Professor Palmer, who also holds a prestigious Canada Research Chair appointment, taught a three-week graduate seminar from October 21 to November 16 in the History department at the Universidade de Sao Paulo. While there he was also invited to give a public lecture entitled "Socialism After the Implosion of the Soviet Union" at a conference on Socialism and Neoliberalism sponsored by the Center for Studies in Citizenship and the department of Sociology.

On October 29 he delivered a public lecture to the history graduate program relating to his award-winning study of American communist leader, James P. Cannon, entitled "The Embattled Historiography of American Communism: A Dissident View." Following this on November 4 he addressed the history department's Studies of the History of the Americas section, lecturing on "The Birth of Red Power in Canada: A Forgotten Chapter in the History of the New Left." Finally, he delivered a closing public lecture at the Universidade de Sao Paulo on November 7, speaking on "Thinking Through Eric Hobsbawm: History, Politics, and Marxism in our Times."

While in Brazil, Prof. Palmer was also invited by the History Department of the Universidade Federal Fluminense in Rio de Janeiro to speak. On November 10 he lectured to an audience of undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty on "American Exceptionalism Reconsidered: The United States Working Class from the Revolution of the 1780s to the Obama Presidency."

At the Universidade de Campinas in Campinas, Brazil, Prof. Palmer met with faculty and graduate students in the vibrant centre for the study of social history and again lectured on the history of American communism.

Prof. Palmer will also present three papers at workshops and conferences outside of Trent in the near future: on November 22 he is speaking at a workshop on the 1960s at Princeton University. The title of his paper is "'Indians of All Tribes Unite': Red Power in Canada's 1960s," which relates to a chapter of his forthcoming University of Toronto study, Canada's 1960s: The Ironies of Identity in a Rebellious Era, scheduled for release in March 2009. At Carleton University, on November 29, Prof. Palmer will be the final speaker in the Fall Semester's Shannon Lecture Series, and he will address trends in Canadian social history. Finally, on January 4, 2009, Prof. Palmer will speak at a session on communist historiography at the American Historical Association meetings in New York City.

For more information about Prof. Palmer and his research interests, please visit the Canadian Studies website.