James E. Fraser
Associate Professor
College of Arts, Department of History
Research Areas
- Scottish Studies
Education
Ph.D. University of Edinburgh, 2003
M.A. University of Guelph, 1999
B.A. University of Toronto, 1997
Areas of Graduate Supervision
Canadian Sports History:
the history of Canadian football in eastern Canada
Toronto sports history
Scottish History:
textual sources and early medieval northern Britain
My research work currently concentrates on the history of Canadian (gridiron) football, with particular reference to the Toronto Argonauts and the other senior-level football clubs that operated in Toronto alongside them. My major research project, which is nearing completion, is a book charting the history of the Argonaut Football Club from its origins in 1873 to its sale to a private consortium in 1956. Canada’s fascinating historical relationship with its own, unique version of the global game(s) of football is woefully understudied among academic historians and I am keenly interested in supervising graduate research in this area.
Formerly my research concentrated on the early Middle Ages in northern Britain. A number of studies in progress in this field are indefinitely on hiatus, as I have no specific plan to return to them in the near future.
Professional
University of Guelph, Associate Professor, 2015-present
University of Guelph, Scottish Studies Foundation Chair, 2015-20
University of Edinburgh, Senior Lecturer in Early Scottish History, 2011-14
University of Edinburgh, Lecturer and Senior Lecturer in Early Scottish History and Celtic, 2002-11
Courses Taught in 2024-25
HIST*1050 Invitation to History
HIST*2000 The British Isles, 1066-1603
HIST*2130 Modern Sport: a global history
HIST*3520 The Vikings
HIST*6190 Topics in Scottish History 1
Publications
books
From Caledonia to Pictland: Scotland to 795 - The New Edinburgh History of Scotland, Volume 1 (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2009)
> shortlisted for Saltire Society History Book of the Year (2010)
co-editor with Wilson McLeod and Anja Gunderloch, Cànan & Cultar/Language & Culture: Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 3 (Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 2006)
The Roman Conquest of Scotland: The Battle of Mons Graupius AD 84 (Stroud: Tempus, 2005)
The Battle of Dunnichen 685 (Stroud: Tempus, 2002)
articles and book chapters
"St Patrick and barbarian northern Britain in the fifth century," in F. Hunter and K. Painter (eds.), Late Roman Silver and the End of the Empire: The Traprain Treasure in Context (Edinburgh: Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, 2013), 15-27.
"Warfare in northern Britain, c.500-1093," in E. M. Spiers, J. A. Crang and M. J. Strickland (eds.), A Military History of Scotland (Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press, 2012), 65-93.
"From ancient Scythia to the problem of the Picts: Thoughts on the Quest for Pictish Origins," in S. T. Driscoll et al. (eds.), Pictish Progress. New Studies on Northern Britain in the Early Middle Ages(Leiden: Brill, 2011), 15-43.
"Early Medieval Europe: The Case of Britain and Ireland," in D. Bloxham and A. D. Moses (eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Genocide Studies (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2010), 259-79.
"The Three Thirds of Cenél Loairn, 678-733," in W. McLeod et al. (eds.), Bile ós Chrannaibh: A festschrift for William Gillies (Brig O’ Turk: Clann Tuirc, 2010), 135-66.
"Adomnán and the Morality of War," in J. M. Wooding et al. (eds.), Adomnán of Iona: Theologian, Lawmaker, Peacemaker (Dublin: Four Courts Press, 2010), 95-111.
"Rochester, Hexham and Cennrígmonaid: The Movements of St Andrew in Britain, 604-747," in S. Boardman et al. (eds.), Saints’ Cults in the Celtic World (Woodbridge: Boydell and Brewer, 2009), 1-17.
"Bede, the Firth of Forth, and the Location of Urbs Ludeu," Scottish Historical Review 87, no. 1 (2008): 1-25.
"St. Columba and the Convention at Druimm Cete: Peace and Politics at Seventh-Century Iona’, Early Medieval Europe 15, no. 3 (2007)" 315-34.
"Dux Reuda and the Corcu Réti," in W. McLeod et al. (eds.), Cànan & Cultar/Language & Culture: Rannsachadh na Gàidhlig 3 (Edinburgh: Dunedin Academic Press, 2006), 1-9.
"Strangers on the Clyde: Cenél Comgaill, Clyde Rock and the Bishops of Kingarth," Innes Review 56, no. 2 (2005): 102-20.
"Adomnán, Cumméne Ailbe, and the Picts," Peritia 17-18 (2003-2004): 183-98.
"The Iona Chronicle, the Descendants of Áedán Mac Gabráin, and the “Principal Kindreds of Dál Riata'," Northern Studies 38 (2004): 77-96.
"Northumbrian Whithorn and the Making of St Ninian," Innes Review 53, no.. 11 (2002): 40-59.
"A Swan from a Raven: William Wallace, Brucean Propaganda, and Gesta Annalia II," Scottish Historical Review 81, no. 1 (2002): 1-22.