteenth centuries as the “Golden Age of Piracy”—what caused it to begin, and why did it come to an end?
To discuss all this with me and more, I’m joined by Chris Baldwin. Chris is a PhD Candidate at the University of Toronto whose research focuses on privateering, race, and slavery in the Caribbean during this period. He also recently taught a course on the history of piracy!
For those of you interested in learning more about the history of Caribbean piracy, check out Mark G. Hanna’s Pirate Nests and the Rise of the British Empire, 1570-1740 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2015). We also made frequent reference in this episode to A General History of the Pyrates, a 1724 book by Captain Charles Johnson that is the source of many popular beliefs and myths about pirates. If you’d like to read it yourself (though be advised this book should not be taken as an accurate history), you can find it here: https://catalog.hathitrust.org/Record/102498705!
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s podcast, we’re discussing the 2009 PBS documentary series The National Parks: America’s Best Idea!
As you may have guessed from the title, this series covers the history of the national park system in the United States. The series was directed by Ken Burns, who I think is fair to say is the most celebrated maker of American history documentaries. The series won two Emmy Awards, including one for Outstanding Nonfiction Series.
Our conversation today focuses on the first episode, “The Scripture of Nature.” This episode covers the years 1851-1890, which include the establishment of the first national parks—Yosemite and Yellowstone. The documentary presents an argument that the national parks are deeply democratic, egalitarian institutions in American life—as the title claims, “America’s Best Idea.”
Today we scrutinize this narrative, discussing the history of settler colonialism, race, class, and gender and the national parks. We also talk about how people in the past thought about the purpose of parks. And we compare the history of the US National Park System to the histories of other systems of parks, such as Canada’s national parks and the state and provincial parks systems.
To discuss all this with me and more, I’m joined by Dr. Jessica DeWitt. Dr. DeWitt is an expert in environmental history; she holds a PhD from the University of Saskatchewan, where her dissertation focused on park history. She is Editor-in-Chief for the Network in Canadian History & Environment, which is Canada’s main scholarly organization for the study of environmental history. Check their site out here: http://niche-canada.org/!
For those of you interested learning more about the relationships between settler colonialism, ideas about nature, and environmental history, check out William Cronon’s book Changes in the Land: Indians, Colonists, and the Ecology of New England (New York: Hill and Wang, 1983). Another excellent resource for people interested in learning more about race and the national parks specifically is Carolyn Finney’s book Black Faces, White Spaces: Reimagining the Relationship of African Americans to the Great Outdoors (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 2014).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s podcast, we’re talking about the 2015 film The Revenant!
This movie stars Leonardo DiCaprio as Hugh Glass, a fur trader in the western United States in the early 1820s who goes on an epic quest for revenge. The movie saw significant financial and critical success; it grossed over $530 million USD worldwide, and was nominated for 12 Academy Awards, winning three.
Today we dig into the movie’s portrayal of the fur trade. Was the fur trade really as violent as it seems in the movie? Does the film accurately capture the relationships between different Indigenous nations and European/American traders? How would the fur trade look different in other fur trading regions of the continent, and in other periods of the fur trade?
To answer all these questions and much more, I’m joined by Sam Derksen. Sam is a PhD Candidate at McGill University and an expert on the history of the fur trade. His current research focuses on the history of the North West Company, a major fur trader in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.
For those of you interested in reading a book covering some of the themes we discuss in this time and region, check out Elizabeth A. Fenn’s book on the Mandan people Encounters at the Heart of the World: A History of the Mandan People (New York: Hill and Wang, 2014). For those who’d like to read a classic work on Indigenous-European/American relations in the fur trade, have a look at Richard White’s The Middle Ground: Indians, Empires, and Republics in the Great Lakes Region, 1650-1815 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1991).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s podcast, we’re talking about the 2017 film Wonder Woman!
This first entry in the new Wonder Woman film series stars Gal Gadot as Wonder Woman/Diana. The movie revises Diana’s origin story from the Second World War to the First World War, representing a relatively rare portrayal of World War One in a major American motion picture. And a lot of people watched Wonder Woman’s portrayal of the First World War—the movie grossed over 800 million US dollars worldwide.
Today we get into the history behind the movie, focusing on its portrayal of World War One. How does it handle the portrayal and interpretation of war themes such mechanization, total war, and trench warfare? Or social history themes such as race and gender? How about important historical issues like war guilt? To what extent does the film rely on tropes from movies about World War Two, retroactively applying them to World War One?
To answer all these questions and much more, I’m joined by Melissa Wing. Melissa is a graduate student at the University of Victoria who specializes in the history of Canada during the First and Second World Wars. Melissa has also worked as a historical researcher for on-screen portrayals of World War Two.
For those who’d like to learn more about the fascinating history of Wonder Woman comics, check out Jill Lepore’s The Secret History of Wonder Woman (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 2014). For an account of what life was like on the Western Front that’s packed with soldiers’ accounts in their own words, have a look at Tim Cook’s The Secret History of Soldiers: How Canadians Survived the Great War (Toronto: Penguin, 2018).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s podcast, we’re talking about the 2019 film The Lighthouse!
This movie stars Robert Pattinson and Willem Dafoe as two lighthouse keepers stationed on a remote island off the coast of New England in the 1890s. At least one, if not both, of the characters are driven increasingly mad by the isolation of their post. Inspired by an unfinished Edgar Allan Poe story, this movie is creepy as heck and not for the faint of heart!
Today we dig into the history behind the movie. Who were the people that worked as lighthouse keepers, and what were their lives and jobs really like? Did the isolation of working at a lighthouse really drive their keepers mad? When and why did the Canadian and American governments decide to start paying for a network of lighthouses?
