Steven High
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stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High
@stevenhigh.bsky.social
1.4K followers 630 following 400 posts

Professor of History at Concordia's Centre for Oral History and Digital Storytelling. Current Project: Deindustrialization & the Politics of Our Time -- deindustrialization.org . New Book: The Left in Power: Bob Rae's NDP and the Working Class (Feb '25) .. more

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Political science 38%
Sociology 22%
Posts Replies Media Videos

Reposted by Steven High

workingclasshistory.com
Working Class History @workingclasshistory.com · 15h
#OtD 25 Nov 1960 the three Mirabal sisters (Patria, Minerva and María Teresa) were murdered for opposing US-backed Dominican dictator, Rafael Trujillo. The UN later set 25 Nov as International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women #IDEVAW stories.workingclasshistory.com/article/9779...

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 4d
hervedemers.com/asbestos
Une fois la poussière retombée — Hervé Demers
Projet de livre photographique (en cours).  Photobook project (ongoing).
hervedemers.com

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 4d
Congratulations to Dr. Hervé Demers for successfully defending his research-creation PhD on the former mining town of Asbestos (Val-des-Source), QC. It combines oral history and photography to beautiful effect, while avoiding the problems in visual representations of deindustrialization. Bravo!

Reposted by Steven High

subsidence.bsky.social
Surfacing Life @subsidence.bsky.social · 6d
Join us for a talk by writer and professor David Austin this Friday November 21 at 10am.

The talk “The Origins of Totalitarianism: C.L.R. James and the Dilemma of American Democracy” will be held at the the downtown Concordia campus in LB 362.
“The Origins of Totalitarianism: C.L.R. James and the Dilemma of American Democracy” C.L.R. James was one of the true polymaths and original thinkers of the 20th century. His fiction and creative writing laid the foundation for some of that century's great writers including Derek Walcott, V.S. Naipaul, Bernadine Evaristo, and Zadie Smith. He wrote widely on a range of subjects: The Haitian Revolution, international socialism and the Russian Revolution, the 1956 Hungarian Revolution, Pan-Africanism, Kwame Nkrumah and Ghana Hegelian dialectics, and cricket and the art of sports. James's work has received significant attention since his death in 1989, including the publication of multiple biographies and anthologies, but what is perhaps less appreciated about the corpus of James's work is his elaborate writing on the United States of America. In the 1950s James penned two books on America: Mariners, Renegades and Castaways: The Story of Herman Melville and the World We Live In and American Civilization. Neither received significant attention at the time that they were written, but in light of recent political developments in the US and their significance for the world at large, both books speak to contemporary politics and the problems and possibilities that confront America's tenuous experiment with democracy. By reading James's American books alongside Hannah Arendt's The Origins of Totalitarianism, this discussion probes C.L.R. James’s analysis of American society in the 1950s in relation to our times. David Austin is the author of Dread Poetry and Freedom: Linton Kwesi Johnson and the Unfinished Revolution and Fear of a Black Nation: Race, Sex, and Security in Sixties Montreal (winner of the 2014 Casa de las Americas Prize); editor of Moving Against the System: The 1968 Congress of Black Writers and the Making of Global Consciousness (Pluto Press, 2018); and editor of You Don’t Play with Revolution: The Montreal Lectures of C.L.R. James (AK Press, 2009).

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 7d
Big congratulations to Dr. Thomas MacMillan who defended his super interesting PhD thesis today, "'We Can Do It Ourselves': Worker-Led Organizing and the Feminist Movement on the West Coast." Thanks to his externals Mark Leier and Margie Mendell as well as Chris Hurl & Theresa Ventura. Bravo Tom!!!

Reposted by Elizabeth Ewan

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 8d
Another Canadian/Quebec history job posting, this one at UQAM - its been a couple decades since I've seen 6 tenure-track job postings in Cdn history all at once. Very happy to see this.

universityaffairs.ca/search-job/?...
Search Jobs - University Affairs
universityaffairs.ca

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 8d
Climate is a factor in Canada. Once got a ride around the area by a hiring committee member only to get stuck in a snow drift in the middle of nowhere, so I had to push us out. No cell phones in those days. Didn't get the job but it was a fun moment!

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 11d
Enjoyed the first day of the Canadian labour history conference at UQAM. Plenty of Concordia folks (past and present) here.

