Both Sides Now: a??Parallela?? Lines Across Bi-National Pasts

摘要

Originally presented at the Bridging Distances conference at Western Washington University, April 29, 2011, this article addresses the changing ways that Canadian and US histories, policies, and public images have reflected continental and national images of connected and separate pasts. It combines the author's personal and professional experience as a US citizen and American historian teaching in Canada to suggest the challenges and promises of transnational histories. The article explores how the 49th parallel has been constructed through the historiographies of the US and Canadian Wests, the impact of 9/11 on how the border has been imagined and policed, and the experience of Canadian women who crossed the border to claim US homesteads in the late-nineteenth century. These examples illustrate the larger point that bridging the distances between the US and Canada requires respectful understanding of historically constructed power imbalances and national policies, and the willingness to confront distorted national self-images and images of the neighboring country. Such tensions have always been present in the history of the US-Canada relationship, but they have mattered differently at different times to people pushed and pulled across a selectively porous border.View full textDownload full textKeywordsborder, 9/11, historiography, Canada, United States, 49th parallel, continentalismRelated var addthis_config = { ui_cobrand: "Taylor & Francis Online", services_compact: "citeulike,netvibes,twitter,technorati,delicious,linkedin,facebook,stumbleupon,digg,google,more", pubid: "ra-4dff56cd6bb1830b" }; var addthis_config = {"data_track_addressbar":true,"ui_click":true}; Add to shortlist Link Permalink http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02722011.2012.732334