Reality Television Devotees May Be Selecting False Idols, Says Professor See Page 34

Volume XX Number 1 Summer 2005 Focus on society and culture

Researchwww.uoguelph.ca/research magazine IDOL,

Canadian Idol EH? finalist Jenny Gear Reality television devotees may be selecting false idols, says professor See page 34

14 Addicted to 20 Hormones 28 Street smart 41 Rustling the gamblingfor happiness in Ecuador western

e e OWEN ROBERTS R s arch magazine And now, the cultural side Volume XX, Number 1 Research, University of Guelph,Summer 2005 of Texas Hold ’Em

A PUBLICATION TO PROMOTE DIALOGUE, UNDERSTANDING AND COMMUNICATION ABOUT RESEARCH ACCOMPLISHMENTS AND ACTIVITY AT THE UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH. We bring focus to Research by giving each issue a theme, reflecting one of the University FOCUS: SOCIETY AND CULTURE of Guelph’s strategic initiatives.At the core of Vice-President (Research) each issue —and each story, in fact — is an Alan Wildeman overarching question:Howdoes this research ActingAssociate Vice-President (Research and International Relations) mak ad h l v Ca ad a ?I’ Anthony Clarke e ifference to t e i es of n i ns t s aq m v -p d a h Executive Editors uestion for er ice resi ent of rese rc Bruce Ryan LarryMilligan posed to student writers 15 Sandra Sabatini years ago,when we startedStudents Promoting Editor Awa R a hK wl d (SPARK). Owen Roberts reness of ese rc no e ge Associate Editor and Project Co-ordinator That question still resonates today, maybe more Murray Tong than ever,as the competition for news readers Co-ordination Assistance andviewers continues to intensify. Clare Illingworth Th U v y G lph ha alway p d d l d a h Copy Editor e ni ersit of ue s s ri e itse f on con ucting rese rc Barbara Chance that closely reflects andaffects the societyaround it, the society into which Design we send our graduates.This is the same society that gives universities a special Jay Dart place where academics can gather free from influence, teachwhat needs to be Advertisingand Marketing Marianne Clark taught and say what needs to be said. Financial Management This environment is enriched by the support and encouragement of Dave Reinhart research, so that what is taught and said is fresh, groundedandpertinent. Th Research,dd a d ya d l , d l h Address correspondence to: is issue of e ic te to societ n cu ture un er ines t e Owen Roberts, Director of Research Communications connection between researchers and the society they’re part of.Research- Office of Research, University of Guelph, ers help us make sense of cultural phenomena, ones that appear so quickly Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 ( h m m d app a w h q al p d) ha w d ’ hav m lly Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 58278 t en so eti es is e r it e u s ee t t e on t e ti e to fu d h m. R a h a all d p l ad , E-mail: [email protected] igest t e ese rc ers re often c e on to be o inion e ers to offer comment, to help us see what is not evident. Toadvertise in Research, contact: For example,you can’t flip channels these days without passing apoker Marianne Clark, Research Communications and Marketing Officer am .Txa H ld ’Emha m pa v a la y. P k play Office of Research, University of Guelph, g e e s o s beco e rt of our oc bu r o er ers Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 are suddenly media stars.Some people thinkwatching a skillfully played Phone: 519-824-4120, Ext. 53781 card game on television is fascinating.To others, it’s like watching paint E-mail: [email protected] dry. But what does it tell us about our society? Paula Bialski reports on how w ’ a d—a d m a ,ma p la d— y am l , a University ofGuelph student research-writing initiatives e re ffecte n in so e c ses ni u te b g b ing st rting are supported by these sponsors: on page 14. Founding sponsor: Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited Then there’s our cover story. Like the rest of us, researchers turn on their 4-H Ontario l v p a w pap a d da dw h al yTV, ha AdFarm te e ision or o en ne s er n get inun te it re it suc s Advanced Foods and Materials Network Canadian Idol.Most of us accept it at face value. But it takes a researcher Agricultural Adaptation Council suchas Prof.Suzy Lake to help us pare down the phenomenon to its core Dr. George Atkins and understandwhat it says about society. Beginning on page 34, follow this Better Farming p ’ j yw h h Idol a a dh a m h a- Canadian Network of Toxicology Centres rofessor s ourne it t e entour ge n er ssess ent of t e initi Country Guide Ontario tive as one big focus group, passionately obsessedwithyouth. Murray Tong CropLife Canada reports at length on her observations andher photo record of the winners Dairy Farmers of Ontario a dl . Greenhouse Canada n osers GROWMARK Inc. Speaking of Murray, we’re saying goodbye to himafter four produc- Guelph Mercury tive years with the SPARK program. He leaves with our best wishes for a Maple Leaf Foods International new job as assistant editor at The MilkProducer magazine,apublication Monsanto Canada that regularly features SPARK-written stories about University of Guelph Ontario Agricultural College Ontario Cattlemen’s Association research. Murray, an accomplishedpianist witha biochemistrydegree,will Ontario Institute of Agrologists be well-servedat Canada’s biggest dairymagazine by the writing, editing and Ontario Farmer publications production co-ordination skills he’s honedat SPARK. Here’s a true example Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food h w h k ll a a a l a d pl —a -a d- a d Ontario Pork of o suc s i s re tr nsfer b e cross isci ines born n r ise Ontario Soybean Growers suburbanite editing stories about dairy, one of the agri-food sector’s most Rothsay intricate and complex industries. We’re proud of Murray andacknowledge SeCan Association howhis tireless efforts to mentor other SPARK students andproduce quality Soy 20/20 a hp l a hav d a ly SPARK’ a d Syngenta Crop Protection Canada rese rc ub ic tions e contribute signific nt to s success n helped our many new initiatives get off the ground. R Publications Mail Agreement Number 1652575 Please return undeliverable Canadian addresses to:437 University Centre, University of Guelph, Guelph, Ontario, Canada N1G 2W1 Printed at Contact Creative Services Inc., July 2005, ISSN 0841-9493 Visitthe University of Guelphresearch website: Owen Roberts www.uoguelph.ca/research EDITOR

4 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE CONTENTS SUMMER 2005 ISSUE, VOLUME XX, NUMBER 1

RIGHT >> Natascha Girgis stars as Lilja in Mad Boy Chronicle, a Canadian adaptation of WilliamShakespeare’s Hamlet. Researchers have created a uniqueonlinedatabaseofCanuck renditions of the Bard's works, collecting more than 3,000 pieces of text and multimedia. See pages 38-39 for story. >> BOTTOM Albrecht Dürer, Nailing to the Cro 1509, wood u . ss, c t 38

PHOTO BY TRUDIE LEE PHOTOGRAPHY 6 CONTRIBUTORS 42 8 RESEARCH ETHICS: SCIENCE MEETS SOCIETY

10 SOCIAL INTERACTION The beliefs andprinciples ofindividuals inﬂ uence societal values…and vice versa. Takingacloser lookat how people interact is leading to a better understanding oflarger social trends.

24 SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION Locally andglobally, communities are changingfaster than ever before. Examining societyhere andabroad, past andpresent,is giving researchers clues about what the future may hold.

34 CULTURE Arts andculture mirror society, providing us withfresh perspectives on our world. From Canadian Shakespeare adaptations to Canadian Idol, research is exploring the complex relationship between societyandculture.

46 RESEARCH IN RETROSPECT AND FURTHER READING

COVER PHOTO BY PROF. SUZY LAKE COURTESY OF THE BACHINSKI-CHU PRINT STUDY COLLECTION/UNIVERSITY OF GUELPH

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 5 CONTRIBUTORS The University of Guelph Research magazine is written andco-ordinated by students involved in the University’s Students Promoting Awareness of Spotlight on SPARK Research Knowledge (SPARK) program and Guelph’s agricultural PHOTOS BY OLIVIA BROWN communications program.

<< History major Paula << Outside of the protein Bialski is no stranger to lab, biochemistry student journalism. The North Bay Robert Fieldhouse of native got her start writ- Guelph enjoys exploring the ing a travel column for The culture and customs of his North Bay Nugget while many international friends, travelling through Ireland, who hail from China, Den- then went on to host a talk mark, Greece and Trinidad. radio show and serve as His latest interest is Latin features editor at the Uni- dance, including the salsa, versity of Guelph’s student bachata and merengue, newspaper, The Ontarion. which has taken him from She’s now completing a local Latin nights to a world master’s degree at the Uni- salsa convention. See page versity of Warsaw, where 12 for Robert’s story on how she documented a piece of international companies can the nation’s history: Paula keep finances on an even keel broadcast a CBC television when natural disasters strike. news report on the Polish reaction to the death of >> The country is where it’s Pope John Paul II. Paula reports on the search for a forgotten woman in at for Courtney Denard history, philanthropist Eglantyne Jebb, on page 44. of Belleville, a second-year graduate student in rural >> Wherever she goes, extension studies. When Clare Illingworth is on not writing her thesis on the move. The animal biol- 4-H Ontario and its transi- ogy major from Newmarket tion from a provincial affili- has travelled the globe in ate to a non-profit orga- search of adventure, snorkel- nization, she enjoys two- ling in the Galapagos Islands, stepping to George Strait training for the modern and the Dixie Chicks, and pentathlon in Mexico and attending concerts from backpacking across western the GMOs to Jimmy Buffett Europe. An accomplished to the Havelock Country equestrian, she has ridden Music Jamboree. See page through Spain and com- 13 for Courtney’s article on peted in international eques- how product label informa- trian events across Canada tion can affect consumers’ and the United States. Clare’s choices. journalistic travels include a story on Nigerian protests << The world is getting against oil companies on smaller for zoology major pages 32-33. Leslie Irons of Mississauga, who was bitten by the travel bug after taking part in the Canadian Field Studies in Africa program, and most recently has visited Argentina and Uruguay. When not travelling, she enjoys sampling the diverse flavours of international cuisine in Guelph, especially Vietnamese, Mexi- can and African-Indian food. Leslie reports on more internal pathways — the routes in the brain that promote social interaction — on pages 20- 21.

6 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE << Although a math major and history minor keeps Heather Filby of Mind- emoya, Manitoulin Island, hitting the books, she manages to squeeze in recre- ational reading too — the epic novels of Leo Tolstoy, Fyodor Dostoevsky and her favourite author, Alexandre Dumas. She’s also a dedicated flute and piano player, performing duets at wed- dings with her mother, also a pianist. Heather explores yet another artistic disci- pline — visual art — in her article on the University’s unique print collection on pages 42-43.

>> From film to literature to music, culture and the arts come naturally to Alicia Roberts, a drama student from Cha- tham. An avid movie fan and contemporary literature reader (Anne Rice and J. K. Rowl- ing are among her favourite authors), she also enjoys learning about music’s cultural impacts and views of history from different perspectives. Alicia writes about the decid- edly eastern influences of the popular western on page 41.

<< Co-ordinating a 48-page Research magazine hasn’t damped SPARK co-ordinator and biochemistry major Murray Tong’s passion for the written word. His favourite authors include England’s Penelope Fitzger- ald and George Orwell, but he’s also interested in Cana- dian lit. As a contributor to The Hamilton Spectator, he has interviewed and written about Canuck authors Douglas Coupland, Barbara Gowdy and David Adams Richards. Murray looks at how literature, film and the performing arts have trans- formed cultural and gender politics in Latin America on page 40.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 7 ETHICS ETHICS: A NEW FOCUS Granting councils’ ethics foundation now permeates all research

BY MARIANNE CLARK

Research and ethics have become insepa- rable. While hypotheses, measurements, observations and conclusions continue to drive the scientific method, ethics now have a specific place in the guidelines that ensure the well- being of human participants in research. In this way, respect for privacy, human dignity and justice is guaranteed. The University of Guelph’s Research Ethics Board (REB) makes certain that all research conducted on campus adheres to structured guidelines set out by Canada’s three major granting councils. Science and Engineering Research Canada, the Canadian Institutes of Health Research and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council introduced the Tri-Council Policy Statement: Ethical Conduct for Research Involv- ing Humans (TCPS) in 1998 to guide research ethics in Canada. Universities have entered into a memorandum of understanding with the Tri- Council to ensure that all research taking place at an institution follows the guidelines laid down in the TCPS, regardless of funding sources. “The Tri-Council manages public funds, so it has a responsibility to the Canadian public to ensure these funds are used in an ethical manner,” says U of G research ethics co-ordinator Sandy Auld. The TCPS is an attempt to simplify and regularize the implementation of research ethics across the country. Research ethics became a part of the public consciousness in the 1950s, after the Second World War. Following the trials of war crimi- nals, doctors drafted what has become known as the Nuremberg Code to direct ethical use of human subjects in medical research. Other MARTIN SCHWALBE documents followed, such as the Helsinki Document, an international statement by the Research Ethics Board member Prof. Paul Salmon (left) and research ethics co-ordinator World Medical Association. But serious infrac- Sandy Auld maintain ongoing dialogue with researchers to ensure their needs are met tions continued, raising awareness of the need and human research subjects are treated ethically. to formally regulate research involving human subjects. This has led to countries around the The 12-member REB comprises faculty and the more we can help them.” world introducing documents like the TCPS. community members with expertise in various There’s also a strong educational com- At Guelph, a wide range of research in the academic disciplines as well as medicine, law, ponent to the REB’s activities. Auld’s duties social, biological and physical sciences involves biohazards, ethics, and alternative health care. include visits to undergraduate and graduate human subjects in studies aimed at increasing Auld says ongoing dialogue between the REB classrooms, where she discusses research ethics basic knowledge and benefiting the health and and researchers is important to determine the and educates students about informed con- well-being of Canadians. Human participants researchers’ needs and how the REB can best sent, why it’s necessary and how to go about are crucial to these studies. The REB acts to pro- help them move forward — while ensuring obtaining it. tect participants through a variety of measures, that the University of Guelph remains in com- Says Auld: “The students are our front-line including obtaining informed consent (in which pliance with TCPS guidelines. workers. They will be the new generation of participants are made fully aware of the nature “My job as co-ordinator is to support researchers, and we want to emphasize the of the study), what they are being asked to do researchers,” she says. “The more the office importance of ethical research right from the and how their privacy will be protected. can learn about what researchers are doing, beginning.”

