Sarah Keeshan is graduating with a masters degree in History, having previously completed her undergraduate degree in History and Classics at Carleton.
Originally from Ottawa, when Ms. Keeshan chose Dalhousie’s Graduate Studies for her masters (turning down Cambridge in the process), she had never been to Nova Scotia.
“I had always wanted to live by the ocean, so I said, ‘Well, wonderful, there’s a great university right by the ocean, how could I not go here?’ And I’m so glad that I did.” Halifax has lived up to her high hopes. “I love the farmers market, I love that you can walk pretty much everywhere.” Dalhousie has also exceeded her expectations. “My supervisor’s absolutely phenomenal,” she says, “and I love the culture here."
Ms. Keeshan has no doubt that History is her calling. “It’s vocational. It’s like, I love this… I’ve always loved this. I don’t know if I should blame my parents or not,” she muses, adding that her father’s “bedtime stories” were frequently pulled from the annals of Roman history.
Nowadays, Ms. Keeshan’s speciality is the medieval period. “I love the Middle Ages, because on one level, it’s so unlike today… it’s very raw on so many levels… it’s a really evocative period, and I think it’s because it’s not rational or tidy or clean.” She especially has a soft spot for the messy 14th century – “it was almost apocalyptic in its chaos,” she says brightly – and wrote her thesis on the Peasants’ Revolt in 1381 England, a rebellion that culminated in the assassination of the Archbishop of Canterbury and the storming of the Tower of London.
When not perusing historical tomes, Ms. Keeshan has acted as a warden at the King’s College Chapel. She has also worked at Dalhousie’s Writing Centre and as a research assistant.
Having completed her master’s degree, Ms. Keeshan now has her eye on a PhD in history, perhaps moving her focus into the 1100s. “I like centuries when things were chaotic, apparently!”
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