Graduate Student Bios

Current Graduate Students
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PhD Candidates (Jump to MA Candidates or Recent Graduates)

Stephen Fielding: B.A., Honours (University of Winnipeg), M.A. (Simon Fraser University).
Publications: http://uvic.academia.edu/StephenFielding
Supervisor: Dr. Jordan Stanger-Ross.
Comprehensive fields: Canada, Migration and Ethnicity, Gender.
Dissertation: “Sporting Ethnicities: Italian and Portuguese Immigrants, Masculinity, and Urban Space in Postwar Canada.”

My research uses the history of sport to illuminate the formation of ethnic groups, the construction and contestation of gender norms, and the exchanges—both competitive and cooperative—that have characterized cosmopolitanism in Canada.

Megan Harvey: B.A. Honours, Anthropology (McGill University).
Supervisor: Dr. John S. Lutz.
Dissertation: Indigenous-state relations; Narrative, language, and power in social practice; Intersections of Anthropology and History; Community-based research.

My research seeks to historicize Indigenous engagements with the ‘Land Question,’ in B.C., focusing especially on the narrative dimension of Indigenous-state relations. I am interested in the historical and ongoing social dynamics of language, narrative and power in encounters between indigenous peoples and the state. I explore how these dynamics are made visible in indigenous approaches to recent treaty negotiations and in the rare archival instances of indigenous peoples speaking on their own behalf. My work will also reconsider how scholars methodologically make sense of and make use of sources that reflect the voices of marginalized peoples.

Christa Hunfeld: B.A., Honours (Dalhousie University), M.A., History (University of Victoria).
Supervisor: Dr. Andrea McKenzie.
Dissertation: “Half Sciences”: Gendering Ancient Knowledge in Pre-Modern England.

I am curious why women were increasingly targeted as ideal audiences for works of judicial astrology, dream interpretation and physiognomy in late seventeenth- and eighteenth-century England. In the early seventeenth century, associations between women and divinatory practices could lead to witchcraft associations, yet by the eighteenth century, there was a definitive shift, as such subjects were increasingly viewed as innocuous (if vulgar and superstitious). In the course of tracing the fate and fortunes of ancient occult sciences, my project examines the period's shift in the status and perceived nature of divinatory knowledge, with a focus on this question: does knowledge have gender?

Patricia Kidd: B.A., History in Art (University of Victoria), M.A., History (University of Victoria); Professional Specialization Certificate (CRM) 2007.
Supervisor: Dr. Simon Devereaux.
Dissertation: “The Origins of Marketing: Illustrated Advertising in Late Eighteenth Century London.”

I have spent most of my life in the study of historical material culture. I have taught numerous lecture series on the topics of the decorative arts, historical interior design, and cultural history through various galleries, museums and educational institutions in Victoria. I am currently the Adjunct Curator of Decorative Arts at the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria. I am married with two sons, in whom I take even greater delight than in my research.

Sarah Lebel Van Vugt: BA Honours, (Double Major) History and French, York University (Glendon College); MA, History, York University.
Comprehensive fields: Canada, Women/Gender, America.
Supervisor: Dr. Lynne S. Marks.
Dissertation: “Beauty and Bombs: Visual Culture and Canada’s Female War Workers, 1939-1945.”

My research explores the ways that gender, labour, beauty and the body interacted on the Canadian home front during the Second World War. I examine visual representations in print media that used the glamourized image of the female war worker to sell everything from feminine products to national identity. I also deal with war worker beauty pageants. I'm interested in gender and sexuality studies, cultural history, and feminist history. Visuality is central to my work.

Derek Murray: B.A. (Guelph), M.A. (Guelph).
Website: http://uvic.academia.edu/DerekMurray
Supervisors: Dr. Eric W. Sager and Dr. Peter A. Baskerville.
Comprehensive fields: Canadian History, Cultural History: Race, Gender, and Empire, and Digital History.
Dissertation: “A Colony of Unrequited Dreams”? A History of the Frontier in Canada West / Ontario, 1850-1950 (Working Title).

My research is focused primarily on the experiences of people who settled on the physically and influentially marginal regions of Canada in the middle to late nineteenth century. The historiography of these regions continues to view settlement as an overall failure, whereas the descendents of the original settlers would disagree with this viewpoint. I would like to find and explore a middle ground between these apparently dichotomous positions, using both quantitative and qualitative sources.

Lisa Pasolli: M.A. (University of New Brunswick), B.A. (University of Lethbridge).
Supervisor: Dr. Penny Bryden.
Comprehensive fields: Canadian, Women/Gender, American.
Dissertation: Child Care Politics in B.C., 1901-1988.

