Supervisor: Dr. Bonny Inhawoh

Research summary: 
Adopting a historical perspective, this research analyzes judicial patterns from culture-based to colonial-based English law and how they shaped capital punishment in former British West African colonies with a focus on Nigeria. My research will shed light on legal provisions, colonial influence on criminal justice, capital punishment as crime deterrence, political checks and balances, and public attitudes towards capital punishment. A fundamental aspect of the colonial legal structure is the transplantation of English laws to colonized societies, thereby modifying the local customs and provisions obtainable in various communities. The main objective is to interrogate the interconnectedness between administrative patterns and legal structures, human agencies and their influence on capital punishment in Nigeria.

Research area(s):
African history
Legal history
Crime

Supervisor: Dr. Bonny Inhawoh

Research summary: 
Adopting a historical perspective, this research analyzes judicial patterns from culture-based to colonial-based English law and how they shaped capital punishment in former British West African colonies with a focus on Nigeria. My research will shed light on legal provisions, colonial influence on criminal justice, capital punishment as crime deterrence, political checks and balances, and public attitudes towards capital punishment. A fundamental aspect of the colonial legal structure is the transplantation of English laws to colonized societies, thereby modifying the local customs and provisions obtainable in various communities. The main objective is to interrogate the interconnectedness between administrative patterns and legal structures, human agencies and their influence on capital punishment in Nigeria.

Research area(s):
African history
Legal history
Crime

Supervisor: Dr. John Weaver

Scholarships:
Richard P. Scharchburg Student Paper Award, 2022

Research summary:
My primary areas of interest are transportation and business history with a strong focus on the smaller American automakers and how their histories can provide precedence to understand the contemporary automotive industry. I am accomplishing this through the application of economic and business theory to the histories of diverse automotive enterprises 1890-present to establish patterns within Schumpeterian Business Cycles and anticipate the future of the North American automotive industry.

Some of my recent work appeared in the Automotive History Review in the form of an article ”
Models of Automotive Firms Past and Present: Insights from Transaction Cost Economics and Industrial Theory.” I am currently developing an article on the technological development of 19th C. shipping.

Research area(s):
Transportation history
Business & economic history
Canadian history
British history
Military history

Supervisor: Dr. John Weaver

Scholarships:
Richard P. Scharchburg Student Paper Award, 2022

Research summary:
My primary areas of interest are transportation and business history with a strong focus on the smaller American automakers and how their histories can provide precedence to understand the contemporary automotive industry. I am accomplishing this through the application of economic and business theory to the histories of diverse automotive enterprises 1890-present to establish patterns within Schumpeterian Business Cycles and anticipate the future of the North American automotive industry.

Some of my recent work appeared in the Automotive History Review in the form of an article ”
Models of Automotive Firms Past and Present: Insights from Transaction Cost Economics and Industrial Theory.” I am currently developing an article on the technological development of 19th C. shipping.

Research area(s):
Transportation history
Business & economic history
Canadian history
British history
Military history

Supervisor:
Dr. Megan Armstrong

Scholarships:
Harry Lyman Hooker Senior Fellowship, 2023-2024
R.H. Johnston Graduate Scholarship, 2023-2024

Research summary: 
My research focuses on popular Christian prophecy in England from roughly 1500 to 1700. I am particularly interested in apocalyptic symbolism and employ a comparative methodology grounded in textual and iconographic analysis.

Research area(s):
Early modern England
Apocalyptic literature
Prophecy
Eschatology
Symbolism
Material culture

Supervisor:
Dr. Megan Armstrong

Scholarships:
Harry Lyman Hooker Senior Fellowship, 2023-2024
R.H. Johnston Graduate Scholarship, 2023-2024

Research summary: 
My research focuses on popular Christian prophecy in England from roughly 1500 to 1700. I am particularly interested in apocalyptic symbolism and employ a comparative methodology grounded in textual and iconographic analysis.

