Alice Nash, assistant professor, University of Massachusetts-Amherst, MA
Distinguished Lecturing/Research: Deerfield 1704: A Spiral History Approach to Early American History; Council Fires and Cooking Fires: A Comparative Study of Gender and Colonization at Kahnawake and Odanak, 1700-1850
Host: University of Montreal, Quebec, Canada
September 2003-June 2004

Visiting Colonial Times
Alice Nash, a history professor at the University of Massachusetts-Amherst, involved herself in numerous activities during her Fulbright Distinguished Chair grant to Canada. Her time conducting research was spent examining how gender plays a role in society and politics. From studying colonial society, Nash wrote Council Fires and Cooking Fires: A Comparative Study of Gender and Colonization at Kahnawake and Odanak, 1700-1850.

Under the guidance of the history department chair at the University of Montreal, Nash also taught two classes for a doctoral seminar in theories and methods in history and an undergraduate course in historic colonial problems of North America.

During the fall term, Nash focused her two doctoral classes on ethnohistory and colonization. "It was a terrific opportunity to meet graduate students and to gain confidence," she said.

For the winter term's undergraduate course, Nash modified the curriculum of a course she developed and taught at the University of Massachusetts. The course focused on the raid on Deerfield, Massachusetts by the French and Natives in 1704. As part of the syllabus, Nash brought her nine students and three auditors (two master's students and a senior faculty member) to visit Deerfield. Nash enjoyed greatly teaching her classes. "The students are enthusiastic about the subject although their academic levels are uneven," she said.

Nash participated in several presentations, including a panel discussion on the politics of population, an annual meeting of the Institute of American-French History, and a University of Sherbrooke conference on the history of Native-American religions, where she discussed the life of Christians. Nash did not expect to have so many opportunities to speak on history. "The other members of the history department and, indeed, people throughout the academic community in Montreal, have been extremely friendly and helpful," she said. "I have had numerous chances to engage both formally and informally with other scholars in my field and I have been invited to more talks and seminars than I could possibly attend."

Please contact us if you would like to submit your own story and/or photographs.