8 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE ETHICS Research ethics: Where science meets society

Informed consent SCHWALBE MARTIN ETHICAL ISSUES ARE A SPECIAL CONSIDERATION for University of Guelph researchers dealing with humans. Prof. Alison Duncan, Department of Human Biology and Nutritional Sciences, is investigating the use of soy-based products in everyday foods as well as the use of natural health products. “We are continuously aware of the ethical issues pertaining to human research,” says Duncan. Her research involves both intervention studies and survey studies. In one aspect of her research, she studies humans consuming some sort of soy treatment. The subjects then provide detailed measurements such as food records, anthropometric measurements and blood and urine samples. The other aspect involves them completing a questionnaire that explores their use of natural health products. With human subjects, a primary focus for Council are Science and Engineering Research and to let them learn from their experience,” Duncan is informed consent — a key compo- Canada, the Social Sciences and Humanities says Son Hing. “But it’s also important to nent of ethics in human research. The process Research Council and the Canadian Institutes of prevent the students from experiencing judg- of obtaining informed consent involves three Health Research. ment or a lower sense of self-worth, given the key criteria. First, it must be voluntary on the Most Guelph researchers have been receptive sensitivity of the issues.” part of the subject. As well, human subjects to the process of working with the REB, viewing Participants in Son Hing’s research come must be fully informed of the research in which it as an important step for facilitating exemplary from a participation pool composed of they will be participating. And finally, the sub- research, says Salmon. Across Canada, the Uni- first-year University of Guelph psychology jects must be competent to provide consent. versity of Guelph is known for its strong research students, who can participate in psychology – HEATHER FILBY ethics policy, he says. research studies to receive research credit in “The very intensity of research on the Uni- certain courses. Balancing act versity of Guelph campus is challenging us to be – JEANINE WALLACE EVERYONE’S ETHICS ARE DIFFERENT, BUT a Canadian leader and take research ethics very institutionally — and to satisfy federal require- seriously.” ABOVE Duncan: Informed consent is >> ments — there are clear guidelines for univer- – KIM WAALDERBOS important when working with human sity researchers. Managing these guidelines is subjects. >> where the University of Guelph Research Ethics Learning from experience BELOW Son Hing: Debriefings allow Board (REB) comes in. AS A PSYCHOLOGY RESEARCHER AND PROFESSOR, survey participants to learn from her Prof. Paul Salmon, School of English and Leanne Son Hing must abide by the Canadian research results. Theatre Studies, is one of 12 volunteer mem- Psychological Association’s code of ethics. Key bers serving on the REB. He’s beginning his principles of this code state that research par- second two-year term on the board and says ticipants must not be harmed and that they must the real challenge with research ethics involves learn from their experience. Son Hing encom- balancing researchers’ needs with those of indi- passes both these principles in her research. vidual participants. She deals with delicate issues that require her “We must ensure that the academic free- research participants to answer carefully worded dom of the researcher is in proper balance with — even disguised — questions. That’s the only the freedoms and rights of those participating way she’s able to receive unbiased and accurate in the research,” says Salmon. information while providing a non-threatening The REB meets monthly and reviews all environment to the participants. research projects that involve human subjects. For example, her studies aimed at first-year Researchers must submit documentation out- psychology students involve social injustice, lining who will participate in their research, prejudice, discrimination and unethical deci- how people are to be recruited, how they will sion-making. Research ethics require that student be involved and the risks and benefits to both participants be made aware of the true intent of participants and researchers. the study before consenting to the use of their The board studies this information, mea- data, and Son Hing agrees. In fact, she believes sures it against guidelines set out in a Tri- revealing the true purpose of the study is one of BROWN OLIVIA Council policy statement and, if necessary, the most important aspects of the research. makes suggestions for improvement or clarifi- “Debriefing is important to give the students cation. The three institutions forming the Tri- a sense of the phenomenon we are investigating,

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 9 SOCIAL INTERACTION Workplace loyalty: The new oxymoron? Psychology researchers look at the changing face of employment

BY MURRAY TONG

AL BIALSKI PAULA In today’s fiercely competitive working After an internal or external job change, world, where the economy is unpredictable, the researchers found, most individuals felt skilled labour is in short supply and people greater emotional attachment to the new have greater freedom to change careers, the company. In other words, the “right” job rules of employment have changed. change is good for both the employee and the And so has the idea of “corporate loyalty,” new organization. says Prof. Peter Hausdorf, Department of Hausdorf warns, however, that it’s impor- Psychology. tant for employees considering a career move “There’s a lot more career mobility now to make sure they’re moving to a better situa- than there’s ever been,” he says. “The total tion, rather than simply trying to leave a bad lifetime commitment to a corporation just one. New employees, the research found, doesn’t exist anymore.” often feel obligated to stay for a minimal Hausdorf and his research group surveyed period of time in a new job — good or bad nearly 800 managers and professionals about — before looking for something else. workplace commitment and career mobility, noting internal and external job changes, time spent in different positions and levels of com- Companies need to recognize mitment to their companies. By examining that “blind” employee loyalty the individuals and tracking their job changes is a thing of the past. both inside and outside their organizations, the researchers determined that people who were more job-mobile and career-oriented From an organizational perspective, didn’t feel the traditional sense of company companies need to recognize that “blind” loyalty that characterized employee relations employee loyalty is a thing of the past, says only a generation ago. Hausdorf. For this study, Hausdorf and his team “People must feel valued, and one way to applied the three-dimensional model of orga- do this is to send positive signals about career nizational commitment developed by Natalie options within the organization. If people Allen and John Meyer of the University of don’t feel attached to their company, they’re Western Ontario. This model separates com- less likely to stick around.” mitment into three components: affective And although a sense of belonging is vital (feeling emotionally attached to the orga- to having an effective work environment and Moving forward: Opportunities for nization), continuance (feeling stuck in the keeping valued employees, people also need to advancement in an organization, says a organization) and normative (feeling a moral feel they can move within the organization, University of Guelph psychology profes- obligation to stay in the organization). he says. sor, are vital to retaining valued employ- Hausdorf also examined how managers “Managers and professionals want to prog- ees in today’s working world. and professionals felt about their workplaces ress in their careers — they aren’t satisfied before and after job and company changes. As with staying in the same position. In addition expected, people who didn’t change jobs had to the financial benefits, the desire for career stable levels of commitment over time. But growth relates to feeling more competent and people who changed jobs — either internally feeling valued by the organization.” or externally — felt a greater sense of accept- Hausdorf hopes the findings from this ? DID YOU KNOW . . . ance and respect on average after the change. research will be used to clarify employment In addition, the researchers found that it expectations between individuals and corpo- didn’t take long for people to develop a strong rations, and create more satisfying working Canada was ranked 16th out of 32 attachment to a new work group. relationships for everyone. countries for workplace loyalty? Just before internal career moves, people He is collaborating with Prof. Karen Colombia was first. felt less stuck in their current jobs, says Haus- Korabik and graduate student Tammy Kon- dorf. That may be because they’ve received dratuk of the Department of Psychology and signals that they’re valued employees and will Hazel Rosin of York University. This research have the opportunity to move up the career was funded by the Social Sciences and ladder sometime in the future. Humanities Research Council.

10 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIAL INTERACTION Paying a price for gender

BY PAULA BIALSKI

For more than a decade, Prof. Serge Desmarais, Department of Psy- chology, has been researching the value men and women place on their own work, and he’s found time and again that women set lower prices than men do. Now, he’s doing a survey to discover how the balance of pay entitlement — the amount of money a person thinks he or she deserves for a given job — has been shifted in this direction, in hopes of closing the century-old wage gap between genders. “In all the studies we’ve done, women not only earn less than men but also feel they deserve less pay,” says Desmarais. “We’re now analyzing the data to try to determine why this happens.” Working with the University of Waterloo’s Kitchener-Waterloo Metropol- itan Area Survey, he has gathered information on issues surrounding gender and pay entitlement in the workplace. Now, he’s asking survey respondents why they think they deserve the salaries they want, something that’s never been done before. It’s important in understanding the deeper reasons behind differing views of pay entitlement, he says. Desmarais believes pay entitlement affects people’s work lives, work choices and their attempts to balance family and work responsibilities. For example, people who believe they aren’t being treated fairly in the workplace may be less productive, withdraw from social relationships or look for another job. “Previous research has focused on external comparisons of people’s pay,” he says. “I want to delve into the internal factors and determine why women and men feel they are entitled to a certain wage.” This research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Canada Research Chairs program.

BRIAN FRAY

Property ownership law paved way registries from Guelph and surrounding area, tracking property purchases, mortgage payments for women’s rights, says economist and tax activities throughout the 19th century. They found that the number of married women BY LESLIE IRONS with their names on ownership documents such as land deeds doubled shortly after the act TO CANADIAN WOMEN IN THE Excerpt from Canada’s Married Women’s was passed in 1884. 19th century, marriage Property Act, 1884: “The law marked a big victory for women,” meant (among other things) Rights and obligations ofied a woman:married woman says Inwood. “It certainly held broader impli- giving up many of their Subject to this act, a marr cations than just increased property owner- rights, including the right • continues to be liable in respect of any tort committed, ship.” ct entered into, or debt or obligation incurred by her to property they had earned contra ; During the 1800s and early 1900s, voting or inherited. The Married before her marriagequiring, holding and disposing of any privileges were contingent on owning prop- • of ac Women’s Property Act of is capable; in tort, contract erty. By allowing women to retain ownership 1884 set out to change all property rights of their own property, the Married that by giving married women • is capable of suing and being sued, either cement Women’s Property Act helped open the p y after enfor full rights over property they or otherwise. pro ert polls to many women for the first time, says brought into a marriage. Rights of married woman in Inwood. In this way, the law may also have Still, many believed the law of act set the pace for the 20th century’s gender perty that: held little more than symbolic All p ro equality revolution. importance for women — until • immediately before enforcement; of this act was the prop- Looking through 19th-century wills, now. erty of a married woman the researchers also found an increase in ; or University of Guelph eco- • belongs at the time of herorce marriage of this act to a woman married the number of single women and widows quired by or devolves nomics professor Kris Inwood, after the coming into f inheriting property. Inwood says this is graduate student Susan Ingram • after enforcement of this act is ac probably because the act gave women and undergraduate student Sarah upon a married woman belongs to her in all respects as if more control over the fate of their land, van Sligtenhorst scoured land she were unmarried and may be dealt with accordingly. even in marriage.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 11 SOCIAL INTERACTION

NATIONAL OCEANIC AND ATMOSPHERIC ADMINISTRATION / DEPARTMENT OF COMMERCE Hurricane Andrew devastated Florida’s residents and economy alike when it struck in 1992. Insuring insurers more effectively Financial diversity will help through tough times, says Guelph researcher

BY ROBERT FIELDHOUSE

The South Asia tsunami, a series of hur- Using a mixture of mathematics, statistics and ricanes in Florida, and typhoons and an earth- modelling — a method she calls “high technique” BIALSKI quake in Japan have made the past year one of — Sun analyzed catastrophes using Chicago

PAULA the stormiest in recent history. Often, insurance Board of Trade data taken from 1996 to 1999. companies pay out huge sums of money after She applied her theoretical work to catastrophe- natural disasters strike. But one University of linked securities transactions, and discovered that Guelph researcher wonders if the mechanism for market prices of some of these securities are much insuring the insurers is running smoothly. higher than their theoretical prices. Insurers usually buy insurance from larger Sun believes that a number of factors inflate “reinsurance” companies that jack up premiums securities prices. For example, many investors after disasters strike, says Prof. Yiguo Sun of the are hesitant to sell catastrophe-linked securities Department of Economics. For example, when to businesses because the securities are so new Hurricane Andrew struck Florida in 1992, insured — something that makes them especially risky if losses amounted to $15.5 billion US and several investors don’t have a clear perception of disaster insurance companies went bankrupt. They simply frequencies and loss distribution. So, they charge could no longer afford insurance themselves. higher prices for them to ensure they can cover Now, with heightened fears about terror- any losses. ist attacks, there are increasing concerns about The frequency of disasters isn’t related to the possible mega-catastrophes that would further economy’s status, unlike investors’ most popular drive up prices. And ultimately, price increases purchases — bonds, stocks and mutual funds filter down to consumers — who’ve already told — which are influenced by politics and market governments they’ve had enough of spiralling trends. So, investors may reduce risks embedded Sun: Diversify finances to lower risk insurance rates. in their portfolios by adding a slice of catastro- during disasters. “Catastrophes are different from everyday phe-linked securities. If investors are unfamiliar misfortunes because a large group of people are or uncomfortable with securities in the option affected simultaneously,” says Sun. “I’m inter- format, says Sun, then catastrophe-linked securi- Tsunami insurance lacking ested in how insurance companies can prevent ties in the bond format (called CAT bonds) could excessive losses in catastrophe situations.” provide a more prudent alternative. THOUGH TRAGIC, THE SOUTH ASIA TSUNAMI Sun examined one type of catastrophe-linked Sun hopes that her research will make its way won’t have a severe impact on the insurance security called future options, which will actually to businesses and ordinary investors, and help and reinsurance industries, says Sun, because pay off for the buyer in the event of a disaster. them make more informed investment decisions, many people weren’t insured. Global reinsurer Insurance companies can buy catastrophe-linked diversify risk and ultimately reduce losses in Swiss Re anticipates claims, most of them for securities from investors, giving these inves- disastrous times. property damage and business interruptions, tors a chance to make money from insurance “People try to diversify all kinds of risk, but will total less than 100 million Swiss francs companies during good times, at the expense of sometimes it’s still not enough,” says Sun. “The or $90 million US. Last year, however, was an assuming some liability during the bad. Catastro- financial market is full of freedom, not like it was expensive one for the insurance industry. Hur- phe-linked securities increase financial diversity years ago. Catastrophe-linked securities offer a ricanes in Florida and typhoons and an earth- by offering insurance companies an alternative to new way of diversifying catastrophe risk, and I quake in Japan were among the catastrophes reinsurance, says Sun. expect this market will flourish.” that resulted in worldwide claims estimated at She’s developed a way to evaluate the pricing Sun collaborated with Prof. Xiaodong Zhu of $42 billion. of securities that pay off during disastrous times. the University of Toronto on this research.

12 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIAL INTERACTION

Differing amounts of information on product labels can affect consumers' choices, according to a University of Guelph study.

