CANS 202: CANADIAN CULTURES: CONTEXTS and ISSUES Winter 2009 Time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2:35-3:25 Location: Arts 145

CANS 202: CANADIAN CULTURES: CONTEXTS AND ISSUES Winter 2009 Time: Monday, Wednesday, Friday, 2:35-3:25 Location: Arts 145

Instructor: Dr. Shelley Ruth Butler Office: McGill Institute for the Study of Canada (MISC), Rm. 203 Email: [email protected] Phone: 398-5413 Office hours: Mondays 10-11:00 am, or by appointment

Teaching Assistant: Paulina Mickiewicz Office: McGill Institute for the Study of Canada, Rm.203 Email: [email protected] Phone: 398-5413 Office hours: Wed. 3:30-4:30

Course Description:

This course examines culture in relation to historical and contemporary Canada. Along the way, we will encounter terms such as:

high culture, cultural nationalism, popular culture, mass culture;

cultural industries, cultural policy, cultural dependency;

dominant culture, multiculturalism, interculture, cultural racism;

cultural production, and the politics of representation.

Using these terms, we will consider culture in relation to the arts and media, as lived experience, and as a domain of government intervention. We will ground our discussions by focusing on concrete cultural productions – exhibitions, films, plays, poems, literature, TV, old and new media forms, and music – which reveal broader issues concerning culture in Canada. While our emphasis is on recent cultural productions (i.e. late 20th and early 21st century), we will contextualize our discussions historically and politically to better appreciate cultural and social change. We will also pay attention to the role of different genres and forms of media.

This course is interdisciplinary, drawing mostly on anthropology and cultural studies. Lectures will include discussions, and in tutorials, you will have the opportunity to participate in smaller group discussions and debates. The mid-term and assignments focus on your ability to synthesize material that we cover in lectures and readings. The research paper will give you the opportunity to explore in depth a cultural production or institution of your choice. You are also encouraged to contribute music selections that resonate with our topics. Tutorials (Conference hours): Tutorials begin the week of Monday Jan.26th. Tutorials will be held on Thursdays and Fridays at MISC (3463 Peel, Rm. 201). Tutorial times will be announced in class and you will sign up for one group through Minerva. One of the tutorial times will be Friday, 2:35-3:25. Therefore, once tutorials begin, the Friday class lecture will be dropped.

Required Texts: Contested Representations: Revisiting Into the Heart of Africa by Shelley Butler Power and Betrayal in the Canadian Media by David Taras & a reading package

The books are available at Paragraphe Bookstore, 2220 avenue McGill (just south of Sherbrooke). The reading package is available at McGill bookstore.

Assignments and Evaluation: Mid-term in class exam: 20% (M. Feb 16) Research paper proposal: 10% (M. Mar.2) Research paper: 30% (M. Mar. 23) Tutorial participation and attendance: 10% Final exam: 30% (during the exam period)

The mid-term exam is in-class and it will include short answers and one essay on issues related to lectures, readings, films, discussions and guest speakers.

The research paper proposal is 2 pages and in it, you will define your research topic and questions you want to explore, as well as attach a working, annotated bibliography. The working bibliography must contain at least two books and two academic articles. You will receive a handout with further details on this assignment.

The research paper is on a topic of your choice, but this must be approved by the Teaching Assistant or Professor. The length of the paper is 8-9 pages, not including your bibliography. You will receive a handout with further details on the paper and how it will be marked.

Your participation and attendance mark is assigned by the Teaching Assistant. This mark is based upon: a. Your attendance in tutorials; b. Your preparedness for tutorials; c. Your constructive contribution to tutorials and class.

The final exam will be based on material covered in the entire course, with an emphasis upon material covered after the mid-term exam. It will include short answers and two essays.

2 Course Outline:

M. Jan.5 Introduction: course outline

W. Jan.7 Meanings of culture

F. Jan.9 Collecting culture in a new country Read: Cole, Handler

M. Jan.12 Native presence and absence in museums and beyond Read: Phillips, Francis

W. Jan. 14 Disorientation View: Excerpt from Atanarjuat (The Fast Runner) Read: Tunglik

F. Jan. 16 Large group discussion Read: King

M. Jan.19 Contact zones View: Excerpt from How the Fiddle Flows Read: LaRoque

W. Jan. 21 Canada’s Hollywood View: Excerpt of “Has Anybody Here Seen Canada? A History of Canadian Movies, 1939-1953 Read: Madger

