Neoliberalism: Neoliberal capitalism is an approach to economics and social studies in which control of economic factors is shifted from the public sector to the private sector. It is centered on commodity production, as it advocates for free, open markets.
Herb Wyile’s intervention examines how neoliberalism has affected the economy thus far, and how our reaction to it will continue to shape the future of Canadian literature. He muses: “the key question is whether the present global financial turbulence, which has precipitated a profound challenge to this neoliberal hegemony, will amount to a true crisis of capitalism or merely a temporary check on its fortunes.”
Wyile proposes that the outcome of how we handle the current financial turbulence will shape Canadian literature in three ways:
- What we have to teach and to research. While Canadian literature has typically been grounded in the material, digitization and electronic publishing offer new avenues.
- Canadian literature itself, which always responded to its broader social,
political, and economical conditions. - Where and how we research, teach, and write about Canadian literature.
When researching interventions, the ones that interested us focused on a collaboration between people from different backgrounds with varying ideas, and the way in which a meaningful critique can arise from one that has equal parts of both gratitude and critique. Ideally, privately distributed literature would give the opportunity for a medley of voices to be heard — which is where a neoliberal approach to literature would be beneficial. That being said, we, of course, understand the drawbacks of such an economy; primarily that not all groups and individuals have equal access and means with which to publish their own literature/stories.
We would like to investigate the historical necessity of such an impact, more particularly explore what will happen to Canadian literature in such a neoliberal economy as time progresses, and what would be changes made to it that would be left to study.
This TEDxTalk provides a humorous example of what privatization of Canadian history would look like. Richard Kemick provides facts, examples, and scenarios in a future where the stories of Canada are industrialized and marginalized in such a refreshing and hilarious way. While Kemick uses these examples in a satirical way to argue that UBC shows its students (through the nice facilities of other faculties, such as Business and Chemistry, compared to those in the dodgy state of the Arts buildings), we have yet to take a stance on the matter, and look forward to researching the historical necessity of the idea. This video remains a good example and insight into the intervention that Herb Wyile discusses: the future of Canadian stories, literature, and history, and the exploration and mechanics of it all.
Works Cited
Wyile, Herb. “Neoliberalism and the Future of Canadian Literature.” Canadian Literature.204 (2010): 108,110,166. ProQuest.Web. 23 July 2015.
“What’s the Difference Between the Capitalism and Neoliberalism?” Debate Central. National Center for Policy Analysis, 2014. Web. 25 July 2015.
TEDx Talks. “Richard Kemick – Appraising Canada’s Future: Creating Value from Our Past.” Online video clip. Youtube, 8 Dec 2011. Web. 24 Jul. 2015.
Canadian Studies Books-FC-700-393. N.d. University College Library, Toronto. Canadian Studies. Photograph. Web. 24 Jul. 2015.
Canlit-1968-2003-c-700-393_0. N.d. University College Library, Toronto. Canadian Studies. Photograph. Web. 24 Jul. 2015.
Canlit-1968-2003-e-700-393_0. N.d. University College Library, Toronto. Canadian Studies. Photograph. Web. 24 Jul. 2015.
Thank you for your website! I like the design of it, very easy on the eyes. I find your topic very fascinating. How did you choose it?
I think the video that you have chosen is a great source. Will you be exploring other cultures that have privatized literature and weighing the effects of it? Thank you 🙂
Thanks! We found that the video not only broke down the idea of privatization well, but it also showed the impact that it could have. I think our main focus will be in Canada, but we’ll definitely look into how other countries have handled neoliberalism and its effects. Especially when it’s in comparison to how neoliberalism may have affected their culture and literature with Canada’s, and probably the history, background and statistics if previous studies have researched about them.
-Team
Hi guys,
I love your website design – very clean and it even seems reminiscent of neo-liberalism!
It’s really interesting to look at literature and economics together. This class is all about how far-reaching and deep-rooted and universal storytelling is, and your approach echoes that in a way, by looking at how everything is affected by our economic system and philosophy. This is a unique way of getting to a question that I think a lot of our interventions share: “a collaboration between people from different backgrounds with varying ideas, and the way in which a meaningful critique can arise from one that has equal parts of both gratitude and critique.”
I’m looking forward to your discussion!
Thanks,
Kaitie
PS your url is awesome 🙂
Absolutely! We find it fascinating (and complicated) how the distribution of art must rely on being sold, which then feeds into how the nation functions economically and philosophically, as you’ve said. And thanks! We’re all about the puns!
-Team
Hi, very interesting topic! Neoliberalism is a complex concept and I think the ideology is so murky that it definitely merits an intervention. Look forward to seeing what you come up with!
