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University of Alberta History and Heritage: Canada's Life in Stories by Thomas David Baynes A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts Anthropology Edmonton, Alberta Spring 2009 Library and Archives Bibliotheque et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington OttawaONK1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54608-6 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-54608-6 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lntemet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans le loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie privee, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada ABSTRACT The author analyzes history museums and heritage festivals as kinds of public discourse that figure aggregate social identities. The generic features of museum exhibition resemble those of life story. Exhibitions also employ some of the same narrative strategies for constructing a character to act as protagonist in their accounts. Taken together, museums in Canada narrate the life story of Canada as an aggregate social organism. Individuals can use this account as a set of discursive resources for narrating their own life story and relating it to their location in a meaningful geographic and social space. Heritage festivals make recourse to the past to characterize groups of people in the present. "Heritage" and the festival are used to position cultural differences within Canada in particular ways that allow people to reconcile ethnicity with unmarked Canadian identitiy. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT This research was made possible by funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. I would like to extend my heartfelt thanks to the museum professionals who generously gave their time and insight to this project. Thanks go to Andrea Laforet, Ph.D., David Morrison, Ph.D., Ban Seng Hoe, Ph.D., Mauro Pressini, Ph.D., and Nicolas Gauvin (Canadian Museum of Civilization); Victoria Dickenson, Ph.D. (McCord Museum of Canadian History); Catherine Brown (L'Autre Montreal); David LeDoyen (Sir George-Etienne Cartier National Historic Site of Canada); and Sister Patricia Simpson (Musee Maguerite Bourgeoys). Although I did not draw on your words extensively in this text, the knowledge and perspectives you imparted to me informed my analysis and shaped my thinking on the issues explored in this paper. Finally, were it not for the operation of the museums I visited and other like them, this research would not exist! The museums I visited were of the highest calibre. My comments herein are intended analytically, and not as criticisms of any of the fine exhibits I enjoyed during my research process. Thank you. TABLE OF CONTENTS Introduction 1 Methodology 11 Analytic Frames 17 Secular time 18 Life Story 22 Multiculturalism 27 Heritage 32 Authenticity 35 Museums 42 Heritage Festival 82 Conclusion 108 Bibliography •. 114 LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1 58 Figure 2 66 Figure 3 92 INTRODUCTION As a child, I loved museums for their ability to bridge historical, geographical, and ontological gaps, and make other realities immediate. In contrast to other mediums that structure such flights of fancy, such as novels, poetry, movies, or images, museums immerse the visitor visually and kinesthetically simultaneously - and sometimes engage visitors' tactile, aural, and olfactory senses as well. Auratic objects on display jostle one another for attention, orchestrating and illustrating textual and visual accounts of history that walk a fine line between presenting history as being deterministically fated or being constructed entirely of contingent and arbitrary decisions. With increasing frequency, atmospheric soundtracks, interpretive presentations that play on demand (or are triggered by visitors' motion), interactive displays, puzzles, and objects visitors can touch or smell support the historical accounts illustrated through artifacts. These accounts unfold as visitors stroll through the gallery making sense, typically very selectively, of the displays. Museums are institutions that, despite their disposition as institutions (and their sometimes explicitly scientific-realist agenda), activate the imaginative faculties of visitors. In fact, the institutionalization of historical imagination from wunderkammem, cabinets of curiosities, and princely collections to sophisticated research, education, and entertainment organizations testifies to l the cultural value and importance of the project of what I might term museumization, and speaks to the importance of projects of historical imagination in public as well as personal spaces. Institutions are intimately associated with a bureaucratic urge and the "dis-" side of Weber's social dynamic of enchantment. They are cultural forms that attempt to structure social interaction and the terms of contentious discussions along certain parameters. As corporate entities, museums are faced with a particularly challenging task: to institutionalize, that is to order, the exotic, the mythic, the unruly other, be it historical or cultural. In academic literature museums are variously characterized as sources of hegemonic statements about the world and the people in it (Harrison 1997), and places that order and reorder information about the world by manipulating frames of reference (Bolton 1997), where individuals negotiate the salient features and meaning of representations (Heath and Vom Lehn 2004). More optimistically, museums are also places that teach "mutual understanding between cultures and peoples . combating racial prejudice . expressing culture in all its different aspects" (Riviere 2001:37). And these characterizations among even further conceptions of museums. Barbara Kirshenblatt-Gimblett alone answers the question, "[w]hat is today's museum?" thirteen different ways: 2 A vault, in the tradition of the royal treasure room, the schatzkammer A cathedral of culture, where citizens enact civic rituals at shrines to art and civilization A school dedicated to the creation of an informed citizenry, which serves organized school groups as well as adults embarked on a course of lifelong learning A laboratory for creating new knowledge A cultural center for the keeping and transmission of patrimony A room for public debate, where controversial topics can be subjected to informed discussion A tribunal on the bombing of Hiroshima, Freud's theories, or Holocaust denial A theater, a memory palace, a stage for the enactment of other times and places, a space of transport and dreams A party where great achievements and historical moments can be celebrated An advocate for preservation, conservation, repatriation, sovereignty, tolerance A place to mourn An artifact to be displayed in its own right, along with its history, operations, 3 understandings, and practices An attraction in a tourist economy, complete with cafes, shops, films, performances, and exhibitions (1998:138-139) Given the formal structure of the list, which uses neither bullets, numbers, nor a conjunction before the final item, we can assume that the list remains open to the addition of new ways of thinking about the museum. The Canadian Museums Association's definition is clearer, but no less broad. Museums are institutions created in the public interest. They engage their visitors, foster deeper understanding and promote the enjoyment and sharing of authentic cultural and natural heritage. Museums acquire, preserve, research, interpret and exhibit the tangible and intangible evidence of society and nature. As educational institutions, museums provide a physical forum for critical inquiry and investigation. Museums are permanent, not-for-profit institutions whose exhibits are regularly open to the general public. This definition encompasses institutions that pursue similar objectives and accomplish most or some of a museum's functions (http://25538.vws.magma.ca/en/info_resources/reports_guidelines/museum_d efinition/index.php, accessed September 15, 2008)