One of my main areas of public engagement has been through my teaching and research on the historical salmon fisheries of BC, Alaska, and Washington. I am particularly interested in racialized labour practices, settler colonialism, and environmental degradation. I have taught two experiential learning courses at the North Pacific Cannery National Historic Site (August 2017 and August 2019), and students and I gave talks at the Prince Rupert Public Library and published some of our research on the course website. Check out the syllabus and student research projects here. I have been carrying out my own research on environment and race in these fisheries, and I will present on it in 2019 at the annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association and in an invited talk at the University of Victoria. In 2017, I published an article on experiential learning and community engagement.
Some of my online articles
“J. Cooper Robinson: A Canadian Missionary and Photographer in Japan, 1888-1925,” 2018.
“Immigration, Communities, and Neighborhoods in Buenos Aires, 1880–1930,” 2018.
“Community Engagement and Public History at the North Pacific Cannery,” 2017.
“An Illegal Referendum?” 2017.
“Religion and Auteurism in The Revenant,” 2016.
“Creating the Canadian Mosaic,” 2016.
Past events:
Public Lecture: “Citizens of Empire: Education and Teacher Exchanges in Canada and the Commonwealth, 1910-1940“
Where: Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies, York University
When: Monday, March 7, 2016
Time: 7pm
Public Lecture: “Healthy Communities: Immigrants, Charity, and Paternalism in Buenos Aires, 1880-1955“
Where: Whitman College, Olin Hall, Olin 130, 920 E Isaacs, Walla Walla, WA
When: Wednesday, February 10
Time: 7pm
Public Lecture: “Healing the Nation: Healthcare, Philanthropy, and Ethnicity in Buenos Aires, 1880-1945”
Where: 5-157, Global Fridays, University of Northern British Columbia
When: Friday, October 23, 2015
Time: 11:30-1:00 pm
Public Lecture: “Local, National, and Transnational Histories of Immigration to the Americas”
Erika Lee, Professor of History, University of Minnesota. Director of the Immigration History Research Center.
The public lecture:
I organized this public lecture in October 2012. Erika Lee presents some of her research on Asian migration and exclusion across the Americas, focusing on the United States, Canada, and Peru. She uses the concept of scales as a way to link local, region, and national histories to a larger transnational framework. This talk contributes to broader discussions of border policy and the circulation of ideas in the Pacific world. Lee highlights many ideas and activities that transcended national borders as she calls for a new focus on the history of the Americas.
Read my article about the history of the Americas that I published on ActiveHistory.ca
The questions following her talk:
“The Mosaic vs. the Melting Pot? Myths and Realities of Cultural Pluralism in Canada and the United States”
I organized this public roundtable discussion in October 2012. It deals with the history of multiculturalism in Canada and the United States and many of the ideas and misconceptions that Canadians have about the mosaic and the American melting pot.
Read my article about the Melting Pot and the Mosaic that I published on ActiveHistory.ca
The roundtable:
The discussion after the roundtable:
Participants:
- Randy Widdis, Professor of Geography, University of Regina.
- David Atkinson, Assistant Professor of History, Purdue University.
- Grace Delgado, Assistant Professor of History, Pennsylvania State University.
- Russell Kazal, Associate Professor of History, University of Toronto
- Patricia Burke Wood, Professor of Geography and Associate Dean of Faculty Affairs, York University.
Moderator:
- Roberto Perin, Professor of History at Glendon College, York University.
These events are part of a larger, SSHRC-funded research project entitled Borderlands, Transnationalism, and Migration in North America. I co-organized a workshop on October 19 and 20, 2012. I am now co-editing a book with Alexander Freund (Professor of History, University of Winnipeg) with many of the 25 papers presented at this event.
Benjamin Bryce 