Research area(s):
Early modern England
Apocalyptic literature
Prophecy
Eschatology
Symbolism
Material culture

Supervisor: Dr. Ken Cruikshank

Scholarships: 
Ontario Graduate Scholarship

Research summary:
The Canadian public has limited understanding of the role and scope of Occupational Therapy. To form a more coherent identity, Occupational Therapists need a clearer understanding of their own history. Through using archival sources in combination with oral history interviews, my research looks at how the profession developed from an educational as well as professional perspective, taking into consideration factors such as gender, healthcare hierarchies, and consumer needs. By considering the interwoven forces of the larger healthcare climate in Canada, attitudes towards women in professional roles, and perceived capacity of occupational therapists themselves, my research work aims to aid in addressing the gap in understanding of the profession of occupational therapy.

Research area(s):
Medical history
Canadian history
Occupational therapy history

Supervisor: Dr. Ken Cruikshank

Scholarships: 
Ontario Graduate Scholarship

Research summary:
The Canadian public has limited understanding of the role and scope of Occupational Therapy. To form a more coherent identity, Occupational Therapists need a clearer understanding of their own history. Through using archival sources in combination with oral history interviews, my research looks at how the profession developed from an educational as well as professional perspective, taking into consideration factors such as gender, healthcare hierarchies, and consumer needs. By considering the interwoven forces of the larger healthcare climate in Canada, attitudes towards women in professional roles, and perceived capacity of occupational therapists themselves, my research work aims to aid in addressing the gap in understanding of the profession of occupational therapy.

Research area(s):
Medical history
Canadian history
Occupational therapy history

Supervisor: Dr. Ken Cruikshank

Scholarships:
Mildred Barrett Armstrong History Fund, 2023-2024
Corsini Fellowship in Canadian History, 2023
Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2021-2022

Research summary:
My work focuses on the post-war history of Toronto’s ethnically diverse black communities. The historiography of Toronto often employs the term “Black” in a manner which homogenize disparate ethnic groups into one monolithic category. My dissertation describes how Toronto’s Black community in the post-war era shaped Toronto and address how race and ethnicity function individually and collectively to curate Black identity in Toronto.

Research area(s):
Canada history
Black Canada
Ethnic history

Supervisor: Dr. Ken Cruikshank

Scholarships:
Mildred Barrett Armstrong History Fund, 2023-2024
Corsini Fellowship in Canadian History, 2023
Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2021-2022

Research summary:
My work focuses on the post-war history of Toronto’s ethnically diverse black communities. The historiography of Toronto often employs the term “Black” in a manner which homogenize disparate ethnic groups into one monolithic category. My dissertation describes how Toronto’s Black community in the post-war era shaped Toronto and address how race and ethnicity function individually and collectively to curate Black identity in Toronto.

Research area(s):
Canada history
Black Canada
Ethnic history

Supervisor: Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh

Scholarships:
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Award, 2023-2027
NSERC sMAP CREATE Program Scholarship, 2023-2024
James Robertson Carruthers Memorial Award
Richard Fuller Travel Award, 2023-2024
Mildred Barrett Armstrong Travel Award, 2023-2024

Research summary: 
My research analyses the socio-political constructions of communication networks in colonial Nigeria through a material history of the telegraph.

Research area(s):
Technology history
Communications history
African history

Supervisor: Dr. Bonny Ibhawoh

Scholarships:
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Award, 2023-2027
NSERC sMAP CREATE Program Scholarship, 2023-2024
James Robertson Carruthers Memorial Award
Richard Fuller Travel Award, 2023-2024
Mildred Barrett Armstrong Travel Award, 2023-2024

Research summary: 
My research analyses the socio-political constructions of communication networks in colonial Nigeria through a material history of the telegraph.

Research area(s):
Technology history
Communications history
African history

Supervisor: Ian McKay

Previous education: BA University of Lethbridge, MA McMaster University

Research summary:
I am a historian of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and some of their characteristic -isms. Usually, I work on these themes via episodes in Canadian history. My dissertation is a history of the so-called Calgary School and the intellectual contours of neoliberal Canada. Some of my work has appeared recently in Twentieth Century Communism, Left History, Jacobin, Syndemic Magazine, and in the edited collection Bucking Conservatism (Athabasca University Press, 2021).

