Annotated Bibliography

Blue, Gwendolyn. “Framing Climate Change for Public Deliberation: What Role for Interpretive Social Sciences and Humanities?” Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, vol. 18, no. 1, 2016, pp. 67-84.

Gwendolyn Blue is an Associate Professor in Geography with appointments in the Faculty of Science Natural Science interdisciplinary program. Before joining the Department of Geography in 2011, she was an Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication and Culture at the University of Calgary, and an instructor at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and Elon University. Formally trained in the field of Cultural Studies, she conducts research in three interconnected areas: 1) public controversies involving science and technology; 2) public engagement with science and technology; and 3) political, cultural and ethical dimensions of scientific and technological innovations. Her research draws on post-structuralist traditions in science and technology studies (STS) and political ecology, and has examined the politics surrounding BSE (Bovine Spongiform Encephalopathy), local food, climate change, wildlife management and more recently, genomic applications for environmental issues. She is currently a collaborator on a SSHRC funded project examining Alberta and British Columbia’s climate policies and a Genome Canada funded project exploring the social and policy dimensions of genomic applications for climate change adaptation in forestry (U of C)

Public deliberation is increasingly marshalled as a viable avenue for climate governance. Although climate change can be framed in multiple ways, it is widely assumed that the only relevant public meaning of climate change is that given by the natural sciences. Framing climate change as an inherently science-based public issue not only shields institutional power from scrutiny, but it can also foster an instrumental approach to public deliberation that can constrain imaginative engagement with present and future socio-environmental change. By fostering the normative value of pluralism as well as the substantive value of epistemic diversity, the interpretive social sciences and humanities can assist in opening up public deliberation on climate change such that alternative questions, neglected issues, marginalized perspectives and different possibilities can gain traction for policy purposes. Stakeholders of public deliberation are encouraged to reflect on the orchestration of the processes by which climate change is defined, solutions identified and political collectives convened (Blue Abstract).

Over the last four decades lay observers have learned something about global warming and climate change; some are reminded about high school chemistry c/w hydrogen bonds in water molecules and some are taking time to delve into the relevant organic chemistry. However, the majority of Canadians are now aware that challenges and solutions to the global warming crisis are not all chemical–– nor even scientific; the problem has political, economic and humanitarian facets as well. As Blue points out, “for normative and substantive reasons, the interpretive social sciences and humanities should play a more central role in framing climate change for public deliberation. These perspectives can assist in ‘opening up’ public discussions about climate change such that alternative questions, neglected issues, marginalized perspectives and different possibilities can gain traction for policy purposes” (Blue 67-8). These sentiments fit well with the 4hands proposal to intervene in Canadian Literature in support of lay Canadians seizing control of the issues and guiding government policy.

Works Cited

Blue, Gwendolyn. “Framing Climate Change for Public Deliberation: What Role for Interpretive Social Sciences and Humanities?” Journal of Environmental Policy & Planning, vol. 18, no. 1, 2016, pp. 67-84.

U of C. “Gwendolyn Blue” Department of Geography: People. University of Calgary. 2010:2021.
Accessed April 4, 2021 at: https://geog.ucalgary.ca/profiles/gwendolyn-blue

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Claxton, Nicholas X. Challenging Racist British Columbia: 150 Years and Counting. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2021. Accessed April 5, 2021 at: https://www.challengeracistbc.ca

This work argues that current-day Black Lives Matter activism and Indigenous land defenders are rooted in the history of racist policies, arguing the actions of the province’s past residents must be acknowledged in order to change. The Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives and a University of Victoria research project on Asian Canadians, have published a booklet they hope will “help pierce the silences that too often have let racism grow in our communities, corporations and governments.”  Challenging Racist British Columbia focuses on six areas of racist history: Indigenous dispossession, dispersion of Black communities, discriminatory voting laws, anti-Asian immigration laws that led to B.C. having a white majority and the attempted ethnic cleansing of Japanese Canadians. (Ducklow)

Nick’s teaching and research is centred on the revitalization and resurgence of Indigenous knowledges through community-based and land-based research and education. Nick’s doctoral research was focused on the revitalization of his First Nation’s community’s traditional fishing practice. Using a framework for Indigenous Resurgence, his doctoral research project focused on the revitalization and restoration of the SX̱OLE. His dissertation tells the story of how the “researcher” pulled together the disappearing knowledge of the SX̱OLE, reinvigorated cross border cooperation between the W̱SÁNEĆ and their Xwelemi relatives, and how after being named ȻWENÁLYEN, or the Reef Net Captain through ceremony was able to coordinate the community-based creation and fishing of the first SX̱OLE on Canadian waters in 100 years. This project was community based, and involved and reconnected many elders, youth, and community members. This project marked the beginning of a longer-term journey of resurgence and intergenerational resilience (UVic).

