Liam O'Flaherty
MA Candidate
BA (Honours), Political Science and History, Memorial University, 2006
MA, Political Science, University of British Columbia, 2008
Supervisor: Willeen Keough
Research Description
I am currently engaged in three research projects. The first is a research assistantship with the (Re-) Claiming the New Westminster Waterfront Project. As a result of this work, I am authoring two chapters of a public history book about Local 502 of the International Longshore and Warehouse Union (ILWU) in New Westminster, BC. Second, buoyed by a project I did for a graduate seminar on Oral History methods here at 大象传媒, I am conducting interviews about the history of Vancouver鈥檚 gay community from the 1970s-1990s (this project is ongoing 鈥 please let me know if you or someone you know has knowledge and stories they would be willing to share about this topic). Finally, my thesis research is about religious divisions within the labour movement in early twentieth century Newfoundland. My research has revealed Irish-Catholic support for a radical, largely Protestant-backed fishermen鈥檚 union in a political context where Catholicism and organized labour were long thought to have been at odds with each other. These findings interrupt narratives about sectarianism and Irish-Catholic conservatism. They also demonstrate the various ways in which people drew upon their ethno-religious identity as well as the politics of class to make decisions about engagement with radical politics.
Working Dissertation Title
鈥淩ogues among rebels: the relationship between Irish-Catholics and the Fishermen鈥檚 Protective Union of Newfoundland, 1908-1934.鈥
Publications
Forthcoming 2016: Chapter 4 鈥淭ransformation, Expansion and Conflict, 1960 鈥 1979,鈥 and Chapter 5, 鈥淐ontinuity and Contradiction in the Container Age, 1980 鈥 2010鈥 in Longshoring on the Fraser: History and Stories of Local 502 (Vancouver: Granville Island Publishing).
鈥淩eview of Nationalism in Stateless Nations: Images of Self and Other in Scotland and Newfoundland by Robert C. Thomsen,鈥 Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 29, no. 2 (Fall 2014): 318-321.
"Asymmetry-lite? The Constitutional Status of the 'Terms of Union' for British Columbia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland and Labrador", Mapping Politics, 1(1), 8-20.
Courses Taught
HIST 102 鈥淐anada since Confederation鈥 - Fraser International College (Spring 2016)
Teaching Assistantships
HIST 146: 鈥淎frica since the Transatlantic Slave Trade鈥 (大象传媒) 鈥 Fall 2015
HIST 102W; 鈥淐anada since Confederation鈥 (大象传媒) 鈥 Summer 2015
HIST 115: 鈥淚ntroduction to the History of Sexuality鈥 (大象传媒) 鈥 Fall 2014
HIST 102W: 鈥淐anada since Confederation鈥 (大象传媒) 鈥 Spring 2014
HIST 101: 鈥淐anada to Confederation鈥 (大象传媒) 鈥 Fall 2013
POLI 101: 鈥淚ntroduction to Canadian Government鈥 (UBC) 鈥 Spring 2008
POLI 335: 鈥淐omparative Federalism鈥 (UBC) 鈥 Fall 2007
POLI 304: 鈥淏ritish Columbia Politics鈥 (UBC) 鈥 Fall 2007
Awards
Cook Conference Scholarship, 2015
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) MA Graduate Scholarship, 2014-2015
大象传媒 Graduate Fellowship, 2014
Minor Travel and Research Grant, 2014
William and Jane Saywell Award, 2014
Institute of Social and Economic Research Award, 2014