LEARNING FROM THE 2010 VANCOUVER WINTER OLYMPIC GAMES ABOUT ABORIGINAL PEOPLES OF CANADA by Antonio Aragon Ruiz A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULLFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in The Faculty of Graduate Studies (Adult Education) THE UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA (Vancouver) December 2008 © Antonio Aragon Ruiz 2008 ABSTRACT This research examines the ways in which the Vancouver Olympics emblem, an Inuit inuksuk, and other Aboriginal symbols have been ‘adopted’ by the organizers of the 2010 Winter Olympics, how visual and textual Aboriginal representations have been incorporated into the public education mandate of the Games, and how this relates to the Aboriginal Participation Goals of the Vancouver Organizing Committee (VANOC). I use Freirian critical cultural pedagogy and Foucauldian theories along with a visual research method, semiotic analysis, as a way to examine the material presented on the official Vancouver 2010 Olympic website and related websites. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS Abstract ....................................................................................................................................................... ii Table of Contents ...................................................................................................................................... iii List of Tables................................................................................................................................................v List of Figures .............................................................................................................................................vi Acknowledgements................................................................................................................................... vii Dedication................................................................................................................................................. viii Chapter 1: Introduction.............................................................................................................................1 Statement of the Problem ........................................................................................................................1 Methodology and Theory .........................................................................................................................3 Research Questions...................................................................................................................................4 Research Methods.....................................................................................................................................5 Significance of the Study .........................................................................................................................6 Chapter 2: Literature Review ...................................................................................................................8 Background Literature..............................................................................................................................8 Politics of City Design ........................................................................................................................8 Lessons Learned from the Olympics................................................................................................11 Images and Education ......................................................................................................................13 Literature Relating to the Theoretical Framework ...............................................................................17 Freirian Critical Cultural Pedagogy and Theories of Informal/Incidental Learning.....................17 Foucauldian Theory of Power and Knowledge ...............................................................................21 Chapter 3: Methods ..................................................................................................................................28 Overall Approach....................................................................................................................................28 Role of the Researcher............................................................................................................................28 Types of Data to Be Collected ...............................................................................................................29 Methods of Recording, Retrieving, Storing Data .................................................................................29 Techniques for Validity and Reliability ................................................................................................30 Methodological literature .......................................................................................................................30 Data Analysis Procedures.......................................................................................................................32 Semiotic Analysis Literature..................................................................................................................32 The Site of Production .................................................................................................................38 The Site of Image .........................................................................................................................39 The Site of Audiencing ................................................................................................................39 Semiotic Analysis Procedures................................................................................................................40 Ethical Considerations............................................................................................................................44 Chapter 4: Semiotic Analysis Findings..................................................................................................46 Overall Approach....................................................................................................................................46 Aboriginal Participation Goals...............................................................................................................46 The Image Itself ......................................................................................................................................48 The VANOC Emblem.......................................................................................................................48 The Resist 2010 Poster......................................................................................................................55 The Production........................................................................................................................................57 Logos..................................................................................................................................................57 Posters ................................................................................................................................................63 Visual Elements.................................................................................................................................65 The Inuksuk ..................................................................................................................................65 The Thunderbird...........................................................................................................................71 The Olympic Rings ......................................................................................................................74 The Mohawk Head.......................................................................................................................77 The Text........................................................................................................................................81 iii The Producers and the production Process ......................................................................................90 The Audience ........................................................................................................................................100 Discussion about Semiotic Analysis....................................................................................................107 Chapter 5: Pedagogy and the Visual....................................................................................................115 Overall Approach..................................................................................................................................115 Pedagogy and Critical Pedagogy .........................................................................................................116 Public Pedagogy....................................................................................................................................117 Culture and Public Pedagogy..........................................................................................................118 Hegemony...................................................................................................................................121 Visual Culture, Power and Knowledge.....................................................................................122 Semiotics and Public Pedagogy......................................................................................................123