Distinguished Visiting Lecturer Program

Two guest lectures hosted by my own institution, and delivered by noted labour historian Dr. Bryan D. Palmer were simply not to be missed.

The first talk was titled Colonialism, Capitalism, and Canada, 1500-2023: How The Past is Before Us and pre-empted the argument put forward in Dr. Palmer’s forthcoming (at the time) book Colonialism and Capitalism, Canada’s Origins 1500-1890. The talk focused on the overarching mutual reliance between structures of Capitalism and Colonialism, drawing examples from Canadian history. The talk was fascinating, both for its content, and as I came to see it as a pinnacle resulting from an illustrious career in the academy.

I didn’t need much convincing to attend the second talk, to hear the author of Canada’s 1960s: The Ironies of Identity in a Rebellious Era explore Indigenous resistance in a talk called Red Power in the 1960s and Now: Situating Indigenous Protest and its Legacies Historically and Politically. While this talk was slightly less refined, by virtue of not being amalgamated into a book manuscript, I found it a fascinating look into the Historian’s craft and how a project evolves and develops.

I found Dr. Palmer to be a well researched, the talks to be forceful in both content and delivery. His assertion that: “I won’t be using a PowerPoint. This whole thing started with words, so that’s good enough for me” was charming.