Category: Workshops (Page 1 of 2)

Minutes of the CNHH Annual Meeting-2022

June 28, 2022 / Sean Eedy

Canadian Network on Humanitarian History

Annual General Meeting

May 18, 2022

Held virtually using Zoom
12:30-2:00 p.m.

Chair: Dominique Marshall
Minutes: Nassisse Solomon

1. Introduction by Attendees:

Hunter Mcgill (retired CIDA Official), taught courses at Carleton and Ottawa U on Humanitarian Aid and Development ; part of the archival rescue team	Stephen Osei-Owusu, University of Ghana, teaches history – focused on the role of aid and development in Ghana’s development post-colonialism – now working on Environmental History	Simplice Ayanma Post Doc Banting Fellow Working with David Webster- at Bishops University The politics of Canada and the Franco-phone
Claire Lefort-Rieu : Ph.D. Anthropology in Forced Migration in Cameroon – Institute of Development and Paris University in French	Rhonda Gossen : Also worked at CIDA – works as a consultant for UNEP and UNHCR consultant – retired from CIDA – interested in the archival rescue project and in the women development projects in Pakistan	John Foster: Teaching at the University of Regina – rewriting 3^rd year course on International Human Rights. Involved in MITACS between Dominique et al. Kevin O’Sullivan’s book- the
Nassisse Solomon	Lydia Wytenbroek : Assistant professor at UBC,social historian of twentieth-century health care, with a particular interest in understanding and interpreting the historical forces that have shaped the nursing profession and practice. Interests in Nursing in Iran. Will be responsible to Tweets and coordinating events for CNHH.*	Sonja De Laat : Degree in Anthropology, specializing in the History of Humanitarian Representation. Involved with Dominique \|Humanitarian Health Ethics – palliative care.
Kevin Brushett : Head of History at the Royal Military College, interested in CIDA work- government and non-government actors brokered the relationship btw the two	Jill Campbell Miller: Currently at Fisheries Canada. Interested in working on projects examining relationships b/w India and Canada.	Dominique Marshall: Oxfam Canada\|Gender design in Science Technology and Mathematics
Sarah Glassford Practicing archivist at the University of Windsor. History of The Canadian Red Cross; interested in collaborating

2. Updates on CNHH Projects:

CNHH Blog (Sarah):

The blog will continue to function as it has – a bit of a catchall. A great place to showcase ideas that are not big enough for an article- but you are looking to get it out there. Hoping to grow the list of Humanitarian Reads: “If you only read 4 things on topic x – these are the 4 that you should read”. Annotated bibliography.

E.g. Sonya – how to interpret visual histories

Rhonda Gossen offered the following in the chat: “I have a huge list of books written by humanitarians that has been compiled by the largest Facebook group of humanitarian workers called Fifty Shades of Aid”.

Bulletin: Dominique asked for feedback on how this has been working.
- Report from ongoing NGO Collaborations (Anna, Helen, Elizabeth, & FRI):
  
  MITACS project –
  - John- Latin American Working Group
  - Helen- Lebanese Reparations of the 1970s – helping authors with organizing the documents in the archives.

Farm Radio is hiring an RA to do 200 hours of work interviewing people in Africa to see how they benefited from Farm Radio funding

Archives (David, Dominique, Sarah)
Library and Archives Canada – Hunter and Chris working on fishery data from local fisheries. Dominique and David are collaborating in this regard. David is thinking of going to Carleton to do more of this work.
- Teaching: Recipro, upcoming courses, and other projects:
  History of the Spanish Civil War; Communist Aid; Environmental NGOs

Publications (Journal of Humanitarian Affairs) :
Special issue of the Journal of Humanitarian Aid History

3. CHA Panels:

2022 update: (Stephen, Simplice, Robyn?)

Report on the panel from Wednesday May 18:

Jill – the panel for this year was organically formed as both Dominique and David had post docs attending. A CHA affiliated group can host a panel.| Enticing for emerging scholars/ current students in Ph.D. or MA programs| Pull the proposal together.

