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Headshot of Dr. Cheryl Krasnick Warsh

How advertising imagery reveals Canada’s tourism and transportation narratives

November 19, 2024

A trip to Hawaii sparked Dr. Cheryl Krasnick Warsh’s research journey Dr. Cheryl Krasnick Warsh, a Vancouver Island University History Professor, is examining the iconography of travel destinations in transportation advertising from the 19th to the 21st centuries.  It all started in Hawaii when she picked up retro-travel postcards and noted the tension of the image.  “I was at a conference in... Read more


A picture of a solider and his family to the left, a copy of a letter in the foreground

VIU News & Experts: November 6, 2024

November 6, 2024

Remembrance Day, US election, memory development 🧠 In this issue of VIU news & experts:  Re-translating a classic war novel US election results Studying memory development Featured experts All Quiet on the Western Front – re-translated For two years, VIU Professor Emerita Dr. Katharina Rout has been engrossed in a re-translation of Erich Maria Remarque’s All Quiet on the Western Front. This... Read more


A group of soldiers poses for a photo

VIU and community partners remember local fallen soldiers through video memorial

November 1, 2024

VIU video project acknowledges Nanaimo soldiers’ contributions to the First and Second World Wars. A Vancouver Island University (VIU) video memorial project that tells the story of Nanaimo soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice during the First and Second World Wars will be displayed across the city.  For the 11 days leading up to Remembrance Day, the Nanaimo Remembers project will display the... Read more


VIU Research Assistants Elise Cullon and Katie Carroll. Katie shows Elise a document.

Preserving feminist health history to empower future activism and work

October 1, 2024

Vancouver Island University (VIU) researchers are digitizing Vancouver Women’s Health Collective documents to preserve feminist health activism for future study. “Preserving and publishing these histories shows the promise of feminist models of care and feminist health activism, which have the potential to impact current efforts to improve women’s health,” said Dr. Whitney Wood, VIU’s Canada... Read more


A man and a woman kneel behind produce laid out on grass

Going beyond the bar: VIU students research Nanaimo’s culinary past

April 24, 2024

New exhibit tackling Nanaimo’s food histories now open at the Nanaimo Museum.­­ Beyond its famous, eponymous bar, Nanaimo’s culinary history is not widely renowned. A new museum exhibit created by two Vancouver Island University (VIU) History classes aims to alter that perception. During the Spring Semester, students from Dr. Chelsea Horton’s History of Vancouver Island class collaborated with Dr... Read more


Stephen Davies sits at his computer with a digitized letter on the screen

Putting a human face to the Canadian war experience

November 7, 2023

Expert commentary with Dr. Stephen Davies, Director of the Canadian Letters and Images Project Vancouver Island University History Professor Dr. Stephen Davies is founder of the Canadian Letters and Images Project, an online, digital archive of Canadian wartime letters and related materials. He started the project in 2000 to help his students understand the First and Second World Wars. Over the... Read more


Group photo of WW1 soldiers with text that reads Nanaimo Remembers

VIU and community partners remember local fallen soldiers through video memorial

November 1, 2023

VIU video project acknowledges Nanaimo soldiers’ contributions to the First and Second World Wars. A Vancouver Island University (VIU) video memorial project that tells the story of Nanaimo soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice during the First and Second World Wars will be displayed across the city. For the 11 days leading up to Remembrance Day, the Nanaimo Remembers project will display the... Read more


Headshot of Dr. Whitney Wood.

VIU researcher examining pelvic health histories to help address gaps and inequities in care

March 15, 2023

Dr. Whitney Wood received more than half a million dollars from the Canadian Institutes of Health Research to pursue her study. Studies on women’s health tend to focus on reproduction. Vancouver Island University (VIU) researcher Dr. Whitney Wood believes this has led to gaps and inequities in care. Wood, VIU’s Canada Research Chair in the Historical Dimensions of Women’s Health, argues... Read more


People doing a live broadcast in a coffee shop

VIU experts appear live on CBC Nanaimo broadcast

January 27, 2023

Several shows were broadcasting from Serious Coffee on Hammond Bay Road The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation launched its permanent bureau in Nanaimo on Friday, January 27 with a special live broadcast in the Harbour City that featured several experts from Vancouver Island University. The Nanaimo bureau “will focus on telling stories from the mid-and-north Vancouver Island region” states a CBC... Read more


A group of soldiers pose for a photo with Nanaimo Remembers written across the bottom

VIU and community partners remember local fallen armed forces members through video memorial

October 28, 2022

VIU video project acknowledges Nanaimo armed forces members' contributions to the First and Second World Wars. Private Reginald Edgar Emblem, a farmer and resident of South Wellington, served in the 72nd Battalion during the First World War. He died at age 20 of influenza and pneumonia in October 1918 and was buried at Seaford Cemetery in Sussex, United Kingdom. Private William Armstrong Syer, a... Read more