We are indeed learning just how complex neoliberalism is! It will definitely be interesting to delve into it and see how it affects arts and culture. Economics is not our strong suit at all, and it’s been an adventure bringing in different kinds of approaches and thinking into this research project, for sure. It’s both a great challenge and also has its fun learning all these things as we go along.
-Team
Hi Guys!
I like the concept of people with different backgrounds looking at literature together as well as collaborating. I think it would be interesting if you shed some light on the difficulties that would create with the cultural backgrounds. I know personally sometimes I have very strong morals in regards to certain subjects, maybe give an example of the collaboration of two people with very different backgrounds (everything from ethnicity to economic state).
I love the comments about the building as UBC, the bathroom don’t even work in binnings yet the earth and ocean science building has hardwood walls (who the heck needs hardwood walls).
I am interested in your concept of economy and literature and returning back to what I said you do bring up a valid point that some people may not have the means to publish. I have never really thought about that before.
Great idea!
Tai
The collaboration between people of different backgrounds is definitely an interest of ours. There’s certainly the danger of a story being published by one person/group that doesn’t aptly represent the thinking of others, which would create the necessity to take everything that’s published with a grain of salt, to not take this single idea as the be all, end all on the subject.
And the difference of culture definitely plays a huge part in this kind of research, especially since Canada has such a vast and unique background than say, America. And that kind of consideration affects the process of publication, as well as the role to feed into the system of capitalism – what people want to read, are comfortable sharing and learning about, the different interest of different kinds of people and their studies (arts, business, science, etc). And while we will focus on economy and literature itself, it is definitely a vital component to consider other backgrounds and concepts. Thanks for your suggestion and insight! We appreciate it.
So much of artistic space is privileged in Canada, there is certainly an inner circle that maintains control of a majority of the art that is massed produced – ie. most publishing companies will only read solicited manuscripts, therefore a first time author needs to get an agent often just to be read. So even at the root level of these spaces, before we enter into any ideas of ethnicity and economic state of the artist there are already barriers to their creation.
-Team
Hello! What a great topic! I am really interested in your concept of how to bring about change through varying the ways in which materials are dispersed and taught–namely the shift from material to digital. It reminds me of Obama’s new plan in America to bring internet connections to thousands of impoverished homes across America. The internet is quickly becoming a necessary utility and a connection to the larger world for more and more communities. I feel like your point about how self publishing is limited by the economy is a good one and rooted in the communication, power, and representation that the internet creates for individuals.
Yes, as Wyile points out, there are electronic publishing and digitization definitely offer new opportunities for individuals to let their voice be heard. One issue we’re contemplating is first having to sort through all of the other voices online, and we also (as we’re all familiar with our frenemy Wikipedia) have to be careful of the legitimacy of information published online. It really is hard to pinpoint on just one path to research on for this intervention, one that allows multiple levels of study and research that can come from all different concepts. Like digitization, neoliberalism, economics, and so on.We’ll try to explore as much as we can, especially since what you brought up is certainly interesting to dive into and could help widen our research. Hopefully we’ll be able to cover as much as we could and be able to produce results that would answer an array of questions and possibilities. Certainly, digitization done right (with appropriate access) can allow for a much broader spectrum of Canadian works to be made public, and with that a greater spectrum of the Canadian experience could be covered/understood.
-Team
Hi guys,
Neoliberal capitalism has always interested me so I’m looking forward to reading your stuff. Will you guys be looking into how it would affect narratives? As in, what type of stories will become popular, etc?
Kemick talks about turning the unpopular into the popular and the unprofitable into the profitable, will you guys be looking into how neoliberal capitalism might have an impact on stories concerned about the “others”, the foreign, the Indigenous people, people of color, etc?
Thanks,
EJ
That’s definitely a major concern when it comes to neoliberalism. Who has the means to publish their stories? Who will listen to them if they are published? It’s all very well to actually get your writing read, but having people pay attention to it and to find credence in it might be a whole other journey.
As Frye talked about in his book Bush Gardens, comparing American literature with Canadian literature, it’s surprising to see how much praise American literature has achieved, while Canadian literature still remain in the back shelves. So that will be a huge part of our research, studying the impact of what audiences are interested in reading about, what sells and what doesn’t, etc., since it plays a huge role in the publication and neoliberal system. Lots of our “literary” publications (ie – the Walrus) are barely circulated, where publications like the New Yorker have a worldwide traction.
