Ginsburg, Faye. “Rethinking the Digital Age.” Global Indigenous Media: Cultures, Poetics, and Politics. By Pamela Wilson and Michelle Stewart. Durham: Duke UP, 2008. 287-304. EDuke. Web. 10 April 2016.
Ginsburg’s article, Rethinking the Digital Age, is Chapter 15 in the exciting interdisciplinary book Global Indigenous Media: Cultures, Poetics, and Politics. The book as a whole investigates how Indigenous people around the world use various forms of media to combat discrimination and advocate for their culture. Ginsburg provides an anthropologist’s perspective on this issue in Chapter 15.
To start, Ginsburg’s outlines how the “Digital Divide” affects access to technology for poor and isolated communities. The digital divide is the term that describes the inequality of access to modern technologies (287). This is a problem that impacts countless Indigenous populations, and the Western ideologies tend to be projected on the internet because of this (294). There is no question Indigenous populations are underrepresented in cyberspace, but they are continually expanding their networks through it (294). Ginsburg argues that the biggest impact cyberspace has had on Indigenous people around the world is that it lets people connect with a wider network of traditional information and communication (294). She provides two examples of how technology has been used to bring younger generations into new forms of indigenous culture. Overall Ginsburg finds that despite the challenges of the Digital Divide technology has made a positive impact on Indigenous communities and cultures throughout the world because it provides a setting for these communities to create their own narratives in response to Western ones (302). The internet can be used to engage in sustaining their culture and actively insert their own stories into national narrative (302).
This source is pertinent to our research topic because it discusses the ongoing effects technology has on Indigenous communities while considering Neoliberal societal constraints like the Digital Divide. This text provides another perspective that agrees new technology can help Indigenous people insert their own narratives into Western society. It is being used to connect and share Indigenous culture and is used on their own terms without conforming to Westernization.
Works Cited
“Faye Ginsburg , Faculty, Anthropology.” Department of Anthropology. New York University, n.d. Web. 10 Apr. 2016.
Korff, Jens. “Us Mob.” Creative Spirits. Creative Spirits, 25 Aug. 2015. Web. 14 Apr. 2016.
(Nicole Galloway)
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Grosvenor, Peter C. (2016). Tech Could Mean the End of Capitalism. But What Comes Next? In These Times with Liberty and Justice for All. Retrieved April 12th 2016 from: http://inthesetimes.com/article/18776/paul-mason-on-techs-post-capitalist-promise.
Grosvenor discusses the journalist, Paul Mason’s new book about how capitalism is going through a revolutionary restructuring due to the digital age. Grosvenor discusses how Mason’s book is a clear critique of neoliberalism and claims that neoliberalism intensifies economic inequality and repression of the poor. Due to the information age, more people may start to reject neoliberalism and a capitalist economy in favour of a postcapitalist information based society. This means that with a more networked society, prosperity may increase and there will be green economic development. As for neoliberalism as it stands, it promotes a society that does not improve climate change. The information age challenges the concept of price that is evident in a neoliberalist/capitalist society. Information is produced at a high volume and consumed for a marginal cost. People are trying to make information in the digital age, a tangible commodity. This is arguably to try and fit technology into the system of capitalism. Critical thinking on this article assesses that post-capitalism may not be a feasible outcome for society overall. Capitalism and the information age seem to still work in conjunction with each other as tech companies are one of the biggest industries at present time.
This text is invaluable to our research because it demonstrates how technology and a neoliberalist society can sometimes be at odds. Although there is a demonstrated discrepancy between the information age and capitalism, there is clearly a push to have the information age fit into the current capitalist structure of society. This corroborates what our original research demonstrates, in that the future of print and neoliberalism is uncertain at this point with the introduction of the information age.
Works Cited
Green, Chloe (2016). Can we ever eliminate the ‘human error’ element of cyber security? Information Age. Retrieved April 12th, 2016 from:
Wright, Erik Olin. (2016). Capitalism and Freedom. Jacobin. Retrieved April 12th, 2016 from:
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/04/democracy-capitalism-freedom-friedman-wright-socialism/.
(Courtney Lee)
Howard, Vivian. “The Sea Stacks Project: Enhancing the Use of Regional Literature in Atlantic Canadian Schools.” The Canadian Journal of Library and Information Practice and Research 7.1 (2012): N.p. Web. 18 April 2016.