Simplice: A major 1968-1980s Cameroon to Canada diplomatic project – CIDA.

Stephen: spoke of an event in 1849 in Ghana. A christianized and indegnous African population. Beyond the normative implications of the clash- a christianized group invading a group that works with the indigenous population….Eurpoean Christianity and modality- often times the indigenous populations gets trumped out. Relevance during the pre-colonial| colonial | and post colonial periods.

Spring Shannon Lecture series –
https://carleton.ca/history/news/shannon-lectures-spring-2022/
DFO has a social sciences and humanities network teams channel so I will post it there.

Lydia – will be promoting these events on CNHH Twitter account.

Action Items: Dominique and Stephen will connect with Lydia for further action.

2023- Planning: (Nassisse, Jill?)
Solicitation of ideas for a CHA Panel

a) Idea Number 1: Sarah- 2023 Panel on Archives- David Webster and Hunter McGill – a running theme is the presence or absence of archives and the crazy states in which they reach us. Jill suggested that the Round table Format might work best for this proposed discussion.

Jill – getting conference permission from the DFO is a long process. So start early if we are interested in getting CIDA or GAC involved in the panel.

b) Idea Number 2: Aid perspectives from the Middle East –

Lydia Wytenbroek: Area studies

c) Idea Number 3: Palliative Care| Aging – post-pandemic

*Cross-posting events – joint Congress Panel-

4. Book Launch (Lydia)

Great attendance- recording of events will be up soon.

If anyone has any ideas – please email Lydia @ lydia.wytenbroek@ubc.ca

5. Future Projects:

Events (Lydia) : email Lydia
NGO partners (& Annual Meeting of 2023): York University- Glendon College
Archives:

i. Kevin looking to work through CIDA files at LAC. Is there a way of getting more privileged access to these files? Contact Jennifer Anderson and Brandon Kelly at GAC.

ii. Archival Rescue Project: add CIDA to the meeting agenda of this group for ~30 minutes.

iii. Oral History with donors of the archives to understand the context of the donations.

iv. Rhonda Gossen- contact GAC / Historians to see if a funding proposal can be put forward to get access to files and start cataloguing materials.

6. Housekeeping:

Website Updates
Governance Updates & Potential Changes and Additions (Future Executive Committee Meetings – Nassisse)
Membership update and Potential new members

7. New Business & Other Business:

Check to see if there is a copy of the following book at your local libraries/ institutional library: https://www.ubcpress.ca/breaking-barriers-shaping-worlds

CNHH’s Seventh Annual Meeting Goes Virtual

July 9, 2021 / Sean Eedy

by Anna Kozlova

Due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, the Canadian Network of Humanitarian History’s (CNHH) seventh annual meeting was held virtually through the video conferencing platform Zoom. The virtual format of this year’s meeting resulted in a record high turnout with a number of overseas partners joining the meeting, demonstrating one of the rare benefits of the pandemic.

This was noted during the planning for the Canadian Historical Association’s (CHA) 2022 conference, where the goal is to have an Africa-centred panel as there has never been an area-focused panel focusing on development aid and humanitarianism in Africa. Organizers of the panel are considering the possibility of having a partially virtual format as that would allow for greater participation.

In spite of the pandemic, the past year has been a productive one for CNHH members. During the meeting, updates were provided on two MITACS-funded projects, Two case studies in the public history of international development policies in Canada: the Lebanese Special Measures Program (1975-1990) and The Life of Lewis Perinbam (1925-2008) and Micro-Histories of Transnational Humanitarian Aid: Co-Creation of Knowledge, Policy, and Education Materials. David Webster, Professor of History at Bishop’s University, talked about the digital initiatives that he is involved in which include launching a website inquiry on the history of Canadian development assistance, the Timor-Leste International Solidarity Archive and History Beyond Borders, which publishes e-dossiers on international history. Dominique Marshall, Professor of History at Carleton University, talked about her continued work with Archival Rescue on which is she working with alongside Hunter McGill, Senior Fellow at the School of International Development and Global Studies at the University of Ottawa, and Chris Trainor, Head Archivist at Carleton University.

