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On the Case: Explorations in Social History
Contributor(s): Iacovetta, Franca (Editor), Mitchinson, Wendy (Editor)
ISBN: 0802081290     ISBN-13: 9780802081292
Publisher: University of Toronto Press
OUR PRICE:   $51.30  
Product Type: Paperback
Published: November 1998
Qty:
Annotation: Featuring some of Canada's leading social historians, "On The Case" is a timely contribution to current scholarship and debate in social history and related fields. Case files have become a popular source, proving crucial to scholars developing new fields of study, including the history of gay and lesbian lives, sexuality, and domestic violence. Access to once confidential records has helped to re-invigorate older subjects, such as the history of security intelligence, immigrant reception work, and the modern welfare state. This is the first forum to debate the merits and pitfalls of such an approach, and almost all of the essays are previously unpublished.
Additional Information
BISAC Categories:
- Social Science | Anthropology - Cultural & Social
- Social Science | Sociology - General
Dewey: 301.072
LCCN: 98229696
Series: Heritage
Physical Information: 1.03" H x 5.96" W x 8.9" (1.22 lbs) 432 pages
Themes:
- Cultural Region - Canadian
 
Descriptions, Reviews, Etc.
Publisher Description:

Case files, records from all kinds of social, medical, governmental, military, and other agencies, become available to researchers once confidentiality is no longer in question. Such records are an important source for scholars in social history and related fields, providing insight not only into the lives of ordinary people but into the workings of the agencies that kept the records as well. Case files contain a wealth of information and challenge researchers by their complexity and the variety of approaches and methodologies their analysis demands. On the Case is a timely book intended to provide a forum for discussing the theoretical and methodological issues that case files raise. The book brings together theoretical debates, new research, and new research methods and offers compelling illustrations of the drama, conflict, and power relations that the case file can capture.

This collection of essays features some of Canada's leading social historians. Readers will encounter an impressive array of case files, including psychiatrists' accounts of sexual deviants, employment records of sailors, state welfare and Indian Affairs reports, court records, the patient forms of hospital and asylum doctors, and state security files. While the contributors differ in choice of subject and approach, they share a commitment to the progressive traditions of social history. They recover the voices and actions of people - not only of those with power but also of those who seemingly have none.

Case files have proved crucial to scholars developing such new fields of historical study as sexuality, gay and lesbian lives, and domestic violence, and have reinvigorated work in more established fields of history such as immigration, security and intelligence, and the modern welfare state. On the Case is unique in offering new research as well as guiding readers through recent debates and the various theoretical and methodological challenges created by case files.


Contributor Bio(s): Iacovetta, Franca: - Franca Iacovetta is a professor in the Department of History at the University of Toronto.Mitchinson, Wendy: - Wendy Mitchinson is a Distinguished Professor Emerita in the Department of History at the University of Waterloo.