For Celia Stephens a picture really is worth a thousand words, or in her own description at least, pages and pages of one man’s autobiography.  For her final project for seminar Historical Representations, Stephens ‘represented’ This Was my Choice, a book Igor Gouzenko wrote about his decision to defect to Canada.

“Part of what I love most about history is stories of individuals. Personal stories help you get inside the mind of a person, and in a way a generation,” said Stephens, a third-year history and humanities student.

Gouzenko was a cipher clerk in the Soviet Union’s Embassy in Canada. When he discovered a spy ring that threatened Canada’s security, he brought evidence to various Canadian officials to alert them – and officially launched this country’s role in the Cold War.

“This just goes to show how an average person can impact historical events,” said Stephens. “If it weren’t for him, perhaps the Cold War wouldn’t have happened as it did. Isn’t it amazing to think that one man did that?”

Stephens wrote and illustrated a four-page graphic novel based on the information she found in his biography and old news clips archived by the CBC.  In one panel alone, Stephens captures Gouzenko’s odyssey to be taken seriously by the various governmental officials he approached with his story.

In her illustrated version Gouzenko, Stephens hopes readers will see beyond dry dates to the ‘real people’ whose actions set in motion the events that we now think of as history.

“I think in an academic environment this is a very easy thing to forget sometimes.”

When it came time to hand in his final assignment for his seminar course, Historical Representations, Joel Bandy decided to sing its praises – quite literally.

Bandy, a student of classics, religion and history, wrote and recorded a song that encapsulated the Cold War era. They Call me the Fat Man interweaves imagery the proliferating atomic weaponry and the impact of the Gouzenko affair on the Canadian psyche with the then nascent rock and roll.

“One song by Fats Domino which was popular in 1949 was a song called The Fat Man, and it was the same year the Soviet Union detonated its first nuclear bomb,” said Bandy. “The “Fat Man” was the nickname for the Atomic bomb which fell on Nagasaki, so it was really a coincidence which inspired me.”

Bandy took a week and a half to write the five-stanza song, in his determination to capture the complexity of mass cultural and societal change brought about by the Cold War.  He and a friend spent another five hours recording and mixing the final recording
A class visit to the Diefenbunker – a fall-out shelter for government officials built at the height of the Cold War over fears of a nuclear attack, was pivotal for Bandy’s inspiration. The site houses a life-sized replica of the bomb, code-named Fat Man that was dropped on the Japanese village of Nagasaki in 1945.

“I wanted to criticize the record. Canada and the United States were very close during World War II and the Cold War; we supplied them with some of the components for the atomic bomb,” said Bandy.  Yet, historical record reinforces the narrative of good and evil without examining the motives of those presenting the story, Bandy contends.

“The course really forced me to confront the blurred line between ‘bias’ and ‘perspective. It also forced me to consider alternative perspectives for interpretation, and take other sources for historical knowledge more seriously, such as art and music.”

Watercolour painting by Susan Tudin

By Nicole Findlay

As the deadline for the submission of final projects loomed, Susan Tudin vacillated between two options she’d been considering. Finally she decided to submit both – a website and a painting.

The project was the culmination of a third-year course Historical Representations, Tudin, a fourth year, history student was enrolled in.  The subject matter was Canada’s experience of the Cold War.

When she began the course, Tudin describes her knowledge of the epoch as “relegated to spy fiction and James Bond movies.”

The course in part addressed the case of Igor Gorgouzenko, a Russian employee of the Soviet Embassy of Canada whose defection is attributed with officially launching the Cold War in this country. Through his work at the embassy, Gorgouzenko was alerted to the presence of sleeper agents attempting to infiltrate Canadian society and ferret out its governments secrets. He testified on behalf of Canada, his identity concealed underneath a white pillowcase. 

“His hooded anonymity claimed him great notoriety in the 50s and 60’s, yet his bravery was officially ignored by Canada for almost sixty years,” said Tudin.

She decided to create her own historical representation to remedy this.  Tudin researched the Globe and Mail archives for news pertaining to the case, and built a website, Igor Gorgouzenko in Historical News  to trace how his dramatic story unfolded before an incredulous public.

Tudin also submitted a water colour painting that encapsulates the anxiety of the times.  Uncertain figures, including one who is hidden by a hood, stand before the Diefenbunker. Also depicted are a gas mask, barren trees and a flash of light on the horizon. An air raid siren appears in the foreground.  The colours are muted and somber – a bleak reminder of an era that created the Diefenbunker to protect officials against the fallout of a nuclear attack.

“I believe that being given a chance to create my own historical representation and to learn by doing was a highly effective and imaginative approach to this course,” said Tudin. “The critical assessment of public presentations informs our interpretation of history.”

Talbert Johnson's Government Guide

By Nicole Findlay

Upon being given creative free rein for a final course project, Talbert Johnson decided to put his lifelong passion for drawing cartoons to use.

His Government of Canada-issued Cartoon Guide to Persecuting Homosexuals is a tongue in cheek summary of the policies the Canadian government enacted between the 1950s -70s. He submitted the work as his final project for Historical Representations, a third-year history course.