VINCE FILBY Saturated with information New study looks at how product information affects purchases

BY COURTNEY DENARD

Striking a delicate balance between pizza. This study showed that products with price elasticity differences disappear to a large delivering enough product information to less information create uncertainty among extent. satisfy consumers without overwhelming them consumers who are concerned about the value Now, Islam will look at the effect of the is an ongoing challenge facing manufacturers of the products they purchase. But, with too amount of presented product information on and marketers. Now, a University of Guelph much product information, consumers felt the public. Using web-based surveys posted on researcher is determining how the amount of flustered and saturated. The key, says Islam, is marketing research company sites, he will col- information on a product can influence con- finding a balance between the amount of infor- lect data from participants about the products sumers’ purchasing decisions. mation consumers want about a product and they purchase and how they use the presented Prof. Towhidul Islam, Department of Mar- what is considered too much. product label information. He hopes the survey keting and Consumer Studies, says a lack of results will benefit policy-makers, manufactur- information creates a feeling of uncertainty. ers and consumers by guiding how much infor- But too much information overloads consum- With too much product mation should be displayed on common prod- ers, affecting which products they choose to information, consumers felt ucts found at local grocery and retail stores. buy. So, he’s asking: What do you put in and flustered and saturated. If the project is successful with the general what do you leave out? public, Islam would like to see further research “There have been projects looking at what on an international scale. type of information should be given to the con- Results also showed that a different amount “We want to extend the research and do a sumer,” says Islam. “But until now, there has of information about a product generates dif- cross-cultural comparison. For example, we been little research conducted on the impact of ferent brand equity (the monetary value of a can take the project to places like China and the information that isn’t out there.” brand name) and price elasticity (a consumer’s India, to see what effects culture has on product The three-year project is in its second stage, willingness to pay for products). But once the choices and consumption.” following a successful pilot study of University uncertainty created by missing information This research is sponsored by the Social Sci- of Guelph students that involved fruit juice and is controlled, says Islam, brand equity and ences and Humanities Research Council.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 13 SOCIALADDI INTERACTION C MARTIN SCHWALBE

14 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE CTEDSOCIAL INTERACTION From the gamblers to the slot machines to casino design, University of Guelph researchers look at the many faces of problem gambling

BY PAULA BIALSKI AND MURRAY TONG

For problem gamblers, the roll of the dice, the pounding of race horse hooves and the jangle of coins from slot machines are the sounds of addiction, desperation and obses- sion. The next pull of the lever can mean financial ruin…or the chance to play one more time. According to the Ontario Problem Gambling Research Council, only two per cent of gamblers are considered “problem” gamblers, but given that nearly 15 million people gamble in Ontario each year, the problem is significant. Ontario legalized casino gambling in 1992. Soon gambling facilities ranging from BIALSKI PAULA traditional casinos to racetrack slot machines opened across the province, creating thousands of jobs and changing the face of recreation and tourism in many communities. Gambling revenues in Ontario approached $5 billion in Casino design can make gamblers stay 2004 and have become an important part of the longer and spend more and can promote provincial economy. gambling addiction, say University of But gambling has its downside. Some say Guelph professors (left to right) Jane Lond- the new casino and racetrack facilities are erville, Harvey Marmurek, Vinay Kanetkar leaving a swath of problem gamblers — and and Karen Finlay. associated social problems — in their wake. In Alberta, a University of Lethbridge study The University of Guelph is at the forefront last year suggested that the relatively small of these studies. Researchers are looking at the percentage of “problem” gamblers in the prov- entire spectrum of problem gambling issues, ince accounts for a whopping 35 per cent of from how casino environments influence Alberta’s gambling revenues. Now, both sides gamblers to the demographics at highest risk of the gambling debate are studying gambling for gambling addiction. Understanding what addiction to get at the truth behind the issues. factors can contribute to problem gambling,

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 15 SOCIAL INTERACTION WOOLWICH OBSERVER / CASEY LESSARD

Open-concept casino designs leave gamblers in a more positive psychological state, while the classic maze-like layout can make them feel anxious and trapped — which can lead to wagering too much.

“By identifying these design factors, we can find models for casino design that will help problem gamblers battle their addictions.” – Karen Finlay

says one researcher, is the first step to reduc- tifying these design factors, we can find models Finlay visited Las Vegas to film the two ing these risks and protecting society from its for casino design that will help problem gam- casino types (filming in Canadian casinos is grasp. blers battle their addictions.” prohibited by law to protect security proce- Working with Profs. Vinay Kanetkar and dures), then edited the footage to make two Rooms without a view Jane Londerville, Department of Marketing separate videos that display the indoor environ- “The number of gamblers is growing, and we and Consumer Studies, and Harvey Marmurek, ment of both casino designs. She then sampled now need to focus on problem gambling risks,” Department of Psychology, Finlay has been a group of 100 problem gamblers, placing each says Prof. Karen Finlay, Department of Market- comparing casino designs using video footage of them in a dark room to view the videos one ing and Consumer Studies, who’s looking at to test people’s perceptions of the environ- after the other. The darkness of the room, she casino and slot machine design and its effects ment. says, allowed the subject to strictly focus on the on problem gambling. “This problem isn’t The first casino design, called the “play- images on the TV screen. affecting just individuals; it’s affecting families ground approach,” is identified with U.S. After the screening, subjects were asked a set and communities.” casino designer David Cranes. He creates open of questions about the feelings each casino type Finlay says casino design elements such as spaces with a playful atmosphere using western evoked. Results show Cranes’ open-concept ceiling height, room size and lighting skew or circus themes, for example. This open-con- designs are rated the most positively in terms gamblers’ perceptions of time and space, cept model uses water, vegetation and natural of leaving gamblers in an upbeat psychological making them gamble more and stay in casino sunlight or simulated blue sky with high ceil- state. Maze-like and confined layouts found halls longer. She believes this makes addiction ings. in the classic design create anxiety and make even more difficult to control. The second design is marked by more tra- gamblers feel trapped in the environment, says “Casino design can provoke higher levels ditional, classic casino characteristics: tight and Finlay. In this kind of environment, gamblers of pleasure and arousal that will keep frequent confined spaces, low ceilings and a maze-like are tempted to linger — which may lead to gamblers gaming longer,” says Finlay. “By iden- atmosphere. wagering too much.

16 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIAL INTERACTION I K LA BIALS U A P WOOLWICH OBSERVER WOOLWICH OBSERVER / / CASEY LESSARD CASEY LESSARD

No coins, please fast and mechanical and doesn’t really involve LEFT << While traditional slot machines Finlay isn’t just interested in how casinos an elaborate strategy. But Finlay and graduate require gamblers to insert coins each themselves are designed — she’s also studying student Dan McGrath believe the act of feed- time they want to play, newly designed the design of the gambling machines inside. ing coins into the machine at least gives gam- machines that are entering Canadian While she and her colleagues were research- blers a greater awareness of how much they’re casinos use a prepaid card instead, which ing casino environments, they became con- spending. researchers believe may lull players into a cerned with how gambling machines could “Playing, whether pulling the handle or false sense of financial security. affect gamblers’ mentality. In particular, they pushing a button to make the reels spin, is not ABOVE Peer pressure, proximity to a >> believe that a new kind of one-armed bandit really the issue,” says Finlay. “The issue is that casino and parents’ attitudes are among that’s entering Canadian casinos soon could gamblers may not be aware of the amount they the reasons university and college stu- downplay the amount of money gamblers are are spending if they are putting in a card or a dents may be drawn to gambling. spending. bill, rather than physically putting coins in for It’s a newly designed slot machine that lets every spin.” Gaming Corporation about the types of casino gamblers use a prepaid card instead of coins. Finlay and McGrath are testing this theory designs and gambling machines that could These machines exist in the United States and by inviting subjects into their lab — a room be worsening problem gambling. Reducing Canada has introduced them in a few areas. with four slot machines, simulating a casino the risk of problem gambling is high on the Here’s how it works: Gamblers swipe the environment — and giving each of them basic agenda for Finlay. She says mental and physi- prepaid card in the machine and keep on instructions on how to use the slots. Subjects cal health problems resulting from pathologi- spending until they win or — more often are given 20 coins to spend and told they can cal gambling are becoming a serious strain on — run out of credit on the card. Gamblers play as long as they like and can go to the the Canadian health-care system, and the gov- don’t have to insert tokens or coins each time cashier for more whenever they like. In a simi- ernment must address the issue. they play, and that makes the researchers lar test, the subjects are given 20 credits on the “Once we have concrete data, our goal wonder if the non-participatory machines are machine, with no coins involved. is to lobby the Ontario Lottery and Gaming lulling gamblers into a McGrath will be Corporation, providing it with evidence that false sense of financial comparing the 20- casino design and slot machine characteris- security. The act of feeding coins into coin versus the 20- tics contribute to gambling addiction,” says “We want to a machine gives gamblers a credit conditions by Finlay. “If we are right that these factors make know what the physi- greater awareness of how counting how many people gamble more, the OLGC should know cal difference is for much they’re spending. times gamers bet at a because it will have a negative effect on gam- individual gamblers,” machine, how much blers.” says Finlay. “Basically, money they spend, we’re attempting to find out how much money how much time they spend gambling and how Gambling away their future a gambler is spending if he or she manually much they win. This process will then be fol- Prof. Gerald Adams, Department of Family feeds the coins into the machine, compared lowed up by a questionnaire that measures the Relations and Applied Nutrition, is tackling with automatically spending money with a extent to which the subjects found it hard to another side of problem gambling — he’s prepaid card.” stop gambling. putting the gamblers under the microscope to In a traditional box-like slot machine, The data from both of Finlay’s research see what demographics may be at high risk for gamblers must physically deposit coins into projects will be tabulated and included in a problem gambling. And he’s found that prob- the machine and pull down an arm-like handle comprehensive report to inform the Cana- lem gambling among university- and college- or push a button to make the reels spin. It’s dian government and the Ontario Lottery and age youth may stem from repressive parents.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 17 SOCIAL INTERACTION

Adams had previously studied gambling addiction and young people, and discovered that peer pressure and proximity to a casino contribute in part to why university or college students may be drawn to casino gambling. But he’s found that parents can affect a youth’s susceptibility to problem gambling, too. “When it comes to addictive gamblers, family dynamics can be an underlying problem,” says Adams. “Many young pathological gamblers tend to come from similar parental backgrounds.” Strictness at home is a recurring character- istic in those backgrounds. Adams surveyed university students about the type of parenting they received, then followed up with questions linked to problem gambling. At first, he grouped parenting styles into three main cat- egories: permissive parents, who set no boundaries for what their children can or can not do; authoritarian parents, who control their children without giving them much freedom to make their own choices; and authoritative parents, who set boundaries but are willing to compromise with their children. His study found that children with authoritarian parents are most prone to problem gambling, possibly out of their need to rebel. This study followed earlier research that looked at whether proximity to casinos was associated with problem gambling among youth. Adams and graduate student Anne- Marie Cantwell, who specializes in addictive behaviours, surveyed students from the Uni- versity of Guelph, Brock University, University of Windsor and Wilfrid Laurier University. The researchers found 20 times more pathological gamblers at the universities that were located closer to casinos. CASEY Adams cautions that his study doesn’t mean problem gambling is restricted to these LESSARD areas. It simply shows that educational institu- / tions located near a casino present higher risks WOOLWICH to youth, and he believes these institutions should implement gambling addiction support and risk intervention programs. OBSERVER He hopes greater awareness about the risks of casinos and their proximity to universities will help prevent gambling addiction. “Gambling is a serious issue, and little The new face of problem gambling? Students living close to a casino may be more prone research has been done regarding certain to gambling addiction, according to University of Guelph research. external factors such as how a parenting style affects an adolescent’s gambling mentality,” bling management in the province. Among “The pressure is on the government to be says Adams. “Finding out the exact external the new measures: establishing new problem accountable to Ontarians,” says Finlay. “This factors will help in implementing measures gambling counselling centres inside com- province is expanding several gambling facili- to try to prevent problem gambling from hap- mercial casinos, investing in public awareness ties, and we want to know what that means for pening.” campaigns on gambling addiction, and devel- problem gambling.” oping training programs for casino employees These research projects are sponsored by the Ontario’s game plan for gaming to deliver services responsibly. Ontario Problem Gambling Research Centre, The problem gambling issue has lit a fire under The government also announced that no which opened in Guelph’s Research Park in many politicians and decision-makers. In Jan- additional casinos or racetrack slot facili- 2003. The provincial agency is funded by two uary 2005, the Ontario government unveiled ties will be built, although new slot machine per cent of the revenues from slot machines at the Ontario Gaming Strategy, which aims to expansions already planned for racetracks in charity casinos and racetracks, which in 2004 make social responsibility a priority in gam- Ajax and Belleville will go ahead. totalled approximately $1.8 billion.

18 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIAL INTERACTION Seniors know when to fold ’em Gambling offers recreation, companionship — and low risk — to seniors

BY PAULA BIALSKI

Seniors who gamble are often stereotyped as being vulnerable to addiction and financial problems. But Profs. Joan Norris and Joseph Tindale, Department of Family Relations and Applied Nutrition, say that’s a misconception. They surveyed Ontario seniors who gamble and found that most of them keep their hobby under control. “We live in an ageist society, and there has always been a stereotype surrounding seniors,” says Tindale. “People view them as vulnerable, incompetent, in need of help. That’s not the case at all.” Adds Norris: “Within the gambling population, seniors tend to have a steady retirement income. They are quite capable of taking care of themselves.” Seniors’ homes and clubs organize gambling trips as a break from the daily routine. The bus ride, the excitement of the day and the companionship are really the most significant parts of these outings, say the researchers. Winnings are incidental to spending time with friends. In addition, seniors enjoy casinos because they’re usually safe and offer inexpen- sive meals. “Casinos offer a getaway from city centres that can have bad weather or high crime — things the aging population worries about,” says Norris. Initially, the researchers surveyed seniors in different southern Ontario communities and found that most favour group bus excur- sions to racetracks with slot machines. The majority view gambling as a way to socialize with friends and set strict gambling limits of about $50, which the researchers say puts them at very low risk for problem gambling. In their newest study, Norris and Tindale are setting out to create a profile of older gamblers in small-town Ontario. Of the 24 casinos and racetrack slots in the province, 21 are located in small or rural communities, where there are larger populations of seniors and fewer entertainment options. The researchers OLIVIA will survey members of seniors’ clubs in seven

Ontario rural counties with gambling facilities BROWN to assess gambling attitudes, practices and risk status. They’re also compiling data to get a sense with the topic of gambling,” says Tindale. “We (L-R): Prof. Joan Norris, Prof. Joseph Tin- of how family patterns of gambling affect hope that our study will help us understand dale and project co-ordinator Jonathan people’s gambling habits and their attitudes whether gambling has a positive or negative Schmidt have found that seniors who towards gambling. effect on these relationships.” gamble are at very low risk for problem “We’re interested in family relationships, This research is being sponsored by the gambling — contrary to public percep- and mainly the intergenerational relationship Ontario Problem Gambling Research Coun- tions. of adult children and their parents when faced cil.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 19 SOCIAL INTERACTION

PHOTOS BY VINCE FILBY THEY’VE GOT THAT LOVIN’ FEELING Being together releases natural ‘feel-good’ chemicals, says researcher

BY LESLIE IRONS

As social creatures, most of us get posi- compounds such as dopamine, opiates and pleasure-based preferences. In one study, she tive internal feelings from being around other cannabinoids. offered food enhanced with flavours such as people. That may be because social interaction Herresearch could provide a strongerfoun- chocolate and cinnamon torandomly selected prompts an elevated release of natural plea- dation for developing treatments for a variety mice. After they’d eaten, she introduced them sure-inducing chemicals in the brain, accord- of social learning disabilities, such as autism, tootherfamiliar mice for a short one-on-one ing to a University of Guelph researcher. that involve disrupted pathways in the brain. interaction period. Prof. Elena Choleris, Department of “Cracking the code of these neural path- Later, when the resident mouse was offered Psychology, is trying to better understand ways could bring us one step closer to improv- similar chocolate- and cinnamon-flavoured the neural pathways of these chemicals and ing the quality of life for those living with these food as well as a more neutral choice, it chose to link social learning — acquiring certain disabilities,” says Choleris. the food with the familiar smell from its social behaviours through interaction with Mice are her models, and they have so visitor’s breath and fur about 80 per cent of others — with levels of pleasure-inducing far led her to some clearobservations about the time.

