History

Environmental infrastructure transforms the surrounding physical and culturallandscapes. In Canada, it has long been an integral part of settler colonialism. It severs Indigenous ties to the land and furthers colonial goals. This thesis examines the complex history of the Trent-Severn Waterway (TSW) during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, when it drastically changed the region. Research using oral history, newspapers, and legal documents corrects a narrative that positions the TSW as a common good. The TSW is alleged to have served the people, but who benefitted? The experiences of riparian residents varied as Anishinaabe First Nations endured a multilayered form of violence, distinct from their settler counterparts. What was often a nuisance for settlers could be life-altering for Anishinaabeg. However, amidst these changes, residents demonstrated resilience. Communities actively shifted the TSW to tourism as they adapted to a transformed landscape.

Author Keywords: Canada, Colonial, Environment, Indigenous, Ontario, Waterway

This study considers the impact of urban revitalization through community engagement and the promotion of activities, in particular boxing in early twentieth century Winnipeg. It details the development of a multiethnic amateur boxing league which arose in the city during this period, using both qualitative and quantitative sources and a series of maps. This research shows how spaces in Winnipeg, like the Young Men's Christian Society, the One Big Union and the Winnipeg City Police Amateur Athletic Association, used boxing to support young men and boys from various ethnic, class and religious backgrounds. Winnipeg newspapers, such as the Winnipeg Tribune, offer rich quantitative sources, including boxing cards that list fighters' names, dates, and locations. When paired with census data, maps, and archival information from institutions like the YMCA, these sources provide a wealth of detail on Winnipeg's ethnic, class, and religious composition. This study leverages these resources to advance the understanding of spatial dynamics and demonstrates how analyzing third places can address questions about segregation in the city.

Author Keywords: Boxing, GIS, Sports, Third Place, Winnipeg, Young Men's Christian Association

AbstractThe Rise of Property and the Death of the Moral Economy: Enclosure and Social Unrest in Late-Eighteenth Century England – Ewan Martel

Eighteenth-century Great Britain was a kingdom marked by the rise of a property-based and highly individualistic conception of social and economic structures came a doctrine of improvement based upon extracting the most value from a tract of land possible. Parliamentary enclosure was critical to this change, seeing lands converted from something of communal value to individual property. This work argues that the growth and implementation of parliamentary enclosure was a source of immense social unrest in late-eighteenth century Britain as the process and its supporting ideologies were inherently counter-intuitive to traditional systems of communal land ownership and subsistence. This paper utilizes primary sources from both landowners implementing enclosure and the responses of commoners and enclosure's opponents to better understand the agency of the peasantry in their fight against a damaging practice and how forms of unrest were multi-faceted and prevalent, despite the growing power of the land-owing gentry.

Author Keywords: Class, Common Lands, Eighteenth-Century, Enclosure, Great Britain, Social Unrest

Food in high medieval England (1066–1315) was central to socialization. It played a key role in social gatherings, both through fasting and feasting. The thesis examines the symbolic and functional roles of food rituals across lay, ecclesiastical, monastic, noble, and royal groups, highlighting the ways in which food served as a means of socialization and a tool for asserting power, prestige, and social norms. This study relies on a rich combination of primary source materials derived from chronicles, histories, visual sources, monastic rules, collections of recipes, courtesy literature, and administrative and legal sources. The theoretical frameworks established by Ledyaev (1997), Wagner (1996), Durkheim (1912), and Berger, Rosenholtz, and Zelditch Jr. (1980) guide this study. It argues that food, through fasting and feasting, was not merely sustenance but an instrument of socialization.

Author Keywords: England, Fast, Feast, High Medieval, Socialization

Colonization has transformed the landscapes of the American Midwest and compromised the region's resources and ecologies. In response, governments, environmental scientists, and Indigenous nations have undertaken myriad efforts over the past century to restore Midwestern environments. Yet the appropriate goals and techniques for this work have been deeply contested. This thesis explores the scientific, political, and cultural meanings of ecological restoration in the region. Comparison of different forms of restoration reveals the contingency, malleability, and historical pitfalls of restoration knowledge and practices. By framing the pursuit as a problem of scientific, historical, or technical knowledge, practitioners have often neglected the political and cultural ramifications of restoration efforts. At the same time, restoration practices have influenced the intellectual, environmental, and political history of the Midwest in the twentieth century. The efforts of Midwestern scientists and public agencies have advanced wildlife and ecosystem conservation in the region, but have at times exacerbated environmental injustices and inequalities. More recent wild rice conservation efforts by Ojibwe governments demonstrate that, depending on how the framework has been constructed, ecological restoration has served as a tool for reclaiming Indigenous sovereignty as well as a vehicle for settler colonialism.

Author Keywords: American Midwest, conservation, ecological restoration, ecology, Indigenous history, settler colonialism

In 1980s Ontario, racialized migrant domestic workers faced systemic exploitation, precarious immigration status, and exclusion from labour protections, reinforced by provincial and federal policies that devalued domestic labour. This thesis examines how INTERCEDE, a Toronto-based coalition, challenged these structural inequalities. Employing an intersectional approach, this study reveals how race, gender, immigration status, and class collectively marginalized migrant care workers.