Winston Churchill admonished us to “never waste a good crisis” (Nair) and in that light a statement from the opening page of Challenging Racist British Columbia: 150 Years and Counting is very suggestive: “The COVID-19 pandemic and the smoke-filled skies of a climate emergency reflect a deepening crisis out of which has arisen an anti-racist uprising that is both local and global.” Currently, COVID-19 is bringing Canadians together in the short term and this experience is likely to leave long-lasting understandings between formerly disparate competitors. In the long term, with encouragement from CanLit, the climate emergency can continue that ongoing mustering of Canadian strangers (dare we say global?).

Works Cited

Claxton, Nicholas X. Challenging Racist British Columbia: 150 Years and Counting. Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives, 2021. Accessed April 5, 2021 at: https://www.challengeracistbc.ca

Ducklow, Zoë, and Local Journalism Initiative Reporter. “New Resource Dives into 150 Years of Racist Policy in B.C.” The Canadian Press, 2021.

Nair, Praseeda. “As Said by Winston Churchill, Never Waste a Good Crisis” Real Business: Opinion, August 25, 2020. Prosper Media; UK, 2021. Accessed April 5, 2021 at: https://realbusiness.co.uk/as-said-by-winston-churchill-never-waste-a-good-crisis/

UVic. “Nicholas XEMŦOLTW̱ Claxton” University of Victoria: Faculty. 2020. Accessed April 5, 2021 at: https://www.uvic.ca/hsd/cyc/people/home/faculty/profiles/claxton-nicholas-xemŧoltw̱.php

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LaMothe, R. “The Colonizing Realities of Neoliberal Capitalism” Pastoral Psychology, 65, 23–40. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-015-0660-6

Ryan LaMothe, PhD, is professor of pastoral care and counselling at Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology, Indiana. Over the last 24 years, he has published over 160 articles and book reviews, as well as six books and two edited volumes. These publications address topics in psychoanalysis, psychology of religion, pastoral counselling, pastoral theology, and most recently, pastoral political theology. In 2017, he received Springer Publishing Award, titled “Transforming the World One Article at a Time.” He has served on three editorial boards of peer-reviewed journals, and has served as president of the Society for Pastoral Theology (Saint Meinrad).

This article addresses the proliferation of neoliberal capitalism in the United States  as a dominant social imaginary that has colonized the psyches of many U.S. citizens. The notion of “colonization” is used as a heuristic device in combination with a pastoral interpretive lens to depict and understand the psychosocial dynamics resulting from the hegemonic realities of neoliberal capitalism (Pastoral, as an interpretive lens, refers to the theological notions of care, conscience, and community as frameworks for understanding specific human struggles and other factors that contribute to human suffering. Pastoral analysis that aims toward care of the polis, then, is a necessary religious response to a struggling and suffering body politic). More particularly, it is argued that neoliberal capitalism, as the dominant social imaginary, undermines and corrupts Christian (and humanist) myths, narratives, and rituals that maintain and enrich social and communal life, shared relational faith, and interpersonal care; establishes a superior-inferior value system, rooted in the commodification of everyday life, that introduces an ontological falsehood in individuals’ psyches and relationships; leads to a corresponding internalization of foreignness; and narrows the public and political space of appearances  (LaMothe Abstract).

Questioning of the costs and benefits of neoliberal economics in terms of secular concepts of independent versus interdependent modes of living is, even if academically mainstream, only one of many perspectives. It is revealing that a quite different take on the subject arrives with conclusions that support the need for questioning neoliberalism, one such view being pastoral psychology; “Pastoral psychology is the application of modern psychology to the ancient ministry of the pastoral care exercised within the various Christian Churches. Today this care draws on insights and techniques from three primary sources: contemporary understandings of human personality and interpersonal relationships from the human sciences (especially psychology); therapeutic methods from one or more of the current counselling and psychotherapeutic approaches; and biblical, theological, and historical resources from the Judeo-Christian heritage” (Marteau).