Research area(s):
Canada
twentieth century
neoliberalism
ideology
political economy
intellectual history

Supervisor: Ian McKay

Previous education: BA University of Lethbridge, MA McMaster University

Research summary:
I am a historian of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries and some of their characteristic -isms. Usually, I work on these themes via episodes in Canadian history. My dissertation is a history of the so-called Calgary School and the intellectual contours of neoliberal Canada. Some of my work has appeared recently in Twentieth Century Communism, Left History, Jacobin, Syndemic Magazine, and in the edited collection Bucking Conservatism (Athabasca University Press, 2021).

Research area(s):
Canada
twentieth century
neoliberalism
ideology
political economy
intellectual history

Supervisor: Dr. Jessica van Horssen

Scholarships: 
R. H. Johnston Graduate Scholarship, 2024-2025

Research summary: 
I am a historian of Mi’kmaq lineage. My research examines Indigenous environmental history in Canada. I focus specifically on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and the environment.

Research area(s):
Indigenous history
Environmental history
Canadian Atlantic history

Supervisor: Dr. Jessica van Horssen

Scholarships: 
R. H. Johnston Graduate Scholarship, 2024-2025

Research summary: 
I am a historian of Mi’kmaq lineage. My research examines Indigenous environmental history in Canada. I focus specifically on Traditional Ecological Knowledge (TEK) and the environment.

Research area(s):
Indigenous history
Environmental history
Canadian Atlantic history

Supervisor: Dr. Steven Streeter

Scholarships:
SSHRC

Research area(s):
History of War and Peace
Central America and the Inter-American System
Abolishment of the Costa Rican Army

Supervisor: Dr. Steven Streeter

Scholarships:
SSHRC

Research area(s):
History of War and Peace
Central America and the Inter-American System
Abolishment of the Costa Rican Army

Supervisor: Dr. Michael Egan

Scholarships: 
R.H. Johnston Graduate Scholarship, 2023-2024

Research summary: 
Tacit knowledge is a kind of intuitive knowledge based on intimate familiarity with the specific and multifarious components of one’s surroundings (Gascoigne & Thornton 2013). It is knowledge acquired through labour and lived experience, and it is geographically specific (White 1995). Tacit knowledge is distinct from explicit knowledge since the learning of tacit knowledge is intuitive, experiential, individual, which can make it difficult to articulate or explain.  Over the next four years, my dissertation will work to demystify tacit knowledge and its changing place in Ontario agricultural history. Since the second technological revolution that followed World War II, farming practices have been radically transformed (Duffin 2010). The use of new machines and chemicals involved a commensurate loss of tacit knowledge, which is becoming an increasingly endangered feature of contemporary agriculture. My project seeks to document changes in tacit knowledge and its uses as an important chapter in reading histories of land and land use into the history of food production. I submit that tacit knowledge is essential to understanding agricultural practice; its decline is suggestive of the shifting priorities in twenty-first-century food production systems. I aim to conduct a number of oral histories with farmers across the Southern Ontario region. My time working on farms has allowed me to experience first-hand some of these new (and sometimes old) technologies, and I have come to appreciate the type of inherent knowledge that is involved with working alongside these technologies. I have come to understand where and why manual labour is still necessary as well as gaining a “feel” for some of the agricultural tasks I was assigned. I have lived in agricultural communities my whole life, and I interact with them daily.