This paper on the Sea Stacks website reflects the research of Vivian Howard, the lead investigator in the inter-university research team that developed this site. The site was developed to promote Atlantic Canadian literature to young readers specifically and provides annotated bibliographical entries of all types of literary materials for educators’ usage. It was created in response to the globalized children’s literary scene in 21st century Canada where non-Canadian and mass-marketed material are the most promoted and available ones.
Howard describes children’s literature as are presentation of the country’s values, image, etc and that children need to see them selves reflected in the literature to aid in their development of a sense of identity. However, as small presses and provincial journals lose significance or even cease to exist in a world that has become more competitive as neo-liberal policies open it up to wider market, this has become less a reality and an ever-decreasing proportion of literature in schools is even Canadian. In this paper, the research leading up to the creation of the site is described as researchers study teachers. They soon find that the usage of Canadian material, and Atlantic Canadian material more specifically, was valued but not practiced. The lack of time and knowledge meant that this section of literature was abandoned. The site was designed and is still under ongoing development to erase that barrier and use the WWW to the Atlantic Canadian literary scene’s advantage. It provides an easily accessible web-based resource that lets educators readily find all the relevant literary information about Atlantic Canadian literature.
This source is relevant to our research as it reflects our research interest in how Canadian literature can navigate the neo-liberal WWW in order to maintain its existence and relevancy. Howard’s research shows one way that people in the 21st century are using the intersection of neoliberalism and the WWW to their advantage: they are creating web-based resources that in a way market only the section of literature that is struggling to stay afloat amidst the much greater quantities of US, British, etc mass-marketed options.
Works Cited
Lapointe, Michael. “What’s Happened to CanLit?” Literary Review of Canada May 2013: n. pag. Web. 17 Apr. 2016.
Sea Stacks. University of New Brunswick. 2010.Web. 17 April 2016
(Maryam Baksh)
Konstantinou, Lee. “Reading Under Neoliberalism.” ARCADE. Stanford University, 23 Feb. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
Konstantinou’s article is inspired by a comment on Joshua Landy’s article “Human Minds, Literary Texts, and CD Players”. Konstantinou reflects on his experiences of being part of a panel focussing on the topic of “neoliberal publishing”, a phenomena being faced by writers over the past decade or more: “In the era of what we could call “neoliberal publishing,” every book [is] now supposed to turn a profit; bestsellers no longer [subsidize] what editors [deem] to be high-quality products. Editors [are becoming] warier of taking risks “developing” young writers” (Konstantinou).
Di Leo echoes Konstantinou’s observations about big corporations in neoliberal publishing in his book “Corporate Humanities in Higher Education: Moving Beyond the Neoliberal Academy”. He concludes with the fact that “the prestige of the author plays an important role in the current neoliberal capitalist publishing economy”(*) and that “the rise of neoliberalism within the publishing world has displaced many of its traditional ways of operating”(*) – he goes on to list a few examples
*Note: page numbers not available.
Konstantinou proceeds to discuss the “demand” of neoliberal publishing – that is, readers like you and me. He argues today’s readers treat authors like celebrities and are less likely to read a book from an up-and-coming writer. He think as time has gone on, we no longer have the same appreciation for classic literature as we once did. He quotes Landy’s article, saying that poetry and other complex literature will become as unused as CD’s in a world without CD players (Landy); while they may be respected as vintage, or perhaps considered kitschy—something grandma and grandpa would have read—few will understand how to appreciate and use them.
Konstantinou’s article relates well to our topic of neoliberalism. It highlights how supply and demand in the publishing market are powerful factors influencing who gets a voice and what gets published. In the world of neoliberalism and capitalism, “money talks” – so, if an author’s work is guaranteed to sell in large numbers, it will be published, leaving many voices ignored. Where does this leave writers who may not be as relatable to the majority? Reflecting on the topic of this course specifically, where does this leave Canadian Aboriginal writers who should not have to devalue the integrity and cultural importance of their work just so they can make it more popular for larger publishing firms?
