Welcome to my blog, where I will be writing weekly posts about the readings and discussions for the class ENGL 470. My name is Cam, and I am a 5th Year Biology student at UBC. This is my first 4th year English class and my first ever blog, so I’m excited to see how many mistakes I make. Thanks for bearing with me.
ENGL 470 is an English literature course focusing on Canadian Literary Genres, with an emphasis on stories and the various uses for which they have been employed throughout Canada’s history. From exploration to assimilation, colonialism to confederation, stories have been – and continue to be – central to how Canadians see themselves and the people and places around them. These stories form such an integral part of Canadian identity that one could almost say that Canada’s history is itself a story, recalled from the collective memory of those living here. Despite its centrality, assigning a definition to what Canadian Literature actually is seems like a daunting task; hopefully by the end of this course I will have a better idea of how to define what it is this course is about.
Part of the reason I chose to take this course is that I have always marvelled at the power stories have to shape our views of the world, often without our knowing. I previously explored the role of stories in shaping land use attitudes in an essay titled “The Great Bear Rainforest: Overcoming 500-Year-Old Views on Nature“, and I hope this class will allow me to learn more about this fascinating area of study. In particular, I’m interested in trying to understand how stories have been used to shape our views of nature, as well as the relationship between the people and the places within Canada.
The use of stories to influence views of nature as well as conservation efforts appears to be entering the conscious sphere, and has been employed in such diverse forms as children’s books and prominent sustainability foundations. I hope that this class will give me the tools to critically engage with these stories, while this blog will help me become a better storyteller myself. I guess you, dear reader, will have to be the judge of that.
Works Cited
Bullen, Cameron. “The Great Bear Rainforest: Overcoming 500-Year-Old Views on Nature”. The Garden Statuary. April 2016. Web. May 11, 2016.
“16 Great Children’s Books on Nature and the Environment”. Children’s Book Guide. 2012. Web. May 11, 2016.
Higgins, Barb. “A knock-down, drag-out fight with a devilfish”. Best Pacific Ocean Stories. David Suzuki Foundation, 2013. Web. May 11, 2016.
HeatherJames
May 12, 2016 — 10:45 am
Hi Cam,
Really enjoyed the reading the essay you included, “The Great Bear Rainforest: Overcoming 500-Year-Old Views on Nature.” It reiterated to me how influential anthropocentric views have been towards, not only the way we see nature and natural resources, but the way we see Indigenous peoples and communities. These views oftentimes are the heart of the settler resigning to the idea of the “nobel savage” or, as Bonita Lawrence explains in her text, “‘Real’ Indians and Others : Mixed-blood Urban Native Peoples and Indigenous Nationhood”, what it means to be a “‘Real’ Indian”.
The “‘Real’ Indian” encompasses the idea that white settlers demanded Indigenous peoples to cling to primordiality to be consider “real” and culturally authentic. This drastically affects how we see Indigenous people, and how Indigenous people create identity and engage with their own agency. Lawrence’s text (even the Introduction, available on the UBC Library website), provides a really great foundation to understanding these tensions.
Thanks for the insightful post!
-Heather
CamBullen
May 14, 2016 — 8:03 am
Hi Heather,
Thanks so much for your comment! I hadn’t previously considered how closely intertwined views on nature can be with identity politics, so I really appreciate you bringing the relationship to my attention. I agree that anthropocentric views are likely related to the creation of the myth of the ‘noble savage’, but I would add that these views could also be seen to partially account for the exploitation and barbaric treatment of indigenous peoples by explorers and settlers (much as the land itself was exploited). Views on nature and identity can be exceedingly complex, nebulous topics on their own, so I’m sure attempting to understand or define the interplay of these views would be incredibly interesting but also very difficult.
Thanks again for introducing me to this relationship! Hopefully we will earn more about it as the course progresses.
Cam
erikapaterson
May 13, 2016 — 11:55 am
May 13, 2016
Hi Cameron,
Thank you for a great introduction and welcome to your blog. I am looking forward to working together this semester, and I can assure you that your curiosity about story will be fulfilled. Enjoy. Erika
GillianGuest
May 18, 2016 — 12:52 pm
Hi Cameron,
I really enjoyed how you pointed out the connection between nature and stories. I myself am interested in the way stories were used to explain nature or natural events. While the explanations we have gained from modern science were obviously not available farther back in history, people still recorded and explained what was happening around them in the form of stories. I found it interesting that you pointed out that this connection is not just restricted to the past, but continues in our present, especially when it comes to finding a way to make the newest generations environmentally conscious in the form of children’s books.
I look forward to interacting with you further this summer.
Gillian
CamBullen
May 18, 2016 — 8:07 pm
Hi Gillian,
Thanks for your comment! I am really glad that there are others in the class also interested in the relationship between nature and stories. The use of stories to explain natural phenomena is certainly an interesting topic, both for how it shows the relationship between people and nature, and for the insight it gives us into human nature and our need to fill the void of ignorance with whatever is available to us. As you said, I’m sure this need exists in the present as well as the past.
I’m excited about dealing with these topics collectively as we move through the summer.
Cam