Emily Burton - Doctoral Candidate
eburton@dal.ca

I hold degrees from the University of Toronto (BA in Latin American Studies and Geography) and Saint Mary's University (MA in International Development Studies and MA in History), and I am currently a doctoral candidate in History at Dalhousie.  My previous academic interests focused on Latin America and on the intersection of the Iberian and British Atlantics.  My MA research in International Development Studies examined religion and gender in  Nicaragua in the 1980s and 1990s.  My MA research in History explored Portuguese interest in settlement in northeastern North America in the sixteenth century.  I have now settled for the time in between, and my doctoral research encompasses the period from 1710 to 1830.  My MA in History explored the connections between this part of the world (now Atlantic Canada) and the broader Atlantic world, and this interest continues in my doctoral studies.  Northeastern British America was connected to the West Indies through the trade in fish, lumber, sugar, molasses and rum.  My research examines the rise of the rum.  I am particularly interested in patterns of consumption in northeastern British America - who drank rum, with whom and where? - and how they changed over the course of the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.      

Trevor Checkley - Masters Candidate
tcheckley@dal.ca

I graduated from Simon Fraser University in 2006 with an Honours Degree in History.  My honours thesis was on hockey in Britain until the Second World War, a little known and rather obscure topic.  That said, Britain was the first country to beat Canada in the Olympics and the first country other than Canada to win the gold medal.

While at Simon Fraser I participated in an exchange program and had the opportunity to study at the University of East Anglia in Norwich, England.  The highlight of my university career and something I would encourage anyone to do, if anything for the pubs.

After two years away from university, I came to Dalhousie in September to undertake entering the MA program under the supervision of Dr. Chris Bell.  My areas of focus are British international, intelligence and military history between the First and Second World Wars.   

Jeffrey Columbus - Masters Candidate
jeffrey.columbus@dal.ca

I hail from Sydney, Nova Scotia.  I completed my Bachelor of Arts at Cape Breton University in 2007.  During my time at CBU I completed an independent study of how history is used, understood and communicated in the medium of videogames.  This study, entitled "History from the Word and Image to the Joystick", was presented in the form of a lecture at CBU's Student Undergraduate Research Forum.

Here at Dalhousie, I am studying Public History with Dr. Claire Campbell.  My research interests are Canadian Public History, early 20th century Canada and Canadian historiography.  I am the History Representative on the Dalhousie Association of Graduate Students Council and the Graduate History Society Representative to the Canadian Historical Association.

Tim Hanley - Masters Graduate October, 2009
thanley@dal.ca

In a never ending quest to entertain myself in my scholarly pursuits, my studies have led me to mass culture, and more specifically to comic books.  My honours thesis (done at Dalhousie) was entitled, "Somebody Has To Save The World..." DC Comics and the Juevenile Delinquency Crisis of 1954 (the quote in the title is from Watchmen, the best comic book and/or graphic novel of all time...go see the movie March 6th!!), and examined the creation of the Comics Code Authority and DC Comics' role in shaping a new comic a new comic book industry.

I am currently at work on my master's thesis
(untitled right now, but I hope to think of something clever eventually...or at least alliterative...alliterative is almost as good as clever), which deals with Wonder Woman and feminism.  I am examining various incarnations of the character, from her creation in 1941 to the television program in 1975, and how she changes over time, tracing the evaporation of her feminist roots and the eventual adoption of Wonder Woman as a feminist icon in the late 1960's.  Woven into this will be a (probably odd) discussion of who the "real" Wonder Woman is and whether the feminist icon we all know and love today ever actually existed in comic book form.

My advisor is Dr. Todd McCallum, and he very kindly indulges my love of comics whilst doing his best to keep me on the historical track.        

Robert Harding - Doctoral Candidate
rjahardi@dal.ca

Godspeed,
Bob Harding

Laura Hynes  -  Masters Graduate May, 2009
lchynes@dal.ca

Although I completed my undergraduate degree in History and Spanish, I decided to jump ship from Spanish Studies to focus my graduate work on Italian History. I finished my BA at Dal in 2007 and returned to continue working with Dr. Gregory Hanlon at the Masters level. My Masters thesis explores the existence of routine, gender-specific infanticide amongst married couples in 17th century Parma, a fairly large city in northern Italy. I hope to continue and to expand my Studies of infanticide and other demographic trends at the post-graduate level.

Laura is the recipient of the 2009 Governor General's Gold Medal Award in the Humanities and Social Sciences for the Most Outstanding Masters student.  Laura has also been awarded a SSHRC Doctoral Scholarship for next year. 

Saman Jafarian - Masters Graduate October, 2009
sjafarian@dal.ca

I am originally from Toronto, but ask you not to hold it against me.  After one year at the University of Toronto, I moved to Dalhousie, where I completed a BA Honours in History and Social Anthropology; my honours thesis examined Dalhousie campus student politics and gender relations between 1950 and 1963.  I am now in the second year of the Master's program and, although the 'long fifties' will forever be my true love, I am researching children's books from the interwar years, and how print sources aimed at children shaped the beginnings and renegotiations of 'modern childhood.'  My other research interests include cultural studies and gender and women's studies, whether historical or contemporary, and the history of youth and childhood in Canada and the United States. 

My favourite colour is purple, I love coffee, and I enjoy a good Julia Mitchell rendering of E.P. Thompson drop kicking Michel Foucault.

Victoria Jones - Masters Candidate
victoria.jones@dal.ca

I am originally from Edmonton, Alberta.  I received my BA History and Canadian Studies from Dalhousie.  I enjoy studying Alberta, its culture, politics, and history.  Mix in some Canadiana and a sprinkle of Henry VIII and you've got undergraduate degree wrapped up.

