Annotated Bibliography
Acharya, Pushpa. Critical Regionalism and Comparative Literature. Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, vol. 41, no. 2, 2014, pp. 201-202.
Pushpa Acharya is a doctoral fellow and Asian Institute lecturer from the University of Toronto. In his article, Acharya focuses on North Americans and their inclination to obtain world literature and then translate the works into English, making it accessible for our general public. However, Acharya points out that in this process, the “traditions, regions and societies” (201) that contribute to shaping and contextualizing the literature is lost, and the work is instead interpreted through the lens of our metropolitan worldview, which filters all literature through the same North American lens. As well, Acharya describes how the process of translation is dependant on finding English-language equivalents for the words and ideas being represented, which may not always be possible, and therefore may not accurately reflect the differences between the worldview and perspective of the North Americans reading the English translations, and that of the original writer’s region. One way to potentially keep some of the regionalism in a piece of literature, which was suggested in this Globe and Mail article, is to keep some of the indigenous words during translation, which forces the reader to mentally locate the text in that specific culture, as well as prompts them to look up the words and potentially learn more about the region in the process.
In Acharya’s article, he presents a solution, saying we must “borrow the insights of critical regionalism”. Critical regionalism is an architectural term used to describe the process of “recognizing, closely examining, fostering, but also linking cultural and socioeconomic localized identities” in a piece of work, whether architectural or literate (Limón, 167). In this theory, regional differences are recognized in comparison to others, while also relating to the globally shared. Acharya describes how, in this theory, literature should be taken from a variety of bordering marginal regions – he gives the example of Sri-Lanka, Pakistani, Nepal – and compared to create “cross connections” and a “network of exchange” (Acharya, 202), in order to balance out the regional dominant – in that case, India.
Works Cited
Clarkson, Adrienne. “Indigenous languages are vital to telling Canada’s story”. The Globe and Mail. May, 2016.
Limón, José E. “Border Literary Histories, Globalization, and Critical Regionalism”. American Literary History. vol. 20, no. 1-2, Spring-Summer January, 2008, pp. 160-182.
Pushpa Raj Acharya. University of Toronto. Academia.
Pushpa Acharya. University of Toronto. Monk School of Global Affairs and Public Policy.
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Schroeder, Jonathan D. S. “The Painting of Modern Light: Local Color before Regionalism”. American Literature. vol. 86, no. 3, 2014 September, pp. 551-581.
While looking online for information about regionalism, I came across a complementary theory, which is that of local colour. This is a style of writing which has been around since the 1800’s, and is often associated with American literature. In my selected article, by Jonathan Schroeder, he describes how some see local colour as the “failed precursor” to regionalism (553). In this style of writing, authors heavily incorporate characteristics of a specific place and the people who live there into the writing, such as in their descriptions of landscape and scenery, as well as the character’s language, mannerisms, etc. The list of authors, largely American, who used this writing style is long, and includes recognizable works such as Mark Twain’s The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn (1884). In Schroeder’s article, he tries to separate local colour from regionalism, stating that even though they are now considered practically synonymous by some, local colour was not originally tied to a region – it’s original meaning, which was associated with neoclassical paintings, was the “aesthetic reproduction of an object’s natural colour” (Schroeder, 553). In this definition, there is no necessary tie to a region, but rather it is about seeing and highlighting what makes something unique. Schroeder draws this distinction in his article, saying that local colour should be about highlighting the natural characteristics of a people group/area/object, whereas regionalism has a much stronger association with a geographical area. I thought this source was an interesting addition to our larger discussion of regionalism as an intervention, in provoking questions of whether or not a physical place is important in literature, or if recognizing local colour – the unique differences of a locality, especially when this is a minority, as it relates to and stand in opposition to global generalities – is the more important necessity. As well, in placing this discussion into our larger classroom context of Canadian literary studies, the answer to these questions may differ depending on the people group – for example, we know the importance of land for Aboriginal people, and therefore it is likely that this would be incorporated in many of their piece of literature. However, that does not necessarily mean that location is always necessary in literary studies. Is there a way to “introduce nuance” and “resist homogenizing forces” (114), as Alison Calder says, without making literature strictly regional?
