Dr. Bettina Liverant

Pronouns: she / her

Positions

Adjunct Assistant Professor

Faculty of Arts, Department of History

Contact information

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Background

Educational Background

PhD History, University of Alberta, Edmonton,

MA History, University of Calgary, Calgary,

B.ARCH Architecture, Carlton University, Ottawa,

Liverant CV (2024)

Research

Areas of Research

History of Retailing and Consumer History (Consumer societies, consumer capitalism, consumer credit, spaces of consumption)

Dr. Bettina Liverant's primary research interests lay at the intersection of commerce and culture. She has written extensively on Canadian consumer society, corporate philanthropy, and Canadian architecture.

Corporate Philanthropy

Material Culture, Architecture & Design

Daily life and Domesticity in Northern North America

Modern Cultural and Intellectual History and the Sociology of Knowledge

Publications

Journal articles

Negotiating Narratives: Recent Approaches in Consumer Studies. Labour/ Le Travail, 71. 217-235. (2013)
The Incorporation of Philanthropy: Negotiating Tensions Between Capitalism and Altruism in Twentieth Century Canada. ” Journal of the Canadian Historical Society 20:1 . 191-220. (2009)
The Promise of a More Abundant Life: Canadian consumer society and the rise of the managerial state. Journal of the Canadian Historical Society 19:1 . 229-251. (2008)

Books and book chapters

A Business History of Retail: From Trading Post to E-Commerce in the America and Canada. Bettina Liverant. Routledge International Studies in Business History. (2024)
Rethinking Postwar Domesticity: The Canadian Household in the 1950s. Bettina Liverant. In Asa McKercher and Michael D. Stevenson (eds), North of America Canadians and the American Century, 1945–60 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press):. 141-175. (2023)
Geographical Variations: USA/Canada. Bettina Liverant. In Jon Stobart and Vicki Howard, eds., The Routledge Companion to Retail History (New York and London: Routledge):. 359-376. (2019)
Buying Happiness: The Complicated Emergence of Consumer Consciousness in English Canada, 1890-1960 . Bettina Liverant. University of British Columbia Press. (2018)
Making a Market for Consumers: The Calgary Consumers’ League and the High Cost of Living. In Shopping for Change: Consumer Activism and the Possibilities of Purchasing Power, Louis Hyman and Joseph Tohill, eds., (Ithaca NY and Toronto: ILR Press/Cornell University Press and Between the Lines Press):. 41-52. (2017)
Strategic Austerity: The Canadian Middle Path. Bettina Liverant. In Consumption on the Home Front During the Second World War: A Transnational Perspective, Hartmut Berghoff, Jan Logemann and Felix Roemer, eds., (Oxford: Oxford University Pre. 249-278. (2016)
Canada’s Consumer Election (1935). In Consuming Modernity: Changing Gendered Behaviours and Consumerism, 1919-1945, Cheryl Warsh and Dan Malleck, eds. (Vancouver: UBC Press. 11-33. (2013)

More Information

Other Professional Work

Numerous articles on architecture, design, and financial strategy including in the Calgary Herald, Globe and Mail, Canadian Architect Magazine.

Professional Affliations

Canadian Historical Association (CHA), American Historical Association (AHA), Canadian Business History Association (CBHA)