Digital media was central to a lot of the discussions that took place during the meeting. Dominique has recently collaborated with Nicolas Lépine, an Associate Professor of History at Lakehead University on Recipro – a collaborative teaching website, meanwhile, Jill undertook the important role of overhauling and modernizing CNHH’s website, which is currently seeking blog contributions.

In terms of future projects, suggestions for a larger, more comprehensive project that explores the history of Canadian development efforts and a project focusing on visual histories were discussed. Under normal circumstances, CNHH tries to partner with local NGOs from the region where the annual meeting is being held, however, with the current remote environment, any NGOs, regardless of their location, are welcome to collaborate. Sarah Glassford, an archivist at the University of Windsor, talked about the value of establishing connections with NGOs as these connections often become long-term partnerships.

This meeting served as a wonderful example of the ability to productively adapt to the turbulent times we are currently living in. Throughout the discussions taking place at this meeting, CNHH members demonstrated the many ways that our current remote and digital environment has helped to eradicate some barriers to participation and collaboration, bringing the development community closer together.

__________________________________________________________________________________________

Anna Kozlova is a PhD Candidate in the Department of History at Carleton University. She was the lead researcher on the MITACS-funded project “Two case studies in the public history of international development policies in Canada: the Lebanese Special Measures Program (1975-1990) and The Life of Lewis Perinbam (1925-2008).”

CNHH Sixth Annual Meeting and Workshop

August 1, 2019 / Sean Eedy

by Lydia Wytenbroek

The Canadian Network of Humanitarian History (CNHH), an affiliate member of the Canadian Historical Association, held its sixth annual meeting and workshop on June 6, 2019 at UBC. The meeting offered an opportunity to reflect on network activities over the past year. CNHH members have furthered the study of the history of humanitarianism and development assistance through a range of exciting and innovative publications. Over the past year, more than a dozen original blog posts were published on the CNHH website on innovative topics pertaining to development aid and humanitarianism. Several CNHH members also contributed chapters to the open-access book, A Samaritan State Revisited: Historical Perspectives on Canadian Foreign Aid, published in 2019 by University of Calgary Press. As we reflected on the success of these posts and publications, we also discussed the need for a broader, comprehensive project that explores the history of Canadian development efforts. The opportunity to network, discuss the future of humanitarian history and consider future collaborative projects was a highlight of the meeting.

Registration for the CNHH Sixth Annual Workshop is now Live.

May 23, 2019 / Sean Eedy

Room Change Update.

Workshop Outline – Sixth Annual Meeting & Workshop of the CNHH

June 6, 2019

Buchanan B 141, UBC Campus

The Canadian Network on Humanitarian History (CNHH) will be holding its annual meeting and workshop on June 6, 2019, in Buchanan B 141, between 9:00 am and 12:00 pm. We invite all members of our network to join, either via Skype or in person. It is free to attend, but registration is required. Refreshments will be served.

CfP: Regarding the Pain of Others

November 7, 2018 / Sean Eedy

Regarding the Pain of Others: What Emotions have to do in the History of Humanitarian Images.

A workshop organized by the Institute for Ethics, History, and the Humanities (University of Geneva) and the Geneva Centre for Education and Research in Humanitarian Action (University of Geneva).

Taking the title of Susan Sontag’s seminal work as a starting point, this workshop aims at re-opening an old debate about the potentialities of exhibiting other’s suffering in order to promote a culture of peace, prevent war and/or resolve conflict. Sontag concluded in her book that images of atrocities had led the Global North to a form of
exhaustion, also called compassion fatigue, which has been criticized more recently as a myth. Yet, images remain today the main strategy of humanitarian organizations to raise awareness and funds.