Among the themes the course examined, was the little known outing of homosexuals in the public service.  In the name of national security, gay civil servants were targeted as a potential spies because according to the reasoning of the times, they were more easily subject to blackmail by enemy nations.

“The Cold War was a golden age for government-published booklets and pamphlets – surely there had to be some literature on the protocols of routing out gays from the civil service!” said Johnson.

Johnson combined his new found knowledge with his love of cartoon illustration and set to work on his subversive guide.  The six-page booklet presents a common public perception held at the time, that homosexuality represented a threat to Canadian culture and values.  It then addresses the threat perceived to and by government and pokes fun at the policies and practices put in place to root out suspects.

Although Johnson takes a comical look at a grave subject, he says the project allowed him to think more seriously about historical studies. 

“Thinking in terms of how a history is presented, instead of focusing on the history itself, took a little getting used to,” said Johnson. “In the end, it made me step back and appreciate a fuller view of the discipline.”

“I wanted students to have an immersive experience, one that would challenge their ideas of what history is and how it is made,” said Harvey.

So she and 45 students began an examination on the Cold War period in Canada.  First they cracked the books. One of the books available to the students was The Canadian War on Queers: National Security as Sexual Regulation, a book written by one of her peers, Patricia Gentile with Gary Kinsman. Many of the students chose to review the book.

They also went to the Diefenbunker in Carp, Ontario, to get a feel for the era. The combination of text and field trip provided her class with two distinct takes on the same period in time.  They also examined other themes related to that era – the Igor Gouzenko Affair, the arms race, and the creation and forced population of Nunavut to plant the Canadian flag in the North.

“I wanted the students to research a subject that was largely unknown to them,” said Harvey. “Because of the lack of research on this topic, I thought any contribution these students made would help future researchers.”

Their final project literally represented the past with a modern twist as students merged their new-found knowledge of past events with current technology. The results included graphic novels, podcasts, websites, music, paintings and even a walking tour of Ottawa.

In the following weeks, a series of profiles illustrating the individual projects will be distributed through the FASS electronic newsletters.

“The Internet is revolutionizing the way we think about the past by providing new forms of representation,” said Harvey. Her students themselves have become creators and curators of history.

Co-written by FASS faculty member, Patrizia Gentile, the book examines the government sanctioned persecution of homosexuals during the Cold War period. Fittingly, much of the action takes place on the streets of the nation’s capital.

For his final class assignment, Tucker, a third-year history and philosophy major, combined his own knowledge of the city’s hot spots with historical sites described in the book. 

“When I looked over the different gay spaces in Ottawa, it came to me that the best and most interesting way of getting people involved in local history is through a walking tour,” explained Tucker.

He mixed the past with the current cityscape, making allowances for sites that have vanished with time, or are located far off the beaten track.

“Because there are plenty of modern spaces left in Ottawa – bars, bookstores, I decided that the end of the tour would include modern spaces to close off the tour from the Cold war to the present.”

Tour highlights include past clandestine meeting spots at the Lord Elgin Hotel, the YMCA, and Major’s Hill Park, with current businesses serving the gay community like After Stonewall bookstore.

When he has a little more time to spare, Tucker would like to offer guided tours, either in person, or through a smart phone app. There are lessons to be learned in retracing the footsteps of those who walked the streets before us.

“I hope they learn about local Ottawa history and come to understand that there is a dialogue in history,” said Tucker. “What we learn in school is not the ultimate truth in the history of Canada. While we enjoy many human rights today, Canada’s track record has not been perfect.”

Students in Michael Ostroff’s fourth-year seminar are bringing history to the silver screen.  The group of sixteen students enrolled in Making Documentary History has made four short documentaries that explore diverse themes and time periods from Canada’s past.

“More and more, we are seeing documentaries being produced exploring historical events,” said Ostroff, a local film maker and history instructor. “We are appealing to an audience of non-specialists, people who appreciate history as educational entertainment but don’t have the patience to delve into detailed historical readings.”

Each student group submitted a number of topics they were interested in portraying. They narrowed their choice down to one based on which would make the best story, as well as the availability of archival photos and film.  Final topics include an eclectic mix – a WWI hero, Canada’s Cold War, gay rights in Ottawa and even food.

“The students are learning to use history in another medium, to search for the truth and present stories in an entertaining and enlightening manner,” said Ostroff.

Carleton’s Instructional Media Services (IMS) provided the students with lessons in using a video camera and introduced them to the art of editing, after which the students began to shoot their own documentaries.  Currently in post-production, each documentary will range from 5-15 minutes in length.

The course will culminate in a film screening on March 31.

Making Documentary History film night
Thursday, March 31 at 7 p.m.
Room 100, St. Patrick’s Building
Reception to follow

Documentary line-up
A Vision of Fear: the Diefenbunker in Canada’s Cold War History
Queer in the City
Food and Faith: Ottawa’s Corso Italia
Major-General George Pearkes: His Cross to Bear

Arguments over Facebook and privacy have been raging ever since the site opened its virtual doors and invited in the world.

While the concept of privacy matters a great deal to some and less to others, everyone should at least be aware of how much of their information seeps through the cracks and into the public domain. I take my students to http://youropenbook.org and type in something a student might post.

