Laurier and the Tri-U put a focus on Asian and Pacific history that many schools do not yet have. This attention helped me pursue my research passions and goal of highlighting the history of the Pacific and restoring its place that has long been secondary to the Atlantic-centric perspective in International Relations.
Zachary Deuxberry's dissertation analyzes the Institute of Pacific Relations (IPR) from its 1925 founding to the 1937 Sino-Japanese War. It examines its importance to interwar international relations and works to broaden the scope of the discipline of internationalism beyond traditional Atlantic-centric histories. Through conferences and the Pacific Affairs journal, the IPR documented the regional shift from post-WWI idealist internationalism to isolationist nationalism. The IPR, initially idealistic, struggled with the realism of power politics and nationalist claims. Following the 1931 Manchurian Incident, the nationalist Japanese member group (JIPR) challenged the IPR's core principles. Unable to reconcile, the IPR fractured at the 1936 Yosemite conference, leading to the JIPR's withdrawal, effectively ending the institute in the interwar period.
A Window into International Relations in the Pacific Region: The Institute of Pacific Relations during the Interwar Period 1925-1937 will be available for download in 2028.
Zachary's defence was held on August 5, 2025 at Wilfrid Laurier University (Laurier). He was supervised by Dr. Blaine Chiasson, Laurier. His committee members included Dr. Dan Gorman, University of Waterloo and Dr. Roger Sarty, Professor Emeritus, Laurier.
"My future plans are hopefully to find a job in academia at a Canadian university or a high school," says Dr. Deuxberry.
The Laurier history program within the Tri-University Graduate Program in History (Tri-U) is a unique concept. It offers the closeness and community of smaller universities with access to resources of larger universities through the cooperation of the three universities. I highly valued this system as it provided me with a great environment for research and study. The faculty, my supervisor, my committee, and the support staff that keep everything running, made my time pursuing my education much smoother than it might have been in other places.
Image credits
Banner: [Unknown]. 1931. “[Portrait of the Attendees of the Fourth Biennial Conference of the Institute of Pacific Relations].” P. UBC Library Framed Works Collection. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0214829.
Journal cover and page: Pacific Affairs, University of British Columbia.