Tag: photography

“Seeing Refugees”: Using Old Photographs to Gain New Perspectives on Refugees, Past and Present

November 14, 2018 / Sean Eedy

by Sonya de Laat

In the summer of 2018 an unprecedented number of people claiming to be refugees crossed into Canada at unofficial border points. Many Canadians learned of these events through photographs and other visual media circulating through the popular commercial press. Responding to such images, public reaction in Canada has been mixed. While some people support actions aimed at helping these families and individuals, others have sensationalized the situation by labelling it a “crisis” and calling border crossers as “illegals” or “cue jumpers.” Continue reading

Armenian Refugees & the United Church of Canada

August 24, 2018 / Sean Eedy

Envisioning Gratitude: Armenian Orphans in Canada

by Sandrine Murray

The Armenian Genocide was the result of the Ottoman government’s destruction of 1.5 million Armenians, most of them citizens within the empire. This was during and after the First World War. Most academics place the beginning of the genocide in 1915, though there are various accounts of violence against the Christian minority in the Ottoman empire before then. The Armenian Genocide is often seen as the first modern genocide, though to this day the term has been rejected by Turkey to describe what happened. Continue reading

History Inhabits Each of Us: Creative Engagements with Personal Story in Troubling Times

June 25, 2018 / Sean Eedy

In October 2018, the Oral History Association will be gathering in Montreal for their annual conference. CNHH member, Dr. Isabel Campbell, will be presenting a paper. In addition, Dr. Campbell introduced the Network to the associated oral history and multimedia project presented in association with the OHA and Oral History at Concordia University. Any member interested should visit the OHA website for information on their annual conference (October 2018 @ Concordia University, Montreal QC) or the Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling at Concordia University for information on the multimedia project. Likewise, the CNHH Event posting may be found here.

The program for this exhibition of the COHDS Research Centre at Concordia may be found here.

Humanitarian Photography and Refugees Abroad: A Virtual Exhibition CNHH Call for Canadian Stories

May 18, 2017 / Sean Eedy

Deadline: June 30, 2017.

Printer Friendly Call for Photographs.

Photographers and aid agencies each frame photographs according to their own politics, experiences and goals. These, in turn, shape spectators’ interpretations of people’s lived realities around the globe, and contribute to formulating responses to humanitarian issues. How have photographers and agencies represented refugees? How have refugees been pictured? In what way does the photographic version change when it has been published?

See how “Refugees on the road between Gisenyi and Ruhengeri,” a photograph of a Rwandan child made by Canadian photographer Roger LeMoyne’s in 1996 for the CIDA International Development Photo Library and published in 2000, can help answer these questions.

Treasures of CIDA’s 30-Year-Old Photography Collections: A Visual Perspective on Canadian International Aid

December 2, 2016 / Sean Eedy

by Sonya de Laat & Dominique Marshall

This blog has been prepared ahead of the workshop on the archives of CIDA on December 12 in Ottawa, held by the CNHH on the occasion of the Conference “A Samaritan State Revisited: Historical Perspectives on Canadian Foreign Aid, 1950-2016” hosted by Global Affairs Canada

This article is cross-posted with Active History as of December 9, 2016.

Rights and Realities Exhibit; Slide Number: 730-487-04; A woman repairs shoes in a tiny kiosk on the sidewalk in downtown Lima, Peru, 1995; (c) Global Affairs Canada/Stephanie Colvey

The ways in which the former Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) has visually represented its projects and people to the general public has greatly informed public perceptions of aid and international affairs. From the end of the 1960s, CIDA’s photographs have been used in the communications products of the Agency and of partners (NGOs, schools, publishers, etc.), or in travelling exhibitions, publications and teaching materials. They also represent a resource for scholars and practitioners interested in exploring and sharing CIDA’s multifaceted histories. For forty-five years, CIDA administered the nation’s official development assistance (ODA). From large-scale mining and electricity projects to smaller scale education and health programs, CIDA was Canada’s main response to a global surge in international development initiatives that started in the 1960s. Simultaneously, CIDA was a vehicle for extending Canadian economic and political interests as well as its social values abroad. It became a key entity in defining Canada’s caring and helpful identity domestically and internationally.