Peter J. Henshaw

- Adjunct Assistant Professor


image of Peter J Henshaw

PhD, University of Cambridge, 1989
Email: phenshaw@pco-bcp.gc.ca
Telephone: 613-952-4898

 

 

 Research Interests

Dr. Henshaw studies British imperial and Commonwealth history, with a particular focus on 20th century southern Africa and Canada. His current interest is in John Buchan and identity formation in the “British world”, including the origins of multiculturalism. He has also worked on the military and bureaucratic politics of Anglo-Canadian decisions leading to the launch the Dieppe raid in 1942.

Major Research Projects

His current focus is on John Buchan’s roles as an imperial administrator in southern Africa during after the Boer War, a professional propagandist in the First World War, a writer and politician in inter-war Britain, and Governor General of Canada from 1935 to 1940. Dr. Henshaw is also completing an edited collection of British documents on the end of empire in Lesotho, Botswana, and Swaziland.

Select Publications

Books

Chapters and Journal Articles

  • “John Buchan and the British imperial origins of Canadian multiculturalism”, in N. Hilmer and A. Chapnick, eds, Canadas of the Mind: The Making and Unmaking of Canadian Nationalisms in the Twentieth Century (Kingston: McGill-Queen’s, 2007).

  • “Zimbabwe and Canada: historical struggle meets historical vacuum”, Canadian Journal of African Studies, 41, 3 (2007), pp. 507-526.

  • “John Buchan from the ‘Borders’ to the Berg’: nature, empire and white South African identity, 1901-1910”, African Studies, 62, 1 (2003), pp. 3-32.

  • “The Dieppe raid: the quest for action for all the wrong reasons”, in C.M. Wallace and R.M. Bray, Reappraisals in Canadian History, 3rd edition (Scarborough: Prentice Hall, 1999), pp. 439-447.

  • “Canada and the ‘South African disputes’ at the U.N., 1945-61”, Canadian Journal of African Studies, 33, 1 (1999), pp. 1-52.

  • “The Dieppe raid debate”, Canadian Historical Review, 79, 2 (1998), pp. 304-15.

  • “The Dieppe raid: a product of misplaced Canadian nationalism?”, Canadian Historical Review, 77,  2 (June 1996), pp. 250-66.

  • “Britain, South Africa and the sterling area: gold production, capital investment and agricultural markets, 1931-61”, Historical Journal, 39, 1 (1996), pp. 197-233.

  • “Britain and South Africa at the United Nations: ‘South-West Africa’, ‘Treatment of Indians’ and ‘Race Conflict’, 1945-1961”, South African Historical Journal, 31 (Nov. 1994), pp. 80-102.

  • “The transfer of Simonstown: Afrikaner nationalism, South African strategic dependence and British global power”, Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, XX, 3 (1992), pp. 419-44.

Theses