Friend or foe? Hormones help us decide beta), which may lead to very different cell func- tions. Choleris believes social recognition among RECOGNIZING FRIEND FROM FOE IS IMPORTANT model to study pathways in the brain that increase female mice is regulated by estrogen acting for animal and human survival alike, and psy- or decrease their ability torecognize each other. through the beta receptor pathway. chology professor Elena Choleris is searching “Isolating the recognition pathways could lead To test this theory, she’s supplementing the for the mechanisms that enable us to identify a to solutions to these related disorders,” she says. mice with the synthetic hormone, which binds familiarface. Hormones are the transmission signals used only to beta receptors, to determine whetheror Interfering with recognition pathways could by mice and humans alike to send messages to not theirrecognition abilities improve. If she can impairour ability torelate with others nor- different body parts. Choleris is using a novel identify the receptor involved in this pathway, mally. It may, for example, reduce social learn- synthetic hormone to trace the social recognition she’ll reveal the brain region responsible for key ing capacity, the ability to pick up on the behav- pathways in the brains of female mice. hormone action, opening the door to more effec- iours of others and learn from them. This could It’s known that the hormone estrogen regu- tive research into treatments for psychological lead to social-specific disorders such as social lates production of oxytocin, a chemical linked disorders. phobias, autism and schizophrenia. It may also to maternal bonding and anxiety regulation in This research is funded by Science and Engi- cause psychological disorders such as anxiety, humans. Estrogen regulates oxytocin production neering Research Canada. fear and depression. by following two separate pathways involving two With that in mind, Choleris is using mice as a related hormone receptors (designated alpha and

20 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIAL INTERACTION

Choleris says that’s not just because choco- If blocking the pleasure chemicals prevents late and cinnamon taste good. It’s because the the food preference from developing, it means mice associated the familiarfood smell with these chemicals are directly involved in the the chemically induced positive feelings experi- neural pathways associated with social learning, enced during the social interaction. says Choleris. And they’re a limiting factor in Now, she’s trying tofind the neural pathways the mouse’s ability to pick up behaviours from that cause this preference development. To test those around it. her predictions, she will measure dopamine, “By isolating the chemicals involved in social opiate and cannabinoid levels in the rodents learning behaviours, we can better understand before and after interaction and feeding peri- why some people lack the ability to learn ods to determine whether the levels rise — and through social interaction,” she says. give mice those positive feelings — after social Choleris hopes herresearch can eventually interaction. She’ll then use synthetic antagonists lay the foundation for a practical treatment for (chemicals that prevent the pleasure-inducing autistic people that can open up faulty neural chemicals from acting on the mouse) to tempo- pathways and improve social learning capacity. rarily block positive internal feelings, to see how This research is funded by Science and Engi- they’re linked to social interaction. neering Research Canada.

Social interaction on the brain: psychology professor Elena Choleris is using food flavouring to see what makes mice interact — and hopes to apply that knowledge to human learning disabilities.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 21 SOCIAL INTERACTION Mental disorder: The plea formerly known as insanity Controversial defence goes under the microscope

BY ALISON SCHNEIDER

The defence of mental disorder in cases No specified therapy or time in an institu- often in cases involving the murder of a family of homicide is under examination by a U of G tion is required for “insane” offenders, so their member. She wonders what makes “insane” criminologist. She’s looking at who uses the rehabilitation is not assured. cases so distinct from other homicides and what defence, what happens after it’s used and what Dawson is studying some 100 Toronto role the type of homicide case may play in suc- the public thinks about it. homicide trials between 1974 and 2002 that cessful insanity pleas. By learning the fate of Canadian defendants ended with successful insanity pleas to find “I want to see if the ‘insane’ verdict is found who use the defence of mental disorder — what out what mental disorders are usually involved. because it’s more horrifying when someone used to be called the insanity plea — Prof. From there, she’ll match individual character- kills a family member, making the defendant’s Myrna Dawson, Department of Sociology and istics such as gender and relationship to the actions more conveniently explained by mental Anthropology, hopes to better understand how victim with treatment outcomes to see who is illness. These violent offenders may not be any the plea is used and what kind of treatment its acquitted by reason of insanity and why. She different from perpetrators who are found to be users should receive. hopes to discover whether some offenders are mentally stable.” “The public perception is that those who are more successful at winning an insanity plea Results of this research will be used to design found to be ‘insane’ are not punished for their than others. a survey on public attitudes towards the defence actions,” she says. “The problem is, there’s little Dawson notes, for example, that the ver- of mental disorder in Canada. information that shows exactly what happens to dict “not criminally responsible on account This work is funded in part by the Social Sci- them.” of mental disorder” appears to be found most ences and Humanities Research Council.

University of Guelph professor Myrna Dawson is studying the controversial defence of mental disorder — what used to be called the “insanity” defence — and how it’s been used in Toronto homicide trials. PAULA BIALSKI

22 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIAL INTERACTION

BRIAN FRAY Your friends are weird But there’s no need to be embarrassed, says Guelph researcher

BY AARON JACKLIN

If you think your friends embarrass you in ing inappropriately at a party after consuming can just say: ‘Well, you’re going to be judged public, you’re probably too self-conscious. Many alcohol. That reminded him of his post-doctoral negatively, but I’m not.’ We can stop feeling so people, including University of Guelph psychol- work at Cornell University with Tom Gilovich, uncomfortable.” ogy professor Ian Newby-Clark, worry that who had studied what is known as “the spotlight He has completed three studies so far, all they’re judged negatively by onlookers for having effect,” the phenomenon in which people overes- at the University of Guelph and all focusing eccentric companions. But lately, he’s been timate the impact of their own social gaffes. on how onlookers react to odd situations and taking a closer look at the social phenomenon he It turns out the overestimation of onlooker how they judge the people involved. Because calls “guilt by association,” and he’s found that stigmatization is common to both the spotlight he’s currently running a fourth study, Newby- we — and he — needn’t worry. effect and guilt by association. Observers are Clark won’t divulge the exact details of how “People erroneously believe they may be generally directing their attention — and any he’s performing his experiments. But he and judged guilty by association,” he says. “But we negative thoughts they might be having — at the former research assistant Amy Smith presented can relax when we’re in various social situations person doing the odd thing and not those associ- a poster on the topic at the annual meeting of and the people we associate with do things that ated with the individual, says Newby-Clark. the American Psychological Association. He is aren’t quite acceptable.” He hopes this knowledge will be liberating for also preparing a final report on this research for Newby-Clark started pondering this phenom- many people. publication. enon after suffering through an uncomfortable “If the data bear my theory out and we’re This project is funded by the Social Sciences situation himself, when a friend began behav- not judged guilty by association, then we and Humanities Research Council.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 23 SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION A SIMPLER TIME? Early Canadians were more complex than people think, say researchers

BY ALISON SCHNEIDER

A barn is raised in Upper Canada (now Ontario) by a work bee in the 19th century.

WORK BEE PHOTO FROM LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA

24 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION

With no electricity, few neighbours and none immediate neighbourhoods for more competitive They provided for each family’s needs over the of the amenities of today’s world, 19th-century prices. He believes this promoted more interac- settlement period by redistributing labour and rural Canadian settlers led a simple, solitary life tion within larger districts than many historians resources within the community. — right? had originally thought, because stores were often Bees helped individual families with large- Things were more complex than that, say Uni- the main source of community news as well as scale tasks they didn’t have the required skills versity of Guelph historians. They’re taking a fresh goods. or combined physical strength for, such as barn look at the lives of those early pioneers and finding Their consumption patterns make these rural raisings, harvests and quilting for the winter. In that the traditional image of the pioneering family Upper Canadian families “more like us,” says return, the hosting family was expected to fulfil against the world is inaccurate. McCalla. “There’s a lot of complex variety in a certain requirements of the community, such as Pioneers helped each other with large tasks, world that most people think of as simple.” providing meals and entertainment for all those such as barn raising and harvesting crops. They He published an article titled “A World who helped with the task. Families that didn’t worried about what their neighbours thought Without Chocolate: Grocery Purchases at Some conform to the community’s expectations risked about them. They went shopping — and even kept Upper Canadian Grocery Stores, 1808-1861” in being ostracized and even abandoned economi- their eyes open for the best deals in town. the spring 2005 issue of the journal Agricultural cally, Wilson says. In fact, say Profs. Douglas McCalla and Catha- History. Work bees provided structure to neighbour- rine Wilson of the Department of History, early hoods and gave rural interactions greater mean- Canadians were a lot like today’s Canadians. ing, establishing what was then considered to Working from two ends of the same string Like today’s Canadians, early be “good neighbourly behaviour” within the — McCalla is studying the economic history pioneers went shopping — and community, she says. The male household head of Upper Canada (now Ontario) through rural even kept their eyes open for had to maintain social connections to make eco- account books from stores and farm ledgers, the best deals in town. nomic strides forward for the family. And younger while Wilson is concentrating on collective members would use the bees for courtship, which “work bees” in the 19th century — they’ve come would take place under the auspices of the com- up with a consistent finding: Canadians weren’t Although life in the bush was based on community. going it alone. munity participation and neighbourly behaviour, In other words, says Wilson, these networks “The isolation of the rural farm has been the relations weren’t completely “warm and that helped individual families also helped overstated,” says McCalla. “If pioneers really were fuzzy,” says Wilson. develop the community. self-sufficient, then why did they have to go to Often, these communities were structured like “These bees defined behaviour and spatial stores at all?” an unofficial labour market, and she has come relations between the members of the family and Contrary to the popular notion that early to the same conclusion as McCalla: the world the neighbourhood.” pioneers stuck it out in the wilderness, McCalla, of Canadian pioneers in Ontario was a lot more Wilson, who grew up in a rural community, who holds a Canada Research Chair in Rural His- complex than people think. says there’s still much to be learned about early tory, says the isolation and self-sufficiency of rural “These early communities and lifestyles may Canadians, but rural history must be understood families in Upper Canada are often exaggerated. appear simple at first,” says Wilson. “But upon within its own context. McCalla agrees. He’s All these families interacted with local communi- closer examination, they reveal complex informal a strong proponent of studying country store ties, providing food and materials such as timber networks and exchanges that had great practical account books and surviving records of farm to their urban neighbours. He discovered that value to people and changed focus in response to families to understand the practical and domestic rural families depended on town vendors and the economy and society.” aspects of early rural families. He says it’s impor- store owners to provide them with their consumer She cites the work bee as an example. Work tant to see how pioneers went about their daily wants and needs, things they lacked the time or bees were informal labour exchanges that tied lives and to get an accurate picture of how they the means to produce. communities together in mutual reliance. interacted with local communities. Rural families regularly bought simple commodities such as groceries (tea, tobacco and sugar) and textiles (especially cotton and wool). Farmers Ye olde days of renting would often pay their bills by selling flour, butter, vegetables or wood, among other things. EVEN PIONEERS MOVING INTO CANADA’S And because the lease was passed through McCalla began his look into Upper Canada’s wilderness in the 19th century had to worry families, tenants would stay on the same rural economy by examining the relationship about rental payments, says history profes- land for several generations. This helped between wheat farmers and the British wheat sor Catharine Wilson. In fact, she says, rent- build Upper Canada’s earliest European market. Although it was long believed that Cana- ing was common for early Upper Canada settlements. dian wheat farmers were growing the cash crop for settlers, who leased their farms as early as Wilson is the author of the book A New British markets, there were many years when the the 1790s. Lease on Life: Landlords, Tenants and Immi- British market received no exports at all. Tenants paid low rents for land and held grants in Ireland and Canada. It examines “I asked how there were so many farms in the rights to sell improvements they made, immigrant families and their adaptation, Upper Canada ready to grow wheat in abundance such as clearing fields or building barns. focusing specifically on the landlord and when the British wheat market was opened to This was an incentive for tenants to open tenant relationship and how it changed in them in the 1840s,” he says. “I wondered what the the land and build new structures. the Irish and Canadian context. She’s cur- farmers were doing through all the years before “This offered them an alternative way to rently working on a scholarly work, Ten- that.” become established on the land when they ants in Time, that’s based on her tenancy As it turns out, they were trading with their couldn’t afford to buy it,” says Wilson. research and challenges long-held notions urban counterparts. Renting helped develop communities, about pioneer ownership and property And they were savvy shoppers, too, says too. Tenants had a legal interest in their relations. McCalla. By looking through farm accounts, he leases, which they could sell or bequeath, This research is funded by the Social found that families bought different items from much like the landowners used their estates. Sciences and Humanities Research Council. different stores, often travelling outside their

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 25 SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION Looking at the past to understand the future Why has Africa shifted into such a poor economy?

