About
Hi there! My name is Rachel, and I am a fourth year student in the faculty of Arts, majoring in English literature, with a minor in Special Education. After completing my undergrad, I plan to go on to do my PDP, and become an elementary school teacher. I have always been passionate about literature – growing up as a kid, I was constantly raiding the library trying to find new books. I have spent years daydreaming of places in other countries, and as an adult, one of my greatest passions is now travelling and being able to explore other places. Our group’s topic of regionalism is really interesting to me, since it combines my love of literature and of exploring unique places – I am really excited to look at how literature changes and is affected by different places, as well as address the general idea which Calder brings up, that place is potentially becoming irrelevant in the literary field (113). I believe that place should be considered when looking at literature, and I am excited to explore this topic in greater depth. As well, as someone who is planning to go into education in the Canadian school system, I have thought a lot about how I would want to incorporate Canadian works into the classroom, as well as how I would wish to educate young children on different people groups, especially the First Nation’s groups of Canada. This topic of regionalism and how place fits into a literary analysis, will, I hope, be transferable to children’s literature, and potentially provide some insight for me on how incorporate this in a young, classroom setting.
Hi! I’m Alexandra and I’m a 4th year English student here at UBC. I’ve lived in the Vancouver area all my life, and I am currently working at a small Canadian publisher of non-fiction. As a lover of books and Canadian writing in general, I am actively trying to change my perceptions of what the Canadian canon is and think more deeply about the consequences of gatekeeping in publishing and the historical inequality in access to postsecondary institutions. I think the topic of regionalism is an interesting and important one as Canada is such a diverse country with a very complicated history in regards to place (or region) and identity. I’m excited to explore this more deeply in our annotated bibliography and dialogues.
Hi my name is Ross, and my background is in the sciences. I have a B.Sc. in Neuroscience from UBC already, and have just found out I will be starting my Master’s in Counselling Psychology in September! That being said, stories have always fascinated me. I have been an avid reader since I was about 5 years old, and ALWAYS have a book on the go. In general reading is entertaining for me, but after this course, I’ve come to realize that I get a lot more out of it than I thought. I get to share in what the author want to tell, as well as the stories of each and every character. These stories are important and are the foundation for understanding people and motivation. This is something that I hope to continue to take with me for my next degree. Specifically in this course, we have been shown that every voice has value, and even if two stories conflict, each individual’s truth has merit. This course has been an eye opening experience in terms of First Nations literature and the role it plays in Canada’s history. As I hope to be an educator as well one day, I think this is the single greatest thing I can take from this course. The understanding, acknowledgement, and willingness to listen to stories that may conflict with my own understanding of the world, but nonetheless deserve to have space held for them. My area of interest specifically for research would be in terms of regionalism. As Allison Calder points out, specific regions have different ideals, and there is a connection between literature and the place it comes from. Values are intrinsically tied to places, and it’s important to consider that.
Welcome from Ryan Littlechilds! I completed a BA at UBC double majoring in Psychology and Philosophy and now I’m back upgrading to be a high school teacher. I also run a karate program which gives me the opportunity to apply contemporary psychological understanding to traditional Japanese wisdom while importing philosophical insights.
I’m interested in Canadian Identity its connections with Indigenous peoples. I’m interested as to whether Canada can have a robust unifying identity while acknowledging the past and current horrors faced by the Native peoples of Canada. This interests me because of my personal feeling of complicity and because I believe that understanding the grave injustices that exist right under Canadian’s noses is the first step toward their resolution.
Hello! I’m Cathy and I am in my 3rd year at UBC, majoring in psychology. After I graduate, I plan to study more at UBC to become an Elementary school teacher. I was born in South Korea and moved to Vancouver when I was 10 years old. Since then, I have been living and studying in Canada until last year. I went to South Korea as an exchange student for a year and currently I am still residing in Korea right now because of health issues. I’m very interested in the identity of Canada and as someone who wants to teach children in Canada or at least get my training in Canada, I wish to have full knowledge about the history about the Indigenous people in Canada. I am interested in regionalism and how certain stories are affected by specific locations, space and regions. I find it very unique that Canada is an incredibly diverse city in many ways and love how storytelling can bring people together.