Brandon University (BU) Dean of Arts Dr. Gregory Kennedy, also a history professor, has had his monograph Lost in the Crowd: Acadian Soldiers of Canada’s First World War, recognized with New Brunswick Scholarly Book Award 2024. This award, administered by the Journal of New Brunswick Studies / Revue d’études sur le Nouveau-Brunswick.
The award recognizes exceptional scholarship in the humanities and social sciences that advances our knowledge and understanding of the province of New Brunswick. Published in February 2024 with McGill-Queen’s University Press, Dr. Kennedy’s book is available at: Lost in the Crowd | McGill-Queen’s University Press (mqup.ca).
“It is often said that the Canadian national identity was forged in the First World War,” said Dr. Kennedy. “That assertion can sometimes gloss over the many social and cultural identities that went to war on behalf of this fledgling nation.”
In December 1915, as the First World War wore on, Acadian leaders meeting in New Brunswick deplored how soldiers from their communities were “lost in the crowd” of the Canadian Expeditionary Force. They successfully lobbied the federal government for the creation of an Acadian national unit that would be French-speaking, Catholic, and led by their own. More than a thousand Acadians from across the Maritime provinces, Quebec, and the American northeast answered the call. This book offers a completely new and replicable approach to the traditional regimental history, reconstituting the lives of soldiers and their families. The focus on the Acadians, a francophone minority group in the Maritime provinces, significantly shifts our understanding of French Canada and the First World War. Kennedy tackles controversial topics often missing from the previous historiography, such as underage recruits, desertion, and army discipline. With the help of the 1921 Canadian Census, he explores the factors that influenced post-war outcomes, both positive and negative, for soldiers, families, and communities.
“Gregory Kennedy is to be commended for his contribution to our understanding of Acadian and New Brunswick history,” wrote the awards committee. “Using attestation papers, service records, and census data, in addition to a host of other sources, from local newspapers to personal correspondence, Kennedy paints a compelling and complex portrait of the men who served and the communities that supported them. Lost in the Crowd mixes quantitative, qualitative, and bottom-up approaches, making it social history at its best.”
Dr. Kennedy became Dean of Arts at Brandon University earlier this year. His continuing research addresses military service, mobility, and migration in the early French empire and Atlantic Canada. With his recent arrival in Manitoba, he intends to work with students on a new project examining the lived experiences of Brandon-based soldiers in Canada’s First World War.
“We owe a debt to the soldiers of the First World War, and understanding the fullness of their lives, their cultures, and their community and family outcomes after the war, is one way to ensure that we honour their memories,” said BU Vice-President (Research and Graduate Studies) Dr. Bernadette Ardelli. “Works like this book by Dr. Kennedy keep alive this history, and we look forward to his similar work for Brandon-based soldiers.”
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