Liza Piper - Directory@UAlberta.ca

Contact

Professor, Faculty of Arts - History, Classics, & Religion Dept

Email: epiper@ualberta.ca
Address: 2-37 Tory (H.M.) Building
11211 Saskatchewan Drive NW

Edmonton AB

T6G 2H4

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Environmental History ; Health ; Industrial Resource Economies; Colonialism

About

I am interested to understand how invisible, intangible, and abiotic elements of other-than-human nature—whether pathogens, rocks and minerals, energy, climate and ice—are powerful agents in our past. I explore these questions primarily in the context of the lands that are now northern and western Canada, which has led me to engage with histories of settler colonialism, industrialization, infrastructure, pollution, environmental activism, and resource politics.

My current research is focused on industrial resource economies and decisions around protecting or exploiting the land in the Rockies and foothills of Western Canada. I am also interested in the value of field work and place-based methodologies to historical research.

My previous research looked at the history of epidemics and health on the lands that are now the Yukon and Northwest Territories, in particular my book When Disease Came to This Country: Epidemics and Colonialism in Northern North America (CUP 2023). Prior to that, I published a book on the Industrial Transformation of Subarctic Canada (UBC 2009) as well as co-editing collections including Environmental Activism on the Ground: Small Green and Indigenous Organizing with Jon Clapperton (2019).

I regularly teach courses on the history of disease, Canadian environmental history, as well as on Alberta resource politics and global ecologies of health.

Courses

HIST 123 - Plague: Disease and Epidemics in History

The causes, impacts, and experiences of disease in human history.

Fall Term 2026

HIST 205 - Capitalism

The development of global capitalism through an exploration of historical changes in trade, markets, ideas, work, consumption, and government policies.

Winter Term 2027

HIST 290 - Introduction to History as a Discipline

Introduction to the basic concepts of historical inquiry and techniques of research and writing in History. Course includes lectures and discussions. Required for History majors. Prerequisite: A previous course in History or consent of the Department.

Winter Term 2027

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