Graduate Student, History
Thesis Title: "You say that you are a single man. You must realize that work is first given to the married men" : Les hommes célibataires montréalais et la crise économique des années 30
About
I am a Ph.D. student at McGill. I completed my Université de Montréal M.A. thesis, "Les règles du jeu de la séduction dans les manuels de savoir-vivre québécois (1863-1917) : investir le monde du sentiment et de l’intimité masculine" in 2006. Based on etiquette manuals published in Quebec, my M.A. explored the codes and stakes of male seduction and uncovered important links between seduction and the construction of masculine identity.
I am interested in the history of masculinity, immigration, citizenship, social policy, ethno-cultural relations and the working class. My doctoral thesis is on single men in Montreal during the Depression of 1930s, a particularly difficult period for these men who were broadly excluded from government aid policies. My study focuses on the values and moral postures that defined these discriminatory policies and examines the assistance procedures instituted by civil authorities, philanthropic organisms, mutual societies, unions and political parties. I analyse the impact of notions of class, religion, ethnicity, gender, citizenship and age on the organization and distribution of assistance. Specifically, I look to highlight the power relations between different social actors and single men who, in an effort to assert their rights and assure their survival, increasing respond through gestures of conciliation, contestation and resistance. Results of my research were presented at the 2009 Meetings of the Canadian Historical Association in my paper « "Avez-vous un chien, un Vieux garçon ou une automobile?": Le cas montréalais de la taxe des célibataires, 1918-1923 ».
I am a member of the Montreal History Group and of l'Institut d'histoire de l'Amérique française.
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