UNews - Department of Canadian Studies

Three U of L professors examine Western Canada during the First World War

caroline.zentner — Tue, 29 Nov 2016 17:14:42 +0000

In addition to the scholarly work that has been done on Canadian soldiers who served in the First World War, three ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge professors have focused their research on the war’s effects on those who were on the home front.

On Wednesday evening, Drs. Kristine Alexander, Amy Shaw and Elizabeth Galway reveal their findings and insights during a presentation called Western Canada at War.

“I’m going to be talking about young people’s experiences on the home front,” says Alexander, a history professor. “In 1914, attending school was compulsory for young people in every province except Quebec, and the war changed what children learned in their classrooms. Across the country, provincial Departments of Education and individual teachers developed new war-related assignments and teaching materials. In mathematics classes, for example, young people were regularly asked to calculate interest rates of Victory Bonds and to solve problems featuring Allied soldiers and German prisoners of war.”

From left to right are Drs. Amy Shaw, Kristine Alexander and Elizabeth Galway.

Canadian children also learned about the war in less formal ways: at home and in the press, they often heard talk that demonized the enemy and extolled the virtues of patriotism. They also played with war-related toys, like toy soldiers and toy guns, played war-themed board and card games, and some collected cards featuring weapons or generals that came in cigarette packages.

Alexander will also talk about her latest research project, which involves examining letters written between soldiers and their families back home, to better understand how the war affected wives and children of soldiers.

“Studying the war using personal documents like letters reminds us that war always has a heavy human cost. Even for kids living far from the front lines, the Great War still shaped their lives in ways that could be quite traumatic,” she says.

Dr. Amy Shaw has studied conscientious objectors during the First World War. The government’s conscription law provided an exemption from military service for members of churches, such as Mennonites and Quakers, with proscriptions against violence.

“When you’re trying to understand wartime society, the people who don’t fit in properly are sometimes a good way of understanding the rest of society,” says Shaw. “This was a time, especially during the war but also at the turn of the century generally, when duty was a big part of the way people saw their relationship to the state and to each other.”

Conscientious objectors were often ridiculed, told they weren’t real men, or were over-intellectual or stupid in their blind following of church doctrine. Shaw estimates about 26,000 men were conscientious objectors, which required them to appear in front of a tribunal and state their reasons for objecting.

“Our memory of the First World War tends to be about soldiers fighting and this was a total war that affected people at home and affected people in a lot of different ways. This is a way of looking at the evolving relationship between the citizen and the state,” says Shaw.

Dr. Elizabeth Galway, an English professor, is writing a book about children’s literature during the First World War and has published articles on representations of boy soldiers and depictions of Canadian-American relations. Often, children’s literature was overtly pro-war but Galway’s research has revealed it is more complex than first meets the eye.

“The war influenced every genre of children’s literature, making its presence felt in alphabet books, craft books, school textbooks and more,” says Galway. “In addition, war, national identity and children themselves were depicted in diverse ways.”

While some writers softened images of warfare for young readers, others were more explicit in their accounts of violence. Similarly, some authors saw children as innocent victims of war while others portrayed them as empowered contributors to the war effort.

Canada, as a nation, was portrayed both as a loyal imperial subject and as a fully-fledged nation that proved its strength through achievements on the battlefield. Children’s literature had the power not only to influence attitudes towards warfare, but to shape how readers understood the Canadian nation and the state of childhood.

The Western Canada at War session on Wednesday, Nov. 30 begins at 7 p.m. in the Dr. Foster James Penny Building, PB200, located at 324 5 St. S. Admission is free and a cash bar and appetizers are available at 6 p.m.

Uncovering the lessons of war

trevor.kenney — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 17:46:01 +0000

UPDATE: Brett Clifton has been awarded The Historical Society of Alberta's $1,000 award for the best student essay of 2011.

Entitled "From Bridges to the Ridge", the essay deals with Lethbridge soldiers who fought and died at Vimy Ridge in World War I. The author examines the careers of two officers and 17 men from the Lethbridge area who came from all walks of life, but in 1917 died together. They were among the 3,598 Canadians who died that day in a battle that the author says was the turning point in the war.

