Media
Story of Toronto’s 19th-century sex trade uncovered by professor, students
What makes Canada cool? Not what the New York Times thinks
Biography
Laurie Bertram is an Assistant Professor of History at the University of Toronto. Her research, public history practice, and teaching interests focus on Canada and Iceland. Her forthcoming book, “Immigrant Threads: Fashioning Icelandic-North American Culture, 1870 onwards,” studies the formation of Icelandic immigrant identity and culture though alternate media, including fashion, food, “Viking” souvenirs, and ghost stories. Her current research examines the historical relationships between brothels, colonialism, race, and nation-building on the Prairies from 1870-1914 with a focus on johns (male clients). As an instructor and public historian, Bertram maintains a focus on material culture and non-scribal forms of expression to explore broader subjects within Canadian history. Using textiles, photography, and mementoes, her gallery-based practice focuses on making critical scholarship on gender, memory, and trauma in Canada accessible to broad audiences.