Research area(s):
Agriculture history
History of technology
Labour history
Environmental history
Embodied history
Book history & print cultures

Supervisor: Dr. Michael Egan

Scholarships: 
R.H. Johnston Graduate Scholarship, 2023-2024

Research summary: 
Tacit knowledge is a kind of intuitive knowledge based on intimate familiarity with the specific and multifarious components of one’s surroundings (Gascoigne & Thornton 2013). It is knowledge acquired through labour and lived experience, and it is geographically specific (White 1995). Tacit knowledge is distinct from explicit knowledge since the learning of tacit knowledge is intuitive, experiential, individual, which can make it difficult to articulate or explain.  Over the next four years, my dissertation will work to demystify tacit knowledge and its changing place in Ontario agricultural history. Since the second technological revolution that followed World War II, farming practices have been radically transformed (Duffin 2010). The use of new machines and chemicals involved a commensurate loss of tacit knowledge, which is becoming an increasingly endangered feature of contemporary agriculture. My project seeks to document changes in tacit knowledge and its uses as an important chapter in reading histories of land and land use into the history of food production. I submit that tacit knowledge is essential to understanding agricultural practice; its decline is suggestive of the shifting priorities in twenty-first-century food production systems. I aim to conduct a number of oral histories with farmers across the Southern Ontario region. My time working on farms has allowed me to experience first-hand some of these new (and sometimes old) technologies, and I have come to appreciate the type of inherent knowledge that is involved with working alongside these technologies. I have come to understand where and why manual labour is still necessary as well as gaining a “feel” for some of the agricultural tasks I was assigned. I have lived in agricultural communities my whole life, and I interact with them daily.

Research area(s):
Agriculture history
History of technology
Labour history
Environmental history
Embodied history
Book history & print cultures

Supervisor: Dr. Megan Armstrong

Scholarships:
McMaster University Doctoral Teaching Fellowship, 2022
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship, 2018-2022
Mildred Barrett Armstrong History Fellowship, 2018-2019
Edith M. Wightman Travel Scholarship, 2018-2019
Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2018-2019
McMaster University Doctoral Graduate Scholarship, 2017
Ezio Cappadocia Graduate Prize for European History, 2017
McMaster University Master’s Graduate Scholarship, 2016
Presidential Scholarship, Redeemer University, 2015
Foreword Clarion INDIES Book of the Year Bronze Medal for Women’s Studies, 2015
Governor’s Scholarship, Redeemer University, 2014
Governor’s Scholarship, Redeemer University, 2013

Research summary:
The use of rituals and ceremonies to communicate power and authority in the early modern period.

Research area(s):
Early modern Europe
Royal history
Ritual & religious history
Death & funeral history

Supervisor: Dr. Megan Armstrong

Scholarships:
McMaster University Doctoral Teaching Fellowship, 2022
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Doctoral Fellowship, 2018-2022
Mildred Barrett Armstrong History Fellowship, 2018-2019
Edith M. Wightman Travel Scholarship, 2018-2019
Ontario Graduate Scholarship, 2018-2019
McMaster University Doctoral Graduate Scholarship, 2017
Ezio Cappadocia Graduate Prize for European History, 2017
McMaster University Master’s Graduate Scholarship, 2016
Presidential Scholarship, Redeemer University, 2015
Foreword Clarion INDIES Book of the Year Bronze Medal for Women’s Studies, 2015
Governor’s Scholarship, Redeemer University, 2014
Governor’s Scholarship, Redeemer University, 2013

Research summary:
The use of rituals and ceremonies to communicate power and authority in the early modern period.

Research area(s):
Early modern Europe
Royal history
Ritual & religious history
Death & funeral history

Supervisor: Dr. Michael Gauvreau

Bio:
Previous Education: BA and MA in Political Science at York University.

Research summary:
Kevin’s dissertation, Vital Centrism and the Political Development of Tom Kent, 1922-1968 provides a thorough biographical investigation into one of Canada’s most important liberal thinkers who would radically transform Canadian social and public policy under former Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

Research area(s):
Canadian politics
Liberalism
Intellectual history

Supervisor: Dr. Michael Gauvreau

Bio:
Previous Education: BA and MA in Political Science at York University.

Research summary:
Kevin’s dissertation, Vital Centrism and the Political Development of Tom Kent, 1922-1968 provides a thorough biographical investigation into one of Canada’s most important liberal thinkers who would radically transform Canadian social and public policy under former Liberal Prime Minister Lester B. Pearson.

Research area(s):
Canadian politics
Liberalism
Intellectual history