To answer all these questions and much more, I’m joined by Kate Bauer. Kate is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Toronto whose research focuses on the environmental, political, social, and technological history of lighthouses!
For those who would like to read the unfinished Edgar Allan Poe story that inspired the film, you can find it here (it’s very short): https://eapoe.org/works/tales/lightha.htm. For those interested in learning more about the historic relationship between lighthouses and government claims to sovereignty, check out this 2020 blog post Kate wrote: https://niche-canada.org/2020/08/20/of-lobsters-and-lighthouses-searching-for-sovereignty-at-machias-seal-island/. Listeners who would enjoy a more general overview of lighthouse history should read Theresa Levitt’s A Short Bright Flash: Augustin Fresnel and the Birth of the Modern Lighthouse, 1st ed. (New York: W.W. Norton, 2013).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s episode, we’re applying an academic eye to sports history! We’re discussing The Last Dance, a 2020 documentary series about Michael Jordan and the National Basketball Association’s Chicago Bulls in the 1980s and 90s. For those unfamiliar, Jordan is frequently considered the greatest basketball player of all time, and became one of the most recognizable celebrities on the planet in this period.
Sports history is a big area of public historical interpretation, and so I think it’s important that historians grapple with it too, though perhaps asking different questions than get asked in sports journalism. Today we get into why historians should care about sports history, what Jordan and the Bulls meant to the history of the late 20th century, what it means historically that the public loves to rank “the greatest players of all time,” and much more.
To discuss all this with me, I’m joined by Kevin Winterhalt. Kevin is a PhD student in history at the University of Colorado Boulder whose research focuses on the intersecting histories of sports and politics in the later twentieth century US.
For those who’d like to read what is a journalist’s insider take on Jordan from the time, check out Sam Smith’s The Jordan Rules: The Inside Story of a Turbulent Season with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls (Simon & Schuster, 1991). For those looking for an in-depth biography of Jordan, have a look at Roland Lazenby’s Michael Jordan: The Life (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 2014).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s episode, we’re discussing the Winnipeg General Strike’s depiction in the 2019 film Stand!
Stand! is a Canadian musical about two Romeo and Juliet-like recent immigrants whose families disapprove of their relationship due to their different backgrounds. The two of them become involved in the Winnipeg General Strike during their love story. This movie is not so easy to find; I accessed it through my local library, so check there, but you can also check this link for links to streaming services that have it: https://stand-movie.com/about/.
For those who don’t know, the Winnipeg General Strike was a major strike in 1919 that essentially shut down the city’s economy. At the time, Winnipeg was Canada’s third-largest city and a vital industrial hub in the nation’s economy. Over 30,000 workers joined the strike, which was about one-sixth of the city’s population at the time. The strike lasted six weeks before ultimately failing when Winnipeg’s mayor called on the North-West Mounted Police to break it. Though the strike did not succeed in any immediate improvements to the lives of workers—in fact, many suffered consequences for participating in the strike—it is remembered as an important event in the history of labour and capitalism in Canada.
On today’s podcast, we talk about how Stand! depicts the history of the strike, labour, relations between different ethnic groups, and much more. To discuss all this with me, I’m joined by Nick Fast. Nick is a PhD candidate in history at the University of Toronto whose research focuses on the history of labour and capitalism in North America, with a focus on Winnipeg.
For those who’d like to learn more about the history of anti-immigrant bigotry in Canada’s labour movement, read David Goutor’s Guarding the Gates: The Canadian Labour Movement and Immigration, 1872-1934 (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007). For those interested in the history of the legal status of labour movements, read Judy Fudge and Eric Tucker’s Labour Before the Law: The Regulation of Workers’ Collective Action in Canada, 1900-1948 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2004).
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Podcast logo is made by https://www.instagram.com/nethkaria; intro and outro music is from “Mystery,” recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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On today’s episode, we’re discussing the 2021 film The Green Knight!
The Green Knight is a 2021 film directed and written by David Lowery. The film is based on the Arthurian tale “Sir Gawain and the Green Knight,” which was first recorded as a poem in a fourteenth-century English manuscript. In both the original poem and the film, the story follows Gawain, a nephew of King Arthur who undertakes a quest to face the Green Knight and fulfil a promise made one year prior. Along the way, Gawain experiences strange and magical trials and tribulations. On today’s episode, we delve into the history behind The Green Knight—including the origins of Arthurian legends, how and why the movie differs from the original poem, and how the movie portrays the medieval world.
To discuss all this with me, I’m joined by Morgan Moore. Morgan is a PhD student at the University of Toronto’s Centre for Medieval Studies. Her research is about the relationship between performance and manuscripts in medieval England and Wales. As part of that expertise, she knows a lot about Arthurian tales generally and the Sir Gawain and the Green Knight poem particularly!
For those who’d like to learn more about the origins of the King Arthur legend, check out Tom Shippey’s review of Nicholas Higham’s book King Arthur: The Making of the Legend in the London Review of Books: https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n24/tom-shippey/so-much-smoke. And for those who want to understand the movie a little better, including some comments directly from the director, check out these Vox and Vanity Fair articles: https://www.vox.com/22585318/green-knight-explained-ending-spoilers-girdle-winifred-temptation; https://www.vanityfair.com/hollywood/2021/07/green-knight-ending-explained-does-he-die-gawain-dev-patel.
Also, for those interested in getting more involved in academically studying this type of topic, check out the Celtic Studies Association of North America, of which Morgan is a board member! Learn more at https://celticstudies.org/.
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Podcast logo is made by Instagram.com/nethkaria; intro and outro music are clips from “Mystery!” which recorded in 1919 by Paul Biese and his Novelty Orchestra. Follow the show on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/offcampushistory/) and Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/offcampushistory)! You can also email the show at offcampushistory[at]gmail.com.
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