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 12d
Great to see Unifor resisting "any attempt to idle production, close [auto] plants, export tools or machinery or any other means of production from plants that have reduced or ceased operations, by any means necessary." It will support local unions trying to prevent the removal of machinery to US.
Resolutions
convention.unifor.org

Reposted by Sylvain Laurens

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 12d
Excellent article from two outstanding scholars of resource extraction in Canada.

www.theglobeandmail.com/business/com...
Opinion: As Carney pushes major projects, he must heed a cautionary tale from Canada’s past
No doubt there is room to streamline approval processes, but there must be enough rigour so future developments don’t leave behind environmental liabilities
www.theglobeandmail.com

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 13d
Congratulations to Dr. Arianna Garcia Fialdini for defending her excellent PhD thesis this afternoon (and to Kathleen Vaughan her advisor!). It combines oral history and the visual arts in the exploration of food and migration.

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 15d
Very much looking forward to reading this book when it comes out in the spring! Congratulations @coryhaala.bsky.social !

@deindustrialpol.bsky.social
coryhaala.bsky.social Cory Haala @coryhaala.bsky.social · 15d
And just like that, it's real.

When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992, from @illinoispress.bsky.social. Due out 4/14/26.

Thanks to everyone who tolerated this dream and made it happen. Pre-order if you'd like: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
When Democrats Won the Heartland
www.press.uillinois.edu

Reposted by Steven High, Jason A. Heppler

coryhaala.bsky.social
Cory Haala @coryhaala.bsky.social · 15d
And just like that, it's real.

When Democrats Won the Heartland: Progressive Populism in the Age of Reagan, 1978-1992, from @illinoispress.bsky.social. Due out 4/14/26.

Thanks to everyone who tolerated this dream and made it happen. Pre-order if you'd like: www.press.uillinois.edu/books/?id=p0...
When Democrats Won the Heartland
www.press.uillinois.edu

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 16d
I haven't yet - will definitely do so!

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 18d
Great book! As for the Edmund Fitzgerald's sinking, I remember that storm well living in Thunder Bay and my father saying to me he hoped there were no ships on the lake. Can't believe it is 50 years ago (feeling ancient).
jeffmanuel.bsky.social Jeff Manuel @jeffmanuel.bsky.social · 18d
If you're planing to spend the weekend preparing for the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Monday, but you just don't know enough about the taconite pellets that were in the ship's ill-fated hold, may I recommend a book for you?
www.upress.umn.edu/978081669430...
🗃️
Taconite Dreams
Winner of the Midwestern History Association's 2016 Hamlin Garland Prize The Iron Range earned its name honestly: it was once among the world’s richest ...
www.upress.umn.edu

Reposted by Steven High

jeffmanuel.bsky.social
Jeff Manuel @jeffmanuel.bsky.social · 18d
If you're planing to spend the weekend preparing for the 50th anniversary of the sinking of the Edmund Fitzgerald on Monday, but you just don't know enough about the taconite pellets that were in the ship's ill-fated hold, may I recommend a book for you?
www.upress.umn.edu/978081669430...
🗃️
Taconite Dreams
Winner of the Midwestern History Association's 2016 Hamlin Garland Prize The Iron Range earned its name honestly: it was once among the world’s richest ...
www.upress.umn.edu

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 19d
My favorite columnist on the mark once again.

www.theguardian.com/commentisfre...
Mamdani’s mayoral race was marred by unhinged Islamophobia. It’s not going away soon | Arwa Mahdawi
The racist abuse that Zohran Mamdani is still facing proves how normalized bigotry is. We need to keep calling it out
www.theguardian.com

Reposted by Steven High

kris-inwood.bsky.social
Kris Inwood @kris-inwood.bsky.social · 20d
Hot off the press! Manufacturing & the Australian City, five articles examining the transformative role of manufacturing in the evolution of Melbourne, Sydney & Adelaide with a rich introduction by the editors Frost, O'Hanlon & Shanahan. A special issue of the Asia-Pacific Economic History Review!
Special Issue: Manufacturing and the Australian City: Asia‐Pacific Economic History Review: Vol 65, No 3
Click on the title to browse this issue
onlinelibrary.wiley.com

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 21d
Minimal support in today's Cdn budget for workers displaced by industrial restructuring. Some $ for training and worksharing. Continued temporary changes to UI (should be made permanent). So nothing to suggest that this will be a just transition.  We needed a real investment in worker adjustment.
www.budget.canada.ca

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 21d
We'll see. Not sure why the NDP would support (even by abstaining) austerity, as they would own it too. The government's refusal to recognize it is a minority is not unlike Joe Clark, no?

