CDST 450B, 2024W: Senior Seminar in Canadian Studies
3 credits
Professor Kathryn Harrison, McLean Family Chair
Course Description
Extraction of natural resources has been central to the colonial project of Canada since Europeancontact. From beaver pelts and codfish, to lumber and wheat, to fossil fuels, resource exports have been entwined with settlers’ relationship with Indigenous peoples and their lands, development of the Canadian economy, Canada’s role in the North American and global economy, and even Canadian national and regional identity. Canada’s leading exports today – oiland gas – not only contribute to a global existential crisis but render Canada economically vulnerable to a global clean-energy transition. This seminar will examine the role of resource exports with a particular focus on fossil fuels and climate, including implications for reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, federal-provincial relations, and Canada’s economic future. Readings will draw from history, geography, literature, economics, and political science. Students will be evaluated based on class participation, short papers on assignment readings, and a research paper.