In this article LaMothe considers the “proliferation of neoliberal capitalism in the United States as a dominant social imaginary that has colonized the psyches of many U.S. citizens […] the notion of ‘colonization’ as a heuristic device in combination with a pastoral interpretive lens to depict and understand the psychosocial dynamics resulting from the hegemonic realities of neoliberal capitalism—psychosocial dynamics that parallel European and U.S. colonization of other peoples in the 19th and 20th centuries” (24). He follows the birth of neoliberal thought from its 1947 inception in Europe by Friedrich von Hayek through its defence by various US administrations with the rise in America of conservative, neoliberal think tanks, the proliferation of lobbyists, and the concomitant expanded use of political and legal systems, as well as media corporations, to advance neoliberal mythology. LaMothe observes that “Neoliberal capitalism as a dominant social imaginary is free of any ontological demands of caring for people, except to the extent that care can be commodified and profitable” in contrast to pastoral views of caring. 

LaMothe’s most useful insight may be his description of inverted totalitarianism, where, instead of a dictator’s politics dominating economic life, the economic system dominates politics—and with that domination comes different forms of ruthlessness. “As in any totalitarian system, there is a corruption of freedom and the space of appearances takes different forms. Inverted totalitarianism corrupts, trivializes, and reduces the idea and exercise of freedom by reframing freedom in terms of the individual’s commercial choices.” LaMothe demonstrates that we, (that is, all citizens of the West, everywhere), are all colonized and we are all in this mess together, each suffering according to our individual poverty––by decolonizing ourselves from the neoliberal imaginary, we decolonize each other.

Works Cited

LaMothe, R. “The Colonizing Realities of Neoliberal Capitalism” Pastoral Psychology, 65, 23–40. 2015. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11089-015-0660-6

Marteau, Louis. “Pastoral Psychology” The British Journal of Psychiatry Vol 152; 1. Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018. Accessed April 3, 2021 at: https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/the-british-journal-of-psychiatry/article/abs/pastoral-psychology/8F731D381F60F00BABBC46FA6F9D2A9F

Saint Meinrad. “Dr. Ryan LaMothe” Faculty. Saint Meinrad Seminary and School of Theology. 2021. Accessed April 4, 2021at: https://www.saintmeinrad.edu/faculty/?profile=7137

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MacDonald, David B. “Reforming Multiculturalism in a Bi-National Society: Aboriginal Peoples and the Search for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Sociology, vol. 39, no. 1, 2014, pp. 65-86.

Dr. David B. MacDonald is a full professor in the Political Science Department at the University of Guelph and a Research Leadership Chair for the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences. His work focuses on Indigenous Politics in Canada, New Zealand, and the United States. He has also worked extensively in International Relations, American foreign policy, Holocaust and genocide studies, and critical race theory (About David).

In this article, MacDonald looks at how some Indigenous theorists and political leaders have opposed Canadian multiculturalism. This is partly because there are ongoing economic, political, and social inequalities between Indigenous and settler populations. What his paper suggests is a “binational” perspective that closely focuses on the need for partnership between Indigenous communities and what he refers to Shognosh peoples (Canada’s European settler populations, primarily those of British origin) (67). MacDonald highlights this misconception that groups Indigenous communities with other migrant communities and places blame on Indigenous communities for failing to assimilate to state laws (80). He further highlights how multiculturalism is dangerous and often produces single-sided narratives of a glorious Canada (82).

This paper is pertinent when discussing how multiculturalism is positive and deeply problematic when it comes to conversations regarding assimilation because multiculturalism is anchored in deep structures of colonial discourse (80). The neoliberal ideology to expand multiculturalism at once seems like a marvellous idea until the expansion of multiculturalism becomes synonymous with the propagation of single-sided narratives. Multiculturalism is not the villain, but rather, as one writer puts it, should not make one lose sight of its discontents (.

Work cited

“About David”. Dr. David Macdonald, Professor, https://www.davidbmacdonald.com/about-david/.