Works Cited
Di Leo, Jeffrey R. Corporate Humanities in Higher Education: Moving Beyond the Neoliberal Academy. New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2013. Google Books. Google. Web. 07 Apr. 2016
Konstantinou, Lee. “Reading Under Neoliberalism.” ARCADE. Stanford University, 23 Feb. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
Landy, Joshua. “Human Minds, Literary Texts, and CD Players.” Arcade. Stanford University, 18 Feb. 2010. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
(Julia Hofmann)
Milz, Sabine. “Is Canadian Literature Still ‘National’? Twenty-First Century Canadian Literature in Spatial Perspective.” Studies in Canadian Literature 35.1 (2010): 5-39. Web. 16 April 2016.
“Is Canadian Literature Still ‘National'” is a research paper by Sabine Milz, a post-doctoral fellow at the University of Alberta who has spent much of her career studying the effects of globalization and neoliberalism on the Canadian literary world. This paper is her response to a common sentiment expressed by Stephen Henighan and others that the grassroots national Canadian literature has crumbled from its glory days of the 60s and 70s. Milz argues that the present Canadian literary scene is more a restructuring, a result of the “weakening national conscious and cultural nationalist ideas…[which] has coincided with a change in the national literary infrastructure (14).
In her paper, she focuses on interviewing independent publishers in Canada, specifically in the Prairie region, to gauge how the globalized world has impacted them. From her interviews, she talks of the positive side she has seen of this 21st century literary scene, including that “technological developments…have made publishing more accessible” and have given a massive “boost to self-publishing” (23). But she also notes the detriments that have been introduce by these changes. The increasingly widening array of technological options is “diverting people from actually reading books” (23). Also, small-scale Canadian publishers “must “compete with…economies of large scale [that] focus on titles with broad appeal and selling power” (24).
The relevancy of this source to our research target is apparent as it directly examines neoliberalism in the Canadian literary context. Milz identifies the direct effects this has including increased consolidations and a much more diversified industry. She provided some amazing insight into our question on the future of the Canadian literary scene using Alice Mayer’s remarks that if it is defined as what gets into the curriculum, then literature in Canada will always have a national (Canadian) and regional prejudice. This source examines both sides of the issue and offers he summation that Canadian literature in the 21st century is a “socio-cultural and historical space…situated within a market- and consumer-driven cultural, political, and economic landscape” (34). It’s not going any where.
Works Cited
Archbold, Rick. “All is Not Vanity.” Literary Review of Canada September 2012. N.p., Web. 17 April 2016.
Porter, Anna. “Time to Lead: The Shaky State of Canadian Book Publishing.” The Globe and Mail 15 March 2011 N.p., Web. 17 April 2016.
(Maryam Baksh)
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Smith, Russell. (2015). Russell Smith: How to Publish a Book in Canada. The Globe and Mail. Retrieved April 12th, 2016 from: http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/russell-smith-how-to-publish-a-book-in-canada/article25249478/.
Smith focuses his article on the publishing industry in Canada and how Penguin Random House is slowly acquiring various publishing companies that were previously independent. Penguin Random House completely dominates the market and is an effect of the many structural changes that are coming to Canada’s publishing industry. Smith also discusses how many bookstores such as Indigo, do not formally recognize themselves as being book retailers anymore. This is due to the overall change in structure and dynamic to Canada’s publishing industry. The President of Penguin Random House mentioned that he would not take on a book that would generate less revenue than $100,000 in paperback. Due to the fact that many people don’t buy hard copy books anymore, this means that the book would have to be of literary genius in order to be picked up by a publishing company.
This article is pertinent to our initial research as it shows how the publishing landscape of literature is changing with the onset of technology. The fact that there used to be many more independent publishing companies is a sign that the publishing industry is slowly being dominated by the digital age. Ideally, publishing companies will want to generate as much revenue as possible, however, in previous days many companies would take a chance on books that had potential versus ones that would need to be an absolute knockout with readers. This article shows how capitalism has dominated within the literature world. Despite the volume of e-books, publishing companies are still pushing to sell hard copy books.
Works Cited
Kozlowski, Michael. (2016)Penguin Random House Reports 25% of Revenue is from Ebooks. Good E Reader. 12, Apr. 2016.
Thomond, Christopher. (2016). Ebook Sales Falling for the First Time, Finds New Report. The Guardian. 12, Apr. 2016.
(Courtney Lee)
Wachowich, Nancy, and Scobie, Willow. “Uploading Selves: Inuit Digital Storytelling on YouTube.” Inuit Studies 34.2 (2010): 81-105. Indigenous Collection. Web. 9 April 2016.