Call for Papers: The Stakes of Sanctuary

July 5, 2018 / Sean Eedy

McGill University, 7-8 March 2019

Patti Tamara Lenard (University of Ottawa) and Laura Madakoro (McGill University)

In recent decades, there has been a great deal of attention given to modern sanctuary practices,
ranging from the sanctuary offered to asylum seekers from Central America in the 1980s to recent
efforts to declare university campuses, cities and states sanctuary spaces. Although much of the
focus has been on contemporary activities in the United States, sanctuary is a global, and deeply
historic phenomenon. Continue reading

Fifth Annual Meeting of the CNHH, May 31, 2018

June 11, 2018 / Sean Eedy

by Daniel Manulak and Jean-Michel Turcotte

The Canadian Network on Humanitarian History (CNHH) convened its fifth annual workshop during the 2018 Congress of the Humanities and Social Sciences, hosted by the University of Regina. In attendance were Dominique Marshall, Jill Campbell-Miller, Sonya de Laat, Valérie Gorin, Daniel Manulak, Kiera Mitchell (Technical Assistant), Cyrus Sundar Singh, Yordanos Tesfamariam, Jean-Michel Turcotte, and David Webster. Joining the meeting by Skype were Katie-Marie McNeill, Chris Trainor, and Anne-Emmanuelle Birn.

Workshop and 2018 Annual Meeting of the CNHH

April 26, 2018 / Sean Eedy

Description

Schedule:

8:30 Arrival and greetings

9:00 News and exchanges possibilities from our two international guests, Valérie Gorin and Soenke Kunkel

10:00 Other news and projects

-David Webster will talk about preserving and digitizing NGO archives

-Dominique Marshall about the recent archival rescue project

12:00 Annual meeting, light lunch provided

1:30 TBA

2:30 End of meeting

Welcome Visiting Scholars Dr. Kevin O’Sullivan and Dr. Valerie Gorin

February 26, 2018 / Sean Eedy

The Department of History is pleased to welcome two visiting scholars to the department this spring, who will be visiting as guests of the Canadian Network on Humanitarian History. Professor and departmental Chair Dominique Marshall will be acting as host during their stay and would be happy to facilitate any introductions.

Throughout the year, the Department hosts many visiting scholars and student researchers from all over the world. These accomplished visitors contribute to the Department in a variety of ways, including through knowledge transfer and collaborative partnerships, and by increasing the Department’s own international research reputation.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Kevin O’Sullivan and Dr. Valérie Gorin. Faculty members and graduate students interested in meeting with them during their stay can either contact them directly or contact Prof. Marshall.

CfP: Beyond Relief and Rehabilitation: UNRRA in Historical Perspective, 1943-47

February 26, 2018 / Sean Eedy

One Day Workshop

Deadline: 15 April 2018

Location: Armstrong Building, Newcastle University

Date: 28 June 2018

The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration, or UNRRA, was the first truly international humanitarian effort to prevent famine, destitution, and disease after a major conflict. Until the creation of UNRRA in 1943, war and post-war relief was predominantly carried out by charities, philanthropic individuals, or societies, each of which had independent aims and motives. Between its creation in 1943 and its closure in 1947, UNRRA provided emergency relief and long-term rehabilitation to millions of refugees and displaced persons (DPs) who fell under its mandate. UNRRA’s action in the international arena marked a watershed moment in international relations, human rights, and refugee humanitarianism. In shaping migration policy and conflict resolution and reconstruction processes, the Administration established a precedent for the emergence of the modern-day United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as well as for future UN specialised agencies, such as UNICEF, UNESCO, and WHO. In many ways, UNRRA can be viewed as a lens through which we can understand present-day challenges in the world today.

1. Introduction by Attendees:

2. Updates on CNHH Projects:

3. CHA Panels:

4. Book Launch (Lydia)

5. Future Projects:

6. Housekeeping:

7. New Business & Other Business:

by Anna Kozlova

by Lydia Wytenbroek

Room Change Update.

Regarding the Pain of Others: What Emotions have to do in the History of Humanitarian Images.

McGill University, 7-8 March 2019

Patti Tamara Lenard (University of Ottawa) and Laura Madakoro (McGill University)

by Daniel Manulak and Jean-Michel Turcotte

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