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 24d
Huge thanks to Indranil Chakraborty and the contributors to our new edited volume. The study of deindustrialization has hitherto focused on the global north. Not only is the story different in India but so too is the disciplinary mix. @deindustrialpol.bsky.social

www.routledge.com/Deindustrial...
Deindustrialization and Economic Restructuring in Post-Reform India
This volume explores the concept of deindustrialization in post-reform India. It combines macro studies of Indian political economy with the micro analysis of economic restructuring, growth, and preca...
www.routledge.com

Reposted by Steven High

medievalmcsheff.bsky.social
Shannon McSheffrey @medievalmcsheff.bsky.social · 25d
This is a marvellous book: so nuanced and humane www.cundillprize.com/news/lyndal-...
Lyndal Roper wins 2025 Cundill History Prize for Summer of Fire and… | Cundill Prize
Lyndal Roper has been announced as the 2025 winner of the US$75,000 Cundill History Prize for Summer of Fire and Blood: The German Peasants' War
www.cundillprize.com

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · 26d
As a teen, I went to a left-wing musical at the Ukrainian Labour Temple in Thunder Bay - still remember the lyrics: "Freedom and Fascism, Freedom and Fascism, start with F, but one is a crime. You can never fool, you can never fool, all the people all of the time."

Reposted by Steven High

pivot.quebec
Pivot @pivot.quebec · 26d
OPINION | L’héritage de Gérald Tremblay n’est pas loin de nous. Le modus operandi à l’époque, puis encore sous l’administration de Denis Coderre, c’était d’ouvrir les vannes aux promoteurs immobiliers.

Une chronique de Francis Dolan 👇
Élections municipales : revenir aux années de Gérald Tremblay? – Pivot
Alors que les locataires sont toujours aux prises avec l’héritage des maires Tremblay et Coderre, Montréal doit préserver et renforcer les mesures initiées sous Valérie Plante.
pivot.quebec

Reposted by Steven High

katekatewilson.bsky.social
Kate Wilson @katekatewilson.bsky.social · 27d
A new article from me about writing groups, class, culture and radical adult education in Glasgow in the 1980s and 1990s Glasgow: scholarcommons.sc.edu/ssl/vol50/is...
Writing Loss, Culture and Change: Deindustrialisation and Community Writers’ Groups In Glasgow
By Kate Wilson, Published on 10/01/25
scholarcommons.sc.edu

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · Oct 26
Very sad news about the loss of historian Tim Cook, who died far too young. His impact on our understanding of Canadian military history was just massive. An outstanding historian. He will be missed.
www.cbc.ca/news/canada/...
Tim Cook, chief historian at Canadian War Museum, dies | CBC News
Tim Cook, the chief historian at the Canadian War Museum and the country’s “pre-eminent military historian,” has died, the museum announced Sunday.
www.cbc.ca

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · Oct 20
Naomi Frost and I have published "Survivor Innocence and the Recovery of Political Pasts: The Case of the Cambodian Diaspora in Montreal,” in Mark Cave and Selma Leydesdorff, eds. Global Handbook of Oral History. Selma died just last week -her work has been an inspiration.
brill.com/display/book...
brill.com

Reposted by Steven High

alainggagnon.bsky.social
Alain-G. Gagnon @alainggagnon.bsky.social · Oct 15
www.lexpress.fr/sciences-san...
La liberté des chercheurs de plus en plus menacée en France
Un rapport de France Universités dresse mercredi le constat de reculs inquiétants pour la liberté académique partout dans le monde.
www.lexpress.fr

Reposted by Steven High

cndhistassoc.bsky.social
Canadian Historical Association | Société historique du Canada @cndhistassoc.bsky.social · Oct 15
Assistant Professor – Contemporary Québec History. Deadline: November 29, 2025. #cdnhist #québec #skystorians @histoireudem.bsky.social cha-shc.ca/careers-and-...

stevenhigh.bsky.social
Steven High @stevenhigh.bsky.social · Oct 15
Today’s DePOT Deindustrialization Blog comes from Joseph Coates and Emiliano Aguilar.
The case of the Calumet Region of Northwest Indiana and Chicago is a particularly interesting one:
deindustrialization.org/deindustrial...
Deindustrialization and the Calumet Region – Deindustrialization
deindustrialization.org