Drawing on extensive primary sources, it analyzes INTERCEDE's influence on major policy changes, including reforms to the Foreign Domestic Movement (FDM) program and to provincial labour laws. The thesis argues that while INTERCEDE efforts contributed to securing significant, albeit often fragile, victories, these gains highlighted both the power of activism and the persistent challenges under neoliberal regimes.

It contributes to feminist labour history, migration studies, and care work scholarship by demonstrating how organized resistance reshaped Canadian policy and contested institutionalized marginalization.

Author Keywords: Care Activism, Care Work History, Feminist Labour History, INTERCEDE, Migrant Domestic Workers, Resistance

This study examines the intersection between nuclear energy in Ontario, Canada, with popular forces acting upon it between the 1940s and the mid-1980s. It finds that nuclear energy was the target of changing epistemology as society shifted to a post-modern framework in its perception of technology. Technology was irreparably associated with potential encroaching governmental Technocracy. Nuclear was additionally impacted by a societal misunderstanding of the engineering design philosophy, success through failure, as a negative aspect. These factors then combined with the common psychological phenomenon of affective heuristics to produce a society that was fundamentally opposed to nuclear energy on intellectual principles, safety principles, and base psychological principles. It is the finding of this paper that these factors almost assuredly contributed to the cancellations of and shift away from nuclear power in Ontario. This study offers a rebuttal to the overarching popular misconceptions of, and apprehension toward, nuclear energy.

Author Keywords: nuclear, Ontario, post-modern, risk, technology

This thesis concerns the history of the Muhammad Ali Museum and Education Center (MAC) from 1992 to 2005. The MAC originated from the vision of Paul Bather, a local politician in Louisville, who proposed building it in 1992, incorporated it, and formed its Board of Directors in 1994. The planning of the MAC involved collaboration among Ali and his wife, Lonnie Ali, community leaders, local politicians, and architectural and design firms. This thesis will identify how Louisville's government helped create the MAC and how that connected to its larger efforts at boosting tourism in downtown Louisville from the late 1980s to the 2000s. It will also consider Lonnie Ali's involvement in creating the MAC, how the museum and cultural centre depicted the boxer, and how those parts of its history connect to the boxer's media portrayal since the late 1980s.

Author Keywords: Downtown Louisville, Lonnie Ali, Louisville, Muhammad Ali, Muhammad Ali Center, Muhammad Ali Museum and Education Center

Arturo Cruz Jr., born in 1953, was a highly influential and respected figure in Nicaraguan Politics. He was involved in the Contras. Cruz played a crucial role in supporting the Contras, helping to secure U.S. funding for the group which was a rebel group formed by the US against the Sandinista dictatorship in the 1980s. Later, he also served as the Nicaraguan ambassador to the US between 2007 and 2009. His involvement in the Contras was a controversial part of his career, but it did not define his contribution to Nicaraguan Politics. In this role, he worked tirelessly to influence American foreign policy towards his home country, which included advocating for democracy, human rights, and press freedom. Cruz's efforts to promote these values were a testament to his dedication to improving the lives of Nicaraguans. Cruz was deeply involved in various peace agreements in Central and Latin America, working towards resolving conflicts and promoting stability in the region. His contribution to the region went beyond Nicaragua, and he was well-respected for his efforts towards promoting peace and stability. Throughout his career, Cruz was a strong advocate for democracy and human rights. He believed that these values were essential for a country to prosper and develop. Cruz was a vocal advocate for press freedom and recognized the critical role of the media in promoting democracy and holding government officials accountable. This biographical study aims to explore the life and contributions of Arturo Cruz Jr. towards Nicaraguan Politics and the wider Latin American region. Through a detailed analysis of his life, this study seeks to shed light on an important

AbstractThe Rise of Property and the Death of the Moral Economy: Enclosure and Social Unrest in Late-Eighteenth Century England – Ewan Martel

Eighteenth-century Great Britain was a kingdom marked by the rise of a property-based and highly individualistic conception of social and economic structures came a doctrine of improvement based upon extracting the most value from a tract of land possible. Parliamentary enclosure was critical to this change, seeing lands converted from something of communal value to individual property. This work argues that the growth and implementation of parliamentary enclosure was a source of immense social unrest in late-eighteenth century Britain as the process and its supporting ideologies were inherently counter-intuitive to traditional systems of communal land ownership and subsistence. This paper utilizes primary sources from both landowners implementing enclosure and the responses of commoners and enclosure's opponents to better understand the agency of the peasantry in their fight against a damaging practice and how forms of unrest were multi-faceted and prevalent, despite the growing power of the land-owing gentry.

Author Keywords: Class, Common Lands, Eighteenth-Century, Enclosure, Great Britain, Social Unrest