Let’s take, “I hate my prof” or “I cheated on the test”. Facebook is porous (despite the privacy settings), and you would be astounded to see the number of people who act as if it were completely walled off. This usually has the desired effect of getting the students to at least look at their privacy settings.

But what’s the value of that information?  What are you really giving away when you use Facebook? What and where is the harm in posting some pictures, updating your status, or “liking” a band?

You may or may not formally give Facebook your information forever – there is quite a debate over what the real implications of Facebook’s Terms of Service are. It is one that likely won’t be resolved without some court battles.  Once information is posted on Facebook or anywhere on-line for that matter, it’s not going away, ever.  What does Facebook do with that information?

Facebook is easy; it lets you connect with people, and share information. But that’s not Facebook’s business. Facebook’s business is making money – and you just gave it the keys to the kingdom by giving away for free your personal data that it sells to marketers.

Goldman Sachs, the investment bankers, tried to buy into Google’s IPO because they recognized the value of all the personal information that Google collects over time. Google recognized that its fortune and value was built on an implicit contract with its users: “use our service, and we won’t connect your surfing habits to your actual identity”. Because of that recognition, Google rebuffed Goldman Sachs: they would offer their IPO to everyone, regardless, because everyone made them successful.

Facebook is in many respects the Anti-Google, especially when it comes to privacy issues. For Facebook, there is no privacy (they see all and know all, even if you put up walls between ‘friends’), and they act as if they own all of your personal information (and perhaps they really do). Accordingly, Facebook has arranged a sweetheart deal with Goldman Sachs with regard to their upcoming IPO. Goldman Sachs opened a fund for investing in Facebook where the smallest investment allowed is $2 million.

Facebook took your information, and isn’t giving the vast majority of people any chance at earning something from it.

Are you on Facebook? If you are, a part of you is now owned by the wealthiest people in the world, who can do with your information what they will.

And you gave it to them for nothing.

http://www.wordle.net/show/wrdl/2969093/Facebook_Terms_of_Service

Ed Note: On January 17, 2011, PC World reported that Facebook was allowing third-party developers to access its members cell phone numbers and home addresses. Facebook has since reconsidered and says it will re-introduce the improved “feature” at a later, unspecified date.

Comments expressed in this piece reflect only the individual opinions of the author, and do not represent the position of Carleton University or members of its senior administration on the subjects discussed.

By Nicole Findlay

Tract houses with manicured lawns framed by white picket fences, Sunday drives with the family, are among the cultural references used to envision life in the 1950s.  Like a David Lynch film, the pristine images belie the societal transformation underway.

The post-war decade is often recalled as a time of social conformity and conservatism. Mary-Ann Shantz, a doctoral candidate in the Department of History, is turning this notion upside down.

Shantz’s research traces the rise and impact of “social nudism” in Canada. She positions her work within the relatively new area of historical study referred to as the “history of the body” and focuses on the changing cultural construction of the body.

“The main focus of my work is on understanding the ways in which nudist attitudes towards the body and nudity both reflected, and departed from, the attitudes of mainstream society, of which nudists were a part,” said Shantz.

Although Canada’s nudist movement traces its roots to the 1939 inception of Vancouver’s Van Tan Club, it truly blossomed in the post-WWII period between 1946 and 1965.

According to Shantz, like their suburban neighbours who spent their Sundays at the public beach or campground, nudists felt the need to get away, but did so in the buff.

In contrast to the perception that nudists were at the vanguard of social change, Shantz is finding that these groups adhered to and actively reinforced traditional values. Although often portrayed as sexually promiscuous swingers, nudist members actually sought to promote “family-friendly” values.

Nudist clubs, commonly mislabelled “colonies”, enforced rules that extended membership to married heterosexual couples, limited memberships to single males, and frowned upon homosexuality. Physical affection, even among couples, was discouraged and alcohol prohibited as activists for the movement sought to separate nudity from sexuality.

“They also embraced gender norms, and suggested that nudism would help men and women better fulfill their respective roles, and would help raise children who would be sexually ‘well-adjusted,’” said Shantz. “In other words, help them grow into adults who would also enter into heterosexual marriage and embrace the appropriate feminine or masculine gender identity.”

The post-war period also gave rise to increased interest in psychology. Although never endorsed by the profession, Shantz’s research indicates that psychology was nonetheless cited by the nudist movement to counter what they viewed as mainstream society’s repressive attitude toward the naked body.

Advocates of the nudist movement cited child psychologists’ admonishments to parents against instilling children with embarrassment over the development of their bodies. This would lead to social taboos which fostered deviant behaviours.  Nudism, they countered, contributed to “normal” and “healthy” psychological development.

Today, faced with an aging membership, nudist clubs are re-positioning themselves in a bid to attract the young families of yesteryear.   “The clubs have also become more elaborate, often marketing themselves as “resorts” to appeal to a middle-class clientele,” said Shantz. “Whereas the earlier clubs were much more rustic and required members to contribute to the maintenance of the club.”

Even so, Ontario’s oldest club, Glen Echo Family Nudist Park, is shuttering its clubhouse at the end of this month.