Randy Widdis

Professor Emeritus

E-mail: randy.widdis@uregina.ca

Randy Widdis
Professor Emeritus
PhD, Queen’s University

E-mail: randy.widdis@uregina.ca

Areas of Specialization
Cultural-Historical Geography, Rural Geography, Population Geography, Philosophy and Methodology of Geography, Borders and Borderlands, Canada and the United States


Books

R.W. Widdis, Neighbours in Paradox: A Historical Geography of the Canadian-American Borderlands (under review).

R.W. Widdis, ed., The Prairies and Northern Great Plains Borderland: Themes and Issues from the Interior of North America (under review).

V. Konrad and R.W. Widdis, eds., The Atlantic Borderland (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, forthcoming 2021).

R.W. Widdis, Voices From ‘Next Year Country’: An Oral History of Rural Saskatchewan (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 2006).

J. Bukowczyk, N. Faires, D. Smith, and R. W. Widdis, Permeable Border: The Great Lakes Basin as Transnational Region, 1650-1990 (Pittsburgh and Calgary: University of Pittsburgh Press and University of Calgary Press, 2005).

R.W. Widdis, With Scarcely A Ripple: Anglo-Canadian Migration into the United States and Western Canada, 1880-1920 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1998) (paperback version published in 1999).

B.D. Thraves, A.H. Paul and R.W. Widdis, eds. The Estevan Papers: Proceedings of the 1995 Prairie CAG Meetings, Regina Geographical Studies Series, No. 6 (1997).

A.H. Paul and R.W. Widdis, eds., The Moose Mountain Papers: Studies by Prairie and Plains Geographers - Proceedings of the 1985 Prairie CAG Meeting, Regina Geographical Studies Series, No. 5 (1988).


Chapters in Books

R.W. Widdis, “The 49th Parallel and Axes of Development: Some Introductory Remarks,” in R. Widdis, ed., The Prairies and Northern Great Plains Borderland: Themes and Issues from the Interior of North America (under review).

R.W. Widdis, “The Northern Plains and Prairies: From Frontier to Borderland” in R. Widdis, ed., The Prairies and Northern Great Plains Borderland: Themes and Issues from the Interior of North America (under review).

R.W. Widdis, “Back to the Future: Winnipeg’s Reinvention from Regional Trade and Transportation Gateway to Borderland Trade and Transportation Hub,” in R. Widdis, ed., The Prairies and Northern Great Plains Borderland: Themes and Issues from the Interior of North America (under review).

V. Konrad and R.W. Widdis, “Introduction,” in V. Konrad and R.W. Widdis, eds. The Atlantic Borderland (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, forthcoming 2021).

R.W. Widdis, “The Atlantic Borderland: Processes of Bordering and the Re-Imagining of Region,” in V. Konrad and R.W. Widdis, eds. The Atlantic Borderland (Ottawa: University of Ottawa Press, forthcoming 2021).

V. Konrad, J. Laine, I. Liikanen, J. Scott, and R. Widdis, “The Language of Borders,” in S. Brunn and R. Kehrein, eds., Handbook of the Changing World Language Map (New York: Springer Nature Switzerland AG, 2019).

R.W. Widdis, “A Spatial Grammar of Migration Within the Canadian-American Borderlands at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” in A. Freund and B. Bryce, eds., Entangling North America: Space and Migration History (Gainesville: University Press of Florida, 2015), 61-96.

R.W. Widdis, “Canadians Before 1870,” in E. Barkan, ed. Immigrants in American History: Arrival, Adaptation, and Integration (Santa Barbara: ABC-Clio, 2013), 31-40.

R.W. Widdis, “American-Resident Migration to Western Canada at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” in G. Marchildon, ed. History of the Prairie West Series, Vol. 2: Immigration and Settlement, 1870-1939 (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 2009), 347-372 (reprinted from Prairie Forum 22, 2, 1997, 237-62).

R.W. Widdis, “Saskatchewan’s Cultural Landscapes,” in B. Thraves, M. Lewry, J. Dale, and H. Schlichtmann, eds., Saskatchewan Geographic Perspectives (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 2007), 157-169.

