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Association President's Message Research Chair in Canadian Studies The Transition to Parenthood Study
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Established in 2000, the Canada Research Chair program will provide $900 million in federal funding over the next five years to enable Canadian universities "to achieve the highest levels of research excellence, to become world-class research centres in the global, knowledge-based economy." By 2005, 2000 Research Chairs will be created in universities across the country; eight are designated to be held at Trent. Dr. Palmer, one of Trent's first Chair holders, brings an impressive research record to his position in the Canadian Studies department; he has a firmly established reputation as one of Canada's leading experts in the field of working-class history and the history and theory of Marxism. What has been the experience of Canadian workers? What has been their role in Canadian social history? How have conflicts between the working and capitalist classes shaped Canada's development? These are the issues which Dr. Palmer has confronted in his work. A graduate of the University of Western Ontario and the State University of New York at Binghamton, Dr. Palmer wrote his doctoral thesis on the conflicts between skilled workers and their employers in Hamilton between 1860 and 1914. Since then, he has authored ten books and dozens of articles related to the history of the labour movement in Canada. His works include an exploration of the effects of the establishment of a Goodyear plant in Napanee, Ontario; a study of the rise and fall of a socialist opposition in British Columbia; and a number of biographies of Canadian and American labour leaders. He has recently been inducted into the Royal Society of Canada for his work. Dr. Palmer's teaching career is no less impressive. Before being lured to Trent, he held positions at Simon Fraser, McGill, and most recently at Queen's University, where he was a member of the history department for sixteen years. Does he miss working at a larger university? Not really. While the bigger places may have larger research budgets, he says, smaller academic communities like Trent definitely have their advantages. "It's less isolated here," he says. "There's more connection with other departments." The emphasis which the Canadian Studies department, and indeed the university, places on interdisciplinary research suits Dr. Palmer, whose own work encompasses History, Sociology, Political Science and Political Economy. For students, too, Dr. Palmer has already noticed the advantages of a Trent education, with its smaller program sizes. "We can choose our students more carefully," he explains, "which ensures a better fit between students and faculty." Plans are already being made for Dr. Palmer to supervise at least two Canadian Studies graduate theses dealing with class and gender-related issues. His first project, however, as Canada Research Chair will be the completion of two book-length manuscripts. The first is an examination of the causes of the Upper Canada Rebellion in 1837-38, and an analysis of how the social climate of the time led to its failure. The second is a biography of the American revolutionary James P. Cannon, whom Dr. Palmer refers to as "the father of American Trotskyism." Another project in the works is a conference to commemorate the 50th issue of the journal Labour/Le Travail, which Dr. Palmer has been involved with since its inception in 1976, and has edited for the last four years. Slated to be held at Trent in June, 2002, the conference will attract international experts on the history of the working classes, including the history of native workers. The latter, he says, is "not an area people think about much," but an important aspect of the history of the labour movement in Canada. Dr. Palmer will hold his Research
Chair for the next seven years, and he is excited about joining
the Trent faculty. "I'm looking forward to working here,"
he says. The Trent community, likewise, is looking forward to
a long and fruitful association with him.  |
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W hen
the current government established the Canada Research Chair
program to attract "the best research minds in the world,"
they might have had Dr. Bryan Palmer in mind. Dr. Palmer, who
recently joined the Canadian Studies department as Canada Research
Chair, is a historian with a passion for his subject. Settled
into his comfortable office at Traill College, he speaks about
the thirty years he has devoted to researching and writing about
that often-neglected sector of Canadian society: the working
class.