Communities
Recent Posts
Off the Cuff, with Quinn Downton
Quinn Downton is a history student in his final year of his undergraduate degree at Wilfrid Laurier University. In the fall, he is beginning his Master of Arts in History, writing a research paper on the transformation of the asylum in late Victorian Britain through...
Off the Cuff, with Megan Hamilton
Originally from Vernon, BC, Megan Hamilton is a social historian of twentieth century Canada. She has a Bachelor of Arts Honours in History from Wilfrid Laurier University, where she was a Research Assistant at the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada (LCSC). She is...
Off the Cuff, with Meredith Legace
Meredith Legace is a third year Honours student in History at Wilfrid Laurier University. She has worked with the Laurier Centre for the Study of Canada for the last three years, and originally started as a volunteer working on the Through Veterans’ Eyes project under...
This research cluster is inspired by the idea that broader political, social, economic, and cultural developments can be usefully captured and understood where people live and experience them—at the local level. Communities are more than groupings of people; they’re embedded in place, time, and distinct context. With particular attention to the communities of the Grand River watershed, we study the multiple and overlapping experiences of race, gender, Indigenous-settler relations, immigration, religion, and work in both urban and rural contexts. And we do so through local, place-based research, including oral history and public history, that emphasizes collaboration, exchange, and public service.