November 2022

Now & Then highlights UBC History news and events for students, faculty, staff & alumni

Faculty News

Dr. Nataliia Ivchyk wears a blue blazer with a pink turtleneck. She has long red hair and wears black-rimmed glasses.

 

UBC History Welcomes Ukrainian Holocaust Scholar Dr. Nataliia Ivchyk

UBC History is pleased to welcome Dr. Nataliia Ivchyk, a Ukrainian Holocaust scholar as a 2022/2023 visiting scholar. Dr. Ivchyk is currently an Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science at Rivne State University for the Humanities. She has dedicated her academic career to Holocaust studies in Ukraine and East Central Europe, with foci on gender and children’s experience of the Holocaust and memory politics.

 

Chinese President Xi Jinping stands behind a dark brown podium, mid-speech. To his left is the red communist flag with a yellow hammer and yellow sickle. The background colour of the image is red.

Chinese President Xi Jinping speaks at an event to introduce new members of the Politburo Standing Committee at the Great Hall of the People in Beijing, Sunday, Oct. 23, 2022. Ng Han Guan/ AP Photo. Image via The Hub.

Podcast | Professor Emeritus Timothy Brook on the Past and Future of China

The Hub

In this episode of The Hub, Professor Emeritus Timothy Brook discusses his 2019 book Great State: China and the World. He speaks to how China’s history, particularly the Mongol conquests, has shaped its present, including its own self-conception. He also touches on the future of the country and whether China has already reached its peak as a global power.

 

Twitter logo outside a its headquarters building.

Twitter logo. Image via Toronto Star.

Musk’s Twitter Takeover Creates Uncertainty for Professionals Using the Platform for Good

Toronto Star

Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover has professionals considering fleeing the social media network, but some say abandoning the platform could give those who spread misinformation even wider reach in the absence of credible voices. “At what point does this become a professional risk rather than a professional benefit?” asks Prof. Heidi Tworek.

 

Student News

Tillicum the sea otter (mascot) poses in front of Canada Place while holding a bunch of balloons.

Tillicum, Vancouver’s Centennial mascot. Image via Vancouver Archives.

Camryn Traa: Otter Moments from Vancouver's History

Vancouver Archives

Despite never having lived in the waters around Vancouver, the sea otter became the mascot for the city in 1984. Curated by History Honours student Camryn Traa, “Otter Moments” is a guest exhibit at the City of Vancouver Archives that explores the strange and sometimes surprising connections between sea otters and Vancouver.  Traa created this exhibition project during her summer internship at the Archives in collaboration with the Department's Public History Internship Program. Be sure to check out Part II!

 

Student Opportunities and Resources

Image via Friends of the BC Archives.

Call for Applications: Friends of the BC Archives Indigenous Research Fund

Deadline: January 31, 2023

The Friends of the BC Archives are currently accepting applications for the Indigenous Research Fund, which provides up to $1000 for Indigenous individuals and organizations to access the BC Archives in Victoria. Students and other researchers are encouraged to apply. The fund may be applied towards travel (including accommodation and meals), hiring a researcher, and other costs associated with work done at the BC Archives. The grant is flexible in the types of projects it supports. 

 

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Learn about the Young Canada Works Program

Looking for professional development opportunities in Canada’s museums and heritage sector? You may be eligible for a job or internship with the Young Canada Works (YCW) Program.

The Canadian Museums Association delivers two streams of Young Canada Works: Building Careers in Heritage for youth with a post-secondary degree and Heritage Organizations for youth currently enrolled in studies (secondary or post-secondary).

 

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Courses

 

Brazil and the World: A Q&A with Dr. Michael Rom about UBC History's Newest Course on Latin America

Term 2 | Tuesdays 4 -6 pm

Brazil is geographically positioned at the crossroads between the Americas, Africa, and Europe, has large populations of African, Asian, and Middle Eastern descent, and a close relationship with the United States. These factors have all shaped Brazil’s culture, economy, politics, and society, even as Brazil has exerted a great influence over the cultures, economies, politics, and societies of its neighbours. Taught by SSHRC Doctoral Fellow Dr. Michael Rom, HIST 403H: Brazil and the World explores the history of Brazil’s diverse encounters with the rest of the world, from the early nineteenth century to the present. Read this Q&A to learn more about the course and Dr. Rom's research.

 

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Events and Announcements

Image via Green College, UBC.

Preserved in Wax: Catacomb Martyrs, Piety and Politics in Post-Revolutionary France with Dr. Bonnie Effros

November 22, 5:00 – 6:30 pm PT, in-person

Examination of wax models of the human form in Europe has tended to focus on either the art of anatomical modeling in early modern Naples or the rise of 'low brow' entertainment in wax museums such as that of Madame Tussaud. Less well understood are the equally lifelike wax effigies that commemorated alleged ancient martyrs and more recent saints in western Europe during the nineteenth century. This presentation will examine the ephemeral art form of wax models in the context of ultramontane religious practice in France. It will also ask why this form of religiosity was condemned by critics as dangerous: on the one hand, it was understood as attracting predominantly female devotion that was difficult for clerical authorities to control, and on the other, it was seen as anachronistic, anti-historical and superstitious by those promoting the values of scientific modernity.

 

UBC History Colloquium | No Smoke Without Fire: Silence, Rumour, and "Hidden Histories" in Plain Sight in the Colonial Archive

November 24, 12:30 – 1:50 pm PT, hybrid

The History Colloquium Series brings together scholars who are exploring issues that challenge the frontiers of our discipline. In this talk, Dr. Laura Ishiguro (History; UBC Asian Canadian and Asian Migration Studies) offers new interpretations of the 1868 fire in Barkerville, BC, and the colonial society that sparked it. Playing at the edges of disciplinary convention, this talk unsettles straightforward notions of archival silence, absence, and "hidden histories," turning instead to ask what it might take to tell possible histories that abound in plain sight in the colonial record.

 

 

The Moral Limits of Violence in Political Resistance

November 23, 5:30 - 7:00 pm PT, in-person

In this talk, Prof. Joseph Cho-wai Chan (Princeton U) examines whether violence in political resistance against state injustice is morally permissible. He also examines the extent to which principles of the ethics of war and individual self-defense can provide practical moral guidance for participants in highly dynamic and open-ended resistance movements. This event is part of the City Rebegins event series hosted by the UBC Hong Kong Studies Initiative, and is sponsored by the Department of History.

 

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