Mélanie Méthot, PhD University of Calgary, MA Université de Moncton, BA McGill University, DEC CEGEP de Ste-Foy

Area of Study / Keywords

Canadian and Australian Legal History Bigamy Marriage SoTL Social Transformations Assessment Program: Law Crime and Justice Studies Program: Elementary Education

Research

I have published on the turn of the 20th century social reform movements in Montreal and Winnipeg and on the administration of justice in Alberta.. My current research lies within the scope of legal history, more specifically on the institution of marriage. I research prosecuted cases of bigamy in Canada and in Australia.  Les Presses de l'Université Laval recently published my monograph:  Bigame malgré elle: La saga judiciaire de Julie Morin Russell. (November 2024)

Thanks to the support of SSHRC (2020-2025) for my research project: Marrying too Much: Bigamy in Australia, I am analyzing thousands of prosecuted bigamy cases in Australia. For an avant-goût check my  Research Website: https://www.thebigamyproject.com/  where with the help of students I share the fascinating stories of some of the bigamists. 

I also have an interest in the scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Teaching

I teach history and interdisciplinary courses in the Law Crime and Justice program. My students have many opportunities to present the research they do in my courses, either locally at the Student Conference, ACURIT and symposiums I organize, or in national and international academic conferences. In 2023, three research assistants presented their research in Sydney Australia, in 2024 three students presented in Toronto at the SSHA annual conference, and in 2025 another three presented their work at the CLSA annual conference in Saskatoon. 

AUHIS 271 - The History of Women in Canadian Society

History of Canadian women from the seventeenth century to the present, looking at how Canadian women were affected by, and how they contributed to, changes in Canadian society.

AUHIS 360 - Selected Topics in Canadian History

Seminar course which deals with selected topics in Canadian history. Topics vary from year to year. They are announced before registration. Subjects are selected from, but not limited to, politics, labour, education, ideas, family, the legal system, regional issues, ethnicity.

AUHIS 460 - Selected Topics in Canadian History

Seminar course which deals with selected topics in Canadian history. Topics vary from year to year. They are announced before registration. Subjects are selected from, but not limited to, politics, labour, education, ideas, family, the legal system, regional issues, ethnicity.

AUIDS 100 - The World in Progress: Inquiry in the Social Sciences

This course introduces students to inquiry in the social sciences, while enabling them to develop their core academic skills. This course is not an in-depth introduction to the various disciplinary fields within the social sciences, but rather a transdisciplinary introduction to the social sciences as a whole within the context of the liberal arts.

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Mélanie Methot

Presses de l'Université Laval. 2024 November;

• Research website