David Rossiter appointed editor of American Review of Canadian Studies

David Rossiter, an assistant professor of environmental studies at Western Washington University, has been appointed editor of the American Review of Canadian Studies. He takes over from John Purdy, a professor of English at WWU, who just finished his four-year term as the editor of ARCS.

The review is a refereed, multidisciplinary, quarterly journal. Published since 1971 by ACSUS, the journal examines Canada and the Canadian point of view from an American perspective. Its articles—both interdisciplinary and disciplinary—explore Canada’s arts, cultures, economics, politics, history, and society, recognizing Canada’s distinctive position in the world. Most issues of the journal also contain reviews of recently published books across that same broad spectrum of topics—reviews that acquaint readers with current scholarship in the field.

Rossiter received a Ph.D. in Geography from York University, Toronto. His research investigates intersections of ‘nature,’ ‘society,’ and relations of power in resource use and articulations of territorial sovereignty, both historically and in the present. Rossiter has explored the politics of nature and resulting human geographies of early industrial forestry, anti-logging campaigns, aboriginal land and resource claims, and transnational border space. All of these interests are reflected in the courses he teaches through Huxley College and the Center for Canadian-American Studies at Western Washington University.

As the host institution of the journal, Western Washington University’s Center for Canadian-American Studies offers a comprehensive program for the study of Canada in the United States. In consortium with the Canadian Studies Center at the University of Washington, the Center is one of only two U.S. Department of Education designated National Resource Centers for the study of Canada in the United States.

The center, headed by Don Alper, coordinates a multidisciplinary undergraduate program; organizes seminars and symposia on cross-border issues of interest to both nations; promotes research on Canadian topics in the social sciences and humanities; and conducts extensive outreach to K-12 and post-secondary educators as well as to the business and local community, media and cultural organizations.