Kevin Spooner

My area of expertise is the history of Canadian foreign policy, particularly Canada’s contribution to international peacekeeping and Canadian relations with Africa. Canada’s place in the world, from the 1940s to the 1960s, remains an important focus in my writing. I am currently working on projects that explore the impact of decolonization on Canadian relations with Africa during the governments of John Diefenbaker and Lester Pearson.

• Certificate of Merit, International Council for Canadian Studies (2019)

• Faculty of Arts Teaching Scholar Award, Wilfrid Laurier University (2016)

• The C. P. Stacey Prize, Canadian Committee for the History of the Second World War / Canadian Commission for Military History (2009).

I am willing to supervise graduate students pursuing projects related to the history of Canadian foreign policy, particularly in the Cold War era.

• Spooner, Kevin. “The Diefenbaker Government and Foreign Policy in Africa.” In Reassessing the Rogue Tory: Canadian Foreign Relations in the Diefenbaker Era. Eds. Janice Cavell and Ryan Touhey. University of British Columbia Press (2018).

• Spooner, Kevin "'Awakening Africa': Race and Canadian Views of Decolonizing Africa." In Dominion of Race: Rethinking Canada's International History. Eds. Laura Madokoro, Francine McKenzie, and David Meren. University of British Columbia Press (2017).

• Spooner, Kevin. "Legacies and Realities: UN Peacekeeping and Canada, the Past and Present." In Canada and the United Nations: Legacies, Limits, and Prospects. Eds. Robert Teigrob and Colin Mccullough. McGill-Queen's University Press (2016).

• Spooner, Kevin. "Present at the Creation? Canada, UN Intervention, and the Congo as a Failed State, 1960-64." In From Kinshasa to Kandahar: Canada and Fragile States in Historical Perspective. Eds. Michael Carroll and Greg Donaghy. University of Calgary Press (2016).

• Spooner, Kevin. "Africa on the Horizon: Early Canadian Foreign Policy." In Canada in Africa: Addressing Insecurity in Somalia and the Horn of Africa. Eds. Kirk Goodlet, Roger Sarty, and Alistair Edgar. LCMSDS Press of Wilfrid Laurier University (2015).
  
  
• Spooner, Kevin. “A Fine Line: Use of Force, the Cold War, and Canada’s Air Support for the UN Organization in the Congo.” In Air Power in UN Operations: Wings for Peace. Ed. Walter Dorn. Ashgate (2014).
  
  
• Spooner, Kevin. “Pacificar o no pacificar? Una comparación entre Canadá y México,” Revista El Colegio de San Luis 4.7 (2014): 34-49.
  
  
• Spooner, Kevin. “To Peacekeep or Not to Peacekeep? Canada and Mexico Compared.” In Dynamics and Trajectories: Canada and North America. Eds. Andrew Nurse and Michael Fox. Fernwood (2012).
  
  
• Spooner, Kevin. “Canada’s Presence in the World: Assessing a Century,” Canadian Public Policy. 37.3 (2011): 4-8.
  
  
• Spooner, Kevin. “Just West of Neutral: Canadian Objectivity and Peacekeeping during the Congo Crisis, 1960-61.” Canadian Journal of African Studies. (2009).
  
  
• Spooner, Kevin. Canada, the Congo Crisis and UN Peacekeeping, 1960-64. University of British Columbia Press (2009).
  
  
• Spooner, Kevin, Janice Cavell and Michael Stevenson. Documents on Canadian External Relations, 1959. Vol. 26. (2006).

NO105: Billionaires, Beavers, and Banditos

NO211: Canadian Identities and Cultures

NO/HI312: Canadian-American Relations