Canadian History-Module 3 Activity 3.4 ONLY Learning Activity 3.4-Part 1 & Part

Canadian History-Module 3 Activity 3.4 ONLY
Learning
Activity 3.4-Part 1 & Part 2
The Staples, Laurentian, and Metropolitan theses are all
attempts to explain the historical development of Canada in geographic and
economic terms. To understand how they relate to each other and what is
distinct about each of the three, it is probably most useful to try to apply
them on a small scale. (See Module 3 text for a description of each thesis as
well as the associated readings)
Part 1-
Comparing and Contrasting the Staples, Laurentian, and Metropolitan Theses:
Complete the following table in point form, using the
prompts for each row to fill in the remaining cells as someone applying that
thesis would. Click on the table to download.
Prompt
Staples
– Innis
Laurentian
– Creighton
Metropolitan
– Careless
The Canadian landscape’s role in Canadian history was
to
Canadian urban centres were important in Canadian
history because they
European settlement in Canada took the pattern it did
because of
Canada remained independent of the United States
because
Part
2: Applying the Staples, Laurentian, and Metropolitan Theses
It seems appropriate to use the development of Sudbury,
Ontario, Canada as our example for this exercise. The town of Sudbury was
founded in 1883 as part of the construction of the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Take a look at the section titled “Development” of the following article:
Saarinen, O.W. “Sudbury.” Canadian Encyclopedia. Last
modified June 23, 2015.
Now,
for each of the three theses, write a short paragraph which would explain the
initial development of Sudbury (don’t worry about going beyond 1885 –
focus on why the town was founded) in the framework of that thesis.
As an example, if you were going to use the older “Great
Man” theory of history to explain Sudbury’s development, you might write something
like this. In this case, the emphasis for the community’s creation is put onto
Worthington as the key figure.
As the CPR passed through Northern Ontario, depots
were required to allow the trains to refuel. It was CPR Superintendent James Worthington
who oversaw the establishment of the new community of Sudbury and gave it its
name in honour of his wife’s English birthplace.
Try
to keep each of your three paragraphs to no more than 75-100 words. They
do not need to be long. Be sure you clearly identify which thesis is used in which paragraph.
Required Resources(Links attaches in Module 3 text)
You will be prompted to work through the following
resources as you work through this module:
Book Chapters
Hamel, Jennifer. “The Origins of National History in
English Canada.” In “A Brief History of the Writing (and Re-Writing) of Canadian
National History.” MA Thesis, University of Saskatchewan, 2009.
Spry, Irene M. “Economic History and Economic Theory: Innis’s Insights.”
In Harold Innis in the New Century: Reflections and Refractions.
Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1999.
Articles
Davis, Donald. “The ‘Metropolitan Thesis’ and the Writing of Canadian Urban
History.” Urban History Review 14.2 (1985): 95-113.
Hamel, Jennifer. “The Origins of National History in
English Canada.” In “A Brief History of the Writing (and Re-Writing) of Canadian
National History.” MA Thesis, University of Saskatchewan, 2009.
Martin, Sandra. “A Giant of Canadian History.” The Globe
and Mail April 13, 2009 S10.
McKillop, A.B. “Donald Creighton: A Life in History by Donald Wright
(review).” The Canadian Historical Review 97.3
(2016): 435-440.
Wright, Donald. “CREIGHTON, DONALD GRANT.” In Dictionary
of Canadian Biography, vol. 20. University of Toronto/Université
Laval. Accessed February 11, 2017.
Webpages
“Old Messengers, New Media: The Legacy of Innis and McLuhan.” Library
and Archives Canada. Last modified March 6, 2007.
McKillop, A.B. “Laurentian Thesis.” Canadian
Encyclopedia. Last modified March 4, 2015.
Important Concepts
The following concepts will be explored throughout this
module:
Staples
Thesis
Laurentian
Thesis
Metropolitanism
National
History
Impact
of the two world wars on Canadian historiography
Note: You should be able to explain these concepts once
you have completed the learning activities and readings for this module.