In Wachowich and Scobie’s article, Uploading Selves: Inuit Digital Storytelling on YouTube, they discuss how Inuit youth and young adults are using social media platforms (specifically YouTube) to share their daily lives with the world. This article shows how modern technology has become the new medium for storytelling with youth sharing their stories daily. Wachowich and Scobie are both researchers who are interested in anthropological and social issues in the Arctic. Wachowich is an Anthropologist at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, and Scobie is a Sociologist at the University of Ottawa. Their research on the effects of social media use in Inuit communities took place over twelve months of cyber-field work.
In Wachowich and Scobie’s article they argue that young Inuit people are able to “mobilize and engage” (84) in the world by uploading clips of their daily lives. These clips create a dialogue, and social media allows this often isolated group of young people to share their stories with the world (83). They observe four Inuit youth in particular with popular YouTube channels: inukdan, JrAnnahatak, reomap, and tikirarjuk (83). The internet has become the new medium of storytelling in Inuit communities. Many formal sharing of Indigenous culture uses the internet. For example this website about Inuit communities presents a formal and political message of Canada’s Inuit people; however, as Wachowich and Scobie point out more formal methods can get bogged down by political issues (89). When youth spontaneously post videos of themselves a type of informal storytelling occurs that adds Inuit voices into Canadian society.
This source is useful for our research because it explores how social media has given Inuit culture a larger voice in society. Inuit live in isolated places in Canada’s Arctic but the 2005 through 2007 expansion of broadband internet, due to satellite expansion, has made internet accessible in these remote communities (82). Now formerly isolated communities are active participants in the online world. This article helps to answer a number of our research questions about how the internet can impact the storytelling voices we hear in Canada. Based on this article technology is increasing the number of voices of groups that have been historically ignored. It also shows how, as technology continues to develop, isolated communities’ access to information via the internet is continually improving.
Works Cited
“Community Life.” Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami. ITK Board of Directors, n.d. Web. 9 Apr. 2016.
“Dr. Nancy Wachowich.” The University of Aberdeen SiteNet. The University of Aberdeen, n.d. Web. 2016.
“Willow Scobie.” UOttawa UNIWeb. The University of Ottawa, n.d. Web. 12 Apr. 2016.
(Nicole Galloway)
Wemigwans, Jennifer. “Cultural Expression on the World Wide Web.” Indigenous Worldviews 26 (2008): 31-38. Canadian Woman Studies. Inanna Publications and Education Inc. / York University, 2008. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
In her article, Wemigwans focusses on her website Four Directions Teaching which is a resource for people to “experience Indigenous knowledge and philosophy, and … [for] educators … to incorporate into their curriculum” (Wemigwans 31). The project was created because she, and many of her colleagues, found it difficult to find accessible and accurate Indigenous resources which helped preserve “the value of holistic knowledge derived from Aboriginal teachings” (31). The site is interactive and listeners are meant to listen to the stories in order to gain a better cultural appreciation for Indigenous oral traditions. The Elders and traditional teachers included in the project offer a wide representation of Canadian Indigenous cultures, giving the website a multicultural element and encouraging inclusivity.
There are many goals with this project. One is to empower Canadian Aboriginal people, specifically teenagers and young adults, by taking their traditional knowledge and making it widely accessible on the world wide web (31-32). With this accessibility, another goal is to bring representation and truth to Indigenous communities, thus relinquishing the Cowboys vs. Indians trope which has been enforced on these communities for decades (32). Along the lines of representation, another goal of this project is to continue the fight against colonial attempts of cultural erasure (32).
Wemigwan’s project is a direct push-back at neoliberalism and neoliberal publishing. By using the world wide web, she is able to share and, more importantly, preserve valuable Indigenous knowledge without having to please market demands. Her project offers two things: 1) proof that anyone can have a voice and claim space for themselves via the internet, and 2) hope that we will continue to have quality content offering unique knowledge and ideas, despite the conformity society faces in neoliberalism.
Works Cited
Wemigwans, Jennifer. “Cultural Expression on the World Wide Web.” Indigenous Worldviews 26 (2008): 31-38. Canadian Woman Studies. Inanna Publications and Education Inc. / York University, 2008. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
Wemigwans, Jennifer. “FourDirectionsTeachings.com.” FourDirectionsTeachings.com. National Indigenous Literacy Association & the Department of Canadian Heritage, 2006. Web. 13 Apr. 2016.
