Arts in the City: Visions of James Street North, 2005-2011
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PhD Thesis – V. E. Sage McMaster University – Dept. of Anthropology VISIONS OF JAMES STREET NORTH PhD Thesis – V. E. Sage McMaster University – Dept. of Anthropology Title Page ARTS IN THE CITY: VISIONS OF JAMES STREET NORTH, 2005-2011 By VANESSSA E. SAGE, B.A., M.A. A Thesis Submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy McMaster University © Copyright by Vanessa E. Sage, September 2013 PhD Thesis – V. E. Sage McMaster University – Dept. of Anthropology Descriptive Note McMaster University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY (2011) Hamilton, Ontario (Anthropology) TITLE: Arts in the City: Visions of James Street North, 2005-2011 AUTHOR: Vanessa E. Sage, B.A. (Waterloo University), B.A. (Cape Breton University), M.A. (Memorial University of Newfoundland) SUPERVISOR: Dr. Ellen Badone NUMBER OF PAGES: xii, 231 ii PhD Thesis – V. E. Sage McMaster University – Dept. of Anthropology Abstract I argue in this dissertation that aestheticizing urban landscapes represents an effort to create humane public environments in disenfranchised inner-city spaces, and turns these environments into culturally valued sites of pilgrimage. Specifically, I focus on James Street North, a neighbourhood undergoing artistic renewal in the post-industrial city of Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. Based on two years of ethnographic fieldwork in the arts scene on James Street North, my thesis claims that artistic activities serve as an ordinary, everyday material response to the perceived and real challenges of poverty, crime and decay in downtown Hamilton. Aesthetic elaboration is a generative and tangible expression by arts stakeholders of their intangible hopes, desires, and dreams for the city. People’s hope, desires and dreams, however, are not all the same. Debates about the space use on James Street North generally take the form of pro-city revitalization versus anti- gentrification. These responses, I argue, are ultimately tied to, and concerned with, larger questions about the authenticity of place. Further, the authenticity of place is tied to a nostalgic yearning for a past that is symbolically associated with ‘country’ ideals of a close-knit community and a place of respite and renewal away from the ‘city.’ The aestheticization of this particular urban landscape, that was repeatedly imagined, reinforced, and performed during my fieldwork, is an attempt to humanize and democratize the street and the city rather than dehumanize and colonize it. Further, the street itself, in becoming tied to the hopes and desires of people, has taken on an almost sacred quality. As such, James Street North, as a destination to which people journey, and as a place in which both personal and social transformation occurs, is likened to a site of secular pilgrimage. iii PhD Thesis – V. E. Sage McMaster University – Dept. of Anthropology Dedication To the girl who sat on a rock by a shore of the Atlantic Ocean in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia and believed in herself enough to dream. And to James Street North, another space for dreaming… iv PhD Thesis – V. E. Sage McMaster University – Dept. of Anthropology Acknowledgements I write these acknowledgements as extended dedications with a heart full of gratitude. This program was a crucible for me, and I was very fortunate throughout the process to have been inspired, lifted and supported by all of you. First, I acknowledge, all those who gave me their time to talk about their lives on, and connections to, James Street North. This work is yours. To Dr. Ellen Badone for your patience, consistency, and kindness. This project would not have been completed without your encouragement. I cannot tell you how much I have appreciated working with you on this project. To Dr. Nancy Buchier and Dr. Celia Rothenberg for your support and help as thoughtful committee members. To Christine White, my mother, for your love and advice throughout this entire process. You raised me to value creativity and recognized that the questions I was asking about the world were anthropological. To Caelen Salisbury White for sitting through many conversations about my dissertation when we could have been shopping for vintage clothes. Thank you for always just wanting the best for me. You are a kick-ass sister. To Todd Pettigrew for always seeing my Buddha nature. Thank you for reading and re- reading drafts, for simply talking through ideas with me, and for not letting me give up. “A finished dissertation is a good dissertation.” “To begin is half the work.” To Mandy Koolen. Our conversations about Hamilton, and your encouragement that I write about my own journey and sense of conflict within the city, helped shape the project. Thank you for seeing a writer of place in me. To Emily Porth. You witnessed a personal growth and saw beauty in my tears. You wrote to me once that our friendship is “a magical dance of spirit” and that we are two wanderers made family. Thank you. To Laura Reid. Your friendship during the final stages of the writing uplifted me. Thank you for sacred sage and eagle feathers. You reminded me that this work is connected to something much greater. v PhD Thesis – V. E. Sage McMaster University – Dept. of Anthropology Thank you to: the Otonabee River, Cape Breton, Cap Rouge, Pleasant Bay, the Atlantic Ocean, Blackett Street, The Tate Modern, Wearyall Hill, Glastonbury Tor, Hamilton and James Street North. These are places that have all challenged me and taught me invaluable lessons about how to see and be in the world. Thank you fellow graduate students in the Department of Anthropology at McMaster University. Thank you for all that I’ve learned from you, and, most importantly, for the fact that we’ve been through something together that is very special and that no one else will ever be able to share in quite the same way. I also acknowledge the support that the scholarships I received from McMaster University, the Department of Anthropology, and the Ontario government (Ontario Graduate Scholarship) helped me complete my graduate studies when I could not have done otherwise. Thank you to Stephanie Seagram, Jeremy Frieburger and The Cossart Exchange for creating such a great place to work and think. Thank you to Dave Kuruc for giving me the opportunity to write for H Magazine and for lending me books (and patiently awaiting their return), and to Ian Jarvis and Hamilton Artists’ Inc. for allowing me to volunteer. Thank you also to Chrissy Poitras and Kyle Topping at Spark Box Studios, where I spent a productive and relaxing month in Picton, Ontario writing a draft. ~ Finally, I thank Stacy Maskell, my partner. Your encouragement, enthusiasm and support have meant the world to me. There really are no words to express my gratitude. Thank you for cups of tea, healing journeys, and a shoulder to lean on during this process. vi PhD Thesis – V. E. Sage McMaster University – Dept. of Anthropology Table of Contents Title Page ............................................................................................................................. i Descriptive Note ................................................................................................................. ii Abstract .............................................................................................................................. iii Dedication .......................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................. v Table of Contents .............................................................................................................. vii List of Illustrations .............................................................................................................. x 1. Entrances ......................................................................................................................... 1 Preface ............................................................................................................................. 3 Introduction: Arts in the Gritty City ............................................................................... 7 Pilgrimage to Here ........................................................................................................ 10 “This is not a street (Ceci n’est pas une rue) ............................................................. 10 Pilgrimage to Here .................................................................................................... 13 Pilgrimage and Turner’s Influence on Pilgrimage Studies ....................................... 16 Pilgrimage on James Street North ............................................................................. 19 Ethnographic Standpoints: Methodology ...................................................................... 24 Community Involvement .......................................................................................... 25 Interviews and Ethics ................................................................................................ 26 Dialogic Reflexivity: Ethnography as a Process and a Product ................................ 30 Ordinary Generative Moments, Materiality and The City ............................................ 38 Affect and Sensual Objects ....................................................................................... 38 Material Culture and Materiality ..............................................................................