Allison Ward

Allison Ward completed her Master's degree at Queen's University entitled, "‘I listened as they built up their picture of that terrible land': Self-Identity and Societal Observations in Traveller's Accounts of the Soviet Union, 1929-1936." Under the Supervision of Dr. Ana Siljak she was able to explore the topic of issues of self-identity in travelogues published by British and North American travellers to the Soviet Union in the early years of Stalinism.

Traveling into new ground herself, or rather making a return home to a topic of interest in her undergraduate work, she is currently thrilled to be beginning her PhD studies at Queen's University under Dr. Ian McKay. She studies the growth and development of labour culture and the increasing strength of the political left in Hamilton, Ontario from 1929 to 1950, including such pivotal events as: the election in 1934 of Sam Lawrence, a Co-opeartive Commonwealth Federation party representative in the Hamilton Eat riding; the city's industrial boom during the Second World War; and the Stelco strikes of 1946. My study will also touch upon such aspects of the community's identity as masculinity, diverse religious groups and the abundance of ethnicities and immigrant groups that called the city their place of residence. A proud Hamiltonian herself, Allison is excited to spread her love for and appreciation of her hometown further through her academic work.

Conference Presentations

"‘As weird as the plots... stewed beneath the Kremlin's fantastic towers in the days of Ivan the Terrible': The North American Press Reacts to Stalin's Repression, 1936-1938," Presented at the annual McGill-Queen's Graduate conference in History hosted at McGill University on March 12th 2010

Teaching Assistantships Held:

History 291 - Ireland from 1848 to Present ( Winter 2011)

History 222 - Jewish and World Civilization from 1492 Onwards (Winter 2010

History 245 - Medieval, Muscovite and Imperial Russia (Fall 2009)