(Julia Hofmann)
MaryamBaksh
April 17, 2016 — 2:14 pm
Hi! The article that Nicole uploaded on Inuit digital story-telling is one that really touches on our research topic. We are finding so much on how neoliberalism is driving the economy, and in this article we can see how it manifests even more clearly when intersecting with the WWW as this is a place where government control/regulations, etc is even less existent or effective. Here is an example where a voice that is usually unheard is given a platform due to these intersections. What previously might have been sanctioned, overtly or due to underlying systemic prejudices, is included in the Canadian literary scene.
Interestingly,this source also made me consider how the neoliberalism-driven freedom of the WWW has allowed literature to move away from the eurocentric writing-is-literature idea to more often include examples like this of oral literacy. Here is one way that these factors may be benefiting and changing the current/future of Canadian literature.
Clara Kang
April 18, 2016 — 7:22 pm
Hi team,
Firstly, I really appreciate your team’s effort to address the bidirectional impact www has had on Canadian literature: how it has become more accessible and readily available to remote communities and how the voice of the previously unheard has become audible. Wachowich and Scobie’s article seems a very fitting choice for your research as it speaks of internet, specifically YouTube, as the “new medium of storytelling.” How the expansion of internet services allows the Inuit communities overcome the physical/geographical barriers is interesting. The finding that internet seems more effective for informal messages than formal and political messages is also intriguing. Do you think it would be similar for other Indigenous communities as well?
Clara
Clara Kang
April 18, 2016 — 10:20 pm
In addition to my previous reply, I found an article that may be relevant to both of our research interests. In McMahon’s article, the author argues that the broadband infrastructure allows Indigenous people living in rural, remote and socio-economically marginalized communities “unique benefits … [such as] sharing culturally specific languages, traditions, and cultures … [and] delivering health and education services” (118). Studies show that community-based networks increase Indigenous people’s accessibility to education, community capacity and development and interaction with external organizations (119). Throughout the article, the author emphasizes the importance and the power the community-owned and -managed broadband infrastructure and networks, and he also notes the imperative role of government intervention; he, however, stresses the importance of inclusion of Indigenous people in the process. McMahon shows that the Canadian government’s active intervention through National Digital Strategy starting in 2009, increases accessibility dramatically, but fails to recognize the importance of “digital self-determination” of the Indigenous people (123).
Works Cited
McMahon, Rob. “The Institutional Development of Indigenous Broadband Infrastructure in Canada and the United States: Two Paths to “Digital Self-Determination”.” Canadian Journal of Communication 36.1 (2011): 115-40. ProQuest. Web. 18 Apr. 2016.
MaryamBaksh
April 18, 2016 — 11:59 pm
Hi Clara, thanks for an insightful comment. It is interesting, and I think the informal style of messaging on the internet may be attributed to it being an outlet for literary material that otherwise is ignored/rejected due to systemic and institutional prejudices in our literary system. For example, the political stance of the Inuit youth often opposes the entrenched prejudiced stance favoured by years of traditional literature. Do you think this is why?
I think a similar finding could be found for other indigenous communities. Another of our sources, the Ginsburg article, looks at indigenous communities around the world and found similar finding. The internet gave them platforms to tell narratives other than the western one that has always been told.
Emma Riek
April 19, 2016 — 11:47 am
In regards to the Ginsburg article–Nicole links to the Us Mob, an Aboriginal television series in Australia, as an example of how technology can introduce young people to Indigenous culture. I did a quick search and turns out we have a whole television network dedicated to Aboriginal shows in Canada, the Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), which I have never heard of before. They also have children’s programming, including a variety of shows about Canadian First Nations kids. These shows are often available in more than one language, including English, French, and First Nations languages, such as Cree, Inuktitut, and Algonquin.
There are even some full episodes of adult’s and children’s shows available online. I think that spreading awareness of a network and website like this could really help to popularize and educate both adults and children about Indigenous cultures in Canada. What do you guys think?
ngalloway
April 19, 2016 — 12:53 pm
Hi Emma,
I think the links you found are really great examples of how technology is helping to introduce indigenous young people to their traditional cultures in Canada.
