The Question Concerning Identification: A Tetradic Analysis of the Alberta Birth Certificate by Jan Lukas Buterman A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Education in ADULT EDUCATION Department of Educational Policy Studies University of Alberta © Jan Lukas Buterman, 2017 ii Abstract One little-noticed yet increasingly vital technology is the birth certificate.The existence of any technology transforms the environment, yet many technologies--just as the birth certificate--remain generally unnoticed or disregarded as neutral. Locating my research within a media ecology framework, I use McLuhan and McLuhan's Laws of Media to help us understand that instead of being neutral, technology is an active utterance of the human mind, transforming our entire environment. Following these Laws, I ask the fourfold question of what does the technology of the birth certificate enhance, obsolesce, retrieve and, when pushed to an extreme, reverse in to? To answer this question, I use the Tetrad of Media Effects to apply the Laws of Media to the technology of the birth certificate. In keeping with the complex nature of technologies and their environments, my research reveals that the technology of the birth certificate has a broad genealogy inclusive of documentation challenges for both transgender and cisgender individuals. Through exploring literature related these issues, as well as literature related to surveillance and documentation, records and archiving, and others, I begin to map some of this complexity to allow for closer examination. I uncover the history of birth registration and certification in Alberta, including an overview of the specifications and components used in this technology today, as well as the local, national, and international legal frameworks that comprise some of the literally-invisible aspects of this technology. Incorporating media reports also helps to flesh out the lived experiences of many different types of people and their interactions with birth certificates and related technologies. While my research was initially inspired by my experiences as a transgender person seeking to amend state-issued identification documents, my thesis uncovers the ongoing, universal effects of the technology of the birth certificate which applies to all. The birth certificate's active role in constructing modern citizenship means that identification technologies are a legitimate concern of adult education.Accordingly , iii my research demonstrates that identification technologies are an emerging site for adult education praxis. iv Dedication To anyone, anywhere, who has had or will have problems with identification documents. Spoiler alert: (This is most everyone, everywhere.) v Acknowledgements Any work, whether great or small, emerges into the world from the imaginations and labours of many. This work has benefitted enormously from countless conversations, interactions, and experiences with people spanning broadly across many different professions and pursuits, ages, cultures, and classes. I thank each and every one of these individuals for these many moments. I thank my supervisor Catherine Adams. It has been my privilege to have the opportunity to work with a media ecologist on a thesis situated within media ecology. Her thoughtful guidance and insightful questions led me to open doors in what appeared to be solid walls, to identify the unasked and thereby see the unanswered, and ensuring that I articulated clearly the less-visible ground so often elided by the bright figure. Thank you to Lynette Shultz for introducing me to a more nuanced understanding of citizenship both narrowly and broadly constructed. Thank you also for acting as my departmental liaison, exam chair, and examiner. Thank you also to Maryanne Doherty for acting as an examiner. I am grateful for your commitment to strong scholarship as was evidenced throughout my examination. Thank you to the Department of Educational Policy Studies for encouraging me to pursue paths less travelled. In particular, I would like to thank Donna Chovanec for her support and friendship. Always concerned with the work and welfare of others, our final conversation before she passed away was to inquire as to the state of this then-nascent thesis. She is greatly missed, though her voice still speaks in my memories. Thank you to André Grace for ensuring queer knowledges have a place in the academy. Learning to interrogate or trouble ‘normal’ through an academic lense has deepened my understanding of the world. His support of my academic pursuits has been invaluable. Thank you to my many student colleagues, whose own research journeys have proved personally fascinating as well as inspirational to my own. Studying together with people from so many diverse places, cultures, and languages is an incredible opportunity. I am deeply grateful to have found myself among you and look forward to the futures you create. Thank you to the librarians and archivists of the Provincial Archives of Alberta, the Legislature Library of Alberta, and the Alberta Genealogical Society for your timely assistance in adding flesh to the bones of our collective past. Thank you to my family and friends, whose steadfast support remains my foundation. That these words are few is due solely to the impossibility of adequately conveying my love for you all. And finally, last but certainly not least, thank you to Bill S. who, when I found myself with unexpected time on my hands, suggested that I should consider undertaking some type of graduate study. Without that conversation, this work would never have been. vi Table of Contents Abstract .............................................................................................................................ii Dedication ........................................................................................................................ iv Acknowledgements .......................................................................................................... v List of Figures ................................................................................................................viii Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Locating the Researcher ........................................................................................ 2 Research Objective ................................................................................................ 5 Research Question ................................................................................................. 6 Chapter 2: Literature Review ......................................................................................... 9 Introduction ............................................................................................................ 9 Literature Classification and Selections ............................................................... 12 Issues. ............................................................................................................. 12 Transgender Literature. ............................................................................ 12 Transgender Literature: United Kingdom. ........................................ 12 Transgender Literature: United States. ............................................. 14 Transgender Literature: Australia. .................................................... 16 Transgender Literature: Canada. ....................................................... 17 Legal Literature. ....................................................................................... 18 Documents ..................................................................................................... 19 Vital Statistics Literature. ......................................................................... 19 Public Health Literature. .......................................................................... 20 Surveillance and Documentation Literature. ........................................... 21 Interpretation .................................................................................................. 24 Media Ecology Literature. ....................................................................... 24 Records and Archiving Literature. ........................................................... 25 Relevant Non-Literature Sources. ............................................................ 25 Summary .............................................................................................................. 26 Chapter 3: Method ......................................................................................................... 27 Introduction to the Laws of Media ....................................................................... 27 Law 1: What does the medium enhance?....................................................... 35 Law 2: What does the medium obsolesce? .................................................... 37 Law 3: What does the medium retrieve? ....................................................... 38 Law 4: What does the medium reverse into when pushed to an extreme? .... 39 Summary .............................................................................................................. 40 Chapter 4: Research ..................................................................................................... 43 Introduction to the Alberta Birth Certificate .......................................................