MacDonald, David B. “Reforming Multiculturalism in a Bi-National Society: Aboriginal Peoples and the Search for Truth and Reconciliation in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Sociology, vol. 39, no. 1, 2014, pp. 65-86.

Srikanth, H. “Multiculturalism and the Aboriginal Peoples in Canada.” Economic and Political Weekly, vol. 47, no. 23, 2012, pp. 17-21.

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MacDonald, Fiona. “Indigenous Peoples and Neoliberal “Privatization” in Canada: Opportunities, Cautions and Constraints.” Canadian Journal of Political Science, vol. 44, no. 2, 2011, pp. 257-273.

Dr. Fiona MacDonald (Ph.D. UBC) is an Associate Professor specializing in Political Theory at the University of the Fraser Valley. She has previously worked as an assistant professor in Canadian politics at the University of Manitoba. Much of her work looks at policies and laws regarding female and Indigenous communities. Her article “Indigenous Peoples and Neoliberal ‘Privatization’ in Canada: Opportunities, Cautions and Constraints” won the 2012 John McMenemy Prize for the best article published in volume 44 of the Canadian Journal of Political Science. (UFV)

In this article, MacDonald looks at the impact of the neoliberal political context on Indigenous governance in Canada. She challenges that the widespread belief that neoliberalism and Indigenous self-determination overlap. She points to how specific manifestations of Indigenous self-government are vulnerable to criticism launched against privatization practices (MacDonald, 259). Throughout the article, MacDonald is careful to highlight the nuances of neoliberalism and self-governance. “[W]e must recognize that neoliberalism comprises different streams within which alternative kinds of self-governance may fit comfortably” (MacDonald, 261). One of the most central ideas of neoliberal ideology is autonomy, which, as she points out, is also found in various forms in the literature of Indigenous governance (MacDonald, 262). MacDonald points out that self-reliance in Indigenous communities often comes with the caveat of the state laws and policies– there is no genuine autonomy. Without autonomy, Indigenous communities cannot resolve their problems independently; their solutions must be filtered through central institutions. 

In terms of our project, this brings up an interesting question regarding the involvement of Indigenous communities in conversations regarding climate change. When it comes to renewable energy, will Indigenous communities be the first to be displaced to make way for new bioenergetic power plants? If new laws are set in place regarding fishing and hunting, how will this affect Indigenous communities? These were a few of the questions I raised while reading this article. 

Work Cited

MacDonald, Fiona. “Indigenous Peoples and Neoliberal “Privatization” in Canada: Opportunities, Cautions and Constraints.” Canadian Journal of Political Science, vol. 44, no. 2, 2011, pp. 257-273.

UFV. “Fiona MacDonald” Department of Political Science: Faculty and staff. University of Fraser Valley. 2021. Accessed April 6, 2021 at: https://www.ufv.ca/politicalscience/faculty-and-staff/macdonald-fiona.htm

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Mady, Callie. “Official language bilingualism to the exclusion of multilingualism: immigrant student perspectives on French as a second official language in ‘English-dominant’ Canada” Language and Intercultural Communication, 12:1, 74-89, 2012
DOI: 10.1080/14708477.2011.592193

Callie Mady is an associate professor at Nipissing University located in North Bay, Ontario. In her study on the restrictions and inaccessibility induced by the “official language duality,” Mady speaks upon the effect this has on the immigrant population, and those who are ESL (English as Second Language) and/or FSOL (French as a Second Official Language.) She explains that “multilingualism remains … at the policy level, whereas the preferred pursuit of official language duality is reflected at the practical level of education” (Mady, 2012.)

Her arguments go hand in hand with the discussion of CanLit and its current state. The translation of CanLit into a multitude of languages would open doors to many who were previously not granted access to such literature. 21.9% of the Canadian population in 2016 were  “foreign born immigrants”, over 7.5 million people (Statistics Canada, 2016.) 

Mady provides insight on a very important topic in Canada, while contributing some of her own potential solutions. Young immigrants are faced with a difficult task of learning two difficult languages.  A final point brought up in her essay is: “rather than having language education in Canada reflect the official discourse, I suggest using education as a means to influence the discourse and practice thereof to be more inclusive of all languages” (Mady, 2012).

