240 research outputs found
Oral History and Performance in the Classroom
If asked to describe a history seminar at the senior undergraduate or graduate level, I donât think anyone in my discipline would
have imagined a dance studio with hardwood floors, mirrored walls, or floor-to-ceiling windows that cover an entire wall. Nor
would they have imagined a classroom where students and faculty communally set-up and take-down the tables and chairs
eachweek, sitting instead on foam mats in a big circle. I also doubt
they would have expected to see students engaged in song, dance, and improvisational exercises such as the âFantasy Machineâ
where one person enters our big circle and begins to do a repetitive movement.One by one, others join in until everyone is
a cog in this gloriously strange and silly machine. Yet this is precisely what a group of twenty-six history and theatre students
enrolled in Concordia Universityâs inaugural âoral history and performanceâ course did over an eight month period
Culture, Canada, and the Nation
The contributions to this special issue exemplify the cultural turn of the study of
nationalism. Although a concern with the narrative construction of national identity
runs through the articles in this volume, it is tempered by the authorsâ inclination to
explore the middle ground of social and cultural practices. By asking how Canadians
âinternalizedâ notions of national identity, how they incorporated them in their
everyday lives and material worlds, and how they constructed a sense of Canadian-
ness in inter-cultural encounters, the authors bring to the fore a Canadian
nationalism that revealed itself not in the grand national ideal, but in more tangible
practices, encounters, and stories.Les articles de ce numĂ©ro spĂ©cial tĂ©moignent du tournant culturel quâa suivi lâĂ©tude
du nationalisme. Le souci quâon semble sây faire pour la construction narrative de
lâidentitĂ© nationale y est tempĂ©rĂ© par la propension des auteurs Ă chercher Ă comprendre
le terrain mitoyen entre les pratiques sociales et culturelles. En se demandant
comment les Canadiens ont « intĂ©riorisĂ© » les notions dâidentitĂ© nationale,
comment ils les ont intégrées à leur quotidien et à leur monde matériel et comment
ils ont forgé leur canadianité au fil des rencontres interculturelles, les auteurs
révÚlent un nationalisme canadien qui prend non pas la forme du grand idéal
national, mais celui de pratiques, de rencontres et de récits plus tangibles
Rethinking the Concept of Community
Traditionally, historians have preferred to rely on âcommon senseâ approaches to
the meaning of community, but such definitions, emphasizing the ideas of a shared
place and a static, self-contained entity, are simply inadequate for historical research
and writing. Three elements are fundamental to understanding the historical
significance of community: community as imagined reality, community as social
interaction, and community as a process. An interdisciplinary approach to this
question takes into consideration the thinking of social scientists and humanists on
the importance of space and networks in social life. The historical study of community,
one that embraces both cultural and spatial perspectives, has much to benefit
from and much to contribute to this ever-growing and evolving body of work. As
they have done with such concepts as âthe familyâ and âthe nationâ, historians
must make âcommunityâ a problem to be studied, discussed, and debated.Traditionnellement, les historiens ont prĂ©fĂ©rĂ© dĂ©finir la notion de communautĂ© par
le « bon sens », mais de telles dĂ©finitions, qui soulignent lâidĂ©e dâun lieu partagĂ©
et dâune entitĂ© statique autonome, sont tout simplement inadĂ©quates pour la recherche
et lâĂ©criture historiques. Notre comprĂ©hension de lâimportance historique de la
communauté repose sur trois éléments fondamentaux : la communauté comme une
réalité imaginée, la communauté comme une interaction sociale et la communauté
comme un processus. Une approche interdisciplinaire de cette question tient compte
de la pensĂ©e des spĂ©cialistes des sciences sociales et humaines quant Ă lâimportance
de lâespace et des rĂ©seaux dans la vie sociale. LâĂ©tude historique de la communautĂ©,
qui englobe tant les perspectives culturelles que spatiales, a beaucoup Ă
gagner de ces travaux sans cesse grandissants et toujours en Ă©volution et beaucoup
Ă y apporter. Comme ils lâont fait pour des concepts tels que « la famille » et « la
nation », les historiens doivent faire de « la communauté » un problÚme à étudier,
à discuter et à débattre
âIâll Wrap the F*** Canadian Flag Around Meâ: A Nationalist Response to Plant Shutdowns, 1969-1984
During the economic slowdown of the 1970s and early 1980s, Ontario trade unionists literally wrapped themselves in the maple leaf flag in order to defy foreign-owned companies that wished to abandon workers with little or no compensation on plant closings. The workers' efforts were not in vain, as the flag's teflon-coating at least partially prevented economic displacement from sticking. Indeed, the Ontario workers' strong national identification with Canada proved to be effective in pushing reluctant politicians to regulate plant shutdowns, thereby mitigating some of the worst effects of job loss.Durant le ralentissement Ă©conomique des annĂ©es 1970 et du dĂ©but des annĂ©es 1980, les syndicalistes ontariens se sont littĂ©ralement drapĂ©s dans le drapeau canadien pour braver les entreprises Ă©trangĂšres qui voulaient abandonner les ouvriers sans aucune compensation ou presque lors des fermetures d'usines. Les efforts des travailleurs ne furent pas vains, puisque l'effet Teflon du drapeau a partiellement empĂȘchĂ© le dĂ©placement Ă©conomique de se rĂ©aliser. En effet, l'identification des travailleurs de l'Ontario au Canada a Ă©tĂ© suffisamment puissante pour inciter les politiciens hĂ©sitants Ă rĂ©glementer les fermetures d'usines, ce qui a permis d'attĂ©nuer certains des pires effets de la perte d'emploi
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