Whitney Lackenbauer

Campus: Waterloo
Office: STJ 3008
Email: pwlacken@uwaterloo.ca

P. Whitney Lackenbauer is associate professor and chair of the department of history at St. Jerome’s University (University of Waterloo).

His main research areas include northern/circumpolar history, Native-Newcomer relations, war and society, Canadian foreign policy, Canadian political history, and Canadian public policy.

His current research projects include histories of the Canadian Rangers, the Distant Early Warning (DEW) Line, Canadian sovereignty and security in the Cold War Arctic, Native blockades and occupations, transnational comparisons of indigenous peoples during the Second World War, an environmental history of Cold War militarism, a general survey of Canada and the world wars, the political history of the Yukon since the Second World War, and the local history of Cambridge Bay, Nunavut.

His books include:

  • The Canadian Forces and Arctic Sovereignty: Debating Roles, Interests, and Requirements, 1968-1974 (Waterloo: Laurier Centre for Military Strategic and Disarmament Studies, 2010, co-edited with Peter Kikkert).
  • Arctic Front: Defending Canada in the Far North (Toronto: Thomas Allen, 2008, co-authored with Ken Coates, Bill Morrison, and Greg Poelzer). Winner of the 2009 Donner Prize for best book on public policy in Canada.
  • Battle Grounds: The Canadian Military and Aboriginal Lands (Vancouver: UBC Press, 2007).
  • Aboriginal Peoples and Military Participation: Canadian and International Perspectives (Kingston: Canadian Defence Academy Press, 2007, co-edited with Craig Mantle and Scott Sheffield).
  • Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian Military: Historical Perspectives (Kingston: CDA Press, 2007, co-edited with Craig Mantle).
  • Kurt Meyer on Trial: A Documentary Record (Kingston: CDA Press, 2007, with Chris Madsen).
  • The Hidden Pierre Elliott Trudeau: The Faith Behind the Politics (Ottawa: Novalis, 2004, co-edited with Richard Gwyn and John English).
  • An Inside Look at External Affairs During the Trudeau Years: The Memoirs of Mark MacGuigan (Calgary: University of Calgary Press, 2002, editor, foreword by Paul Martin).
  • Mackenzie King: Citizenship and Community (Toronto: Robin Brass Studio, 2002, co-edited with John English and Kenneth McLaughlin.)

Lackenbauer’s recent articles include:

  • “High Modernism in the Arctic: Planning Frobisher Bay and Inuvik,” Journal of Historical Geography 35/3 (2009). 517-544. (With Matthew Farish.)
  • “Carrying the Burden of Peace: The Mohawks, the Canadian Forces, and the Oka Crisis.” Journal of Military and Strategic Studies 10/2 (2008). 71pp.
  • “Guerrillas in Our Midst: The Pacific Coast Militia Rangers, 1942-45.” BC Studies 155 (2007). 95-131.
  • “The Cold War on Canadian Soil: Militarizing a Northern Environment.” Environmental History 12/3 (October 2007). 920-50. (With Matthew Farish.)
  • “The Achilles Heel of Canadian Good International Citizenship: Indigenous Diplomacies and State Responses in the Twentieth Century.” Canadian Foreign Policy Journal 13/3 (2007). 99-119. (With Andrew F. Cooper.)
  • “‘A Hell of a Warrior’: Remembering Sergeant Thomas George Prince,” Journal of Historical Biography 1/1 (2007). 26-79.

Recent graduate theses completed under his supervision are:

  • Philip Isard, “Northern Vision: Northern Development during the Diefenbaker Era” (M.A., University of Waterloo, 2010).
  • Peter Kikkert, “Pragmatism and Cooperation: Canadian-American Defence Activities in the Arctic, 1945-1951″ (M.A., University of Waterloo, 2009).
  • Michael Paiva, “Surmounting Trade Barriers: American Protectionism and the Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement” (M.A., University of Waterloo, 2009).
  • Daniel Heidt, “From Bayonets to Stilettos to UN Resolutions: The Development of Howard Green’s Views Regarding War” (M.A., University of Waterloo, 2008).
  • Matthew Capel, “‘Damned If They Do And Damned If They Don’t': The Inferiority Complex, Nationalism, and Maclean’s Music Coverage, 1967-1995″ (M.A., University of Waterloo, 2007).

For more information, you can visit his personal website at www.lackenbauer.ca