Works Cited

Callie Mady (2012) Official language bilingualism to the exclusion of multilingualism: immigrant student perspectives on French as a second official language in ‘English-dominant’ Canada, Language and Intercultural Communication, 12:1, 74-89, DOI: 10.1080/14708477.2011.592193

Statistics Canada. (2018, July 23). Linguistic characteristics of canadians. Retrieved from https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2011/as-sa/98-314-x/98-314-x2011001-eng.cfm

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Malisch, Sherrie. “In Praise of the Garrison Mentality: Why Fear and Retreat May Be Useful Responses in an Era of Climate Change” in Studies in Canadian Literature, vol. 39, no. 1, June 2014, Accessed March, 2021 at: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/22761. 

Sherrie Malisch’s provocative essay, “In Praise of the Garrison Mentality,” revisits one of the foundational settler texts of Canadian literature, Northrop Frye’s “Conclusion” to the Literary History of Canada. Malisch offers a controversial re-reading of Northrop Frye’s infamous “garrison mentality” thesis from the perspective of contemporary eco-criticism, particularly in view of the global crisis of climate change. According to Malisch, the essential ecological logic of Frye’s account is that human isolation from nature impedes humanity’s “fullest functioning as a species.” Through incisive argument, Malisch contends that the logic of Frye’s garrison thesis has been implicitly shared by critics who purport to oppose Frye’s approach; at base, she argues, both Frye and his critics assume that human-nature interconnection fosters human potential and creativity. Drawing on a number of prominent environmental biologists and ecocritics, Malisch demonstrates that the garrison mentality, in which humans maintain a respectful distance from nature, may be the most ecologically sound response. […] Malisch leaves us with a provocative question: “What if the most crucial role for literature . . . is not to fuel and thrive on the individual quest for creative fulfillment and self-understanding, but to harness itself to the task of bringing human aspirations, collectively, within limits?” (Banting 16).

Sherrie Malisch has a Master’s degree in Comparative Canadian Literature from Université de Sherbrooke where she also obtained her Bachelor’s degree in English and Intercultural Studies. Malisch’s questioning of the accepted dogma that assumes contact with nature is an important and healthy benefit for humans is shockingly effective but will nevertheless encounter much pushback from climate-change deniers. This is a very difficult dialogue that Malisch pursues, as Greta Thunberg has already  demonstrated.

Efforts to reduce or even just limit the known causes of global warming have, up to the present, been seriously ineffective and, “[i]t is recognized, internationally and in Canada, that Indigenous peoples are more vulnerable to the impacts of climate change than other peoples due to distinct connections to the natural world” (McGregor 139). Given Canada’s geography in a time of likely equatorial climate catastrophe Canadians should be prepared for increasing numbers of refugees searching for a new homeland. To contain such a growing population with minimal environmental damage Canada must find ways to increase population densities away from the wild; that is, in environmentally sound cities, which represents a 180 degree reversal in CanLit’s embrace of exemplar wilderness lifestyles. Already Canadians’ suburban and rural living arrangements weigh heavily on the environment and literature can become an important part of reducing risks.

Works Cited

Banting, Pamela. “Colony Collapse Disorder: Settler Dreams, the Climate Crisis, and Canadian

Literary Ecologies.” Studies in Canadian Literature, vol. 39, no. 1, 2014;2019, pp. 5-20

JPL. “The Effects of Climate Change” in  Global Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet. Jet Propulsion Labratory. California Institute of Technology. Holly Shaftel ed. NASA: 2021. Accessed March 29, 2021 at: https://climate.nasa.gov/effects/

Malisch, Sherrie. “In Praise of the Garrison Mentality: Why Fear and Retreat May Be Useful Responses in an Era of Climate Change”. Studies in Canadian Literature, vol. 39, no. 1, June 2014, Accessed March, 2021 at: https://journals.lib.unb.ca/index.php/SCL/article/view/22761.