Works Cited
Calder, Alison. “What happened to Regionalism?” Canadian Literature: A Quarterly of Criticism and Review. no. 204, Spring 2010. pp. 113-114.
Korff, Jens. “Meaning of Land to Aboriginal People”. Creative Spirits. Feb 2019.
The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. “Local Colour: American Literature”. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Mar 2016.
Twain, Mark. “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn”. Dec 1884. Good Reads
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Griswold, Wendy. Regionalism and the Reading Class. University of Chicago Press, Chicago, 2008.
Wendy Griswold is a professor of Humanities and Sociology at Northwestern University. As part of her book “Regionalism and the Reading Class”, she goes into great detail as to what place is, and as to what that means for regional literature. As she puts it, “understanding ones place within a system of places orients people not just geographically, but also socially”. This is “vital for both individual identity and interpersonal communication”. She also takes the time to demarcate between place and space. “Space is an empty theatre in which something may or may not happen. When something does happen, we say it ‘takes place’, and the space becomes place”. For us to know a place, means “to understand it in an abstract way and to know it as one person knows another”. What then is regional literature? According to Griswold, “regional literature can be anything written by someone from or associated with a region”.
What does all of this mean for us though? Well regional literature can be anything written by someone from, or associated with, a region. Regions are places. Places are where things happen and hold cultural and social context. Exploring that context allows us to gain understanding of that place, which leads to greater understanding of the literature, and to greater understanding of the people associated with that literature. This all reminds me greatly of our previous discussions of what home is for us all, and why home means different things for different people. To gain understanding and to increase awareness of First Nations, by using literature, we can use region and places to ground culture and context.
Works Cited
“DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY.” Wendy Griswold: Department of Sociology – Northwestern University, www.sociology.northwestern.edu/people/faculty/core/wendy-griswold.html.
Sissay, Lemn. “A Child of the State.” TED, www.ted.com/talks/lemn_sissay_a_child_of_the_state?referrer=playlist-what_is_home#t-891079.
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“Local Briefs; the Riddle of Regionalism; since the very First Written History of Canadian Art, Academics and Artists have Attempted to Describe Art in Canada, a Country so Vast and Sparse, with so Many Regions and Cultures, that it Defied Definition. for Many, Regionalism was the Answer to this Paradox, but in Practice it has been Problematic, Time and Time again Falling into the Traps and Travails of Nationalism. if Regionalism is Right, Why Doesn’t it Reign? Story by Mike Landry.” Telegraph-Journal, 2013.
In Mike Landry’s article, he explores the process of how the Canadian government tried to react to the spreading influence of American culture. It was decided in 1949 that a commission would be set up to combat the encroachment of American culture, while at the same time finding ways to promote Canadian culture. This was done through the creation of the Massey Commission, which issued the Massey Report which “advocated for federal funding for a wide range of cultural activities, and made a series of important recommendations that resulted in the founding of the National Library of Canada (now Library and Archives Canada), the creation of the Canada Council for the Arts, federal aid for universities and the conservation of Canada’s historic places, among other initiatives”. Landry points out that this commission was a “cultural declaration of independence”. In this article, the reason regionalism didn’t help the Massey Commission was because they were looking for a national unity to define Canadian culture, not for individual flavours of culture.