I am a political junkie.  Varying from the Young Liberals of Canada to Student Unions; if there is a campaign, I am usually on it.

My favourite charity is Spread the Net.  This charity buys anti-malarial bed nets through UNICEF  and was started by Rick Mercer and Belinda Stronach.  1 Net.  10 Bucks. Save Lives.   

Jeffers Lennox - Doctoral Candidate
jeffers.lennox@dal.ca

I grew up in Newmarket, Ontario and completed my Honours BA at the University of Toronto before coming to Dalhousie for my MA and PhD.

Drawing from Atlantic World historiography, my dissertation examines the impact of geographic knowledge (maps, mapping and ideas about geography) on the British-French-Aboriginal relationships in eighteenth-century Nova Scotia.  When I am not trapped under a pile of books, I can be found riding my bike or touring with my band.

Julia Mitchell - Masters Graduate May, 2009
julia.mitchell@dal.ca

I earned a BA Honours from the University of Regina (Double Major in History and English).  My Honours paper was entitled "Microcosmic Modernity:  The Cultural Significance of the Parisian Arcades."

My research interests are 19th Century Paris, the Arcades, The Flaneur, The 1960s, Bob Dylan, Music and Literary History.  My supervisor is Dr. John Bingham. The title of my thesis is "City, Crowd, and Spectacle:  A History of the Flaneur from Baudelaire to Bob Dylan."

Conference Presentations:  "'Coming Down East':  The Manson Murders, the Beatles, and the Death of Sixties Idealism," March 2008, Concordia University, Montreal (History in the Making Graduate conference).

Favourite Colour:  Blue, Favourite Band:  The Band, Favourite Quote:  "E.P. Thompson had me at the preface" - Saman Jafarian, Favourite YouTube:  "Charlie Bit Me" 

Lisa Mullins - Visiting PhD Research
lmullins@dal.ca

I am in my 4th year of a Ph.D. in History and Philosophy of Science, at the University of Cambridge, England. I'm a visiting research student in the Dal History Department for 2008-2009. My thesis,  "'La Philosophie Déguisé':
Bernard le Bovier de Fontenelle and Making Natural Knowledge" looks at elite French science from the 1680s to the early 1740s. Aside from Fontenelle, my main academic areas of interest are seventeenth and eighteenth century
natural philosophy, the popularization of science, public history, history of the book and libraries, and scientific academies and societies. 

Oluwatoyin Oduntan - Doctoral Candidate
oluwatoyin.oduntan@dal.ca

I am an international student from Nigeria studying for a PhD in African history.  I obtained my Bachelors and Masters degrees in Nigerian universities.  I have also taught courses in Nigerian universities.  I have been on the Faculty of Graduate Studies departmental scholarship since 2006.

My general interest is in studying the historical processes through which elite groups are formed.  I argue that African leaders are wrongly judged by standards which are derived from outside of their states.  Currently, I am doing a dissertation entitled "Elite Identity and Power:  A Study of Social Change and Leadership in Abeokuta, Nigeria."  I hope to show that societies evolve their own kind of leaders and those leaders are better judged by measures that are culturally applicable.

I love to travel (I have been around) and, despite age catching up and the joints creaking, I still consider myself a great soccer player.         

Colin Rose - Masters Candidate
colin.rose@dal.ca

I came to Dalhousie from Ontario, where I grew up in a small town named Meaford.  I completed my undergraduate studies at Trinity College in the University of Toronto, graduating with a Specialist in Renaissance Studies and a Minor in History.  My studies focus on the development of criminal law structures and processes in Early Modern Italy, focusing on the seventeenth-century Duchy of Parma although I am interested in European and Middle Eastern social and militrary history generally. 

My hobbies outside of school (if such things exist) include reading novels, playing guitar or piano, and eating good food with good wine.

Andrea Shannon - Doctoral Candidate
amshanno@dal.ca

My area of focus is early modern England and I study under the supervision of Dr. Krista Kesselring.  Currently, I am undertaking research for my dissertation entitled "Government, Authority and the State:  A Study of Domestic Garrisons in Early Modern England, c. 1550-1642."  This dissertaion examines the government of England's domestic garrisons, and their place within the structure of the state.  As a political history of a martial topic, my project aims primariliy to contribute to the debate about the early modern state and state formation, and secondarily to England's military development.  My research interests, however, are not restricted to military matters.  I am also interested in humour in the early modern period, particularly when used to point up social and politcial tensions.  My Master's thesis, "The Politics of Jest in Early Stuart England" explored this very topic, and I hope to return to this subject in future. 

When I'm putting off working on my thesis, I dabble in knitting and guitar, and more than dabble in food, wine and talking about anything un-academic.     

Matthew Sugrue - Masters Candidate
msugrue@dal.ca

Conferences:  Dalhousie Graduate History Conference,  History Across the Disciplies "The Anti-Sufi Rhetoric of the Reformist Wahhabi and Salafi" - March 14-16, 2008

University of Toronto Graduate History Conference, Cultures in Contact "Third Time's a Charm:  Sufism and the Effects of Three 'Anti-Sufi' Renewal Movements" - February 8-9, 2008  

I am currently V.P. of the Graduate History Society as well as Conference Co-organizer
and Department Sweatshirt Organizer, 2007-2008 (Failed)

Favorite Color:  Blue, Favorite Quote:  "But how did she eat the entire sweet potato"  Julia Mitchell, 2008