McGregor, Deborah. “Reconciliation, Colonization, and Climate Futures.” In Policy transformation in Canada: is the past prologue? Carolyn Tuohy, et al. eds. University of Toronto Press, 2019, pp. 139-47

Rabson, Mia. “Greta Thunberg Pushes Canada, Norway on Climate Before UN Security Council Vote” CBC News: Politics, June 10, 2020 The Canadian Broadcasting Company: Toronto; 2020. Accessed March 29, 2021 at: https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/greta-thunberg-canada-un-1.5605830

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Maynard, Ashley E, and Nandita Chaudhary. “Human Development at the Intersection of Culture and Globalization: Towards a More Inclusive Future.” Human Development, vol. 64, no. 4-6, 2021, pp. 250-257.

Ashley E. Maynard, Ph.D.
Dr. Maynard’s research program is concerned with the interrelationships of culture, contexts of development, and the healthy cognitive and social development of children. Based in the sociocultural paradigm, the overarching developmental and theoretical question that lies at the heart of her research program is the ways in which a variety of culturally-based activity settings influence a variety of pathways of development for children. She is interested in cultural settings at nested levels of development: from cultural values and economics in the macrosystem down to children’s microsystem interactions.

Nandita Chaudhary, Ph.D
Dr. Chaudhary is the author of ‘Listening to Culture: Constructing reality from everyday talk’ (2004, Sage), and has co-edited five volumes: ‘Resistance in Everyday life: Constructing cultural experiences’ (2017, Springer), ‘Cultural psychology and its future: Complementarity in a new key’ (2014, Information Age), ‘Cultural realities of being: Abstract ideas within everyday lives’ (2013, Routledge), ‘Dynamic process methodology in the social and developmental sciences’ (2009, Springer), and ‘Researching families and children: Culturally appropriate methods’ (2008, Sage). She has authored several chapters in books and journals. She is an Associate Editor for the journal Culture & Psychology and is on the editorial board of three other journals.

There is a long history of studies of human development in different cultural groups, but studies of development that explicitly take globalization into account are more recent. Cultural practices change, but cultures have often been con- sidered static. Studying developmental change in changing societies in dynamic global settings presents challenges for researchers. It also presents opportunities to clarify content and processes in research. For such a clarification, it is compulsory to understand how local and global phenomena have been framed in the discourse of human development, and the potential outcomes of this positioning on people’s lives.This article lays out five key practices to guide researchers who wish to study culture and development in a globalizing world: engaging diverse groups of people within and across societies, acknowledging multiple pathways of development, attention to the cultural context, using mixed methods, and designing sustainable and relevant interventions (Maynard and Chaudhary Abstract)

“Globalization, including rapid movement of people, information, and resources, has been
accelerating because of increases in the speed and availability of telecommunications, media, distribution of goods, and forms of transportation,” and this accelerating change will autonomously control cultural development, including colonization and decolonization, unless proactive efforts are made to guide developments.

While this article is aimed at scientists, the five key practices outlined for understanding how globalization affects the cultural process of development will have resonance with writers in all fields; the authors observe that “it is more than evident that we cannot persist with looking at life on earth through the narrow lens of Western progress from which globalization in its present form has emerged. Rather than treating globalization as masked colonization of Western ideas and ideals, a genuinely collaborative and democratic vision of globalization [is needed].” Writers must avoid merely reproducing the status quo and instead use the questions that globalization presents to help us reimagine social conditions, world environments, and political factors (250-2).

Works Cited

Chaudhary. “Nandita Chaudhary, Ph.D.” Masala Chai!!–My Blog: About Me. 3pixels Solutions; 2021. Accessed April 7, 2021 at: http://www.nanditachaudhary.in/index.html

Maynard. “Ashley E. Maynard, Ph.D.” CULTURE AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT LAB.
Maynard Lab. Honolulu: 2017. Accessed April 7, 2021 at: http://www.ashleymaynard.com

Maynard, Ashley E, and Nandita Chaudhary. “Human Development at the Intersection of Culture and Globalization: Towards a More Inclusive Future.” Human Development, vol. 64, no. 4-6, 2021, pp. 250-257.

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McCormack, Brendan. “Undisciplining CanLit.” Canadian Literature, No. 220, 2014, pp. 131-
134, 204. ProQuest, 2014.

