Academic Background

Ph.D. York University, History 
M.A.  University of Waterloo, History                                        
B.A.  McGill University, Honours History and Anthropology

Biography

I'm excited to be part of two programs at Laurier Brantford: History and Youth & Children's Studies.

My research focuses on how Canadian women have worked with and against the state to improve the safety of children and families in Canada and overseas, endangered by militarization during the World Wars and Cold War. I am also interested in the politicization of children and youth in matters related to war and peace.

I am currently working on three research projects. One is the history of the Grindstone Cooperative which hosted peace and non-violence training workshops for families and youth during the Cold War. I am also studying the tradition, meaning, and outcomes of women activists who used hunger strikes as a strategy to bring public awareness to the peace movement between the 1910s-2010s. Additionally, I am conducting an analysis of three anti-war films from the 1980s and youth’s responses to their graphic portrayal of apocalyptic childhoods.

Recent Publications

Cold War Comforts: Canadian Women, Child Safety, and Global Insecurity (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2012). 

“Modeling the UN’s Mission in Semi-Formal Wear: Edmonton’s Miss United Nations Pageants of the 1960s,” Contesting the Body and Nation in Canadian History eds. Jane Nichols and Patrizia Gentile, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013).

“Children as ‘Seeds of Destiny’: Nation, Race, and Citizenship in Postwar Foreign Relief Programs,” The Difference Kids Makes: Bringing Children into Canadian History and Historiography, eds. Tamara Myers and Mona Gleason (Toronto: Oxford University Press, forthcoming).

 “Maverick Mothers and Mercy Flights: Canada’s Controversial Introduction to International Adoption,” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association, 19(1) 2009, 307-330.

“Divided by the Ballot Box: The Montreal Council of Women and the 1917 Election,” Canadian Historical Review, 89(4)December 2008: 473-501.

Courses Taught Recently

HI 293 History of Canada since Confederation
HI 430 Reading Seminar in 20th Century Canada                                     
HI 480 Research Seminar in 20th Century Canada

YC 200 Childhood and Youth Through the Ages

CT430 Youth Cultures