I have never heard if these television programs before either but the fact that they are in multiple languages makes then very accessible to all of Canada’s population. It seems that their intended audience is not just First Nations people but also the whole of Canada.
I think you are right! If these networks were advertised more effectively or perhaps used in schools as educational resources it could really help develop Canada’s education programs on Indigenous cultures. It seems that much new educational content is available we just need to learn how to use and implement it in our education systems.
MaryamBaksh
April 20, 2016 — 12:41 am
The APTN channel is an example of one way that technology is bringing these other marginalized literary resources to the public. I have actually watched shows on it a few times, and not only is it telling the stories of the indigenous peoples of Canada, but the different story-telling techniques is very apparent. It is a start and better advertisement will go a long way to broadening its reach and impact.
Julia Hofmann
April 19, 2016 — 10:59 pm
Hi Clara! I see this is a 2-part question and I have an answer for the first part. You asked: “The finding that internet seems more effective for informal messages than formal and political messages is also intriguing. Do you think it would be similar for other Indigenous communities as well?”
I encourage you to take a look at my annotated bibliography of Jennifer Wemigwan’s “Cultural Expression on the World Wide Web”. Alongside many elders and storytellers of different Indigenous communities, she created an entire website which shares stories & history in traditional oral form. I outline a few of the many purposes for the website, but it is a perfect example of how Indigenous communities have used the www in a more formal way!
Emma Riek
April 18, 2016 — 9:39 pm
Hi everyone,
Interesting bibliography so far! Maryam, I have a question about the article you cited, “Is Canadian Literature Still ‘National.'” I’m wondering what Milz means by the term ‘national.” Is she referring to nationalism that was so much more present in the mid-late twentieth century than it is now? Or does she discuss this concept in terms of the publication, storylines, and readership of current Canadian literature?
Emma
MaryamBaksh
April 19, 2016 — 2:47 pm
Hi Emma, the term ‘national’ as Milz used it refers mostly to the nationalism of the 1960s and 1970s. Henighan and others thought of it in terms of the Trudeau era values and ideas that swept the country in that time period. They saw the literary world as needing to encapsulate that peacekeeping, charter of Rights, and such values and lamented when it began to do so less and less in the 21st century. Milz is trying to redefine that ‘national’ as not being one story told across Canada as she see the weakening of that type of nationalism. In the article, she references Alice Mayer in explaining what ‘national’ now means for Canadian literature. She says that it is that interest that will always exist to have content from Canada, or from specific parts of Canada, in that respective school curriculum, etc. National means more than one story now, with her explanation of Prairies-specific pieces or Aboriginal pieces all encompassing ‘national’ nowadays.
Emma Riek
April 20, 2016 — 10:28 am
Thank you for clarifying!
Julia Hofmann
April 19, 2016 — 10:55 pm
Both of Nicole’s sources (“Rethinking the Digital Age” and “Uploading Selves: Inuit Digital Storytelling on YouTube”) and my source (“Cultural Expression on the World Wide Web”) are fantastic examples of how Indigenous people across Canada are making their voices heard by sharing their knowledge via the www.
As I mentioned in my annotated bibliography for Wemigwans, I have been interpreting these initiatives as subtle but meaningful ways for traditionally oppressed groups of people to make their voices heard and “go against the grain”. Neoliberalism seems like an overarching and inescapable economic ‘structure’, but in many ways some of its power has been restrained, thanks to the nature of the www. I think if the knowledge shared by these Aboriginal groups was sent to book publishers in written form, most of the mainstream companies wouldn’t be interested in publishing the books because it wouldn’t be a guaranteed New York Times Best Seller. If we look at book publishing conglomerates as the epitome of neoliberalism, then resources on the www, such as YouTube channels and Wemigwans’ website, could be considered an inspiring form of rebellion — a refusal to conform to Westernism.
It is clear that there are many resources currently available and continuing to be made on the www. I have been reflecting on why I haven’t come across them and have come to a number of conclusions. Perhaps there isn’t enough awareness/advertising about these sources. Or, perhaps I am simply unaware about the advertising available because I do not frequent the circles where this information is being shared. It is also just as possible that perhaps I have made myself ignorant to the resources because I simply haven’t been interested in investing the time to learn. Whatever the reason may be, I am sure other people share the same ignorance as I, and it will be interesting to see how awareness continues to grow. If many people – both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal – are unaware of these resources, hopefully awareness will increase as content continues to be created — this is an all too common trend on the internet.