It is very interesting reading this article though and the quotes it gives of how the American cultural invasion was viewed, and how strongly and quickly the Canadian government acted to preserve what they thought was Canadian culture. Within the Massey Report there is a chapter titled “The Forces of Geography” which has an interesting line which we can draw interesting parallels from: “American influences on Canadian life to say the least are impressive … It cannot be denied, however, that a vast and disproportionate amount of material coming from a single alien source may stifle rather than stimulate our own creative effort”. It is arguable that American culture is to Canadian culture, as Canadian culture is to First Nations culture. By trying to find unifying culture in Canada, the Massey Report contributed to stifling the regional stories of Canada, both those of Western cultures and First Nations. We can learn from this lesson though from tv and radio, and apply it to literature as well. If we can focus just a little bit on our regional identities, we can move past the nationalistic ideas, and gain greater understanding for who is writing our stories.
Works Cited
“Massey Commission.” Massey Commission | The Canadian Encyclopedia, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/massey-commission-emc.
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Bercuson, David Jay. “Regionalism and ‘Unlimited Identity’ in Western Canada.” Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue D’études Canadiennes, University of Toronto Press, 3 Oct. 2018
In 1980, the Journal of Canadian Studies published a now often cited article by the prolific Canadian labour, political, and military historian David Bercuson titled Regionalism and “Unlimited Identity” in Western Canada. Bercuson aims to explain the particular character of regionalism in Canada and does so by arguing that much of the regionalism we see in Canada, especially in the western provinces, is rooted in a weak and frail Canadian identity. He claims that after the first World War, waves of immigrants made western Canada their home. This was during the first phase of multiculturalism which was primarily concerned with assimilating immigrants (and Indigenous and Metis peoples) into Anglo-Canadian attitudes. However, these attitudes where themselves not stable enough to create a unifying identity amongst both new and old Canadians because these attitudes where based upon a version of Britishness that was both incomplete (Coleman identifies this was ideals of “British whiteness) and foreign from the concerns of Canadians. Consequently, Canadian’s identity became build around locally shared concerns that corresponded to their particular region rather than a national ideal.
Today in our current wave of multiculturalism in Canada, diversity is touted by Justin Trudeau as being a defining virtue of our country that gives us unity. Yet in a time of identity politics where differences are a source of division, this does not seem so clear. And perhaps focus on ethnic, sexual, and religious differences are taking Canadian’s focus away from regional differences. Perhaps the lack of literature with a unique prairie flavor that Cadler is concerned about is rooted in the current emphasis on the differences that make up identity politics.
Studying Regionalism and “Unlimited Identity” in Western Canada sheds light on “Canada’s identity crisis” that continues today and has been part of Canada since the beginning. It connects the diverse landscape that characterizes this country with a characteristic problem we have as a nation – that is, if you take this identity problem seriously.
Works Cited
Bercuson, David Jay. “Regionalism and ‘Unlimited Identity’ in Western Canada.” Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue D’études Canadiennes, University of Toronto Press, 3 Oct. 2018, muse.jhu.edu/article/675259/pdf.
Calder, Alison. “What Happened to Regionalism?” Canadian Literature, Vancouver, Spring 2010, issue 204.
Solomon, Evan. “Canada Is Undergoing a Fundamental Identity Crisis.” Macleans.ca, 1 July 2017, www.macleans.ca/politics/ottawa/canada-is-undergoing-a-fundamental-identity-crisis/.