My primary research interests lie in exploring the relationship between women and the state in twentieth-century Canada. My study of child care politics is intended to help us to understand how social policy (or the lack of it) affects women differently based on their intersecting roles as mothers and waged workers. I also explore the ways in which working mothers have developed their own strategies for child care and organized to advocate for better policy and programs.

Maryanne Reed: BA, Honours (University of Regina); MA (University of Regina); PhD Candidate, ABD (University of Victoria).
Supervisor: Dr. Tom Saunders.
Comprehensive fields: Europe 1848-1945, Cultural History, 20th Century Canada.
Dissertation: “A Metropolis in Crisis: Representations of Weimar Berlin, 1929-1933.”

I examine cultural representations of Berlin in works produced between 1929 and 1933, the final years of Germany’s Weimar Republic. I look at novels, films, photomontages and other artwork, in addition to newspapers, to understand how contemporaries constructed and thus understood Berlin. My purpose is to look at the metropolis between 1929 and 1933 on its own terms, rather than interpreting the Weimar Republic from the perspective of its ultimate demise.

Axel Schoeber: B.Ed. (UBC); Master of Divinity, Master of Theology (Regent College); Doctor of Ministry (Faith Lutheran); M.A., Ph.D.
candidate--History (UVic).
Supervisor: Dr. Sara Beam.
Comprehensive fields: Early Modern Europe, Modern Europe, Religious History.
Dissertation: “Gerard Roussel: An Irenic Agent of Religious Change.”

A significant movement of religious renewal played a major role in the French church in the fifteenth and the first half of the sixteenth centuries. Proponents saw themselves as neither Catholic nor Protestant (though warmly appreciative of both), but Gallican and biblical, calling themselves “evangeliques.” They sought religious change peacefully. Gerard Roussel, preacher and bishop, a reformer on the magnitude of Martin Bucer, was a leader. Yet neither he nor his movement is well known.

MA Candidates (Jump to PhD Candidates or Recent Graduates)

Jill Ainsley: B.A. (Honours History), 1997.
Supervisor: Dr. Angus McLaren.
Thesis: I'm examining a series of poison trials that took place in Essex, England, in the mid-nineteenth century, in which the accused, all women, allegedly conspired together.

I've been working on my M.A. since 2006. Most of my time is spent with my two young children. Between finishing my B.A. and starting graduate school, I worked in various roles at Hansard Services at the Legislative Assembly of B.C., finishing off as the manager of transcript production. I recently completed a term as Co-Chair of the Victoria Women's Sexual Assault Centre Society.

Michael Blackwell: B.A., History and Political Science (University of Victoria).
Supervisor: Dr. Richard Rajala.
Thesis: “The Ecology and Culture of the Adams River Watershed: Forest Practices, River Exploitation and Indigenous Culture.”

My thesis focuses on the Adams River watershed of British Columbia’s Secwepemc (Shuswap) region, exploring the impact of deforestation, damming and log transportation on both salmon populations and salmon-based indigenous societies.

Meghan Bowe: B.A., B.F.A. (Simon Fraser University).
Supervisor: Dr. Oliver Schmidtke.

Thesis: Looking at the discourse and impact of the Firestorms in Germany during the course of the Second World War and Germany’s postwar reconstruction efforts.

My research interests are Modern European history, particularly 20th century Germany, as well as cultural history. I am particularly interested in the roles of memory and identity in Modern European history.

Patrick Corbeil: B.A. (University of Victoria).
Supervisor: Dr. Paul Wood.
Thesis: "The Godless Fable: Atheism and the Philosophy of Bernard Mandeville."

I am interested in the problem of reading atheism in early eighteenth century philosophy. I will be specifically looking at the work of the Dutch/English writer Bernard Mandeville (1670-1733). Mandeville has traditionally been categorized as a deist but I believe that this can be contested. Beyond presenting an argument for Mandeville's atheism I am interested in drawing out the wider methodological problems that such a reading of his work implies.

Adam Hough: B.A., Honours (Trent University).
Supervisor: Dr. Mitchell Lewis Hammond.
Thesis: Understanding popular agency during the Hessian Reformation under Landgraf Phillip.

My historical interests are broad in scope. I have a background in Classics, as well as linguistics. My primary focus in my undergraduate education was 4th and early 5th century Roman history, though I have a soft spot for anything 16th century. Come to UVic! Free oatmeal bars in the GHSU!

Josh Johnston: B.A., History Major, Applied Ethics Minor: Philosophy/Political Science split (University of the Fraser Valley).
Supervisor: Dr. Tom Saunders.
Thesis: “Beyond Postmodernism: Friedrich Nietzsche and the Historiography of the Future.”

Currently I am interested in Postmodern appropriations of Friedrich Nietzsche's philosophy of history. Given the weight of Nietzsche's early writings in regard to the philosophy of history, I hope to show that the “later” Nietzsche moved away from many of his youthful opinions to the degree that another historical methodology can be contributed to his name.

