Nadine Leeann Roth

Nadine Leeann Roth. Metamorphoses: Urban Space and Modern Identity, Berlin 1870-1933. (Department of History, University of Toronto , 2003).

Nadine Leeann Roths study of urban space and identity in Berlin makes a major contribution to German historiography, to the topics of modernism and modernity, and to cultural history more generally. Her exploration of the transformation of the Postdamer Platz and the Auguste-Viktoria Platz demonstrates the qualities of a genuine interdisciplinary approach, including the techniques of architectural history, the influence of critical theory, and the meticulousness of archive-based research. Roth draws on an impressive array of source materials, ranging from newspapers to photographs to architectural journals to contemporary accounts. She writes with a confidence, skill, and clarity that will appeal to a wide audience. In a host of ways, then, Roths thesis represents a beautifully crafted work, well deserving of the John Bullen Prize.

Honourable Mention:
Keith Thor Carlson. The Power of Place, the Problem of Time: A Study of History and Aboriginal Collective Identity. (Department of History, University of British Columbia, 2003).

Keith Carlson’s thesis is richly deserving of an Honourable Mention in this years John Bullen Prize competition. His exploration of the pre- and post-contact forces that shaped the ways in which the Stó:lõs’ people of British Columbia created a sense of their history is at once complex and compelling. Carlson draws on multiple lines of evidence (archaeological, documentary, and oral) to demonstrate convincingly how the St:ls own sense of the past informed the transformation of their identity from local tribes to a larger, self-aware nation. The thesis makes a significant contribution to the historiography of British Columbia and, more widely, to the historiography of First Nations in Canada.