F. Jan.23 Hollywood’s Canada View: Excerpt of “Has Anybody Here Seen Canada? A History of Canadian Movies, 1939-1953 Read: Berton & begin reading Butler for next week

M. Jan.26 Race and Representation Read: Butler, chapters 1-3

W. Jan.28 Multicultural Challenges Read: Butler, chapters 4-end

F. Jan.30 Tutorials begin

M. Feb. 2 Culture Wars: political correctness Read: Salutin, Sullivan, Rau and Thompson, MacFarlane

W. Feb.4 Irony as a Canadian Trope Read: Hutcheon

3 F. Feb. 6 Tutorials

M. Feb. 9 Funny Canadians on TV Guest Lecture: Andrea Braithwaite Read: Druick

W. Feb. 11 Working class culture Read: Tremblay (French and English excerpts of Les Belles Soeurs) View: Backyard Theatre

F. Feb. 13 Tutorials (library workshop, to be confirmed)

M. Feb. 16 Mid-term exam (in class)

W. Feb. 18 Gay and lesbian cultural identities Read: Smith, Thompson, Pilon

F. Feb. 20 Tutorials

M. Feb. 22 Reading Break

W. Feb.24 Reading Break

F. Feb 27 Reading Break

M. Mar 2 High culture: The Massey Commission Read: Litt, Taras ch.1-2 Hand In: Proposals

W. Mar. 4 Media in crisis? Read: Taras ch.3-4

F. Mar. 6 Tutorials

M. Mar. 9 Media and political culture Read: Taras ch.5-7

W. Mar.11 Historical Consciousness View: excerpt, The Valour and the Horror Read: Sloniowski

F. Mar. 13 Tutorials

M. Mar. 16 The past and present in Quebec View: Le Confessionnal (with English subtitles) Read: Gittings

4 W. Mar. 18 The past and present in Quebec Finish: Le Confessionnal

F. Mar. 20 Tutorials

M. Mar.23 Place and identity Read: Moynagh, Klein, Simon Hand in: Research papers

W. Mar. 25 Popularizing History and Patriotism View: Heritage Minutes Read: Cameron, McGinnis

F. Mar. 27 Tutorials

M. Apr. 6 Mass Reading Read: Fuller and Sedo

W. Apr.8 Summing up and concluding questions Read: Kuffet

Th. Apr.9 Tutorials (review session)

T. Apr.14th Tutorials (review session)

Final exam is during the exam period, April 15-30th.

Course Policies:

1. Papers must be submitted in hard copy. Keep your own copy on file.

2. Late Penalties: Marks are deducted at a rate of 5% per day, including weekends, for late papers and assignments. Late papers and assignments will be accepted without penalty only when the student has medical or compassionate grounds for an extension. A dated, signed (not emailed) letter is required for this.

3. Any paper or assignment not handed directly to the instructor must be submitted to the MISC secretary for a time-stamp prior to placing it in the course mailbox. If there is no time-stamp, marks will be deducted from the date that the professor picks it up.

4. Supplementary reading may be assigned.

5. Minor changes to the schedule may occur in order to accommodate guest speakers.

Student Responsibilities:

McGill University values academic integrity. Therefore all students must understand the meaning and consequences of cheating, plagiarism and other academic offences under the code of student conduct and disciplinary procedures (see www.mcgill.ca/integrity for more information).

CANS 202 Reading Package Winter 2009

Cole, Douglas 1985 “Successful Collecting in Thin Country” in Captured Heritage: The Scramble for Northwest Coast Artifacts. Vancouver: UBC Press, 244-279.

Handler, Richard 1988 “In Search of the Folk Society: Folk Life, Folklore Studies and the Creation of Tradition” in Nationalism and the Politics of Quebec. Wisconsin: University of Wisconsin Press, 52-80.

Phillips, Ruth 2001 “Show times: De-celebrating the Canadian nation, de-colonising the Canadian Museum, 1967-1992” in National Museums, Negotiating Histories, eds. D. McIntyre and K.Wehner, Canberra: National Museum of Australia, 85-103.

Francis, Daniel 1997 “The Imaginary Indian: The Image of the Indian in Canadian Culture” in Canadian Culture: an introductory reader, ed E. Cameron, Toronto: Canadian Scholar’s Press, 189-294.

King, Thomas 1993 “Totem” in One good story, that one. Toronto: HarperCollins, 11-18.

Tunglik, Theresie 2001 “The Inuit” in A Passion for Identity: Canadian Studies of the 21st Century, eds. D. Taras and B. Rasporich, Scarborough: Nelson Thompson Learning, 429-431.

