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Up and Coming Research: A Panel of Graduate Students at Dalhousie University including Meghan Carter, Katherine Crooks and Hilary MacKinlay
“Barriers or Bridges to Representation? Nova Scotia Political Culture and Protected Constituencies for Acadians and African-Nova Scotians”
Meghan Carter (Co-authored with Ben Bisset)
Abstract:
From 1993 to 2013 the Nova Scotia provincial electoral map included four districts designed to promote the election of Acadian and African-Nova Scotian representatives. These ‘protected constituencies’ are the only example in modern Canadian history of affirmative gerrymandering. What accounts for the creation of the protected constituencies and their removal just 20 years later? We argue that the creation of the constituencies was as a result of a trend in electoral law discourse. The elimination of the constituencies reflects the liberal nature of political culture in Nova Scotia.
Click here for a bio of Meghan Carter.
“The Quest for Respectability: The Charitable Irish Society in Victorian Halifax”
Katherine Crooks
Abstract:
In the second half of the nineteenth century, the Charitable Irish Society increasingly took advantage of the public attention attracted by Irish holidays in Halifax in order to construct a particular vision of what membership in the British Empire meant for Society members, as well as Irishmen more broadly. This talk will examine the Society’s cultivation of associations with local strands of militarism and imperialism through an analysis of its self-representation in the Halifax press.
Click here for a bio of Katherine Crooks.
“Halifax on the High Seas: The Pacific Whaling Journal of Thomas Creighton, 1843-46″
Hillary MacKinlay
Abstract:
Between 1827 and 1850, ships from New Brunswick and Nova Scotia joined their American counterparts in the Pacific whaling trade. This paper is an exploration of the journal kept by Dartmouth native Thomas Creighton on his three year voyage to the Pacific. In 1843, at the age of seventeen, Creighton sailed from Halifax aboard the Rose. He came of age while circumnavigating the globe and encountering people from many different cultures. This paper is a case study of Creighton’s experience, using his in-depth accounts to analyze how his social relationships were altered or maintained throughout his voyage.
Click here for a bio of Hillary MacKinlay.