People often say that a picture is worth a thousand words. Whether you agree or disagree with that statement, both words and images are crucial to our understanding of global history and current events. The UBC Department of History recently had the pleasure of chatting with some of our brilliant faculty members and asking them questions about their course content and syllabi. Scroll down to hear from Drs. Bonnie Effros, Bradley Miller and Coll Thrush about their exciting 2025/2026 undergraduate courses.
Interview with Drs. Effros, Miller and Thrush
Question: Can you tell us about one of the 2025/2026 courses you’re teaching and what excites you about it?
- Dr. Bonnie Effros: I’ll be teaching Hist 206: Magic, Miracles, and Witchcraft: The Supernatural in Medieval Europe for the first time at UBC. It focuses on the place of the supernatural in the lives of late antique and medieval people and some of its purposes. We tend to dismiss accounts of phenomena that we cannot document scientifically as not worthy of attention, but this course will show the role of miracles, magic, and witchcraft in medieval communities.
- Dr. Coll Thrush: Ghosts always show up in my research and writing, so I’m excited to finally lean in to the subject with this new course, HIST 490A: Haunted Histories. We’ll be looking at ghosts as manifestations of historical contexts and dynamics, as well as at theories of “hauntology” and more critical approaches.
- Dr. Bradley Miller: LASO 350: Canadian Criminal Justice History examines criminal justice in Canada. Students will learn about some of the most important legal issues in Canada, such as the impact of the Charter of Rights on criminal law. They’ll examine how crime is punished, including the rise and fall of the death penalty and the development of prisons. They’ll examine hot-button issues like how the justice system impacted racial minorities, Indigenous people, and LGBTQ communities. This is fascinating material and students will learn how the system still shapes Canadian fundamental ways.
Question: Can you share with us an image that best represents the content or energy of your course?
HIST 206 | Rock Crystal Ball mounted in white-metal gilt slings
Source: Maidstone Museum KAS 318
HIST 490A | Ghost, c. 1935
Source: Kodak Collection, Science Museum Group Collection Corresponding
LASO 350 | The Execution of Stanislaus Lacroix
Source: Napoleon Belanger, Library and Archives Canada Corresponding
Question: What can students expect from taking your course, and what might excite them about it?
- Dr. Bradley Miller: Criminal justice history gives us unique insights into how law, human rights, policing, and punishment work right now. If you don’t know the history of Canadian criminal justice, you can’t understand its present. Students will also learn how to read important documents in LASO 350, including Supreme Court of Canada decisions in Charter of Rights cases for themselves.
- Dr. Coll Thrush: Students can expect a fair amount of reading in HIST 490A, including some challenging theory, and can expect the opportunity to facilitate seminar discussion. Students will also conduct independent research, resulting in a creative project or a more traditional paper.
- Dr. Bonnie Effros: In HIST 206, we will of course engage with witchcraft and the persecution of those accused of it, but before doing so, we are going to look at the kinds of stereotypes that were used to identify what authorities viewed as unacceptable activities and trace some of their origins all of the way back to Egyptian, Greek, and Roman antiquity. We will also consider how the Catholic Church permitted certain kinds of supernatural activity, particularly that which was conducted by God, whether directly through the Eucharist or indirectly through the saints.
Scheduling Info
Hist 206: Magic, Miracles, and Witchcraft: The Supernatural in Medieval Europe
- Instructor: Dr. Bonnie Effros
- Term 2
- Schedule: Mondays and Wednesdays, 11 am to 12:30 pm
LASO 350: Canadian Criminal Justice History
- Instructor: Dr. Bradley Miller
- Term 1
- Schedule: Tuesdays, 11 am to 12:30 pm
HIST 490A: Haunted Histories
- Instructor: Dr. Coll Thrush
- Term 1
- Schedule: Tuesdays, 12 pm to 2 pm
Browse More Courses
Curious about other courses offered by the UBC Department of History? With everything from the history of modern medicine to global environmental history, there are plenty of options to choose from across diverse timelines and regions.
