The Department of History offers Master of Arts degrees in a two-year program. The major areas of study are North America, Europe, the Middle East, and Latin America with emphasis on Aboriginal, northern, gender, and environmental history. Students are encouraged to contact an appropriate supervisor before applying to the program and to develop a research project through this contact with members of the department. Click on this link to view our faculty members.
Our MA has two streams. In the first year of the program, all students take three seminars in their areas of interest as well as two courses in historiography and research methods (HIST 700 & 745). In the second year of the program, students may choose between writing an MA thesis or carrying out a creative project.
An MA thesis is based on original research and is between 100 and 120 pages in length.
For the creative project, students must carry out a similar amount of original research using historical sources, but they disseminate this knowledge through a number of different forms. The exact nature of the creative project option is to be determined by the student, the supervisor, and the graduate coordinator.
Admission Requirements
Graduates with a Bachelor of Arts degree from a recognized Canadian university or from another recognized university, and with at least a B+ average in the last two years of study will be considered for the MA program. We accept applicants to begin their graduate studies in September exclusively.
To apply, visit this page http://www.unbc.ca/apply/graduate. Before applying you should contact the graduate coordinator in the History Department and a potential supervisor before applying through UNBC's centralized system. Students will be accepted only in the areas of specialization in the Department of History subject to the availability of an appropriate supervisor.
Requirements for your application to the History program include:
- Statement of Interest
- Proposed Supervisor Identification
- Sample of Written Academic Work
- Three References
For further details on this specific requirements visit this page https://www.unbc.ca/admissions/graduate/graduate-application-requirements#ma-history
Applicants without a History Background or without a background in the topic that they want to study at the MA level should consult with the graduate coordinator in the History Department.
Current Graduate Research
Eliane Leider
My name is Eliane, and I hold a Bachelor’s degree in History and Theology (with a major in Catholic Theology) from the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany.
Currently, I am pursuing a Master’s degree in History, focusing on the legal frameworks and judicial reasoning behind medieval and early modern German witch trials and witch hunts. This perspective provides a unique lens for understanding the phenomenon of witch persecution from a legal and institutional standpoint, offering new insights beyond the conventional socio-religious narratives. In order to better understand the legal and regional specifics of early modern witch trials, I work with archival sources from various German cities. As part of my research, I will be conducting archival work in Germany, particularly in the State Archives of Stuttgart and Hamburg, which contain trial records and legal documents from local courts and church institutions.
Financial Support
The Department will provide support for applications to Graduate scholarships. There is limited financial support for students from UNBC. Please contact the graduate coordinator in the History Department for further information.
History Master's Theses completed at UNBC#
(Click on the author's name to read the abstract)
| JORGENSON, Mica (2012) | "It Happened to Me in Barkerville:" Aboriginal Identity, Economy, and Law in the Cariboo Gold Rush, 1862 1900 |
| MATTE, Alison (2012) | "She's the Queen of Everyone's Heart:" Community, Gender, Morality and Sexuality in the "Queen Val-Vedette" and "Queen Aurora of the Evergreens" Beauty Pageants, 1948-1970 |
| VOGT, David (2011) | "Every drop of water will be desired": The Lake Minnewanka and Spray Lakes controversies in Rocky Mountains National Park, 1912--1931. |
| NATHAN, Holly (2009) | "Building Dams, Constructing Stories: The Press, The Sekani and the Peace River Dam, 1957-1969" |
| SHORTEN, Rebecca Jane (2008) | "The Shapeliest Legs Under the Council Table: Defining The Feminist Influence on Women in British Columbia Municipal Politics, 1950-1980" |
| SELL, Gregory Earl (2007) | "Settler Mythology and the Construction of the Historical Memory of the Indian Wars of the Pacific Northwest" |
| TOOMEY, Roy P. (2006) | "Canadian Indians and the Second World War: The Pivotal Event of the 20th Century for Canadian Indians and Canadian Indian Policy?" |
| TOWNSEND, Lorna Ivy (2006) | "'I Must Record the Grit of My Little Wife Millie': Experience, Representation, and Rural Women in Early 20th Century British Columbia" |
| ATKINSON, Donna L.. (2005) | "'Not by oil alone': A History of Khanty and Mansi Political Mobilization, 1985 to 1996," |
| NIEMI, Melanie Ann (2005) | "The Edmonton and District Stragglers: Gendered Strategies of Treaty and Scrip,1876-1886" |
| ANDREWS, Karen June (2004) | "A Tortuous History: Federal-Provincial Relations and the Future of Medicare," |
| PUGH, Rhys Alan (2004) | "The Newspaper Wars in Prince George, B.C. 1909-1918" |
| DONOVAN, Kaori (2002) | "Yamato Nadeshiko in Canada: Experiences of Japanese Immigrant Women, 1868-1941" |
| STEVENSON-WALDIE, Laura (2001) | "The Sensational Landscape: The History of Sensationalist Images of the Arctic, 1818-1920" |
| WILLIAMS, Jeremy David Richard (2000) | A history of Gitxsan relations with colonial and Canadian law, 1858-1909 |
| REIMERS, Mia (1999) | "The Glamour and the Horror: a Social History of Wartime Northwestern British Columbia, 1939-1945" |
| BEACH, Christopher (1998) | "Beneath the Waters: A Microhistory of Ootsa Lake, a Northern Eurocanadian Community," |
| BUHLER, Katherine (1998) | "Come Hell and High Water: the Relocation of the Cheslatta First Nation" |
| BUDDLE, Melanie (1997) | "All the Elements of a Permanent Community”:A History of Society, Culture and Entertainment in the Cariboo," |
| TANER, Shona (1997) | "The Development of Native Studies at Canadian Universities Four Programs, Four Provinces, Four Decades" |
| ANDERSON, Erik (1996) | "'Ready for the Religious Relationship': Carrier Negotiations with Christianity through Fur Traders, Prophets, and Missionaries to 1885." |
| DIAZ, Robert Neil (1996) | "Reshaping the Land: An Environmental History of Prince George, British Columbia," |