MaryamBaksh
April 20, 2016 — 1:48 am
Julia, your comment really put into words a lot of what we are looking at. Neoliberalism hasn’t affected availability, but accessibility. A I mentioned in my annotated bibliography entry by Vivian Howard, getting these literary resources into classrooms seems more about connecting educators/teachers with the already available resources. It may be that neoliberalism and/or institutional racism has kept these resources at bay, the first in the case of Atlantic Canadian literature as in the Sea Stacks project because of favour for cheaper, mass-marketed material, and the second because of the added issue of the telling of a story that counters the Western narrative. But what the internet has allowed is the provision of a tool to counter these barriers; Howard showed one way with the invention and creation of an internet tool that directly brings these ignored literature directly to educator’s fingertips.
Emma Riek
April 20, 2016 — 10:31 am
Maryam, I like the point you’ve made here about bringing ignored literature to educators’ fingertips. Just wondering about your personal opinion here–Do you think that in order to successfully engage students in this literature, they must also be connected to technology and the internet? Or is the teacher being connected and providing the material in books or printing it out enough?
Julia Hofmann
April 20, 2016 — 1:28 pm
Emma, I’ll jump in here, although I’m interested in hearing Maryam’s opinion as well! I think that while it would be good for the teacher (at the very least) to have the resources to provide the material (via books, print outs, etc), I think allowing students to be in charge of their own learning (via interactive websites, etc) has a form of empowerment and independence that you cannot get when your teacher is giving you handouts to read. So, I personally think it is important for students to have accessibility to these online resources and be connected to technology. I think it helps them understand that what they’re learning is modern and, therefore, important.
MaryamBaksh
April 21, 2016 — 10:31 am
Hi Emma! I really liked this question. I think that connecting students to the internet would enhance the educational experience even further. It would allow the dissemination of these over-looked materials to extend beyond required school reading to recreational reading as the students take the initiative to choose and direct their reading themselves.
The teacher being connected is in my opinion the bare necessity to allow the viability and existence of these literary scenes to continue on. But to truly have it flourish, students should themselves also have access.
ngalloway
April 20, 2016 — 1:17 pm
Hi Julia,
Your article by Konstantinou is really interesting because it fits our research topic so well. Konstantinou is asking many of the same questions that we are in terms of how Canadian Literature will continue to develop and move forward while supply and demand dictate what is published. Sometimes quantity over quality wins. For example an author may be pressured to finish a sequel too quickly, or as you pointed out it may pressure Native writers to appeal to a larger audience than tell the story they actually want to tell.
I think this is where the www, Neoliberalism and Canadian Literature all intersect. The www is the perfect tool to combat Neoliberlism from completely controlling Canadian Literature. Like the two articles I used for this bibliography said, the internet is becoming an ever more successful tool at letting marginalized voices be heard. It is also a much cheaper way to publish which also combats the restraints of large Neoliberal publishing companies. These article really pull our research together!
Julia Hofmann
April 20, 2016 — 1:34 pm
Hi Nicole! I know, I was so excited when I found the article 🙂 I agree, the internet has become an amazing tool to give voices to anyone who has access to it. Like we’ve both been saying, the Internet is a great way to combat Neoliberalism, I think at this point there needs to be more awareness around the fact that these resources exist! This goes along the lines of our partnered group, but I think that by incorporating these resources into education, it will not only relevantly intersect the www into students’ lives, but it will also bring about inclusion for Native students and create a whole new breadth of knowledge for all Canadian students.
ngalloway
April 20, 2016 — 2:04 pm
Hi Maryam,
I think your article on Milz is very relevant to our research. I especially like how Milz article focuses on the positive effects the internet has on Canadian Literature especially in regards to publishing. Canadian Literature will always encompass such a huge breadth of topics because Canada is a vast country with varying landscapes and a diverse population. This always makes it difficult to see which direction Canadian Literature will take in the future. It is also intimidating that the www has changed literature so much because Canada tends to often adopt American or British culture through globalization and the www makes this more easily available. It is nice to see that, in Milz’s article, Canadian literature is not fading away amongst the loud voices of our southern neighbours, but it is continuing to grow and shape itself through new mediums that are becoming available.
