Matthew Barrett (PhD 2019) was awarded the Canadian Journal of History’s Linda F. Dietz Graduate Essay Prize for 2020 for his article, “Conduct Unbecoming an Officer and a Doctor: Medical Attitudes toward Homosexuality and the Court Martial of Dr. Percy Ryberg.” The article examines the Second World War case of a Royal Canadian Air Force medical officer, and self-described medical expert on human sexuality, accused of “homosexual activities.” His court martial is an exceptional forum to explore the medicalization and criminalization of what was called “homosexual conduct” in the wartime context. More details at: http://blog.utpjournals.com/2020/08/04/from-submission-to-publication-the-linda-f-dietz-graduate-essay-prize/. Also, this blog post by Matthew on the Duke University Library website gives details on the sources from Duke that he used and contains another drawing by him on the Ryberg court martial story: https://blogs.library.duke.edu/rubenstein/2020/10/21/physician-heal-thyself-the-dr-percy-e-ryberg-papers/
Matthew current holds a SSHRC postdoctoral fellowship at the Canadian War Museum where he is exploring the creation of graphic histories as ways of sharing our history with diverse audiences.
