Dr. Sheila McManus, a professor with the Department of History and Religion at the University of Lethbridge, will be at the Monarch Theatre on Thursday evening to present 'Borders are Stupid.'--Submitted Photo
asmith@medicinehatnews.com
The Historical Society of Medicine Hat & District aims to bring in both familiar and new faces looking for a bit of “mental exercise” with its latest guest speaker.
The provocatively-titled “Borders are Stupid” will be presented by Dr. Sheila McManus, a professor in the Department of History and Religion at the University of Lethbridge, on Thursday at the Monarch Theatre.
McManus has written extensively on the topic of borders before, with her publications ‘The Line which Separates: Race, Gender and the Making of the Alberta-Montana Borderlands,’ published in 2005, and ‘Writing the Edges of the North American West’ in 2022.
She has also co-edited two anthologies, one of which, ‘Challenging Borders: Contingencies and Consequences,’ is forthcoming from Athabasca University Press.
Situated as the city is on multiple borders, Historical Society president Bruce Shepard says he thought having someone come speak on the topic would be a grand opportunity to bring people together and get them thinking about Medicine Hat’s placement as something of a “border town.”
“Medicine Hat is bordered. Our community is situated just west of the Treaty Seven boundary. We are also just north of the International border with the United States and just west of the provincial boundary with Saskatchewan,” said Shepard. “These boundaries shape us in many ways and we are not always aware of them. Borders are ancient legal constructions which have expanded and receded over time. What makes them real are the legal enforcement of them.”
The event will take place at 7 p.m. with a brief business meeting, with McManus’s presentation to begin soon after.
It is the society’s hope that this event might inspire people to join the group, Shepard says, and this is a fantastic opportunity to see if membership might be a good fit.