MaryamBaksh
April 21, 2016 — 12:12 pm
It was for that reason that I really liked the Milz article. She does not deny the pros and cons neoliberalism and the www are having on Canadian literature, but she sees it as new factors to shape the forever-changing face of literature. The other entry I used, the Sea Stacks one, similarly shows a way that these factors are being addressed and even used to the advantage of Canadian literature.
MarieFollea
April 20, 2016 — 8:57 pm
Hi Nicole, I liked your choosing of Ginsburg’s article because I think it provides a hopeful insight of the concerns of this project. Despite difficulty in online access for some, Indigenous peoples have been connecting with wider groups. This shows that some progress is being made in terms of giving Indigenous peoples a platform on which they can express and share their culture with their own narrative. Thanks to online technology, we have seen the undertaking of the ‘reviving’ of their cultures, and the reminder to wider Canadian society of their significance and benefit to it.
This point in your research is of value to my own research on online technologies. I’m trying to direct it towards the hopeful conclusion that the ‘call to action’ has already been made since progress is already underway. Does your choosing of this article reflect your similar view on this? I’d be interested to hear what you have to say about what you think can be done to make this progress more prominent.
MarieFollea
April 20, 2016 — 9:20 pm
Hi Julia, your research article connects with mine in its focus on using the internet to empower Canadian Aboriginal people and give them an opportunity to truthfully represent themselves. My research is concerned with the misrepresentations of Indigenous cultures on the web, and shows how Canadian primary schools use websites to teach students about these cultures. Because they are so unfaithfully presented online, common stereotypes are socialized into young Canadians which causes serious problems for the future of how Indigenous peoples will be viewed and included in Canadian nationalism.
Like Nicole’s article “Rethinking the Digital Age”, yours also provides a hopeful note to our concern for truthful Indigenous inclusion in future Canadian literature. If Wemigwans’ website is used in primary schools, the images and words that come to mind when we think of ‘Indigenous’ or ‘First Nation’, will remind us of the cultural diversities of Canadian Aboriginals and of the equal respect and appreciation they deserve.
The rapid modernization of countries around the world however presents a time constraint for the recovery and preservation of Indigenous knowledge. The rates of climate change reflect this well; with the destruction of biodiversity for economic purposes, Indigenous peoples around the world are displaced, and sometimes erased along with their culture. Do you think online opportunities are enough to deal with the problem of Indigenous representation?
MarieFollea
April 20, 2016 — 9:34 pm
Sorry, I wanted to rephrase my question: Do you think online platforms will be enough to return the rights of Indigenous peoples expand culturally using their own narrative?
clee
April 20, 2016 — 10:24 pm
Julia,
I also quite liked your Konstantinou source! I thought it was a perfect hybrid between the Canadian literature and neoliberalism intersecting. It is true (and I agree with Nicole) that the Internet is becoming a great way for everyone to be heard. I have found that while it is a great way for everyone to be able to communicate without being discriminatory, it has become a place where people are also very opinionated and can voice them in a place where they will stay forever. Back when literature wasn’t on the Internet, people’s opinions weren’t as openly voiced which in ways could have been better for writers and publishers. Thoughts?
Courtney
KarenFang
April 20, 2016 — 10:54 pm
Hi Nicole!
I really enjoyed your input about rethinking the digital age. I feel like there is endless discussion about this since we are living in a technological world with carious forms of media as you mentioned. I agree that there are some problems in terms of lack of access for certain groups of people. There seems to be a strong urge for people to gravitate towards media as it has become a window to many other things. I definitely feel that technology has impact not only indigenous communities but also others who may not have the wealth or power to access these types of resources. And this triggers a question for me.. would you say that thse forms of media has become something that is highly desirable to people? and to whom?
Thanks!
Karen
KarenFang
April 20, 2016 — 11:04 pm
Hi World Wide Web Team,
This is a response to all! I really how your research examines the digital age because moving in the twentieth century, advanced technology and other various media resources has impacted us tremendously. With this in mind, would you suggest that these various forms of media has impacted or shaped in a positive way or negative? If you can choose, why did you pick it? Perhaps, many of us may agree that there will always be pros and cons. However, when thinking about how it has effect certain groups such as indigenous people, what does that say about our society today and in terms of ‘voices’?
Thanks
Karen