Stabler, Jason. “Canadian Identity and Canada’s Indian Residential School Apology”, presented at Intersection 2010: Situating “Relation” in Communication and Culture, March 14 2010 at Ryerson University under the title: “Even though it was legal and well intentioned,we’re sorry:Canadian identity and Canada’s Indian Residential School apology”
In a conference in 2010, Jason Stablen, then from the University of Victoria, presented a paper titled Canadian Identity and Canada’s Indian Residential School Apology. In it he argues that the Canadian Identity is built from the stories we tell ourselves, and two of these stories are Canada as a lawfully founded country inhabited by lawful people and Canada as a benevolently founded country inhabited by benevolent people. Early European settlers believed themselves to be superior to the “lawless” Indigenous peoples and, through the use of law to exercise their power, believed that they were justified in their treatment of them. Their legal justification was terra nullius which translates to “nobodies land”. Since the Indigenous were viewed as “uncivilized inhabitants in a primitive state of society” (Stabler, 4), Canada was considered terra nullius and sovereignty was claimed of their lands. This “legal” process from which Canada was founded leads many to believe Canada was founded lawfully and that Canadians are inherently lawful. The belief in Canada as benevolence comes from comparing how Canada was colonized to other countries like the Spain and America where the Indigenous peoples where ruthlessly murdered. In contrast, Canadian colonization was characterized as “an orderly business carried out through treaty and trade relationships with Indigenous Peoples” (Stabler, 5). Currently, with social welfare, the liberalization of immigration policy, and a multicultural emphasis, many modern Canadians see themselves a benevolent. Stabler argues that we must confront the “unfounded assumptions” (7) upon which the Canadian identity is built in order to achieve a meaningful reconciliation with Indigenous peoples. The describe them as Canadian citizens goes in the wrong direction because they reject terra nullius. We must reject the claim to sovereignty over them and acknowledge them as self-governing people. Stabler’s recommendation that we avoid assimilation is consistent with the view that diversity is an essential element of the Canadian identity and tolerance is the glue that holds it together. This fits nicely with Calder’s recommendation that through Canadian literature, we should emphasize the uniqueness of the specific locations of our vast and diverse country. With a regionalistic literary cannon, diversity becomes a core element of our Canadian identity, thereby uniting us as a nation.
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Benesch, Klaus. “Space, Place, Narrative: Critical Regionalism and the Idea of Home in a Global Age.” Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, vol. 64, no.1, 2016., pp. 93-108.
Dr. Kluas Benesch is a German English American professor whose area of focus is in American literature and culture, architecture, urbanism and history of technology. In his article “Space, Place, Narrative: Critical Regionalism and the idea of Home in a Global Age” Benesch explores the two opposing cultures of home; those that are modernized with globalization and technology verses those that return to regional history and tradition. He states that with the fast-changing globalized world such as today, home has become a multi-faceted concept that people not all too easily agree upon (105). Lots of people are struggling with the idea of finding a home. According to Benesch, regionalism assumes a special relationship between people and place. A sense of a home is more than a physical manifestation of a building and a house but more symbolic. This challenges the oral traditional narratives to gain a sense of place and home within the fast-changing world that many people feel strange to. It is not easy to solve this problem and those of more local cultures are progressive and subject to rejuvenation and renewal. What I took away from Benesch’s article is that narratives carry more than just a story, it passes down to generations about what home is and sense of belonging. It teaches them that the traditions and history are important in what makes the world today. Benesch shows that it takes more than just a patch of land to build a home, but it takes imagination. Places don’t exist on their won. It is the narratives that tell us how to live properly with and in them.
Works cited
Benesch, Klaus. “Space, Place, Narrative: Critical Regionalism and the Idea of Home in a Global Age.” Zeitschrift für Anglistik und Amerikanistik, vol. 64, no.1, 2016., pp. 93-108.
“Regionalism.” Historica Canada, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/regionalism/
“Oral Traditions.” Indigenousfoundations, indigenousfoundations.arts.ubc.ca/oral_traditions/
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Calder, Alison. “What Happened to Regionalism?” Canadian Literature. Spring 2010, Issue 204.
Calder Alison is a Canadian poet and professor who teaches Canadian literature and creative writing at the University of Manitoba. In her article “What happened to Regionalism?” Calder examines what has happened with regards to location and place in studies of Canadian literature. It is observed that in literary studies, there have been very few on Aboriginal content and presence. She finds it is problematic that young writers have the idea that the time has come for “post-prairie literature.” It is problematic when we recognize that “prairie” ” is an “ideological construction that was imported at a particular moment by European colonizers, that conceives of land and economic systems and Aboriginal people in particular ways, and that as a conception and a practice continues to have devastating effects on people and environment…”(2) Calder points out that lots of globalization studies are to resist homogenizing forces but when this is thought in generalized terms rather than local or specific, it causes problems. Places are not stable, always in flux and both porous and unique. Place is a combination of unique factors such as race, gender, class and other. We don’t live generally, we live specifically so our analysis needs to be grounded in specific places.