BY PAULA BIALSKI

International trade has been affecting community to change after the onset of foreign intended to propel West Africa’s socio-economic society’s stability since the days of Christopher interference. development — can be optimized. Columbus and Marco Polo. Now, one University To identify the particular types of changes “I hope to understand why Africa has gradu- of Guelph professor hopes that a better picture of that occurred in each society, he will also exam- ally shifted into such a poor economic condition 19th-century West African history can help him ine factors such as each community’s proximity and what relationship this bears to possibilities understand the effects of changes in international to the Atlantic seaboard — which provided ship- for democracy,” he says. “I also want to know trade on governance, social structure, gender ping routes to foreign markets — and the level of how these problems relate to the history of inter- structures and political stability in present-day each group’s participation in new trade. action between local West African societies and West Africa. the international market.” Prof. Femi Kolapo, Department of History, The Niger River provided surrounding com- believes that understanding the influence of “I hope to understand why munities with a direct link to international trade trade and colonialism in lower Niger River com- Africa has gradually shifted through the Atlantic seaboard. For example, the munities will provide a better understanding of into such a poor economic slave trade was a large and lucrative market not the current international economic and political condition and what relation- only for Europeans who engaged in it for over situation in West Africa. ship this bears to possibilities 300 years, but also for the elite Africans who held “What we will be able to learn is the impact of for democracy.” its control. When slavery was abolished in the international trade on the political stability of a – Femi Kolapo 19th century, Europeans began to demand palm country and how the introduction of a new crop, oil and other farm commodities instead, and a new product or new exploitation of a resource secure market for West African peasant farmers can affect different sectors and aspects of a soci- Kolapo says insight from this research can — who had few opportunities during the slave ety,” he says. help policy advisers and decision-makers deter- trade — finally opened up. Kolapo is the first to link the entire Niger mine the best course of action in West Africa’s The shift to a new pattern of trade deeply River subregion with different ecological and struggles to develop. It can also help them affected the stability of the states and caused sociocultural backgrounds, a process he believes determine how the foreign “regime of interven- armed conflicts in some West African societies, will help him uncover the factors that forced each tion” — aid programs offered by other countries says Kolapo. Each community evolved differently to meet the various market FEMI KOLAPO demands and pressures. “As Europe began importing new commodities, it stimulated development in some of these West African societies,” he says. “Some communities were able to expand their borders and became more powerful, but some were weakened and fell into crisis. We want to examine the factors that made this so.” Kolapo’s research will take him to Nigeria to study the lower Niger River communities first-hand, as well as to archival collections in the United Kingdom and France and to available sources across Canada. This study is sponsored by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.

History professor Femi Kolapo (left) discusses how foreign markets have influenced West African societies in order to aid the area’s social and economic development.

26 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION

Then there’s the domino effect to consider, THE WAGES OF says Meilke. Less livestock production would mean less grain required as feed, which would lower already chronically depressed domestic grain prices. Canada’s food-processing industry would also be crippled because meat products make up nearly one-quarter of Canada’s food industry shipments and dairy products make up nearly one-fifth. If the Canada-U.S. FEAR border were closed after a Canadian FMD out- Terrorist attacks on food supply would break, the researchers believe that could leave the Canadian economy worse off by nearly cripple economy, say researchers $2 billion, without even counting the costs of eradication or consumer backlash against BY MURRAY TONG meat products. Meilke notes that an FMD attack on the United States or Mexico would benefit Canada The ongoing fear of terrorist threats holds appetite loss, tremors and reduced milk pro- if it stayed FMD-free, but a co-ordinated attack much of the world in its grip. But terrorism duction in agriculturally important animals on the livestock sector in all three NAFTA isn’t limited to attacks on human lives, say such as cows, pigs and sheep, although it has countries would have disproportionately University of Guelph researchers. They’re no effect on humans. It’s the same disease that harmful effects on Canada because 70 per cent assessing the potential damage from an attack raged through the United Kingdom in 2001, of its total agri-food exports (roughly $25 bil- on North America’s food supply. costing the country close to $7 billion Cdn in lion) go to the States. This reliance on exports Prof. Karl Meilke, Department of Agricul- losses throughout the agriculture and food- makes Canada particularly vulnerable to such tural Economics and Business, is part of a team processing chain and a similar amount in con- an agroterrorist attack, he says. that’s predicting the economic impact of an sumer- and tourism-related industries. “There would be tremendous far-reaching agroterrorist attack, such as the introduction impacts on Canada if our products couldn’t of a livestock disease. They say Canada could get across the border quickly and painlessly.” be economically devastated if its agricultural “There’s a lack of legislation Meilke and his colleagues hope their results industry were attacked. in Canada that deals directly lead to more in-depth analyses of the economic “There’s a lack of legislation in Canada that with an agroterrorism threat.” effects of bioterrorism and help governments, deals directly with an agroterrorism threat,” – Karl Meilke companies and the public determine the best says Meilke. “And it’s important to address the methods and locations to implement food economic implications of an attack, so we’re security resources. better prepared if one were to happen.” A terrorist-staged FMD outbreak in Canada Meilke is working with Profs. John Cranfield The discovery in May 2003 of a bovine would close borders between Canada and and Karen Huff of the Department of Agricul- spongiform encephalopathy (BSE)-infected its FMD-free trading partners, including the tural Economics and Business and Calum cow in Washington, which was traced back United States, Mexico, Japan, western Europe Turvey of Rutgers University. This research to an Alberta operation, illustrates the disas- and Australia. Meilke says that would be a is being funded by the Rutgers Food Policy trous impact that animal health issues can major blow to Canada’s heavily export-reliant Institute and the Ontario have on the Canadian economy, says Meilke. economy (not unlike that seen during the BSE Ministry of Agriculture and But he believes a planned terrorist attack of a border closings). Without the U.S. market, Food. more contagious animal disease such as foot- Canada’s livestock exports would almost dis- and-mouth disease (FMD) would cause even appear, while meat and dairy exports would greater economic damage. fall by more than 80 per cent. Canadian “The BSE episode was isolated and natu- production of livestock, meat products rally occurring,” he says. “A terrorist attack and dairy products would also would be co-ordinated, and FMD — unlike fall significantly as a result of a BSE — is highly contagious and easily trans- deliberate attack and FMD mitted.” eradication efforts. Meilke and his colleagues modelled the economic effects of introducing FMD in Canada, the United States and Mexico, the three countries bound by the North American free trade agreement (NAFTA). FMD is an easily transmitted viral disease that can cause fever,

Canada’s export-heavy economy makes it especially vulnerable to an agroterrorist attack, such as introduction of a livestock disease, says a University of Guelph researcher.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 27 SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION MALDONADO

VICKY TAKING RESEARCH TO THE STREETS Sociologists look at street kids’ survival strategies here and abroad

BY MURRAY TONG

As they weave their way along darkened M STUART Department of Sociology and Anthropology. “I paths, bar patrons headed for home and early thought to myself: ‘How can the government, or morning prowlers don’t pay much attention to anyone else, accept the fact that there are chil- C the young girls selling flowers on the street. For COOK dren on the street?’” them, it’s just another part of the after-hours After developing an 80-question survey with world of Quito, Ecuador’s capital and second- O’Grady, Maldonado returned to Ecuador — largest city. the country of her parents’ birth — last summer Young children living and working in the to hear the stories of these Ecuadorian street streets are an all-too-common sight in many children, how they got there and what they’re other cities around the world. But for University doing to cope. She will use the information she’s of Guelph graduate student Vicky Maldonado, gathered to compare these experiences with who first visited Quito six years ago, it was those of Toronto street youth, to see what paral- shocking. Now, she’s surveying these street lels exist between the street youth of two differ- youth about their survival strategies and the ent continents. From there, she and O’Grady social and economic issues they face, to learn hope to make recommendations to assemble more about their lives and to help them get off better social policies and outreach programs the streets. “There are so many children out there who Quito’s bustling streets are crowded with don’t have a childhood because they’re work- youth selling fruit, vegetables and crafts ing when they’re so young,” says Maldonado, for meagre earnings — often not enough who’s studying with Prof. Bill O’Grady of the to get them off the streets.

28 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION TATM STUART C COOK COOK C M

STUART that can address specific issues to help alleviate Most of these street youth, she adds, don’t OPPOSITE PAGE TOP << Children play at La this worldwide problem. make enough money to get themselves or their Tola School in Quito, Ecuador, a Roman Maldonado originally thought it would be families off the streets. Catholic school established by the Salesian difficult to coax answers from the street youth, There’s also a significant difference, not Order. La Tola is one of several Ecuadorian but she found that most of her interview subjects always apparent, between individual street schools that offer special classes and medi- were co-operative and willing to have their sto- children, says Maldonado. In Ecuador, they’re cal services to the nation’s street youth. ries heard. roughly divided into two groups: niños en la LEFT << Children selling fruit are a common “I didn’t have to ask them to do the survey calle (children in the street), who work in the sight on Ecuador’s streets. — they were eager to do it,” she says. “They even streets for meagre wages but are able to go home RIGHT >> Quito, Ecuador’s capital and thanked me for the opportunity to speak. For at night, and niños de la calle (children of the second-largest city with a population them, the reward was that someone cared, that street), who work and live on the streets. She of 1.4 million. It’s been called the most someone listened.” is also examining the issues and problems con- beautiful city in South America, but it also That was different from their normal day- fronting each of these groups to get a broader has its share of problems, including large to-day existence, far from their homes. In many perspective on how kids from different back- numbers of street youth. cases, impoverished young people come from grounds deal with street life. rural highlands to Ecuador’s major cities to Despite the problems she sees, however, Ecuador, La Tola School in Quito, holds classes find greater opportunities for themselves and Maldonado says there’s hope. She’s noticed sig- in the afternoon to allow students to work in the their families. Some come nificantly fewer children morning, offers medical and dental services, and down from the moun- living on the streets than provides special education for children who have tains with vegetables “I thought to myself: ‘How she saw six years ago. never attended school. and foodstuffs to sell in can the government, or And for the most part, Organizations like the Salesianos make a the markets. But if their anyone else, accept the she’s also found that chil- huge difference in many children’s lives, but homes are too far away, fact that there are children dren have an easier time they must continue to grow and expand their they often can’t return at on the street?’” coping on the streets than services, says Maldonado. By learning more night. Instead, they must – Vicky Maldonado adults because they’re about the experience of street youth in different stay on the streets. adaptable and become parts of the world, she and O’Grady hope to find It isn’t so different quickly accustomed to more effective ways to reach out to them. from the plight of many street youth in Cana- street life, remaining logical about why they “This type of research has to get back to dian cities such as Toronto, says Maldonado. She work there. In fact, she observed that many of the people you’re studying,” says Maldonado. believes they are among the victims of the wid- the children live busy, varied lives, often working “Hopefully, it will benefit these street children ening gap between rich and poor that plagues the in the morning, then putting on school uniforms in the form of better social policy and improved entire world and hits Latin America particularly and attending classes in the afternoon. outreach program services.” hard. The street youth receive some help from This research was funded by an interna- “There’s more of a cycle-of-poverty effect agencies and organizations such as the Salesianos tional field studies grant from the University of in Ecuador,” she says. “It’s not as easy as many (the Salesian Order), an international Roman Guelph’s Centre for International Programs and people think to get off the streets. It’s more than Catholic organization that builds Catholic the Richard and Sophia Hungerford Graduate a change of clothes.” schools around the world. One of its schools in Scholarship.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 29 SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION Cultivating young farmers Honduran youth gain agricultural experience through innovative program

BY ALICIA ROBERTS SALLY

HUMPHRIES

Young Hondurans are getting their hands The program involves students in experi- dirty — and gaining practical experience ential field projects such as organic vegetable in farm fields — through an international growing experiments, organic fertilization of agricultural program that helps cultivate that fruit trees, research and testing of natural insec- precious natural resource known as “human ticides, comparing different composting meth- capital.” ods, forms of local garbage management and the SALLY The program, called “The Role of Participa- reforestation of micro-watersheds. tory Research by Youth in Food Security and The students work together in agricultural HUMPHRIES Natural Resource Management,” was devel- research teams in their own communities on oped by the International Centre for Tropical weekends. FIPAH works with local teachers Agriculture (known by the Spanish acronym to train students to conduct research, as well CIAT) in collaboration with the University of as share what they’ve learned with local youth Honduran rural youth are working on Guelph and the University of British Colum- whose families can’t afford to send them to agricultural research projects and gain- bia. It’s preparing budding farmers, research- school. ing valuable field experience, thanks to ers and rural extension workers for productive “Community research brings youth and an international program that aims to agricultural careers. adults together to look for solutions to local prepare the country’s next generation of “Everyone is impressed by the skills of the problems,” says Humphries. “Through the farmers for future challenges. young people,” says Prof. Sally Humphries research teams and their interaction with adult of Guelph’s Department of Sociology and researchers, young people are having their The success of the program in Honduras Anthropology. “They’ve been turned on by ideas and concerns recognized in their com- has inspired CIAT to look for funding for research and are now being recognized and munities.” similar projects in Nicaragua and Colombia. valued for their skills. That’s remarkable.” And these youth have really grown into their Meanwhile, the youth groups in Honduras Humphries has been working for 10 years research roles, she adds. Their fresh perspectives are working with CIAT and the University of with Honduran agronomists in a non-govern- on agricultural problems and issues have made Guelph/FIPAH to find new donors to support mental organization called Fundación para la them leaders in their communities. their work in Honduras. Investigación Participativa con Agricultores “The interesting thing is that young people, The youth research program was sponsored de Honduras (FIPAH), which is dedicated to who are less burdened by the problems of from 2001 to 2004 by the Canadian Interna- supporting participatory agricultural research feeding their families, are really the leaders in tional Development Agency through the Con- with Honduran hillside farmers. Since the innovation. They have the most creative ideas. sultative Group on International Agricultural youth program began three years ago, FIPAH They are the ones most concerned about their Research-Canada Linkage Fund. USC-Canada agronomists have trained more than 240 environment. The research teams serve to continues to support rural youth through its young people aged 12 to 19. empower them.” Seeds of Survival program in Honduras.