R.W. Widdis, “The Historical Geography of the Canadian-American Borderlands, 1784-1989: Conceptual and Methodological Challenges,” in Karl Froschauer, Nadine Fabbi, and Susan Pell, eds. Convergence and Divergence in North America: Canada and the United States (Burnaby: Centre for Canadian Studies, Simon Fraser University, 2006), 19-33.

R.W. Widdis, “I Walk the Line: Historical-Geographical Reflections of Canadian Borders and Borderlands,” in Michèle Kaltemback and Marcienne Rocard, eds., Le Canada: Nouveaux défis / Canada Revisited (Toulouse, Editions Universitaires du Sud, 2005), 29-43.

R.W. Widdis, “Geography of Saskatchewan,” in The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 2005), 379-388.

R.W. Widdis, “Migration and Urbanization: Some Historical Geographical Insights,” in Marc St.-Hilaire et Richard Marcoux, dir., Population et urbanisation au Québec et au Canada, XIXe-XXe siècles (Cheminements) (Sainte-Foy: Centre interuniversitaire d’etudes québecoises, 2004), 12-18.

H. Diaz, R.W. Widdis and D.Gauthier, “Social Cohesion and the Rural Community,” in Raymond Blake and Andrew Nurse, eds., The Trajectories of Rural Life: New Perspectives on Rural Life (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 2003), 123-136.

R.W. Widdis, “Place, Placelessness and Placemaking as Evidenced in Saskatchewan’s Cultural Landscape,” in Peter Jonker, John Van Dall, Lawrence Baschak, and David Gauthier, eds., Caring for Home Place: Protected Areas and Landscape Ecology (Saskatoon and Regina: University Extension Press and Canadian Plains Research Center, 1997), 19-27.

R.W. Widdis, "Saskatchewan: The Present Cultural Landscape," in Henry Epp. ed., Three Hundred Prairie Years: Henry Kelsey’s Inland Country of Good Report (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, 1993), 142-57.

R.W. Widdis, "A Canadian Geographer's Perspective on the Canada-United States Border," in Donald Janelle, ed., Geographical Snapshots of North America, Commemorating the 27th Congress of the International Geographical Union and Assembly (New York: Guilford Press, 1992), 45-48.

R.W. Widdis, "`We Breathe the Same Air': Eastern Ontarian Migration to Watertown, New York in the late nineteenth century," in Wendell Tripp, ed., Coming and Becoming: Pluralism in New York State History (Cooperstown: New York State Historical Association, 1991), 227-46. (reprinted from New York History LXVIII, 3, 1987).

R.W. Widdis, "Tracing Property Ownership in Nineteenth Century Ontario: A Guide to Archival Sources," in Donald H. Akenson ed., Canadian Papers in Rural History, Vol. 2 (Gananoque: Langdale Press, 1980), 83-102.


Articles

R.W. Widdis, “Introduction,” in R. Widdis, ed. History and the Canada-United States Border: Insights and Approaches (under review as special issue for the Journal of Borderlands Studies).

R.W. Widdis, “Theory and Borderlands History,” in R. Widdis, ed. History and the Canada-United States Border: Insights and Approaches (under review as special issue for the Journal of Borderlands Studies).

R.W. Widdis, “Atlantica as a De Facto Historical Concept: A Critical Appraisal,” in R. Widdis, ed. History and the Canada-United States Border: Insights and Approaches (under review as special issue for the Journal of Borderlands Studies).

R.W. Widdis, “On Globalization, Borders and Borderlands: A Historical Geographical Perspective,” The Canadian Geographer 63, 4 (2019): 573-593.

R.W. Widdis, “Railroads and Borderland Spaces: The Canada-U.S. Case,” The Canadian Geographer 63, 1 (2019): 11-26.

R.W. Widdis, “Greater New England as Cultural Borderland: A Critical Appraisal,” Acadiensis XLVI, no. 1 (Winter/Spring 2017): 97-121.

R.W. Widdis, “Looking Through the Mirror: A Historical Geographical View of the Canadian-American Borderlands,” Journal of Borderlands Studies 30, 2 (2015), 175-188.

