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I received my PhD in history from the York University in 2003. Prior to joining Laurier in 2006, I was a contract faculty member in the labour studies program in the Division of Social Science and Coordinator of Business History at the Schulich School of Business, both at York University.
Canadian history, labour and working class history, public history, business history, class formation, social movements, labour studies, globalization.
- Clio Award (Ontario) 2008. Presented by the Canadian Historical Association at the Annual Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vancouver, 3 June 2008 for Robert B. Kristofferson. Craft Capitalism: Craftsworkers and Early Industrialization in Hamilton, Ontario, 1840-1872. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007)
My teaching has focused largely around the historical and contemporary development of capitalism and labour. My undergraduate teaching includes such courses as WORK100 "The Future of Work," SOJE250 "Understanding Capitalism," HI337 "Canadian Business History and HI338 "Canadian Labour History"
At the graduate level, I am a member of the graduate program in Social Justice and Community Engagement, where I often teach SOJE606 "Navigating the Political Terrain: Approaches to Organizing." I am also a member of Tri-University Graduate Program in History. I am willing to supervise students on a variety of historical and/or social justice topics.
- Kevin Gosine, Rob Kristofferson, Glenn Skrubbeltrang and Michelle Weber. “’Assistant Professor with an Asterix’: Conflicting Workplace Experiences and Professional Identities of University Faculty on Fixed-Term Contracts,” Journal of Educational Thought. 54[2](2021): 123-156.
- “Resistance Comix: Narrative, Activism, and History,” Labour/Le Travail volume 86 (Fall 2020) 177-190.
- “Shaping Graphic History: Primary Sources & Closure in SHOWDOWN! Making Modern Unions,” Labour/Le Travail volume 82 (Fall 2018) 38 pp. (coauthored with Simon Orpana).
- SHOWDOWN! Making Modern Unions. (Toronto: Between the Lines, 2016). (coauthored with Simon Orpana)
- More of a Man: The Diaries of Andrew McIlwraith, 1857-1862. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2013). (coauthored with Andrew C. Holman). 458 pp.
- Craft Capitalism: Craftsworkers and Early Industrialization in Hamilton, Ontario, 1840-1872. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2007). * Winner. Clio Award (Ontario) 2008. Presented by the Canadian Historical Association at the Annual Congress of Social Sciences and Humanities, Vancouver, 3 June 2008. 326 pp.
- “A Culture in Continuity: Master-Man Mutualism in Hamilton, Ontario, During Early Industrialization," Histoire sociale - Social History volume 39, no. 78 (November 2006).
- “Craftsworkers and Canada’s First Industrial Revolution: Reassessing the Context,” Journal of the Canadian Historical Association. New Series, Vol., 16 (2005): 101-138.
- "The Past Is At Our Feet: The Workers' City Project in Hamilton, Ontario," Labour/Le Travail. 41 (Spring, 1998).
Public History (Selected)
- Rob Kristofferson and Bjarke Skærlund Risager (Essay) and Simon Orpana (Illustrator) “East Hamilton Rent Strike”. Graphic History Collective. Remember | Resist | Redraw. Radical Poster Project. January 2020.
- Selections from Rob Kristofferson and Simon Orpana. SHOWDOWN! Making Modern Unions. As part of the main gallery exhibition: This is Serious: Canadian Indie Comics. Co-curated by Joe Ollmann and Alana Traficante. Art Gallery of Hamilton. 21 June 2019 – 5 January 2020.
- “SHOWDOWN! How Hamilton’s Working People Shaped Canadian Labour History,” Gallery4, Hamilton Public Library, Central Branch. 5 July-4 August, 2017. (with Simon Orpana)
- “The Nine Hours Movement and the Hamilton Nine Hours League Parade of 1872,” Community Stories Project. Virtual Museum of Canada. 2017. (with Katherine Roy)
- Draw the Line! Graphic Histories of Work, Struggle & Activism. Workers’ Arts & Heritage Centre, Hamilton, 9 September – 17 December 2016. (Curatorial Team with Graphic History Collective).
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Rob Kristofferson, Simon Orpana & Katherine Roy. Workers’ City. (Workers Arts & Heritage Centre). Mobile software application with 100+ tour sites relating to Hamilton’s labour and industrial past. Includes photos, text and audio.
- "The Spirit of ’46". United Steelworkers of America Local 1005. 65th Anniversary Exhibition. 2011.
- "Working at Massey". Brant Museum & Archives. November 2008-April 2009. Exhibition.
- A Quest for Learning: The Canadian Labour Movement and Worker Literacy Education, Canadian Labour Congress/National Literacy Secretariat. Working Paper. Author/Editor historical sections. 2001.
- Made In Hamilton Industrial Trail. (Hamilton: Made-in-Hamilton Heritage Project, 2001). 2 tours
- "Made in Hamilton." Hamilton Museum of Steam & Technology and Workers’ Arts & Heritage Centre. Permanent Exhibitions. 2001.
- Amalgamated Transit Workers’ Union. Local 107: The First Century. (Hamilton: Seldon Press, 1999).
- Voices of Justice: UNITE's History and Heritage in Canada. (Toronto: Union of Needletrades, Industrial and Textile Employees, 1997).
- Do Something About It: The Bob Jaggard Story. (Hamilton: Ontario Workers’ Arts & Heritage Centre, 1997).
- The Workers' City, A Walking Tour (Hamilton: Ontario Workers’ Arts & Heritage Centre, 1997). 3 tours and 2 audio tapes
- "Labour Will Knock Them Out: The 1946 Strikes in Hamilton." Ontario Workers' Arts and Heritage Centre. Hamilton, Ontario. 8 November, 1996- 3 February, 1997. Exhibition.
- "The Hamilton Typographers' Strike of 1946." The Communications, Energy and Paper Workers of Canada National Convention. Quebec City. September, 1996. Exhibition.