30 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION Haiti’s troubled history Civil strife runs deep in this turbulent nation

BY CHRIS STOCKMAN

Rebellion and unrest in Haiti made head- the United States viewed the independent black Last year, Racine attended an international lines around the world in 2004. But one Univer- republic of Haiti as sort of a case study for conference at the University of the West Indies sity of Guelph professor says the civil strife has its the redemption of the enslaved African race,” in Trinidad that commemorated the 200th anni- roots in events and issues long before the violent Racine says. versary of Haitian independence. She intends to outbreaks that ousted Haiti’s government. These writers and activists tended to empha- eventually expand her research into a book about “Haiti is a nation rich in history and culture, size the orderly, humane and progressive nature Haiti during the era of emperors Jean-Jacques and its stability is vitally important to the entire of the republic’s laws, she says. But British Dessalines and Henry Christophe (1806 to 1820). Caribbean region,” says Prof. Karen Racine, plantation owners, who had significant vested This research is being funded by a new faculty Department of History. interests in the continuation of slavery on British grant from the University of Guelph. In 1804, Haiti gained political independence Caribbean islands, vigorously depicted Haiti as a from France to become the world’s first black lawless land of baby killers and voodoo worship- The Haitian Revolution republic, as well as the first independent Latin ers to scare the British public and politicians. American country. That was a significant vic- British patriots pointed to the Haitian Revo- tory at a time when African slavery was still lution in 1804 as an example of the failure of July 14, 1789: The French Revolution predominant throughout England, Spain and France to civilize its colony, and argued that the commences with the storming of the Bas- the Americas. British were better colonizers and overseers. tille in Paris. Racine is researching how Haiti was used “Essentially, the lessons that the various as a tool for political propaganda in Britain interest groups drew from the Haitian experi- August 1791: The Haitian Revolution from 1790 to 1830. Many British lobby groups, ence reveals something significant about the begins on the French colony of Saint- including plantation owners and abolition- way elements of British society started thinking Domingue with a successful slave upris- ists, hoped to use the new nation for their own about themselves and their empire in the early ing. By early 1792, slaves control most of economic and political gain — as a centre for 19th century,” Racine says. the north. manufacturing and trade, as a supply of natural She has consulted dozens of newspapers resources and as a way to expand their presence and journals from the era and has used archival 1793: Britain and Spain declare war on in the Caribbean at a time when French power material from the British Library in London, the France. was waning. Bibliothèque nationale de France in Paris, the “In the early 19th century, Christian evan- New York Public Library and the University of 1798: Former slave and guerrilla leader gelicals and white abolitionists in Britain and Florida’s extensive Haitian collection. Toussaint Louverture begins a massive military campaign against British forces, Defeated by Haitian revolutionaries under Toussaint which leave Saint-Domingue by October. Louverture (right), the British later used Haiti to try to establish a larger Caribbean presence. 1801: After defeating Spain in neigh- bouring Santo Domingo (now Domini- can Republic) and winning a five-month civil war, Toussaint declares himself governor-general for life of Saint-Domingue and publishes a new constitution abolish- ing slavery.

1802: Napoleon sends a huge military force to reconquer Saint-Domingue. Toussaint is captured and sent to a French prison.

1803: Toussaint dies in prison. Inflamed by his death, rebels drive French forces from Saint-Domingue.

January 1, 1804: Revolutionary commander Jean-Jacques Dessalines declares Saint-Domingue’s independence and is named governor-general for life. He renames the new nation Haiti, the aboriginal (Taino) word for “land of mountains.”

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 31 SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION

tal effects have essentially left women without THE ULTIMATE any alternatives.” On July 8, 2002, about 600 women occu- pied ChevronTexaco’s Escravos oil export terminal — Africa’s largest — for 10 days. The weapon these otherwise unarmed women used was what they call the curse of nakedness. They CURSE exposed their naked bodies, particularly their vaginas, which is believed to impose social death and demise. How Nigerian women made war against big oil By exposing this part of the body, the women are signalling that “life comes from BY CLARE ILLINGWORTH AND MURRAY TONG the vagina, I wish we’d never borne you,” says Turner. Those so castigated by the women — in Revolts led by Nigerian women against “This revolt represents the first time so this case, oil company staff — cannot survive the Niger Delta petroleum industry in 2002 many different Nigerian peoples have united in their society with such a hex: their friends and 2003 resulted in a 40-per-cent shutdown from the grassroots to make demands of oil and family shun them and even refuse to feed of oil production in the area. The women used companies,” says Turner. “Their success has them. The relative success of this occupa- unusual weapons — their naked bodies and sparked similar actions that aim to create sus- tion inspired 16 other oil facility takeovers nothing more. tainable rural economies from those ravaged by women and their male allies from many In many cultures worldwide, exposing by the oil industry.” ethnic groups throughout 2002 and 2003. As female genitalia is a way of imposing social Over the past 40 years, oil production in Nigerians were shutting down production, death through ostracization, which may in Nigeria’s Niger River Delta, she found, has par- millions of consumers worldwide boycotted turn lead to actual demise. Nigerian women’s ticularly affected women because pollution and the oil majors to demand an end to pollution, radical actions and subsequent triumph have fallout from industry affect agriculture, food oil wars and global warming. led a University of Guelph researcher to look processing and fishing industries, which are But the curse of nakedness isn’t exclusive to deeper into the troubles. dominated by women in that country. Some 90 Nigeria, says Turner. In Kenya, cash crop and Prof. Terisa Turner, Department of Sociol- per cent of Shell’s oil spills worldwide occur in tourism industries, largely foreign-owned and ogy and Anthropology, found that pollution, Nigeria. Spills have poisoned fish and shellfish expanded at the World Bank’s insistence, have poverty and the destruction of a way of life populations, important food sources for many led to increased land use and environmental sparked the multi-ethnic revolt. Through of Nigeria’s inhabitants. For example, a par- damage. These industries also encroached on interviews and historical research, she is now ticularly devastating spill in September 2003 in female-controlled Kenyan agricultural activi- discovering gendered modes of resistance to the Bayelsa State left 10,000 people without drink- ties such as corn and banana production for hardships suffered by these oil communities. ing water and spoiled the shrimp and lobster local consumption. In response, women used fishing season, which brought both food and nakedness to stop police from defending employment to the area. unsustainable land use for export crops. A panel from “Nakedness and Power,” With their food supply and livelihoods written by Leigh Brownhill and Terisa destroyed by oil spills, women have taken their Turner, illustrated by Seth Tobocman, case directly to the oil companies. Nigerian oil: depicts the protests led by Nigerian “In Nigeria, food production, processing By the numbers women that shut down 40 per cent of the and marketing are highly labour-intensive area’s oil production. (From World War industries that are dominated by women,” says 3 Illustrated, No. 35) Turner. “Oil production and its environmen- WHILE OIL PRODUCTION BRINGS PROSPERITY to some countries, Prof. Terisa Turner notes that Nigeria’s economic downturn coincided with its exploitation of vast oil supplies in the 1970s. Over the past 30 years, the number of Nigerians subsisting on less than $1 a day has nearly doubled from 36 per cent to 70 per cent — meaning 90 million people live in extreme poverty even though oil revenues have topped $350 billion US over this period. Instead of being injected back into the Nigerian economy, these revenues leave the country via profit remittances by foreign oil companies, corruption, and military and luxury imports, she says. And the foreign-dominated oil industry is increasingly using out-of-country workers rather than local Nigerians. Turner is teaching a course called “The Sociology of Power: Oil, War and Imperi- alism,” in which she uses this case study.

32 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE SOCIETIES IN TRANSITION

Turner says the curse of nakedness has permeated the West, too. A famous example is the Dixie Chicks, the American country The Irish did their homework music trio who showed their displeasure with Rural households in 1900s contributed to worldwide markets the 2003 U.S.-led war on Iraq by appearing nude on the cover of the national magazine BY ALISON SCHNEIDER Entertainment Weekly. And the organization Baring Witness has attracted attention to its anti-war cause through naked protests, where Volatile world markets, climate including children and servants. In exam- nude bodies are arranged to create the peace change and global instability are making ining the Irish censuses from 1851, 1901 sign and spell out words such as “PEACE” and it difficult for today’s farming families to and 1911, James also discovered that this “SOS.” make ends meet living only off the land. paid work was not enumerated. Although Nakedness and the vagina, Turner says, Many must find jobs off the farm as well. vital to international markets, homework have been used throughout history to send But this isn’t just a modern issue, says a wasn’t considered “true work” by workers powerful messages of life. For example, Euro- University of Guelph professor. Even farm- or census takers, he says. pean women used to walk naked over farm ing households in turn-of-the-century Ire- In addition, for the purposes of ana- fields to ensure fertile crops that season. And land worked at other jobs. The twist is that lyzing work activity, it was often more the Nigerian women who brought the curse of they did those jobs at home. appropriate to consider the household as nakedness on oil company workers were not In rural Ulster, Northern Ireland, tex- a whole, rather than just the homeowners. only symbolically refusing to give them life, tile production by women of the household Many non-family members such as servants but also refusing to surrender their own lives. — wives, daughters and servants — was resided in households and contributed to “It’s an affirmation of life in the face of common in the first decade of the 20th cen- labour. Non-relatives were seen as impor- death,” she says. “The undeniable fact is that tury, says Prof. Kevin James, Department tant providers and contributed equally to all life comes from the vagina, and when of History. Industrial production in simple the success of the home. death looms — from starvation, pollution or farm households — or “homework,” as it James’s initial interest in the topic began whatever — women everywhere in the world was called — not only supplied interna- with the question of whether farming fami- throughout history have exposed themselves tional markets with goods but also rede- lies were principally farming or otherwise to fight it.” fined the early 1900s household to include engaged. Many people believe these rural In Nigeria, the curse of nakedness worked. individuals outside the family. households lived exclusively off the land, The women’s actions spurred a shutdown of James says this casts new light on the he says, but rural livelihoods and industrial 40 per cent of the country’s oil production. way “work” was perceived back then. work often went hand in hand. Turner estimates that, as a result, the govern- “The primary income within the family He discusses rural Ulster’s textile indus- ment and oil companies lost $11 million US didn’t always remain constant; it shifted try in the article “Merchants, Manufactur- and $2.5 million a day, respectively. And in under the continual relocation of work. ers and the Ballymena Hand-Loom Weav- early 2005, protests stalled a proposed west Textile production could provide more ers: Market Conflict in the Ulster Brown African natural gas pipeline. Collectively, money than farming and vice versa.” Linen Trade,” published in the journal these citizens’ actions have put Niger Delta oil Even within the at-home textile industry Saothar, Vol. 27 (2002). resources significantly under popular control. itself, things were more complicated than Funding for this research was provided The 2002-2003 protests led ChevronTexaco they first appeared. A single wage was paid by the University of Ulster’s Institute for to negotiate a memorandum of understanding to the household, but the work involved Ulster Scots Studies and the Ireland-Canada with the insurgents requiring the company to many contributors of varying abilities, University Foundation. relocate the community, clean up the environment, financially compensate people over 60 and make part-time workers permanent. It did not, however, address the women’s major demand: that ChevronTexaco and the other oil companies leave Nigeria completely. Turner hopes to bring to light how peasant women and their allies are defending their sustainable subsistence way of life against international oil and the Nigerian government that supports it. “I want to show that beyond the environmental damage caused by oil production, there’s human desolation as well,” she says. “This planet can continue to thrive only without petroleum. We’ve got to break the oil habit, and in this, Nigerian women are our allies.” University of Guelph undergraduates Kristy Weekes and Katherine Perrott and IRISH TEXTILE JOURNAL University of Toronto graduate student Leigh : I Brownhill collaborated on this study, which is Handfuls make the load Early industrial production in reland often took place 188 v funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities in simple farm households like this one in 0s County Antrim, with e eryone — v — Research Council. including children and ser ants contributing according to their abilities.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 33 CULTURE

COVER STORY WHATCHA WANT . . . IS A CANADIAN IDOL Photo exhibit captures the reality behind reality TV

STORY BY MURRAY TONG PHOTOS BY SUZY LAKE

34 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE CULTURE

2003 Canadian Idol runner-up Gary Beals belts it out for the camera. Fine art professor Suzy Lake explores the relationship between camera and subject in her art installation Whatcha reallyreallywant...

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 35 CULTURE

The implication is clear: although fame is a lifelong dream for many, it’s a mundane manu- factured commodity for the industry.In fact, Lake notes, the show itself is really a season-long TV focus group playing as entertainment, gaug- ing what audiences want to hear and see in a pop idol, from voice to looks to musical repertoire to hairstyles. Although audiences are media-savvy enough to see Canadian Idol’s marketing mission, she says, the Pygmalion factor is irresistible, as demonstrated by the show’s staggering popular- ity. But a necessary ingredient to this premise is youth, she adds, pointing out that show contestants must be between the ages of 16 and 26. “The show is based on the glamour of Pygma- lion, the glamour of discovering an unknown and Ryan Malcolm, the first turning him or her into a superstar.” A50-year- Canadian Idol. old “Pygmalion” would be a lot less glamorous than a 20-year-old one, she notes. “And Canadian Reality television has changed the shape really reallywant ....In her photographs, Lake Idol is about glamour.” of modern entertainment, spawning runaway conveys the energy between camera and subject, Glamour, beauty, gender and image all inter- hits such as Survivor, The Amazing Race and the sense that candidates knew they were being sect in Whatcha really reallywant ..., but Lake’s The Apprentice.These shows, and myriad others, committed to celluloid. exploration of these themes predates the Idol throw a spotlight on ordinary people, parading “What I tended to do was select the photo- work. PaulPetro, owner of the Toronto-based them before vast television audiences and trans- graphs where it was really apparent there was PaulPetro Contemporary Art, where Whatcha forming them into instant superstars — a sort a relationship between the performer and the really reallywant ... opened in September 2004, of retelling of the Pygmalion myth for our age camera,” she says. “That could be the relation- points to the photographer’s earlier shows, of reality television, mass media and lightning- ship between, say, someone obviously posing for including Beauty and the group exhibitions paced celebrity. me, someone actually posing for another pho- Breakfast of Champeens and Christmas Spice, In Canada, no program has taken the idea as tographer, and someone watching someone else which communicate the longing for youth and far as Canadian Idol, the television sensation that being photographed.” beauty through depictions of middle-aged perso- serves up aspiring young pop singers to a panel To capture the Idol atmosphere on film, nas trying to stay young. of music industry professionals (and millions of Lake followed the candidates through the laby- The worship of youth takes many forms in viewers) for close scrutiny of their talents. After rinthine audition process, from outdoor queues Lake’s photographs. One image shows hormone weeding out initial contestants, the panel nar- to crowded registration areas to auditions to the pills as breakfast food — an attempt to preserve rows the field to 32 competitors, who then give their all on nationalTV. Each week, viewers then vote for their favourites and eliminate hopefuls. Canadian Idol Ultimately, a new Canadian Idol is anointed with transcended its target audience fame, fortune and a record deal. and became part of our culture. During the phenomenally successful show’s first season in 2003 (6.5 million viewers watched the two-hour finale), University of Guelph fine art professor Suzy Lake spent six weeks docu- sudden-death voting periods before TV cameras youthfulness. Lake herself appears in one life- menting the Canadian Idol entourage. She trav- and national audiences. sized silkscreen, donning leopard-print tights. elled to audition sites in Montreal and Toronto, In her shots of the massive audition lineups Images of a middle-aged woman applying lipstick shooting 15 rolls of film, to dissect this cultural snaking down city streets, she shows crowds of thickly and glamour shots highlighting yellowed phenomenon and determine what it tells us aspiring stars — unshaven, unshowered, running teeth and a post-menopausalbeard — people about ourselves and our perceptions of stardom. on little sleep, their enthusiasm undiminished by past their sell-by date by standards of our fast- The result of this venture is her art instal- all-night parties and long waits — as they muster moving, youth-oriented culture — are coupled lation Whatcha really reallywant ..., which the energy to mug for the camera. She follows with images of ephemeral peonies, which explode provides an on-the-ground perspective of the them inside, where handlers pin identification into full bloom early in the season before droop- entire auditioning process, capturing the com- numbers on the performers, herd them through ing under the weight of their own beauty. pulsion for fame, the worship of youth and the makeup and guide them through pre-auditions “Suzy’s got that sort of national treasure status glamour of the Pygmalion myth.The title of the and auditions.That’s when the Pygmalion in Canada,” says Petro, who has exhibited much exhibit refers to a hit song by the Spice Girls, the process begins, transforming so-called normal of her photography. “Her work in the early ’70s former chart-topping U.K. pop music group that people into glamorous-looking potential idols. was so far forward of its time that it’s inspiring was likewise fabricated by talent scouts, judging These images lead to Lake’s photos of Idol younger generations of artists to this day.” panels and skilled marketing along the lines of finalists pouring heart and soul into their perform- Lake’s highly personal oeuvre, which explores Canadian Idol. ances under etherealblue-purple lighting while gender politics and self-image — often using The idea of being caught on film and pre- camera operators only a few metres away capture herself as a subject — also informs her teaching, served for posterity, the contrast between on- the moment, and stage technicians, makeup artin which she demonstrates how conceptual art and off-camera personas and the anticipation of ists and producers are already preparing the next theory and techniques can be used to visualize instant celebrity are pervasive themes in Whatcha performer. concepts and issues.

