Research

Dr. Daniel Meister specializes in the histories and politics of colonialism, “race,” “whiteness,” immigration, and multiculturalism in Canada. His research on these topics has been published as articles in Settler Colonial Studies and the Canadian Historical Review and as a book: The Racial Mosaic: A Pre-History of Canadian Multiculturalism (MQUP, 2021).

His current research project examines the history of multiculturalism as an official policy in Canada, focusing on three pivotal moments: the announcement of the policy in 1971, its enshrinement in the Charter in 1982, and the passage of the Multiculturalism Act in 1988. Portions of this research have been published as articles in in Études canadiennes/Canadian Studies (2023) and the Canadian Historical Review (2025); chapters in several edited collections are forthcoming.

He also retains an active interest in biography as a historical methodology. He has published essays in journals and edited volumes on the topic and has reviewed biographies and works on biographical theory and methods. His most recent publication on the topic is his co-edited collection, Biography Across the Digitized Globe (Brill, 2025).