History of Canada

Harold Tallant, Professor of History
Georgetown College, Harold_Tallant@georgetowncollege.edu

Canada and the United States have had two strikingly different national historical experiences which we will first explore by surveying Canada's political, economic, intellectual, and social development from the seventeenth century to the present. Then we will focus on the historical dimensions of the issue of national identity, which Canada continues to debate, perhaps more than any other modern western nation, and consider how this issue has been defined by Canadian federalism and the relationships between English and French-speaking Canadians, Canada and the British Empire, and Canada and the U.S. This course will originate from Georgetown College, use the Georgetown Blackboard server, and be taught by Harold Tallant, Professor of History at Georgetown College.

First Nations of Canada

Steven Savage, Professor of Anthropology
Eastern Kentucky University, Steve.Savage@eku.edu

Canada’s First Nations are its native peoples who live from the Atlantic Provinces to British Columbia and from the forty-ninth parallel to the Arctic Circle and who include the Ojibwe (Chippewa), Huron, Cheyenne, Lillooet, Nootka, subarctic Dene, and Inuit. In this course, we will examine these nations and compare them using the concepts of culture area and culture change and ethnographical, ethnohistorical, and anthropological models. This course will originate from Eastern Kentucky University, use the EKU Blackboard server, and be taught by Professor Steven Savage, Professor of Anthropology at EKU.

Government and Politics of Britain and Canada

John Petersen, Professor of Government
Western Kentucky University, John.Petersen@wku.edu

Canada and Britain have shared a lengthy common experience which will provide the opportunity to study the characteristics of their political cultures, the role of public opinion, interest groups, and political parties, the evolution of their governments, the behavior of their legislatures, prime ministers, cabinets, and civil servants, the nature of their regional and local governments, and the manner in which they make and implement major public policies with comparisons to the United States. This course will originate from Western Kentucky University, use the WKU Blackboard server, and be taught by John Petersen, Professor of Government at WKU.

The North American Marketplace

Terri Friel, Associate Professor of Management
Butler University, tfriel@butler.edu

The United States, Canada, and Mexico now constitute a North American marketplace defined by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). We will investigate the historical development of the NAFTA and focus on Canadian, US, and Mexican issues and perspectives on the developing of a North American business environment: its trade, financial and investment issues; its labor, environmental energy and water rights issues; and its cultural and political issues. This course will originate from Morehead State University, use the MSU Blackboard server, and be taught by Terri Friel, Associate Professor of Management at Butler University.

Politics of the North American Auto Industry

Ernest J. Yanarella, Professor of Political Science
University of Kentucky, ejyana@uky.edu

The changing global political economy and restructuring of national, state, and local economies have placed the future of the North American automobile industry in jeopardy. This course will explore the politics of the Big Three automakers in the United States and Canada in terms of globalizing trends in the international automobile marketplace, the emergence of Japanese and South Korean transplants in North America, the challenge of flexible production methods to traditional assembly line production, the problem of overcapacity in the international auto market, the role of union labor in reorganizing the workplace, the technological advances in automobile construction and fuel efficiency, and the prospects for renewal of North American auto manufacturing in the face of global competition. This course will originate from the University of Kentucky, use the UK Blackboard server, and be taught by Ernest J. Yanarella, Professor of Political Science at UK.