Saint Mary's

Profile

James H. Morrison
Professor Emeritus
B.A., B.Ed. (Acadia University)
Ph.D. (University of Ibadan, Nigeria)
McNally North 228
902 429 8094 (home)
james.morrison@smu.ca

Dr. Morrison became Full Professor in 1990 and upon his retirement in 2017 was named Professor Emeritus. He received a Commonwealth scholarship from the University of Ibadan, Nigeria and completed his degree there in 1976. He worked as a research historian for Parks Canada until 1979 at which time he came to Saint Mary's as Executive Director of the International Education Centre - a research/resource centre for International Development and Ethnic Studies. He served as Dean of Arts (1983-1989) and has served as the Coordinator of the Asian Studies Program as well as the International Development Studies Program. He was promoted to Full Professor in 1990. 

Federation of  Nova Scotia Heritage, Royal Nova Scotia Historical Society and the Society. Dr. Morrison's research and teaching interests lie in Global, Southeast Asian and oral history. He has held visiting fellowships at Institute of Southeast Asian Studies (Singapore), Hokkaido University of Education (Japan), and Jawaharlal Nehru University (India). He is past president of the Japan Studies Association of Canada, the Canadian Oral History Association, the Nova Scotian Federation of Heritage, and the Society for the Study of Ethnicity in Nova Scotia. Former Editor of FORUM, the Canadian Oral History Association journal, Morrison is now the Book Review Editor for that publication. His book publications include oral history, military history, social history, ethnicity, and adult education.

Governor General of Canada in recognition of his pioneering role in oral history methodology. In 2013, he was awarded the Queen Elizabeth ll Silver Jubilee medal and in 2022 the Queen Elizabeth ll Platinum Jubilee medal.

On December 30, 2008 Dr. Morrison was named a Member of the Order of Canada by Michaëlle Jean, Governor General of Canada.

Recently Taught Courses

• HIST 1208: Global History:  1450 to the Present
• HIST 3373: Voices of the Past
• HIST 3402: Aspects of Global History:  Atlantic World: Encounters, Exchanges and Adaptations, 1400-1850
• HIST 4570: Peoples of Nova Scotia:  Identity and Ethnicity
• HIST 4572: Black Heritage in Maritime Canada

Publications as Author and Editor

The Right to Read: Social Justice, Literacy and the Creation of Frontier College: The Alfred Fitzpatrick Story (Nimbus,2022).
University in Overalls: A Plea for Part-Time Study by Alfred Fitzpatrick - edited with a new introductory essay (, 1999)
Oral History in Southeast Asia :Theory and Method edited with P.Lim and C.G.Kwa (, 1998)
Changes, Challenges and Choices: Japan at the End of the 20th Century edited with Hugh Millward (, 1997)
Alfred Fitzpatrick: Founder of Frontier College - a book for young adults (Four East, 1995)
Camps and Classrooms: A Pictorial History of Frontier College, (Frontier College Press, 1989)
Tempered by Rum: Rum in the History of the Maritime Provinces with J. Moirera (Pottersfield Press, 1988)
Work, Ethnicity and Oral History with Dorothy Moore (International Education Centre, 1988)
Common Heritage: An Annotated Bibliography of Ethnic Groups in Nova Scotia(International Education Centre, 1984)
Wave to Whisper: British Military Communications in Halifax and the British Empire(Parks Canada, 1983)
"We've Held Our Own": The Western Interior of Nova Scotia, 1800-1940 (Parks Canada, 1981)
Kejimkujik National Park : A Guide with Leefe, Evans, and Mullen (Four East,1981)
Partners for Progress:  A Canada-Africa Venture in University Building (, 2006