LaRoque, Emma 2001 “Native Identity and the Metis: Otehpayimsuak Peoples” in A Passion for Identity: Canadian Studies of the 21st Century, eds. D. Taras and B. Rasporich, Scarborough: Nelson Thompson Learning, 381-399.

Madger, Ted 1993 A “Featureless” Film Industry” in Canada’s Hollywood: The Canadian State and Hollywood Films. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 19-48 & 253-258.

6 Berton, Pierre 1997 “Hollywood’s Canada: The Americanization of our National Image” in Canadian Culture: an introductory reader, ed. E. Cameron, Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 37-56.

Salutin, Rick 2002 “Loose Canons” in Canadian Communications: Issues in Contemporary Media and Culture, eds. B. Szuchewycz and J. Sloniowski. Canada: Prentice Hall, 32-38.

Sullivan, PA 2002 “Academic free speech needs continual defense” in Canadian Communications: Issues in Contemporary Media and Culture, eds. B. Szuchewycz and J. Sloniowski. Canada: Prentice Hall, 38-49.

Krishna, Rau and Clive Thompson 2002 “Hate 101” in Canadian Communications: Issues in Contemporary Media and Culture, eds. B. Szuchewycz and J. Sloniowski, 39-46.

MacFarlane, David 2002 What shackles of political correctness? in Canadian Communications: Issues in Contemporary Media and Culture, eds. B. Szuchewycz and J. Sloniowski, 46-48.

Hutcheon, Linda 1991 “Glances Askance: Visual Ironies” in Splitting Images: Contemporary Canadian Ironies. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 113-136.

Druick, Zoe. 2008 “Laughing at Authority or Authorized Laughter? Canadian News Parodies." In Zoe Druick and Aspa Kotsopoulos, eds., Programming Reality: Perspectives on English-Canadian Television. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier UP. 107-128.

Tremblay, Michel & R. Killick, ed. 2000 Les Belles-Soeurs. London: Bristol Classical Press, 1-14 & 56-59.

Tremblay, Michel, trans. by J. Van Burek and B. Glassco 1992 Les Belles-Soeurs. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 5-27.

Smith, Miriam 2000 Political Activism, Litigation and Public Policy: The Charter Revolution and Lesbian and Gay Rights in Canada, 1985-99. International Journal of Canadian Studies.21 (Spring):81-110.

Thompson, Susan 2004 Speak Now or Forever Hold Your Peace? Why we need queer critiques of gay marriage. Canadian Dimension. January/ February: 17-18 & 46.

Pilon , Dennis 2004 The Freedom to Choose: Gay Marriage and its Radical Others.” Canadian Dimension. January/ February 19 & 46.

Litt, Paul 1992 “Liberal Humanist Nationalism” in The Muses, the Masses, and the Massey Commission. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 104-120.

Cameron, Elspeth 1995 “Heritage Minutes: Culture and Myth” in Canadian Studies at Home and Abroad, eds. J. de Finney et al., Montreal: Association for Canadian Studies, 13-24.

McGinnis, Janice Dickin 1995 “Heritage Minutes: Myth and History” in Canadian Studies at Home and Abroad, eds. J. de Finney et al.,Montreal: Association for Canadian Studies, 25-36.

Sloniowski, Jeannette 2002 “Popularizing History: The Valour and the Horror” in Slippery Pastimes: Reading the Popular in Canadian Culture, eds. J. Nicks and J. Sloniowski. Waterloo: Wilfred Laurier University Press, 159-174.

Gittings, Christopher 2002 “Le Confessionnal” in Canadian National Cinema: Ideology, difference and representation. Routledge: London and New York, 114-134.

Moynagh, Maureen 1996 “Mapping Africadia’s Imaginary Geography: An Interview with George Elliott Clarke. Ariel 27: 71-94.

Klein, A M. 1997 “Montreal” in Canadian Culture: an introductory reader, ed. E. Cameron, Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 273-275.

Simon, Sherry 2002 “Crossing Town: Montreal in Translation” Profession, MLA, 15-24.

Fuller, Danielle and DeNel Rehberg Sedo 2006 A Reading Spectacle for the Nation: The CBC and “Canada Reads.” Journal of Canadian Studies, 40 (1): 5-36.

Kuffet, Len 2003 “A commentary on some aspects of Canadian culture” in Profiles of Canada, Eds. K. Pryke & W. Soderland. Toronto: Canadian Scholars’ Press, 97-115.