Shannon Bower, PhD - Directory@UAlberta.ca

Contact

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

Email: stundenb@ualberta.ca

Overview

Area of Study / Keywords

Environmental History Agricultural History Water Management Prairie West Northern Great Plains Canadian History

About

I am an environmental historian of northern North America, with particular attention to what is now commonly known as Canada. My research focuses on the Prairies/northern Great Plains, and addresses questions related to water management (with particular concern for the extremes of flood or drought) and government institutions (whether at national, provincial, or local scales).

I am a member of the executive and the editorial collective for the Network in Canadian History and Environment (NiCHE). I'm also an associate editor with the scholarly journal Prairie History.

I'm a settler of mixed European and British ancestry. I've lived most of my life in the territories of Treaty 6 and Treaty 1, which are also Métis homelands. My research focuses on areas within treaties 1 through 7, all of which are Métis homelands. For more information on the concept of treaty in the context of northern North America, please consult the Treaty Map created by the Yellowhead Institute.

Research

Currently, I'm researching post-1945 irrigation in Saskatchewan and Alberta. I'm interested in social, political, and ecological consequences of changes to waterflow patterns in prairie agricultural landscapes, in the context of mid-20th century agricultural industrialization and chemicalization. My focus is on large-scale, publicly-funded irrigation projects. For more on this project, please visit the project webpage.

Teaching

I'm pleased to work with students interested in Canadian and environmental history, especially on topics pertaining to the prairie west.

Courses

HIST 261 - Post-Confederation Canada

Fall Term 2026

HIST 377 - Canada Since 1945

Economic, political, social and cultural developments in the postwar era.

Winter Term 2027

HIST 497 - Writing History: Contemporary Debates

Examination of key methodological and/or historiographical debates in History. Prerequisite: HIST 290 and 3 units in HIST at the 300-level, or consent of Department.

Winter Term 2027

HIST 501A - Directed Study: Honors Essay

Preparation of the Honors essay under the supervision of a faculty member.

Fall Term 2026

HIST 501B - Directed Study: Honors Essay

Preparation of the Honors essay under the supervision of a faculty member.

Winter Term 2027

Browse more courses taught by Shannon Bower

Scholarly Activities

Research - Climate and Change website

Climate and Change is a website I curated with historians George Colpitts (University of Calgary) and Bill Waiser (University of Saskatchewan). The goal was to connect textbook-like interpretation of 1930s drought (a key topic in Canadian environmental history) with the affordances of the world wide web, creating a more engaging experience for students and other interested parties. Check out the primary sources -- both oral and film -- that working digitally allowed us to include!

Climate and Change