From Calder’s argument, I agree to how as we are living in a globalized cyber world, where place is becoming irrelevant, it is more important for literature to represent specific places to connect with the surrounding world. This is because places are unique with different characteristics that represent human relationship and history. When sense of such specific place is lost, it is easy for the stories and identities to also get lost. We have to keep the story grounded in their place so such important history and stories are not lost through time.
Works cited
Calder, Alison. “What Happened to Regionalism?” Canadian Literature, Vancouver, Spring 2010, issue 204.
Cha, Victor D. “Globalization and the Study of International Security.” Journal of Peace Research, vol. 37, no. 3, 2000, pp. 391-403. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/425352.
“Literature in English.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/literature-in-english
Rachel I think your article from Pushpa Acharya raises a very excellent point in our talk of regionalism that many people might not think about, and that is of the socioeconomic region. We have talked a lot about maps and the regions they describe in this course, and whether or not mapping something even means anything depending on the culture interacting with it. I think there is also an important distinction to be made between people living on the same land. At least in Western cultures, there can be stark differences within a region when it comes to status and stratification. I don’t know for certain, but I’m not certain ideas like socioeconomic status would exist without Western influence. With the First Nations creation story the focus and central ideal is that of balance. Whereas with the genesis story, as we’ve discussed already, this leads to dichotomies and competition, which arguably is where stratification and socioeconomic status comes from. Since this does exist though, I think it’s something that is important to consider when listening to people’s stories. Their status will impact their lens and changes their region as they share, and their experiences will be different from someone outside that region. It is another think to consider when thinking about region for sure.
I think the idea of an “unlimited identity” is quite interesting. Because Canada is such a large country with such different landscapes, you really can experience pretty much everything short of a tropical environment, and you can probably experience almost every culture as well. This article points out how early on, Canada tried to create an identity by assimilating all immigrants, Indigenous, and Metis into Anglo-Canadian attitudes, as if that was the identity of the country that needed to be conformed to. I wonder if this shows then how this “identity crisis” we are in then, is a result of this attempt. Canada had an identity before settlers arrived, and although I have no idea what that was, my guess would be that it was older and more rooted in the traditions of those who lived on the land. Do you think then that if this assimilation policy hadn’t taken place the way it did, that Canada as a whole would ironically have a much stronger unifying identity if we had simply acknowledged those who were here and tried to come into a balance with their traditions?
Hi Ross,
Interesting question! Just to add onto your thought about Canada’s identity, Frye mentions that there is a contrast of unity and identity in Canada. People living in Canada may become Canadians up to a point but up to a far more limited point because feeling of Canadian is a political and social feeling which is only very imperfectly an imaginative or cultural feeling. This is because Canadians have difficulty feeling their identity as Canadians. Frye states that essential cultural and imaginative feelings in Canada are very much limited to regional and provincial for example there is British Columbia associated with tremendous mountain and trees, Newfoundland with outward to the sea and Ontario with its curious contrast of urban mixed feeling and summer cottage areas. It is difficult to characterize an identity as a nation. Frye mentions that we can work towards a national culture and imagination but needs solid regional basis. So in answer to your question, maybe yes, Canada may have a stronger unifying identify if the minority ethnical groups have been acknowledged and included.
“If we put together a few of these impressions [of the vast hostile Canadian landscape], we may get some approach to characterizing the way in which the Canadian imagination has developed in its literature. Small and isolated communities surrounded with a physical or psychological “frontier,” separated from one another and from their American and British cultural sources: communities that provide all that their member have in a way of distinctively human values, and that are compelled to feel a greater respect for the law and order that holds them together, yet confronted with a huge, unthinking, menacing, and formidable physical setting – such communities are bound to develop what we may provisionally call a garrison mentality” (222, The Bush Garden).