36 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE CULTURE

“It’s important that students start understanding the photograph as something other than just a ‘print’ or a narrative or photojournalism,” she says. “Art can be about photography or about painting — about the creation of beauty, as in Pygmalion.” Canadian Idol owes much of its success to the voting process, which involves the audience in constructing its own Pygmalion myth, says Lake. She explores voters’ criteria in Whatcha really reallywant ...by assembling her own pool of Idol contestants — 50 friends, students and colleagues from the University of Guelph and Guelph’s art community. Numbers pasted on their chests and microphones in hand against a glitter backdrop, they were photographed in pantomimed rapture, then Lake invited visitors to choose their favourites. At the end of each week of the three-week show, she tabulated the votes and posted new photos of the winning participants. Lake hopes to get visitors to contemplate the criteria for their choices and, by extension, what they see as glamorous or beautiful. She believes Canadian Idol viewers generally vote for a guaranteed, comfortable sell instead of daring and original acts, even though the latter may be more distinctive and harder to forget.The mass voting aspect of the show means truly original acts can go only so far, she says, and members of the public may be electing their own false idols. “What we’re seeing is voting for quality, but it’s actually a fairly generic quality, rather than something different.People’s tastes grow.If you’re only affirming what they already know, they’ll just go on to the next pop idol.” In the first season, Ryan Malcolm walked away with the top prize, but Lake was more interested in some of the other contestants, including first runner-up Gary Beals and fourth runner-up Jenny Gear. She believes Gear, in particular, had star quality in her voice and made interesting song choices, but she couldn’t engage with the TV camera in the same way she could engage with audiences. “She was singing all kinds of alternative music and really strange song choices, like Leonard Cohen,” says Lake. “A female singing Leonard Cohen has a kind of morose irony that’s really too sophisticated for a lot of people to support.” Still, Lake looks forward to future seasons of Canadian Idol, which she enjoys watching with her husband and daughter. Although she’s interested in the show’s reflection of celebrity, youth and other modern values, she, too, has been swept up in the glamour and suspense of who will become Canada’s next superstar. “I think the Idol programmers, starting with FOX TV and American Idol, assumed they were targeting the youth culture audience.The fact that Canadian Idol transcended its target audience and Thousands of Idol hopefuls packed became part of our culture is remarkable.” Toronto’s streets during the Whatcha really reallywant ...will also be show’s first season. showing at the Hallwalls Contemporary Arts Center in Buffalo and at France’s Centre de Pho- tographie de Lectoure later this year.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 37 CULTURE

GROUP CROW THEATRE OF UPSTART COURTESY OF CANADIAN COURTESY ADAPTA TIONS OF SHAKESPEARE PROJECT

THE BARD ONLINE Canadian adaptations of Shakespeare turn to web publishing

BY PAULA BIALSKI

Along with maple syrup, beavers and they’re facing in their own communities. This filing cabinets with texts, films, digital images, hockey, the way we approach Shakespeare helps theatrical activity gives us insight into commu- interviews and cartoons. Now, they’ve put all define us as Canadians, says a University of nities across the country.” this online so Canadians will have access to the Guelph researcher. Since 2001, the CASP team, which has information, which ranges widely in obscurity, Prof. Daniel Fischlin, School of English and employed more than 20 graduate students, history and depth. Theatre Studies, is working on the Canadian has uncovered some 500 plays and filled eight “The ways black, aboriginal, female, Adaptations of Shakespeare Project (CASP), youth, gay and lesbian and fringe groups have compiling a unique online database that features adapted their own versions of a number of the hundreds of Canadian adaptations — alterations Sharing information on the classic plays are an expression of how Cana- and rewrites — of the Bard’s renowned scripts. webwill invite Canadians to dians define themselves,” says Fischlin. “Most “The way Canadians adapt Shakespeare is a explore the many different of these texts would have been either lost or transmission of cultural values,” says Fischlin. ways Shakespeare has been unavailable without CASP.” “We see patterns with how people change the adapted over the years. Fischlin, Guelph’s first arts-based stories or the language to suit the experiences researcher to receive a Premier’s Research

38 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE CULTURE T R UDI E L EE P H O T O G RA P H Y

TOP Canadian Adaptations of Shake-

Excellence Award (PREA), says some of the and multimedia materials. Fischlin says it’s >> scripts CASP holds make more of an impact easy to search. A specific search function, for speare home page. Othello, ABOVE Shaun Smyth as the Mad Boy in

than others, such as an adaptation of a example, allows researchers to identify the >> play that looks at racial differences, produced considerable number of Hamlet adaptations Michael O’Brien’s Mad Boy Chronicle, an by an all-black theatre company in Toronto. written in Canada over the years, then enables adaptation of Hamlet. He hopes putting the information on the them to get more specific details through hot OPPOSITE PAGE << Characters from Hamlet, web will invite Canadians to explore the many links to the project database describing what Othello,KingLear and Macbeth duke it different ways Shakespeare has been adapted researchers have discovered about these adap- out in the world’s biggest sporting event over the years. He and his team have worked tations. in Shakespeare’s World Cup by Chris closely with computer programmers to adapt Technical support for this project was Colcoluzzi and Matt Toner, while Peter a science-based programming language provided by Bob Creedy and Michael Denny. Skagen’s Rodeo and Julie-Ed moves (ColdFusion) for arts-based data. This research is sponsored by the University the pair of star-crossed lovers and their The website, launched in the spring of of Guelph, the Social Sciences and Humanities feuding households from fair Verona to 2004, boasts more than 3,000 pieces of text Research Council and PREA. the Wild West.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 39 CULTURE Thinking along the margins Researcher looks at Latino artists’ reshaping of gender, cultural politics

BY MURRAY TONG

From Franco’s Fascist Spain to the coloni- Puig wrote the novel Kiss of the Spider zation of Latin America, Hispanic indigenouspeo- Woman, in which two prisoners—apolitical plesaround the world have sufferedand resisteda revolutionaryanda gay man charged with cor- long history ofpolitical andsocial repression. But rupting minors—discuss politics and esthetics still, their cultures have flourished. A University of within the walls of their jail cell.Almodóvar, Guelph professor is looking at how the arts have perhaps best known as writer anddirector of the become a major vehicle for Hispanics to examine Oscar-winning Talk to Her, is noted worldwide human rights issuesand thinkbeyond traditional for hisfilms that combine issues ofsexual and definitions ofsociety, familyandcommunity. national identity with melodrama and camp Artistsare important to the reshaping of esthetics. Anzaldúa isconsidereda leading politics and human rights, says Prof. Martha cultural commentator and writes on “the new Nandorfy of the School of English and Theatre Mestiza” concept, investigating what it means Studies. Theycan make social andpolitical issues to be on the border between cultures (ofmixed

PAULA BIALSKI accessible to people ofall stripes through their ethnicity) and genders (lesbian or transgendered, art,provoking discussion anddebate that reach for example). beyond the exclusive domain ofpolicy-makers, politicians, “experts” and lawyers. Nandorfy is interested in Latin American cul- “Artists play leading roles in tures, where artists’ bold experiments in literature, envisioning and defining new filmandperformance art have resisted repressive social structures…” norms by exploring multiple views on gender, – Martha Nandorfy sexual identity, ethnicityand what constitutesa “family.” “They’re experimenting with the representa- A recurring theme in Latin literature andfilm, tion ofsexual identity to subvert and undo the says Nandorfy, is the blending across what were patriarchal structures they were born into,” says traditionally thought to be impenetrable borders. Nandorfy. “Andbecause they’re artists, theyplay She cites Gómez-Peña’s “New World Border” leading roles in envisioning anddefining new social concepts, based on hisbeliefs that multicultural- structures that break free from thispatriarchy.” ism really refers to the new realities ofpeople of Many Hispanicpeoples, particularly Chica- mixedculturesanddiverse gender orientations, nos (Mexican-Americans) and Mestizos (people as well as other disenfranchised groups. They ofmixed European andAfrican or Amerindian aren’t really “on the border” between traditional ancestry), have been marginalizedand exploited schools of thought about culture, nationality or for centuries, says Nandorfy. Andmany Hispanic sexuality, according to Gómez-Peña, but they artistsshare acommon tendency towards utopian stake out their own territoryand, in the process, thinking because theyare driven by hope. create more inclusive anddemocratic expres- Given the trans-Atlanticscope of her study, sions ofcultural identity. she explores libertarian responses to Franco’s “A lot of thinking about race and gender Fascist rule over Spain after the Spanish Civil War comes out of the ‘border culture’ and the various COURTESY OF KNOPF PUBLISHING GROUP and to Argentine revolutionary leader Ernesto Hispaniccommunities,” says Nandorfy. “The Bold artistic experiments in Hispanic film, “Che”Guevara’sseminal writingsabout “the new implication is that communitiesdon’t have to literature and performance art, says Prof. man.”Those writingspromote a vision ofstrong follow traditional patriarchal and capitalist para- Martha Nandorfy, have fuelled fresh per- social interestsandfair labour divisions while digms. Theycan be organized in different ways.” spectives on gender, race and politics. rejecting colonialism, but are blind to gender, She’s taking afresh lookat what these orga- One of the most famous examples is the racial and ethnic issues. nizationsmight mean. Currently, she is writing Argentine novel Kiss of the Spider Woman, In particular, Nandorfy is examining the social, abook-length study on how these Hispanic which was adapted into a film and a political and literarycurrents that influencedsuch artists have reimagined ideas about gender, race musical, in which two prisoners discuss renowned HispanicartistsasArgentine novelist andpolitics andcreated new concepts of family, politics and esthetics within their shared Manuel Puig, Chicana writer GloriaAnzaldúa, home andcommunity. jail cell. Spanish filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar and Chi- This research isfundedby the Social Sciences cano performance artist Guillermo Gómez-Peña. and Humanities Research Council.

40 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE CULTURE How the West was spun Easterners have changed the so-called western

BY ALICIA ROBERTS

In books and films about the U.S. Wild West,milquetoast easternersare usually taught a thing or two by macho cowpokesand well- chiselledsheriffs. But in reality, it was powerful easterners who rustled western culture and literature andmade it their own,saysaUniversity of Guelph researcher. Prof. Christine Bold, School of English and Theatre Studies, says western novelsandstories from the late 19th and early 20th centuries were popularizedby easterners, who held the balance ofsocial and literarypower. Now,she’s on a quest to findsome of the storiesabout the West that were popular in their time but were crowded out by those eastern interestsand have fadedfrompopular memory. “Evidence suggests that all kinds ofadven- ture stories—about African-American cow- boys, mixed-race heroines on the frontier, women doctorsand teachersand ranchers in the West — had a big following for a time,” says Bold. “I want to find out how and why those westernsdisappeared.” W Eas m W s 1870s, a y hen t et e t in the we lth VINCE FILBY easterners exploited western lands to further their own economic, political and literary in the early 1980s, the reigning assumption The so-called westerns that we’re familiar ambitions. Boldbelievesmany “true” voices of was that the masculinist western was the only with are actually “easternized” versions of western literature were lost in the process. For popular western,and I didn’t question that the real thing, says University of Guelph example,figuressuch as future U.S.president assumption.” English professor Christine Bold, who’s Theodore Roosevelt,artist Frederic Remington Since then,a great deal of recovery work has looking for the lost novels and stories of and novelist Owen Wister expounded eastern- been done on previouslymarginalized litera- the American West. ized versions of western idealsandbecame tures, such as writingsby women and writers of famous, paving the way for a new set of ideas colour,and the lost voices of the West. about what a “western” shouldbe. Bold hopes the outcome of her research ? DID YOU KNOW . . . “Our vision of the popular western, with will benefit three audiences. First,she believes the white-hatted hero gunning down the black- her findings may spark new questionsabout • The Virginian — the 1902 hatted villain, has crowded out other westerns the construction and uses ofpopular culture novel that began the western of the time,” she says. among the scholarlycommunity. Second, the H s a c sb f c s - a p b cmayb s d s s tradition of the Main Street er re e r h i ringing into o u the origi gener l u li e intere te in the e lo t shootout — was written by nal westerns that first defined the western genre voices, so she also plans to create adatabase of and is looking at their impact on the modern information about original westernsand their Owen Wister, a lawyer from dominant versions we know. She expects to authors, and to developan anthologyfor the Philadelphia. He moved west learn how apowerful eastern elite profitedby public. Her thirdaudience is high school and on doctor’s orders after being popularizing aparticular vision of the West universitystudents. Bringing these different diagnosed with neurasthenia. in the late 19th centuryand how that vision perspectives to light in different age groups • Zane Grey, the all-time best- has served academic, political andcommercial couldcreate renewed interest in these stories selling author of westerns, was interests ever since. and make thempopular once again,she says. a dentist from Ohio. B dsays a y as f y a s a O x y a s, B d b a - ol th t onl in the l t ew e r h ve ver the ne t two e r ol will e tr v • The first dime novel was a scholars— herself included—questioned the elling to manyarchival locations in search of d m a c f fam a p p a s a - s W s . T s c d U s y f western written about a woman o in n e o the ili r o ul r we tern n r the lo t e t he e in lu e the niver it o Malaeska: The rative. Some 20 yearsago,she even wrote and Wyoming’sAmerican Heritage Center and the by a woman. Indian Wife of a White Hunter publishedabookcalled Selling the Wild West: Buffalo Bill Historical Center in Wyoming. Popular Western Fiction, 1860-1960, which This research isfundedby the Social Sci- by Ann S. Stephens sold well accepted the dominant version of the western encesand Humanities Research Council and when it was first published in as authentic. the College ofArts Research Enhancement 1860. “When I first worked on popular westerns Fund.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 41 CULTURE

