WINNIPEG, MB – One of Canada’s most notable historians, George Ramsay Cook lectures on Who Broadened Canadian History? on Monday, October 19, 2009, at 7:00 pm, Convocation Hall, 515 Portage Ave. This is the inaugural H. Sanford Riley Fellowship Lecture.
The lecture is free and open to the public.
An Expanded Past
Cook has noted that over the past thirty years, the content of Canadian history has broadened in several significant directions. The Canadian history menu used to list political, diplomatic, military and constitutional dishes with prominent Anglophone and Francophone men who dominated the “national stage”. However, this is changing. New groups are researching neglected areas of Canadian history and the result is an expanded past. This expansion is now accepted as a more accurate and more diverse Canadian experience.
Cook is one of Canada’s most notable historians, an accomplished public intellectual, an established academic and The University of Winnipeg’s inaugural H. Sanford Riley Fellow. Cook’s historical work emphasizes the important role of documentation and evidence. He speaks to the importance of objectivity and the deconstructing of received opinions and mythologies. His writing has a deep regard for knowledge and informed self-consciousness.
Promoting Canadian History
This lecture is part of The Riley Fellowship in Canadian History that promotes the study and dissemination of Canadian history. This fellowship is awarded annually to a scholar or scholars of Canadian history interested in pursuing and sharing their interest in the study of Canada with the faculty and students at The University of Winnipeg and interested members of the community. The H. Sanford Riley Fellow gives a public lecture during their tenure.
Funding for the Riley Fellowship in Canadian History is made possible through a generous endowment from Dr. H. Sanford Riley of Winnipeg who is an enthusiastic student of the history of Canada. He is a former Chancellor of The University of Winnipeg who received an Honorary Doctorate of Laws from The University of Winnipeg in June 2009, and a vigorous supporter of Canada’s National History Society.