Frye’s comments seems to me to be a description of regionalism. I wonder then, as the world becomes more globalized, as geographical isolation ceases and the land seems less menacing, and as foreign cultural forces becomes less separated, will regionalism become a thing of the past? Perhaps Calder’s lamentations over a disappearing regionalist literature are in vain and what we are experience in literature is regionalism’s death rattle.
In the bibliography about Wendy Griswold’s article, Griswold defines regional literature as anything that is written by someone from that region. I think this is interesting, and a bit of a contradiction to what a lot of the discussion on regionalism has been saying. Alison Calder’s regionalism intervention, as well as many of the other annotated bibliographies listed here, suggests that Canadian literature should do a better job of representing Canadian culture and life. However, Griswold’s definition suggests that residing in Canada is all that is necessary. What I appreciate about this opinion is that it shows the importance of experience. As people who have lived in Canada, we certainly have Canadian experiences. These may not fit into the stereotyped Canadian understanding, but because they were experience in this particular region, they are Canadian. As well, I think Griswold’s view points to the biased worldview that all people have. All authors have a biased outlook which is an accumulation of all that they have learned and experienced in their life. This will undoubtedly play a role in the literature that they write, no matter how much they may attempt to avoid this, and that is what makes their literature Canadian – that it has been shaped, in at least some way, by their Canadian experience.
In this course, and in some of these comments, we have talked about the notion of home. Regionalism, as Benesch says, involves a special relationship between people and place. People turn a space into a place which in turn is “vital for both individual identity and interpersonal communication” (Griswold). So how to Indigenous peoples fit into this picture? Are they homeless in Chamberlin’s sense? That is, are they without a home because the stories they told themselves that connect them to their land (or place) have been eradicated by colonial powers? Can Indigenous peoples have a regionalist literature or can their literature only be diasporic (i.e. displaced)? http://canlitguides.ca/l-camille-van-der-marel/indigenous-and-diasporic-intersections-in-canadian-literature/connecting-indigenous-and-diasporic-literature-two-approaches/
Hi Ryan,
I think this is a question to think about and thank you for your link. For me, I don’t think that Indigenous people are homeless in a sense because they have been eradicated by the colonial powers. Benesch mentions that a sense of home is more than just a physical place, just because the land has been taken away, the stories can be too. I agree that the story may carry more power if it was connected to a land and many Indigenous people may have felt displaced in telling their story at first but with rapid globalization and modernization, such physical places are becoming less important. Benesch shows that “The map is not the territory…And because both places and the idea of home are concepts, culled from the imagination, it is narratives that tell us how to live properly, with and in them” (107). People can take away their land, but they can’t take away the narratives and stories that are embedded in it.
Hey Ryan and Cathy,
I think you both make some really good points. I agree with Cathy, that although colonial powers may have damaged the physical home of indigenous people, and displaced them from this land, they are not without their own stories and ties to this region. While the colonial aspects of their history where incredibly painful, they are still a part of their history, and they are just that – a part – not their whole history. Sometimes I wonder if maybe Indigenous history has become completely defined by what happened in their relations with colonial powers. And while this is obviously something that is incredibly important, and deserving of recognition and memory, there is still more to the past of Indigenous communities besides that. And like Cathy said, the Indigenous people of Canada have many narratives which tie them to this land. As well, to answer Ryan’s question, I definitely think that there can be regionalist literature for Indigenous people – in fact, I think it is imperative that this is included in Canadian regionalist literature. The difficulty with this has been discussed quite frequently in our conversations, but I think it is relevant here as well. Regionalist literature in Canada has tended to focus on the stereotyped Canadian, and often does not take into consideration the multiculturalism and numerous minorities of Canada. This needs to be broadened so that the literature extends outside the confines of those stereotypes. Indigenous communities especially, as the first residents of Canada, deserve to have their place in the regionalist literature.