Method and Meaning in Canadian Environmental History and : The Archive of Place (review)

Canadian environmental history, limited in the period between 1970 and 1990 to what Alan MacEachern has called a few ‘voices crying out in the wilderness,’ has received significant exposure in recent years in a series of compelling monographs, dissertations, and articles in both specialized journals such as Environmental History and more broadly focused publications such as this journal. Two recent publications, Alan MacEachern and William J. Turkel’s edited collection, Method and Meaning in Canadian Environmental History, and Turkel’s The Archive of Place, give added substance to this emerging field. Divergent in their audience, purpose, and approach, both works share two objectives: to profile the role of nature in shaping past events and the way those events have been represented over time, and to explore the process of doing history.

MacEachern and Turkel’s Method and Meaning brings together a diverse and talented range of contributors, including established scholars such as Donald Worster and Graeme Wynn, micro-historians, historical geographers, and environmental studies scholars. Divided into eight sections, the book is structured along topical and methodological themes rather than according to chronological periods or geographical areas. (A companion chart in the introduction outlines the geographical and temporal coverage of individual essays for easy reference.) Sections on approaches to landscapes, working with different temporal and geographical scales, ‘finding the nation in nature,’ approaches to cities, and ‘negotiating expertise,’ for example, bring together key topics in the study of Canadian environmental history as well as methodological concerns in approaching these topics. An underlying emphasis on the role of weather and larger climatic forces in human interactions with environment, discernible in a number of essays but most notable in Liza Piper’s intriguing ‘Colloquial Meteorology,’ is especially relevant, given the potent role of weather in shaping Canadians’ experience of place and the resurgence of climate change as a subject of popular concern.

Aimed at an undergraduate audience, the collection sets out to inspire a new generation of scholars to consider environmental history as a rewarding field of research, and to showcase the rich variety of environmental history research being conducted within the Canadian context. Essays are limited to 7,500 words – a length, as MacEachern notes, that ‘an undergraduate could conceivably read the night before class’ (206) – and followed by a series of discussion questions and suggestions for future readings. Despite the entry-level ‘feel’ of the collection, however, there is ample stimulation here for readers at more advanced levels of study. Graduate students will find the emphasis on research process and method particularly useful in approaching their own projects, and researchers in diverse sub-fields of history and geography may take inspiration from the unconventional sources and interdisciplinary approaches the collection seeks to highlight.

The editors’ emphasis on process is especially successful in giving readers a window into the ways that historians conduct their work. With the exception of Donald Worster’s essay, previously published in French, all of the essays were written especially for the collection. As MacEachern explains in the introduction, contributors were asked to use a case study from their research practice as the basis for a reflective essay ‘that explained their process, and how their specific fields . . . sources . . . and practices assisted them in telling the stories they wanted to tell’ (xiii). Throughout the collection, contributors situate themselves as both learners and investigators in the process of historical research. Signalled by MacEachern’s conversational and often humorous account of his efforts to piece together the largely untold story of New Brunswick’s great Mirimachi fire of 1825, others relate stories of childhood fascinations that compelled them to pursue scholarly explorations later in life, or the neglected footnote that led them to their dissertation topics. Especially refreshing about this collection is its celebration of curiosity and tenaciousness, rather than academic background or previous knowledge, as key elements...