Peter V. Krats

- Assistant Professor

image of Peter V. Krats
PhD, The University of Western Ontario, 1988
Telephone: 519-661-2111 ext. 84983
Email: pkrats@uwo.ca
Office: Stephenson Hall 2123
Office Hours: Tuesdays 11:40 am - 1:15 pm or by appointment made via in class conversation or e-mail

Research Interests

Professor Krats studies the "resource frontier" of provinces, especially Ontario; immigration, notably Finnish, is another interest. He is working on a comparison of "northern resource development" in Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula and the Sudbury region of Northeastern Ontario.

Teaching Philosophy

Much of my energy is focussed on teaching students with little or no background in History in courses such as History 2120 A/B or History 2128 A/B. I combine conventional lecturing with PowerPoint slides, sound and materials found on OWL websites. Because interpretation is fundamental to History – I want students to think, not just gather “data” – such courses always include Group discussion. My senior seminars, when offered, reflect research interests on “being Northern” – they consider (from many disciplinary perspectives and in various media) both the historical and the imagined Canadian and circumpolar norths.

SELECTED ACADEMIC WORK

PUBLICATIONS

"Our forefathers kept this Reserve for their children & it is our duty to keep it=@": Atikameksheng Anishnawbek / Whitefish Lake Resource Issues to 1930,@ Engaging Indigenous Communities: Resources, Rebellions and Resurgence [working title], (ed. Karl Hele) (forthcoming)

“’A commodity so closely aligned to Armageddon’: The Nickel Belt Heeds the Call,” Special Issue: The North and the First World War; ed. Brent Slobodin and Ken Coates The Northern Review 44 (2017): 371–414. Online: https://doi.org/10.22584/nr44.2017.017 and paper.

“Boundaries Exercise Power: Comparing Culture in the Keweenaw and Nickel Belts,” in “Straddling Boundaries: Culture and the Canada US Border”, ed. David Stirrup and Jan Clarke, Special Issue, Journal of Comparative American Studies. Volume 13, Issue 1-2 (June 2015): 58-73.

“Mainari, Farmari, Lumperjäkki, Piika, Träppari : Ethnic Identity and Earning a Living in the Keweenaw and Nickel Belts to 1930, Proceedings of Retrospection & Respect: 1913-1914 Mining/Labor Strike Symposium of 2014,  Digital Commons @ Michigan Tech https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/copperstrikesymposium

“Atikameksheng Anishnawbek/Whitefish Lake: Glimpses of Three Generations under the Robinson-Huron Treaty, 1850s – 1920s,” This is Indian Land: The 1850 Robinson Treaties. ed. Karl Hele, University of Manitoba Press, 2016, 253-311.

 “John L. Agnew,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography (online, March 2017) http://www.biographi.ca

SELECTED PAPERS and PRESENTATIONS

“Barren wastelands, Treasure Chest, Bleak Tailings, and ‘pristine… uniquely serene biosphere’: Changing Perceptions of the Natural Environment in the Keweenaw Peninsula, Michigan”, Fifth Annual Midwestern History Conference, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 29-31 May 2019.

“U.P. is Northern, Not Midwestern: Regional Identity in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.” Finding the Lost Region: Fourth Annual Midwestern History Conference, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 6 June 2018.

Round Table Participant : “Northern Borderlands,” Finding the Lost Region: Fourth Annual Midwestern History Conference, Grand Valley State University, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 6 June 2018.

“A ‘roasting yard is as unsavory as a Gehenna’: Ore Reduction in the Nickel Belt 1889 – 1929,” Canadian Science and Technology Historical Association Conference, London, 4 November 2017.

“Resource Exploitation: An Outline History,” CES Challenges in Sustainability Panel Discussion, Ivey Business School, December 2, 2016.

“’A commodity so closely aligned to Armageddon’: The Nickel Belt Heeds the Call,” The North and the First World War Conference, Whitehorse, May 11, 2016.

“Check their Passports: ‘American’ Popular Culture from North of the 49th,” The 15th Biennial Maple Leaf and Eagle Conference on North American Studies, University of Helsinki, May 2014.