R.W. Widdis, "'Across The Boundary in A Hundred Torrents': The Changing Geography of Marine Trade in the Great Lakes Borderland During the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries," Annals, The Association of American Geographers 101, 2 (2011), 356-379.

R.W. Widdis, “Crossing an Intellectual and Geographical Border: The Importance of Migration in Shaping the Canadian-American Borderlands at the Turn of the Twentieth Century,” Social Science History 34, 4 (2010), 445-497.

R.W. Widdis, “Globalization, Glocalization and the Canadian West as Region: A Geographer’s View,” Acadiensis XXXV, 2 (2006), 129-37.

R.W. Widdis, L. Dale-Burnett, C. Greenham, “Looking Back at Cohesion,” Prairie Forum 30, 3 (2005), 253-88.

R.W. Widdis, “The Murals of Moose Jaw: Commodification or Articulation of the Past?,” Historical Geography 28 (2000), 244-62.

R.W. Widdis, “American-Resident Migration to Western Canada At The Turn of the Twentieth Century,” Prairie Forum 22, 2 (1997), 237-62.

R.W. Widdis, “Borders, Borderlands and Canadian Identity: A Canadian Perspective,” International Journal of Canadian Studies 15 (Spring 1997), 49-66.

R.W. Widdis. “Borderland Interaction in the International Region of the Great Plains: An Historic-Geographical Perspective,” Great Plains Research 7, 1 (1997), 103-37.

R.W. Widdis, "Saskatchewan Bound: Migration to a New Canadian Frontier," Great Plains Quarterly, 12, 4 (1992), 254-68.

R.W. Widdis, "Generations, Mobility and Persistence: A View From Genealogies," Histoire Sociale 25, 49 (1992), 125-50.

R.W. Widdis, "Belleville and Environs: Continuity, Change and the Integration of Town and Country During the Nineteenth Century," Urban History Review XIX, 3 (1991), 181-208.

R.W. Widdis, "An Evaluation of Canadian Border Crossing Records in the Study of American-Resident Migration to the Canadian West," Bulletin, The Association of North Dakota Geographers 39 (Grand Forks: University of North Dakota Department of Geography, 1989), 18-35.

R.W. Widdis, "Tracing Eastern Ontarian Emigrants to New York State, 1880-1910," Ontario History LXXXI, 3 (1989), 201-23.

R.W. Widdis, "Scale and Context: Approaches to the Study of Canadian Migration Patterns in the Nineteenth Century," Social Science History 12, 3 (1988), 269-303.

R.W. Widdis, "`We Breathe the Same Air': Eastern Ontarian Migration to Watertown, New York in the late nineteenth century," New York History LXVIII, 3 (1987), 261-80.

R.W. Widdis, "With Scarcely A Ripple: English Canadians in Northern New York At The Beginning of the Twentieth Century," Journal of Historical Geography 13, 2 (1987), 169-92.

R.W. Widdis, "Speculation and the Surveyor: An Analysis of the Role Played by Surveyors in the Settlement of Upper Canada," Histoire Sociale 15, 30 (1982), 443-58.

R.W. Widdis, "Pioneer Life on the Bay of Quinte: An Evaluation of Genealogical Source Data in the Study of Migration," The Canadian Geographer XXVII, 3 (1982), 273-82.

R.W. Widdis, "Science and Humanism in Geography: The Dilemma of the Dialectic," Ontario Geography 15 (1980), 53-64.

R.W. Widdis, "Motivation and Scale: A Method of Identifying Land Speculators in Upper Canada," The Canadian Geographer, XXIII, 4 (1979), 337-51.


Encyclopedia Entries

M. Lewry, W.O. Archibold, R.W. Widdis, “Geographic education and research,” in D. Gauthier, Managing Editor, The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 2005), 377.

R.W. Widdis, “American Immigration to Saskatchewan,” in D. Gauthier, Managing Editor, The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 2005), 55-56.

R.W. Widdis, “The Forty Ninth Parallel,” in D. Gauthier, Managing Editor, The Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan (Regina: Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 2005), 351-352.

R.W. Widdis, “Canadians, Anglophone,” in P. Eisenstadt, editor-in-Chief, The Encyclopedia of New York State (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005), 253-254.