In Undisciplining CanLit,  Brendan McCormack provides an in-depth breakdown of some crucial implementations and “ways to take action” on regards to the future of Canadian Literature. McCormack delves into many different topics and viewpoints on the subject, while providing insights of his own. He touches on things ranging from arguments stating that there should be a wider circulation of reviews, to a wider translation of the literature, to the politics of CanLit. He describes it as “a meta-critical mirror reflecting the present state of heightened “disciplinary consciousness” (McCormack, 2014.)

One of the more straightforward, yet glaring suggestions is to increase the of translation outside of the two official languages of Canada. Statistics Canada states that almost 7 million Canadians do not speak either English or French, or official languages, when they’re at home. With CanLit broadening the languages it is published in, the accessibility and reach would grow exponentially. Another key point brought up is in regards to the funding of these reviews and projects. He explains that projects funded by the CRC and SSHRC are made up of pre-approved interview questions and must comply to the “ethical standards of research on human subjects” (McCormack, 2014).

Works Cited

McCormack, Brendan. “Undisciplining CanLit.” Canadian Literature, no. 220, 2014, pp. 131-134,204. ProQuest, https://ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/login?url=https://www-proquest-com.ezproxy.library.ubc.ca/scholarly-journals/undisciplining-canlit/docview/1638915671/se-2?accountid=14656.

Government of Canada. (2021, January 12). Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council. Retrieved from https://www.sshrc-crsh.gc.ca/home-accueil-eng.aspx

Statistics Canada. 2017. Focus on Geography Series, 2016 Census. Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 98-404-X2016001. Ottawa, Ontario. Data products, 2016 Census.

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Mullen, Carol A. “What Does Canadian Indigenous Literature Impart About Colonization and the Future?” The Educational Forum, vol. 85, no. 2, 2020, pp. 143–160., doi:10.1080/00131725.2020.1784337.

Carol A. Mullen, Ph.D., is a professor and chair of educational leadership and cultural foundations at the University of North Carolina, Greensboro and focuses this essay on using Canadian Indigenous Literature to analyze different perspectives of how our education system can become decolonized for Indigenous peoples in Canada. Her main argument states that pedagogy and the learning materials used (literature) is a crucial ingredient to raise awareness around the processes of colonialism and what Canada can do to become a decolonized nation within the post-colonial era.

She also touches on how Indigenous referral language is used in literature by arguing that terms like “Indigenous” and “Aboriginal” may become misleading through an educational perspective because the term denotes the 600 Indigenous bands residing across Canada. Her sole argument for this section is that the educational system across Canada needs to recognize the diversity of these different Indigenous groups by using the specific identifying language for specific Indigenous cultures like First Nations, Métis, and Inuit.

In conclusion, she found that the promotion of indigenous value, knowledge, and practices through the educational system would lead to a greater consciousness among learners for Indigenous reconciliation, leading to the breakdown of colonial structures and reformation. An example relating to ecojustice is by raising more awareness around environmental injustices like industrial expansion onto Indigenous territory, which has led to toxic chemicals entering their environment, which causes health crises among these communities later.

Works Cited

“Aboriginal Peoples in Canada: First Nations People, Métis and Inuit.” Statistics Canada: Canada’s National Statistical Agency / Statistique Canada : Organisme Statistique National Du Canada, 25 July 2018, www12.statcan.gc.ca/nhs-enm/2011/as-sa/99-011-x/99-011-x2011001-eng.cfm.

Mullen, Carol A. “What Does Canadian Indigenous Literature Impart About Colonization and the Future?” The Educational Forum, vol. 85, no. 2, 2020, pp. 143–160., doi:10.1080/00131725.2020.1784337.

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Wiltse, Lynne, et al. “Pushing Comfort Zones: Promoting Social Justice Through the Teaching of Aboriginal Canadian Literature.” Changing English, vol. 21, no. 3, 2014, pp. 264–277., doi:10.1080/1358684x.2014.929287.

This article was written by Wiltse, Johnson, and Yang, focusing on the idea that teachers in Canada take a different approach to the literature they use in their classrooms to focus more on social justice issues. The article explores this topic by conducting a group study with teachers in which they bring non-circular related literature into their classrooms written by authors with different cultural backgrounds. The article then focuses on two case studies they observed from the teaching group they studied. Both shared their experiences when they taught these non-traditional educational works of literature.