Clifton is pursuing a degree in Canadian Studies and Education and has spent several years pursuing his interest in military history.

Undergraduate student Brett Clifton has self-published two local history books related to the Lethbridge Cenotaph.

"This award is a great reflection on Brett and his accomplishments," said Dr. Heidi MacDonald, a U of L history researcher and Clifton's academic supervisor.

"Brett not only has remarkable intellectual curiosity, but is committed to disseminating his research in a number of ways, including among the families of his Lethbridge First World War veteran subjects."

The following is an original story created in 2010 on Clifton's research interests.

The ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge puts great emphasis on providing undergraduate students with access to research related opportunities they may not receive at larger institutions.

With a smaller school atmosphere and low student to teacher ratios, undergraduate students like Brett Clifton can take full advantage of what the
U of L has to offer.

Clifton, a third-year Canadian Studies major with a keen interest in military history, has done just that while attending the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge.

"History is very important and relevant to today's society. It helps us understand where we came from and where we are going," says Clifton, who is pursuing a BA/BEd combined degree. "Too often Canadians focus on the heroes of war and not on the ordinary day-to-day people who fought for Canada. I want to do research which focuses on ordinary people from our community who had to suffer for our freedom."

Clifton's interest in military history is influenced by his own family history, coupled with a high school trip to France in 2007 that marked the 90th anniversary of The Battle of Vimy Ridge.

"My great grandfather served in the First World War and received the Distinguished Conduct Medal. My grandfather is also a veteran, and he served in the Second World War," says Clifton.

Clifton's first military-related research project was in 2008, and it involved working with names on the Lethbridge Cenotaph. It was a project that again hit close to home and was generously received by the historical community.

"I was surprised that no previous work had been done regarding this subject, and I feel honoured that I was able to complete the cenotaph research," he says.

In the summer of 2009, Clifton completed an independent study on Canada's participation in the Dieppe Raid. He worked under the tutelage of history professor, Dr. Heidi MacDonald. Following her advice, Clifton applied for the Canadian Battlefields Foundation (CBF) scholarship program and was subsequently granted a trip to France and Belgium to further his research.

"Dieppe holds a close place in my heart, and was really the highlight of my trip," he says. "My grandfather had been taken prisoner of war there during the Second World War, so it is especially significant to me."

Clifton was one of two ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ of Lethbridge undergraduate students to receive the CBF scholarship. Only six were handed out nationally.

"It just shows that students from a smaller university like the U of L can compete with those attending larger institutions," he says.

In the summer of 2010, Clifton received the Chinook Research Award to research under the supervision of Dr. Amy Shaw. The award aims at encouraging research and advanced training of undergraduate students from the U of L by providing students the opportunity to study under the guidance of a faculty member. Their study efforts focused on the 113th Lethbridge Highlander Battalion, and the award only served to further inspire his research goals.

Clifton now plans on completing another independent study project in May 2011, this time travelling to Europe with the help of a bursary from the U of L. He will have the chance to study some of the most famous battle sites in the European theatre.

Clifton is a third-year student but he's actually been a part of the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ since he was in the ninth grade at Winston Churchill High School, attending U of L classes as part of an open studies program. After graduating from high school, he says there was no question as to where he was headed.

"A small school atmosphere and relatively small class sizes are important to me," he says. "I really didn't consider attending another university. I am so grateful for all the research opportunities I have been able to pursue here."

GET THE FACTS

· Clifton plans on continuing his studies beyond the undergraduate level, eyeing master's and PhD work in Canadian studies.

· Clifton's study focus will remain on military history, and he plans on one day teaching at the university level.

· Clifton, 20, is currently working on a combined BA/BEd degree and is doing his Professional Semester I course with a practicum at École Agnes Davidson. His Teacher Associate is David Nussbaumer, husband of U of L Librarian Alison Nussbaumer.

· Clifton has been employed as a student digitization assistant at the ��Ѹ��Դ��߿�Ƭ Library since 2008.

For a look at the full issue of the December Legend in a flipbook format, follow this link.

UNews - Department of Canadian Studies

Three U of L professors examine Western Canada during the First World War

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Uncovering the lessons of war

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