R.W. Widdis, “Canada,” in P. Eisenstadt, editor-in-Chief, The Encyclopedia of New York State (Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 2005), 251-252.

R.W. Widdis. “Anglo-Canadians,” in David Wishart, ed., Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004): 226-227.

R.W. Widdis, “The Forty Ninth Parallel,” in David Wishart, ed., Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004): 665-666.

R.W. Widdis, “Regina,” in David Wishart, ed., Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004): 179.

R.W. Widdis, “Saskatoon,” in David Wishart, ed., Encyclopedia of the Great Plains (Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 2004): 183.

R.W. Widdis, “Hinterland,” in Neil L. Shumsky, ed., American Cities and Suburbs: An Encyclopedia (New York: ABC-Clio, 1998), 341-42.


Technical Reports

R.W. Widdis, “Philosophical and Practical Reflections on Ethnocultural Commemoration and Heritage in Saskatchewan,” Saskatchewan Ethnocultural Communities Commemoration Workshop (Historic Sites and Monument Board/Parks Canada, 2003).

D.A. Gauthier, R.W. Widdis and M. Lewry, An Historical Ecological Review of Agricultural Activities in Grasslands National Park and Region, 1870-1930 (report to Parks Canada, Prairie and Northern Region, Winnipeg, 1993).


Book Reviews

A Book Review of: Jane Helleiner, Borderline Canadianness: Border Crossings and Everyday Nationalism in Niagara, (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2016) for Journal of Borderland Studies (forthcoming 2019).

A Book Review of: Brian DeLay, ed., North American Borderlands (New York: Routledge, 2013) for Journal of Borderland Studies 29, 4 (2014), 535-36.

A Book Review of: Patrick McGreevy, Stairway to Empire: Lockport, the Erie Canal, and the Shaping of America (Albany: State University of New York Press, 2009) for The Canadian Geographer 54, 2 (2010), 257-58.

A Book Review of: Stephen J. Hornsby and John G. Reid, eds. New England and the Maritime Provinces: Connections and Comparisons (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 2005) for The American Review of Canadian Studies 37, 3 (2007), 406.

A Book Review of: Mika Roinila, The Finnish Immigrant Experience in North America, 1880-2000: Studies in Cultural Geography (Lewiston, N.Y.: The Edward Mellen Press, 2006) for The Canadian Geographer 51, 2 (2007), 252-54.

A Book Review of: Yossi Katz and John C. Lehr, The Last Best West (Jerusalem: The Magnes Press, The Hebrew University, 1999) for Prairie Forum 27, 2 (2002), 272-75.

A Book Review of: R. Bruce Shepard, Deemed Unsuitable: Blacks from Oklahoma Move to the Canadian Prairies in Search of Equality in the Early 20th Century Only to Find Racism in their New Home (Toronto: Umbrella Press, 1997) for Prairie Forum 23, 1 (1998), 138-40.

A Book Review of: Dean L. May, Three Frontiers: Family, Land, and Society in the American West, 1850-1900 (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994) for Utah Historical Quarterly 63, 4 (1995), 379-81.

A Book Review of: Eric Ross, Full of Hope and Promise: The Canadas in 1841 (Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press, 1991) for The Canadian Geographer 37, 4 (1993), 378-9.

A Book Review of: Guy M. Robinson, ed., A Social Geography of Canada: essays in honour of J. Wreford Watson (Edinburgh: North British Publishing, 1988) for Great Plains Research, Vol. 3, 1 (1993), 135-7.

A Book Review of: John Welsted, John Everitt and Christoph Stadel, eds., Brandon: Geographical Perspectives on the Wheat City (Canadian Plains Research Center, University of Regina, 1988) for Urban History Review XVIII, 3 (1990), 265-7.

Book Reviews of Bernard Bailyn, The Peopling of British North America (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986), Voyagers to the West (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1986) for New York History LXX, 1 (1989), 119-22.


Articles in Non-Refereed Publications

R.W. Widdis, "Exodus: The Canadians Who Moved South," Kingston Whig Standard Magazine (March 9, 1985).