One of the parallel connections that came out of both case studies was that both teachers describe that their initial experience was unsettling because they were teaching literature they have never taught before. However, both teachers describe that they were content teaching these novels because the literature was a form of protest to common Indigenous stereotypes. These stories allowed students to learn new perspectives from Indigenous authors.

Based on their findings, the authors conclude that majority of teachers could not incorporate indigenous literature into their classrooms mainly due to the assignments of their job and curriculum constraints. However, they provide evidence through grade 12 diploma exam results that students still produced strong results in those tests through learning non-curriculum Indigenous literature. Based on their results, they suggest that teachers have the capacity to teach broader literature culturally; this would improve the Canadian education system because these novels address cross-cultural themes that give students new perspectives.

Works Cited

“Charting Progress on Indigenous Content in School Curricula | CBC News.” CBCnews, CBC/Radio Canada, 2 Oct. 2019, www.cbc.ca/news/indigenous/indigenous-content-school-curriculums-trc-1.5300580.

Wiltse, Lynne, et al. “Pushing Comfort Zones: Promoting Social Justice Through the Teaching of Aboriginal Canadian Literature.” Changing English, vol. 21, no. 3, 2014, pp. 264–277., doi:10.1080/1358684x.2014.929287.

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Wyile, Herb. “Canadian Literature in the Neoliberal Era” in The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature 2016, Cynthia Sugars ed. vol. 1, Oxford University Press, 2016.

Herb Wyile […] had a lifelong fascination with colonialism and its impact on regions, cultures, and peoples. A […] scholar of Canadian Literature, he was a professor of English at Acadia University […]. His work focused primarily on questions raised by literature’s relationship with regionalism, history, and neoliberal economics (UNB).

In “Canadian Literature in the Neoliberal Era” Wyile describes how neoliberal thinking has substantially changed the landscape in which Canadian literature is written, published, and promoted, showing how this ideology threads through celebratory narratives of globalization in various ways. He then examines the emerging en­gagement with neoliberal globalization. This article also considers the implications of the influence of ne­oliberalism on the broader infrastructure in which Canadian literature is produced.

Wyile makes clear many of the effects and consequences of the reshaping of Canadian literature from exposure to the neoliberal ideology of market forces without necessarily drawing conclusions about the value of this reshaping or making recommendations for action.

Always, profit threatens the commons, whether it is clean air and water, the fauna, flora or, now, even national literature. This danger to the commons preceded neoliberalism, or even the Industrial Revolution, but neoliberalism, as Wyile makes clear, sharpened the threat and extended it to literature or anything else that can be commodified for profit; “… a key ethos of neoliberalism is to disrupt forms of social collectivity not based on finance” (Derksen 13). The commons require defence, as always, and this fact must be shown to Canadians so that writers in Canada will be free to create the local literatures that Canadians need.

Works Cited

Derksen, J. “National Literatures in the Shadow of Neoliberalism” in Shifting the Ground of
Canadian Literary Studies, Smaro Kamboureli and and Robert Zacharias eds. smarokamboureli.ca: Toronto, 2007;2013. http://smarokamboureli.ca/transcanada-institute-archive/publications/transcanada-series/shifting-the-ground-of-canadian-literary-studies/ Accessed March 28, 2021 at: http://smarokamboureli.ca/wp-content/uploads/2014/01/derksen.pdf

Mair, Simon. “Neoliberal economics, planetary health, and the COVID-19 pandemic: a Marxist
ecofeminist analysis” The Lancet Personal View| Vol. 4, Issue 12, E588-E596, December 01, 2020. DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/S2542-5196(20)30252-7 Accessed March 26, 2021 at: https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(20)30252-7/fulltext

UNB. “Herb Wyile: In Memoriam” University of New Brunswick: Fredericton;  2016. Accessed
March 24, 2021 at: https://www.unb.ca/giving/ways/memorials/herbwyile.html

Wyile, Herb. “Canadian Literature in the Neoliberal Era” in The Oxford Handbook of Canadian Literature 2016, Cynthia Sugars ed. vol. 1, Oxford University Press, 2016.

Zia, Farah. “If Literature is a Commodity” The News on Sunday Special Report January 7,
2018. The News International, 2010;2021. Accessed March 26, 2021 at: https://www.thenews.com.pk/tns/detail/564707-literature-commodity

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