CLOCKWISE FROM LEFT >> Rembrandt van Rijn, Self Portrait with Saskia, 1636, etching; Käthe Kollwitz, BeimDenglen, 1905, etching; Pablo Picasso, Deux nus assis, 1930, etching.

transferring the ink from the crevices to the paper. Hidden treasures Prints made in this manner are extremely valuable because only about 100 copies can be made before the plates wear out. Students draw inspiration from Picasso The Bachinski-Chu collection includes not and Rembrandt prints only works by internationally famous artists — Goya’s Disasters of War series, Picasso’s Deux nus assis and Matisse’s Tête àjeune femme, for BY HEATHER FILBY example — but also pieces donated by faculty and students. Rembrandt. Dürer. Goya. Matisse. Picasso. “Slides aren’t as good as seeing the real thing,” The contemporary prints in the collection These are just some of the names that leap out of says student Amanda Henry. “If there’s a piece I’m were produced using scanners, sophisticated the art densely covering the walls of a small room working on that’s in the print study collection, I software and other non-traditional technologies. in Zavitz Hall, home to the University of Guelph’s can just go see it.” Several prints, such as WastedYouth by American Bachinski-Chu Print Study Collection. Estab- Henry, who’s been studying the techniques artist Leon Golub, were created with computer lished in 1968 by art professors Walter Bachinski of lithographer Otis Tamasauskas, says the col- graphics. and Gene Chu, it houses more than 2,000 prints, lection shows how printmaking has evolved over “All these works illustrate a certain vision of both classic and contemporary. the years. Actually seeing the progression from the artist and an exciting way to use new technol- “The prints are an invaluable resource not only the Dutch mordant and nitric acid used in Rem- ogy,” says Maddison. “They are invaluable for our for our students’ research but also for teaching the brandt’s time to the digital technology used today students.” finer qualities of printmaking,” says Prof. Jean is a real learning experience, she says. Fine art students themselves provide much of Maddison, School of Fine Art and Music, curator Printmaking is a complex and time-consum- the funding for the collection through an annual of the collection. ing process. The artist etches a pattern into a sale of their prints. Although most students see art like this only copper plate with acid, covers the etching with The collection isn’t just for art majors, how- in textbooks, U of G fine art students taking print- ink, then runs the plate through a printing press. ever. Maddison encourages anyone to schedule a making courses can access the collection every The pressure from the press pushes a special paper tour of the Bachinski-Chu Print Study Collection week to complement their studies and research. made of rags into the crevices in the copper plate, through the School of Fine Art and Music.

42 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE CULTURE Beautiful music: It’s in the ear of the beholder BY BETH KENT

Compact discs and downloadable computer files have become the modern currency Waterman (with bamboo flutes from of music, with performances quickly trans- around the world): The meaningof music formed into digital signals and copied note changes every time it’s performed. for note for millions of ears. But there’s more to music than recorded or transcribed chords and notes, says University of Guelph music professor Ellen Waterman. She wants to know how performers communicate meaning to their audiences through music and how these audiences receive it. “Music may be represented by notes on a page or electronic signals, but music really comes alive when those notes are lifted off the page,” says Waterman. “And the meaning of the music changes every time it’s performed. No performer can create the exact same performance as another. Each audience and audience member will respond differently to it.” Specifically, Waterman is developing new methods to study and analyze experimental music performances in Canada. Her research involves comparing live performances at concerts and music festivals across the country, where she will also interview avant-garde performers (whose work pushes the boundaries of what is considered music), as well as audience members, stage technicians and festival organizers. This, she hopes, will help her gain a better understanding of how people react to music in a social and cultural context. Waterman’s study draws on ethnomusicol- ogy (the comparative study of music in different cultures) and performance studies (how professional and social roles, from working to social interaction, are linked to performing before an audience). It’s the first in-depth study of experimental music performance in Canada. But she also plans to examine non-musical aspects of music performance, including costumes and use of technology on stage. “I’m interested not only in the sounds performers make but also in their body move- ments and the staging, costumes and audience reaction and interaction,” she says. “I want to determine how the performance as an event OLIVI is influenced by its musical and non-musical A

, , ” B

aspects its cultural context its audiences. R This research is funded by the University of OWN Guelph’s College of Arts.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCHRESEARCH Summer 2005 43 CULTURE The forgotten heroine Eglantyne Jebb founded the Save the Children Fund, the world’s ﬁ rst international child-saving organization

V E BY PAULA BIALSKI

T H E

C H I L D R E N F U N D

If Eglantyne Jebb lived today, it might isn’t really a lot of information written about ing efforts. Mahood says SCF was also one of very well be she, not U2’s Bono, winning the Eglantyne Jebb,” says Mahood. the first organizations to push images in their ears of presidents and kings. Her selfless work And that’s a wonder, given her contribu- ads that provoked emotion, such as a picture for the marginalized has helped — and contin- tions. An Oxford graduate and primary school of a starving child. ues to help — people in all parts of the world. teacher, Jebb founded SCF in 1919 after the Jebb herself also paved the way for other Jebb, who lived from 1876 to 1928, was First World War. The United Kingdom had female activists and their work in global chari- the British founder of the international Save placed an economic blockade on Germany ties. the Children Fund (SCF). She also drafted and its allies, crippling Europe’s economy and “She had a motto: no child under the age the Declaration of the Rights of the Child, sending the continent spiralling into poverty. of seven could do any harm,” says Mahood. which forms the basis of SCF’s work and was Jebb believed that children, no matter “In her eyes, all children should have a right endorsed by the League of Nations in 1924. An what country they lived in, must be helped to proper living conditions, and this message extended seven-statement declaration eventu- — a daring and novel idea for the early 20th resonated throughout the globe, sparking ally became the famous United Nations docu- century. affiliated organizations.” ment Rights of the Child. “People in post-war Britain found her A Canadian branch of SCF was first estab- But history has largely overlooked this very controversial because she was sending lished in 1922, and since then, many offices important figure, says University of Guelph aid into Russia and Germany, which was a have opened across the country. The Univer- history professor Linda Mahood. She’s trying total taboo at the time,” says Mahood. “Her sity of Guelph established its own SCF branch to revive Jebb’s groundbreaking achievements organization was the first to donate money six years ago. Eighty-six years after Jebb began by researching and publishing the first-ever to people regardless of their race, religion or helping children worldwide, U of G branch biography of Jebb. nationality.” president Kirsten Speer is still carrying out the “Despite the fact that SCF was the first Prior to this time, charities, like religious philanthropist’s mandate. international child-saving organization, there organizations, relied on softer methods of per- “I really admire the way SCF includes the suasion. SCF was the first charitable organiza- children as participants in their own develop- tion to buy space in newspapers to “advertise” ment projects,” says Speer. “This empower- its services and solicit support and donations. ment of children and beneficiaries makes up Although the fund was heavily criticized the grassroots development, which is really the for paying for publicity, today this method is most effective kind.” widely used by charities to help with fundrais- She oversees U of G’s 25 active SCF members in promoting awareness and raising ABOVE Eglantyne Jebb (1876-1928), j >> funds for SCF pro ects under way both locally founder of the Save the Children Fund. and internationally. LEFT << Acquired by the British Save the Mahood, who has been working on this Children Fund in 1952, Hill House in Essex project for the last five years, is planning to became a residential home for children publish a biography of Jebb and SCF in the aged seven to 11, offering respite from near future. Her study is being funded by their “disordered and unhappy urban the Social Sciences and Humanities Research SAVE THE CHILDREN FUND backgrounds.” Council.

44 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE CULTURE Her Canada includes babies Infants make giant strides in Canadian ﬁ ction

BY KATIE MEYER

Babies — once ignored in Canadian fic- Sabatini notes that writers started to show parents, some male writers in the late 20th tion — are becoming more predominant in some empathy for female characters in com- century start to suggest that their care is literature and developing their own literary promised positions. “Writers began to write superior to the mother’s. This happens while identity, says College of Arts research officer with some sympathy about unwed mothers writing by women reveals a sense that babies Sandra Sabatini, who documents this trend in and illegitimate children.” are, in fact, a source of empowerment because the book Making Babies: Infants in Canadian Infants were treated in two contradictory they’re something only women can provide.” Fiction. ways by Canadian authors at this time. On Sabatini says because there’s little certainty As society has placed more importance on one hand, they were written about as a desired about what infants think and feel, a good look childhood development and the role of infants achievement and a source of great love. On at how authors write about babies is impor- in the family, so, the other hand, babies also represented a tant to give society a better view of how we too, have contem- restriction on women’s lives and careers. This imagine ourselves. porary Canadian contradiction grew in later years as the sexual Making Babies: Infants in Canadian Fiction authors, she says. revolution and the feminist movement took was published by Wilfrid Laurier University Sabatini, a hold. Press. Sabatini’s research was sponsored by mother of five, In the 1960s and ’70s, childbirth and child the Humanities and Social Science Federation says history, psy- rearing started appearing “in gory detail,” says of Canada. chology, language Sabatini. She notes that these shifts overlap the and gender are all arrival of the birth control part of her analysis pill and other methods of showing how babies contraception. have been described Once men were PAULA BIALSKI and represented in invited into the delivery Sabatini:Literary Canadian literature. room in the late ’70s and babies give fresh “People long early ’80s, they seemed to perspectives on dismissed infants in become aware that babies howwe imagine literature as unin- are important, engaging ourselves. teresting because and miraculous, she says. In they’re unable to these decades, men dis- make moral choices,” she says. “But the way covered babies and they’re treated as subjects in fiction can reflect wrote about them how society sees itself.” as never before. Today, infants are more significant in lit- “As men erature than ever before and are being treated become socially with a whole new perspective, says Sabatini. accepted as Infants’ awareness and feelings are being single recognized as subjects by fiction authors, and they’re important to other characters’ accept- ance into a community. This wasn’t always the case. In the 1800s, when infancy was so precarious, little was written on the subject. Babies were born and grew up in a sentence or, at most, a paragraph on the page, says Sabatini. But early influences such as the 1913 Conference on Infant Mortality in London, England, brought babies into the public eye and onto the page. In the 1940s, Canadian authors such as Gabrielle Roy and Sinclair Ross began to deal more candidly with the subject of babies. Writing about abortion and illegitimacy broke social taboos. Attitudes con- FRAY BRIAN tinued to change throughout the 1940s and ’50s.

SOCIETY AND CULTURE RESEARCH Summer 2005 45 RESEARCH IN RETROSPECT

For further reading

Visit www.savethechildren.ca to learn more about Save the Children Canada, its mission to enable and empower local communities to improve children’s lives, and how to get involved. Visit www.canadianshakespeares.ca to learn more about the unique and surprising ways that William Shakespeare has permeated Cana- dian culture. Visit www.gamblingresearch.org to learn more about the Ontario Problem Gambling E B Research Centre’s activities and recent AL W research on why some people develop SCH gambling problems. ARTIN

M Read Prof. Ric Knowles, pictured here in a photo from a 1994 issue of Research, has been Making Babies: studying how theatrical works are influenced by offstage factors for the past decade. Infants in Canadian Fiction by Sandra Sabatini (Wilfrid Laurier University THE PLAY’S NOT THE THING Press, Waterloo, 2003) to learn more Theatre researcher studies external factors shaping about infant por- trayal in Canadian the Canadian stage over last decade literature and how it reflects our nation’s attitudes towards babies. BY MURRAY TONG Read “A Genomic View of Animal Behaviour” 7 When University of Guelph theatre stud- 1990s, looks at many of these factors, such as by Elizabeth Pennisi in Science, Vol. 30 , I 57 6 ies professor Ric Knowles goes to see a new play, where actors and theatre technicians are trained, ssue 0 , to see how U of G Prof. Elena he may be more interested in what’s going on how productions are financed, theatre architec- Choleris and other international research- behind the stage — or even outside the theatre ture, rehearsal space for the actors, the city or ers are uncovering the mysteries of animal — than he is in the actual onstage presentation. neighbourhood where the theatre is located, and behaviour. F or the past decade, he’s been studying the ways the type of audience it attracts (local residents Read the Canadian stage has changed and the outside versus international tourists, for example). forces that brought about these changes, to try His studies included Canada’s Stratford Fes- Catharine Wilson’s article “Reciprocal M N to develop a more complete theory and method tival and looked at seemingly mundane details Work Bees and the eaning of the eigh- of analyzing theatrical works. such as corporate sponsors’ logos on theatre bourhood” in The Canadian Historical 1 Ten years ago, Knowles was focusing on how tickets, advertisements encouraging corporate Review, September 200 , to learn more Canadian plays present their ideas and politics patrons to relocate to Stratford and the brass about how work bees influenced early to audiences. His research into the creative pro- plaques on theatre seats sporting donors’ Canadian communities and shaped the cess also included writing and directing plays. names. Knowles says small details like these nation’s history. N ow, he’s written Reading the Material Theatre, paint festival-goers as smart, successful and Read a book-length study of how factors outside the enlightened people who enjoy the finer things T x theatre can shape the dramas played out within. in life. This not only encourages new visitors to “ e tile Purchases by Some Ordinary Upper 18 8 1861 D M “What a play communicates is shaped by the come back to Stratford but also influences how Canadians, 0 - ” by ouglas cCalla / way it’s framed,” says Knowles. “My research audiences see and understand what’s on stage, in Material History Review, spring summer 1 addresses how events and trends around the he says. 200 , for more information on purchasing 19 world shape the theatre and how the audience “Only part of the experience is in the content patterns among th-century Canadians. responds to these influences.” of any theatrical work. A lot also depends on the Read Understanding a play or performance goes context, on factors outside the theatre. Even the K beyond what’s in the text or even what’s hap- food served can influence a theatre experience Reading the Material Theatre by Ric nowles x 4 pening on the stage, he says. Reading the Mate- — whether it’s red wine or big cookies.” (O ford University Press, London, 200 ) to rial Theatre, based on research he conducted in This research is funded by the Social Sciences see how offstage factors influence what’s Canada and around the world throughout the and Humanities Research Council. happening onstage in Canadian theatre.

46 RESEARCH Summer 2005 SOCIETY AND CULTURE