Undiplomatic History

When the field of Canadian history underwent major shifts in the 1990s, international history became marginalized and the focus turned away from foreign affairs. Over the past decade, however, the study of Canada and the world has been revitalized. Undiplomatic History charts these changes, bringing together leading and emerging historians of Canadian international and transnational relations to take stock of recent developments and to outline the course of future research. Following global trends in the wider historiography, contributors explore new lenses of historical analysis – such as race, gender, political economy, identity, religion, and the environment – and emphasize the relevance of non-state actors, including scientists, athletes, students, and activists. The essays in this volume challenge old ways of thinking and showcase how an exciting new generation of historians are asking novel questions about Canadians' interactions with people and places beyond the country's borders. From human rights to the environment, and from medical internationalism to transnational feminism, Undiplomatic History maps out a path toward a vibrant and inclusive understanding of what constitutes Canadian foreign policy in an age of global connectivity.

When the field of Canadian history underwent major shifts in the 1990s, international history became marginalized and the focus turned away from foreign affairs. Over the past decade, however, the study of Canada and the world has been revitalized. Undiplomatic History charts these changes, bringing together leading and emerging historians of Canadian international and transnational relations to take stock of recent developments and to outline the course of future research. Following global trends in the wider historiography, contributors explore new lenses of historical analysis – such as race, gender, political economy, identity, religion, and the environment – and emphasize the relevance of non-state actors, including scientists, athletes, students, and activists. The essays in this volume challenge old ways of thinking and showcase how an exciting new generation of historians are asking novel questions about Canadians' interactions with people and places beyond the country's borders. From human rights to the environment, and from medical internationalism to transnational feminism, Undiplomatic History maps out a path toward a vibrant and inclusive understanding of what constitutes Canadian foreign policy in an age of global connectivity.

Where are the women in Canada’s international history? Breaking Barriers, Shaping Worlds gathers scholars to explore the role of women in twentieth-century Canadian international affairs. They examine the lives and careers of professionals employed abroad as doctors, nurses, or economic development advisors; those fighting for change as anti-war, anti-nuclear, or Indigenous rights activists; and women working as diplomatic spouses or as diplomats themselves. This lively, wide-ranging collection reveals the vital contribution of women to the search for global order that has been a hallmark of Canada’s international history.

With an Introduction by Allan Gotlieb One of Canada’s most distinguished diplomats, Charles Ritchie was also a born diarist. Now, for the first time, Ritchie’s diplomatic diaries are collected in one complete volume, covering his entire career in the Canadian Foreign Service. Ritchie creates a startlingly vivid and perceptive portrait of daily life at the centre of major historical events, including one of the finest accounts of the London Blitz ever written — the people in the parks, the shabby streets, the heightened love affairs. Ritchie’s life was a whirl of high-society engagements, and he turns his dry wit and irreverence to the social scene. Evocative and compelling, these diaries beautifully portray a forgotten era.

The Routledge History of U.S. Foreign Relations provides a comprehensive view of U.S. diplomacy and foreign affairs from the founding to the present. With contributions from recognized experts from around the world, this volume unveils America’s long and complicated history on the world stage. It presents the United States’ evolution from a weak player, even a European pawn, to a global hegemonic leader over the course of two and a half centuries. The contributors offer an expansive vision of U.S. foreign relations—from U.S.-Native American diplomacy in eighteenth and nineteenth centuries to the post-9/11 war on terror. They shed new light on well-known events and suggest future paths of research, and they capture lesser-known episodes that invite reconsideration of common assumptions about America’s place in the world. Bringing these discussions to a single forum, the book provides a strong reference source for scholars and students who seek to understand the broad themes and changing approaches to the field. This book will be of interest to students and scholars of U.S. history, political science, international relations, conflict resolution, and public policy, amongst other areas.

People, Politics, and Purpose brings the historian’s myriad tools to bear on Canadians, from prime ministers to lumberjacks to Indigenous leaders. Drawing on the rich details of biography – the what – the contributors also address the larger questions – the so what – that drive history. These stories are not simply about the lives of individuals but critical reflections on subjects who are directly involved in, and affected by, politics. By illuminating the roles of historical actors, this lively collection offers insights into Canada’s place in the world and stimulates fresh thinking about political history.

From the expansionist fervour of the late nineteenth century through both world wars and the Cold War, a varied and ever-changing group of dreamers campaigned for Canada’s union with the British Caribbean colonies. They hoped to diversify Canada’s climate and agricultural capabilities, spur economic development, boost the nation’s autonomy and stature in the Empire-Commonwealth and the world, temper American power, and secure a tourist paradise. Dominion over Palm and Pine traces the transnational ebb and flow of these union campaigns, situating them in the global history of colonialism and white supremacy, Black activism, and decolonization. Paula Hastings centres the British Caribbean in historical narratives that rarely take account of the region, challenging us to rethink the history of Canadian expansionism and its entangled relationship with nation building, the struggle for sovereignty at home and abroad, and Canada’s evolving role and reputation on the world stage. Widely conceived, the brokers of Canada’s international histories included a multiplicity of actors who shaped the evolving contours and outcomes of the debate: Canadian legislators, civil servants, businessmen, and social justice activists; Caribbean migrants, intellectuals, and anti-colonial nationalists; and British colonial officials, absentee planters, and politicians. Canada’s lack of an overseas empire is often vaunted as a national characteristic that sets Canada apart from the United States and the old European powers. In excavating the dogged resilience of Canadian designs on the Caribbean, Dominion over Palm and Pine unsettles notions of Canadian goodness that rest on this self-righteous observation.

"Developing to Scale examines the techno-centric structure of global health practice through the history of the concept of appropriate technology. By looking at how certain technologies have been defined as more or less "appropriate" for the global south, based on assumptions about gender, race, culture, and environment, Heidi Morefield reveals the ways in which questions of technological scale have fundamentally shaped global health practice today. The idea that there was an "appropriate" level of technology, between the traditional and the modern, that would lead to sustainable social and economic development originated in the mid-1960s and gained considerable prominence in the 1970s. US foreign assistance oriented away from large-scale modernization projects, like water treatment facilities, toward small-scale, point-of-use technologies, like village water pumps, individual water filters, and oral rehydration salts. Practical shifts in assistance like this were a result of the enthusiastic adoption of the idea but also cuts in foreign aid budgets and other economic interests, principally those of newer donors from the high-tech sector; political interests; and the efforts of various activists, most notably post-colonial and anti-apartheid groups. Dreams of technological salvation have gained a new significance and foothold in the contemporary imagination, and Morefield's book provides the backstory, uncovering precisely how global health came to be understood largely as a problem to be solved with the right technology"--