Welcome to HIST 203! This is a lecture course with a strong seminar component that will examine the human history of what we now call “Canada.”
When ice ages lowered the ocean water levels, people from Siberia crossed over into the New World where they created a diversity of indigenous societies. The arrival of European newcomers in the late fifteenth century set in motion a complex pattern of interaction. It is this human drama of contact and conflict, cultural exchange and warfare that will form one of the main themes of our class. As we will chart the stories of the children, women and men who lived in the northern part of the North American continent, we will pay as much attention to the rhythms of daily life as to the wars, treaties and constitutions that constitute the traditional ingredients of national history surveys.
Our class will consist of both lectures and seminars. In our lectures, you will have a chance to acquaint yourself with the major historical developments in Canada’s early history. Equally important, lectures are intended to provoke thoughts, discussion, and reflection as we examine the ways in which historians, anthropologists and archaeologists have interpreted the past. In our seminars, we will turn to primary and secondary sources that will help us gain a deeper understanding of key historical issues.
- Teacher: BARBARA LORENZKOWSKI
- Teacher: Aeron MacHattie
- Teaching Assistant: Adia Giddings