Dr. Ian McKay, Editor
Dr. Ian McKay is a Canadian historian who serves as Chair of the L.R. Wilson Institute for Canadian History at McMaster University. His primary interests are Canadian cultural and political history, the economic and social history of Atlantic Canada, historical memory and tourism, and the history of liberalism, both in its Canadian and transnational aspects.
Samantha Clarke, Managing Editor
Sam is a PhD candidate at McMaster University, who specializes in Cold War medical history and international relations. Her dissertation focuses on how the fight against poliomyelitis fit into international and transnational relations between divided Germany and its occupiers between 1947 and 1965. “Medical relations” is a newer field in international relations, exposing the ways in which politics and ideology permeate supposedly “neutral” areas such as science and healthcare, and Sam looks forward to contributing to this discussion.
Beyond academics, Sam works as an educational developer and grants coordinator at the Paul R. MacPherson Institute for Leadership, Innovation, and Excellence in Teaching. She specializes in accessible and equitable educational practices, as well as community-building and engagement in blended and online learning contexts.
Brandon Cordeiro, Multimedia Developer
Dr. Brandon J. Cordeiro is an energy historian and environmental historian with a focus on nuclear energy. He completed his PhD at McMaster University and wrote his dissertation on Canada, modernity, and the Nuclear Age. His research explored the social, economic, political, and cultural influences of nuclear energy, and its role in promoting nation-building through techno-nationalism. It also examined society’s reflexivity to living through modernity’s influences and the senses that “all that is solid melts into air.” He is currently interested in the issue of nuclear waste and the proposed deep geological repository project, as well as its influence over landscapes and communities in northern Ontario. His other interests include Canadian history, capitalism and the neoliberal order, Marxism, the left and labour movements, energy systems, and the relationship between capital and the environment.
Eric McPherson, Editorial Assistant
Eric MacPherson is a Ph.D. Candidate at McMaster University. He is supervised by Ian McKay. He studies Canadian, Metis, and Left-Wing history. At present, Eric is writing his dissertation on James Brady and Malcolm Norris, two Metis socialist leaders and organizers who were active from the 1930s to 1960s in Alberta and Saskatchewan. His dissertation will be a biography that examines the intellectual work of Brady and Norris, particularly how they analyzed and combined socialist and Metis political philosophy and historiography to inform their political work. His research will also include interviews as soon as pandemic conditions allow. These are being co-ordinated with the Gabriel Dumont Institute in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan. The transcripts from these interviews will then be stored at the GDI to contribute to the Metis Nation archival record and twentieth century Metis historiography.
When he isn’t reading or writing, Eric serves as the Secretary-Treasurer of CUPE Local 3906 at McMaster, and volunteers with the local’s Indigenous Solidarity Working Group. He is an avid runner. He loves Dungeons and Dragons, and has survived the pandemic by telling grand stories with his friends.
Mack Penner, Guest Editor, Edition 1
Mack Penner is an historian of the twentieth century and some of its characteristic -isms.