-Team
Wow! First of all, love the title! Secondly, I think your group has got it right by including economics and privatization in the discussion of literature, even though they don’t at first seem related. As a classical musician, looking back at the development of music makes me realize that many of the greatest artistic achievements flourished because of an underlying capitalist system, not in spite of it. If we want to produce great art worthy of forming the basis of our artistic and cultural heritage, we must learn to focus our limited resources and promote an appreciation of national literature through the private sector. I look forward to reading more about your intervention.
It’s kind of a shame how intertwined the worlds of commercialism and art are connected. It can be quite limiting as far as what is published, for instance, if companies only want to put out literature/films/music that they believe is extremely accessible to the general market and will sell well, that doesn’t always guarantee the most hard-hitting content. But, as you’ve noted, many great artistic achievements have flourished because of a capitalist system. We need a Canadian literature patron – like Michelangelo had from the Medici’s!
-Team
Hi!
I absolutely love your topic and think it is a very unique lens to use when looking at Indigenous literature and narratives. Looking at the privatization of academic writing is a clear, pragmatic approach that can lay the foundation for more theoretical discussion on neoliberalism(s) and how they validate certain types of knowledge–privatizing literature is commodifying it and thus assigning value to it. This can be both very limiting and empowering.
Neoliberalism itself has a very young history. Economics is mind blowing because it is as “science” created entirely by humans–it assumes a lot of truths and objectivity that overlook various lifestyles and histories. Because neoliberalism is so young, it can be linked back to the economists and think tanks that fostered it. It is a narrative on these people’s lifestyles and backgrounds as well–something interesting and important to keep in mind in discussing how neoliberalism amplifies certain voices and backgrounds.
Great topic, I’m so excited to read more!
Cheers!
Jocelyn
Your point about the system of neoliberalism as “very limiting and empowering” is very true. Our world relies heavily on economy, and that affects a variety of concepts underneath it – literature being one of them in the publication process. But what makes it a vital topic is that literature holds so much more than words on a paper. In the case of our intervention, it covers Canadian culture and its history that is shared through its published work and literature, and however the neoliberal system works either favours it or doesn’t, thus limiting its spread and boosting their own sense of empowerment over that kind of control.
Putting the future of an artistic practice into a somewhat unregulated practice does seem like it could be limiting and I think the exploration of that will be fascinating – truly what is the difference in funding between a regulated government body and a privatized individual donor type situation.
Thanks so much for your insight and input! We ourselves are still learning more and more about neoliberalism as we go along, so your comment is of great help to us and our research. It does play a huge role on people’s lifestyle, background, and culture, as it controls what gets put out there and what is kept behind. So diving into this study has been a definite adventure so far.
-Team
Like many commenters, I like your decision to think about capitalism in relation to these topics – I think it’ll be quite interesting to look at how it affects Canadian literature. I would be curious to know more about what you mean by the historical necessity of the impact.
I also quite like your website design – I think the different font for the subtitle and the way images are inserted are especially well done.
It is certainly fascinating to look at the longevity of artistic practices and their economic support – art that was created as a reaction to a social climate, did it only last because it had economic viability? Did musical theatre in North American culture only stick around because it remained financially viable over extended periods of time?
We want to consider the effects and results of economic influence over art and literature over the years to use as a basis to compare. It’ll be important to see what direction was taken due to the neoliberlism route and see if it’s still what’s happening today or if it has changed, then evaluate why and how.
Thanks for the aesthetic shout out! It’s crazy how important visuals tend to become on the internet, certainly I will spend more time reading something if it is clearly laid out and the font is pleasing.
-Team
Hey, guys! This is an awesome topic, and I think your ideas about the intertwined nature of art and economy are (while kind of depressing to think about) very insightful and accurate. I was wondering if you had any research or original ideas about how art itself has changed “as a reaction to the social climate” — as in, does the economy directly influence the types of art created? Is there less art “for art’s sake” or is it mostly stuff that will create commercial gains? I know that in the world of writing, for example, fiction writers do much better than poets do financially, because their medium is more highly accessible–but does that mean we should encourage young writers to pursue novel writing over poetry? To what extent does the financial market influence our creative output?
Hey guys,
So I know that our dialogue is officially over, but just as we are finishing up our conference summaries etc., I wanted to follow up on Hava’s thoughts above. Our team came to no easy conclusions about online independent publishing versus mainstream publishing within a climate of neoliberal economics, but it certainly generated a conversation surrounding accessibility in art making, and questions of universalizing access to online databases. I think Hava’s commentary about economics and the art market is part of a perpetual discussion amongst artists/writers who find themselves having to negotiate the very complex terrain of public vs. private funding, the question of de-politicizing or “watering down” artistic intent to fit funding models, and the realities of having to support oneself financially. Certainly so many areas of future research to look into! Thanks for your team’s insights!