The W.L. Morton Lecture 2013
Dr. Sean Cadigan Delivers the 2013 W.L. Morton Lecture at Trent University
he 2013 W.L. Morton Lecture, “Death on Two Fronts: Class, War, and the Politics of Commemoration in Newfoundland, 1914-34” will be given by Dr. Sean Cadigan in the Bata Library Film Theatre, Room 103 Bata Library on Tuesday November 19, at 5:00 p.m. All are invited to attend this free public event.
In his talk, Professor Cadigan looks at the economic, political and class significance of the events of 1914 as they relate to a sense of nationalism and identity in Newfoundland. Examining the seemingly disparate events of the 1914 seal hunt disaster on the northeast coast of Newfoundland, as well as the outbreak of war in Europe, Prof. Cadigan traces the evolution of a class-based oppositional movement in Newfoundland and the way in which the politics of protest were muted by the promotion of more nationalist political culture promoting honour, sacrifice and patriotism. He examines the period of 1914-34 as the populist government attempted to grapple with economic collapse and burgeoning social problems under the pressure of the high standards of political morality set up by the politics of commemoration, eventually culminating with the death of liberal democracy in Newfoundland.
Prof. Cadigan is a professor of History at Memorial University since 2001, and served as head of the university’s History department from 2010 to 2013. His research interests include the social and ecological history of fishers and fishing communities and the politics of class in Newfoundland and Labrador. Prof. Cadigan’s previous book, Newfoundland and Labrador: A History, received the J.W. Dafoe Foundation Annual Book Prize for outstanding, non-fiction writing about Canada, Canadians and the nation in international affairs.
The W.L. Morton Lecture is named in honour of W.L. Morton, the Canadian historian and former Master of Trent University’s Champlain College. The 2013 W.L. Morton lecture is presented by Canadian Studies & History Undergraduate Departments, the Frost Centre of Canadian Studies & Indigenous Studies, and Champlain College.
