About
Director, Institute for Ethics and Global Justice
Jeff Schutts brings a uniquely multifaceted worldview into his classrooms. A graduate of Boston University (International Relations BA with distinction, 1986) and Georgetown University (MA in German and European Studies, 1997, & PhD in History, 2003), his academic training has been complemented by a rich variety of life experiences. These include service as a U.S. Army officer, activism in support of the international peace movement, involvement in the production of documentary films, and his own transnational status as an immigrant Canadian-in-training. This interest in cultural transfer and cross-disciplinarity is manifested in his PhD dissertation and current book project, Refreshing the Fatherland: The History of Coca-Cola in Germany, 1929-1961, a study of Americanization and Nazi consumer culture that reflects a historian's discipline in evaluating sources, the sensitivities of cultural theorists and the bottom-line pragmatism of political economists.
Schutts' other scholarly interests include the function of militarism in modern societies (with research projects that investigate dissent within military ranks) and the role of popular historical films in shaping contemporary understanding of the past. Since moving to Vancouver in 1999, he has taught at Western Washington University, Kwantlen University College, the University of British Columbia, and Simon Fraser University, as well as his regular slate of courses in World and European History at Douglas College (H 1103, H 1104, and H 2202).
Current interests
War and Peace
- Conscientious Objection & Dissent within Armed Forces
- Grassroots International Solidarity Movements
- Canada as a "refuge from Militarism"
Cultural Transfer & Modern Identity
- Americanization & Globalization
- Transnational Corporate Capitalism
- Consumer Culture in Totalitarian Societies
Film/History:
- How Motion Pictures reflect & shape Historical Understanding
Education and credentials
- PhD, Georgetown
- MA, Georgetown
- BA, Boston
Publications and other research outputs
His publications include, "'Die erfrischende Pause': Marketing Coca-Cola in Hitler's Germany," in Selling Modernity: Cultures of Advertising in 20th Century Germany, edited by Pamela Swett, Jonathan Wiesen, and Jonathan Zatlin (Duke University Press, 2006) and "Born Again in the Gospel of Refreshment" Coca-Colonization and the Re-Making of German Identity," in Consuming Germany in the Cold War, edited by David Crew (Berg, 2003), as well as a variety of reviews and encyclopedia entries. His documentary film projects include The Friendship Village (Cypress Park Productions, 2002) and Breaking Ranks (Screen Siren Pictures/National Film Board/Global TV, 2006).
Conference and event organization
I presented three conference papers in 2008 on:
- Billy Wilder's 1961 film comedy, "One, Two, Three" at a conference on "Berlin, Divided City" at the University of Texas-Austin; one on the GI Movement against the Vietnam War at a conference marking the 40th anniversary of 1968 at Vassar College;
- Two generations of U.S. "war resisters" pursuing the American Dream north of the border, at a "Canada as Refuge" conference at the University of Edinburgh.
The Canadian Studies Centre at the University of Edinburgh also screened "Breaking Ranks," the recent National Film Board (NFB) documentary on U.S. soldiers seeking Canadian sanctuary from the Iraq War, directed by my wife, Michelle Mason.