Recent Graduates (Jump to PhD Candidates or MA Candidates)

Steve Dove: B.Sc., Pharm (UBC).
Supervisor: Dr. Mitchell Lewis Hammond.
Thesis: “The reconstruction of pharmacist authority in British Columbia, 1965-1968.”

My research examines the paradigm shift in pharmacy ethics that occurred in the 1960s. Previously pharmacists were ethically prohibited from discussing and identifying the treatments they supplied to their patients. I examine the forces that allowed pharmacists to become medication experts and, in turn, become legally required to discuss treatments with their patients. This research sheds light on the shift of responsibility for health care decisions from physicians to patients.

Bailee Erickson: B.A., Honours (Simon Fraser University), M.A. (University of Victoria).
Supervisor: Dr. Tom Saunders.

Thesis: “‘Leave Your Men at Home’: Autonomy in the West German Women’s Movement, 1968-1978.”

My current research interests include women's movements, the Cold War world, and 20th-century Germany. My thesis examines how West German women interpreted and applied their ideas of “autonomy” to concrete feminist projects during the 1960s and 1970s.

Crystal Fraser: B.A. (University of Alberta).
Supervisor: Dr. Elizabeth Vibert.
Thesis: “A Woman's Niche: Camp Life and the Gwich'in People.”

I am interested in the history of the Gwich’in people, of the Mackenzie Delta region, from the arrival of Alexander Mackenzie in 1789 to the end of the nineteenth century. This time period witnessed many changes and I focus on the role of women, specifically concerning camp life. Through this study, various changes to traditional Gwich’in ways and their social relationships become visible, as do the implications of European contact.

Stephen Harrison: B.A. (University of Victoria), M.A. (University of Victoria).
Supervisor: Dr. Penny Bryden.
Thesis: “The Alternative Vote in British Columbia: Values Debates and Party Politics.”

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The centerpiece of my thesis is the use of the alternative vote in BC in the 1950s. AV was a preferential voting system intended to keep the CCF from power, but the change was couched in the rhetoric of majority representation. I believe that the values underpinning electoral reform in BC can be better understood by looking at the redistribution of electoral districts, wherein voters appear to have favoured local representation over representative legislatures.

Samantha Morris: B.A., History and Sociology (University of Victoria).
Supervisor: Dr. Richard Rajala.
Thesis: “Mapping the family road trip: the automobile, the family, and outdoor recreation in postwar British Columbia.”

I am currently interested in studying the cultural and environmental history of Canada. My thesis examines the relationships between family recreation, automobility and ideas about nature, or wilderness, in postwar British Columbia. I will explore how these themes were represented in media, both nationally and provincially. Additionally, I would like to understand how families engaged with, and contested, these discourses. I also hope to explore how particular notions of masculinity and femininity were constructed.

Margaret Robbins: B.A., Double Honours, History and Native Studies (University of Saskatchewan).
Supervisor: Dr. John Lutz.
Thesis: “Re-imagining S’ólh Téméxw: tunnel narratives in a Stó:lo spiritual geography.”

I am a second year MA student in the two-year program.

My thesis explores the place of metaphysical tunnels in the spiritual geography of the Stó:lõ First Nation of the Lower Fraser Valley, BC. I’m interested in oral histories dealing with the tunnels primarily, but also with other spiritually potent places in Stó:lõ territory. My research is concerned with the connections between spiritual landscapes, social closeness, narrative construction and the process of mapping these geographies.

Mathieu Robitaille: B.A., Honours (Brock University).
Supervisor: Dr. Robert S. Alexander.

Thesis: “Redefining the Monarchiens: the failure of moderation in the French Revolution.”

My current research focuses on the political and cultural development of the Monarchiens's five most influential members during the last years of the Ancien Regime to the outbreak of the French Revolution. I'm especially interested in transnational and transatlantic influences and their amalgamation with long-standing French conceptions of politics.

Joyce Wong: Bilingual iBA Hons., Specialization in History (York University, Glendon Campus).
Supervisor: Dr. Tom Saunders.
Thesis: Politics and Architecture in Berlin: 1919-1933.

My research looks at the interplay between politics and architecture during the Weimar Republic. How did the architecture of Berlin reflect its citizens’ attitudes vis-à-vis the political movements and events of Weimar Germany? To what extent do political events affect a society’s architecture? Examining the level of popularity of the works of architecture among different social groups in Berlin may also reveal a correlation between architectural tastes and attitude regarding particular political issues and ideologies.

These are far from exhaustive lists! If you are currently enrolled as a history grad student at UVic, feel free to submit a bio at any time. A complete list of recent graduates is available here.

UVic Graduate History Student Union