There are many voices in every story, even if you can only hear one. Coming from a rather loud family with two other sisters, I know what it’s like to almost hear half a dozen voices at once and attempt to pick which one to listen to or not.
My name is Cristabel Koo, but you can call me Crista. I’m a fourth year student majoring in English literature and minoring in sociology. I have recently taken a seminar course on Canadian autobiographies and most (pretty much all) of my knowledge on Canadian literature is from that awesome class. However, before that, I came into my studies initially interested in gender and sexuality discourses in literature, or what is called Queer Theory. Yet as I progressed in my studies, I was reminded how, as gender and sexuality is fluid, other matters of intersectionality flow into these realms as well. I was not only realizing the flexibility of gender and sexual identity, but how identity is also impacted by cultural landscapes.
Wah’s book is written like an autobiography and talks about his life growing up in his father’s diner. It’s a bit of a tough read but I have the idea that Wah is a tough guy and that’s pretty cool.
As a Canadian born Chinese, my experiences in Canada would differ from common historical narratives found in Western colonialist culture. Fred Wah’s Diamond Grill is one of those stories I can relate to. He writes about living in the hyphen, or in a place that straddles the doorways of whiteness and Chineseness and how that all comes together to create what he sees as Canadian. Attempting to understand where you are and who you are in certain places is something I feel that is common in forming Canadian identity.
On the same vein, English 470A Canadian Studies will explore the experiences of European and Indigenous Canadians and how these experiences are passed on through literature and oral tradition. These stories can be used to cement canons of Canadian literature or even at times, break them down in order to create new narratives. These narratives help to create a sense of identity, or in relation to the course, a Canadian identity. However, it is important to understand Canadian identity is not one solid idea. It is many and goes beyond just Western colonizing narratives. As Northrop Frye writes, the “Canadian identity has been profoundly disturbed, not so much our famous problem of identity […] but by a series of paradoxes in what confronts that identity.” These paradoxes being the many differing and conflicting histories and experiences of Canadians. The course will focus on how each voice and story has a legitimate part in creating a Canadian literary canon – more specifically, whose voice and story is heard, or unheard, and whose histories makes it into the canon.
Really Professional Photo taken from my very professional iPhone at the Museum of Anthropology
This brings in the debated idea of authenticity and legitimacy of Canadianism. We are often surrounded by First Nations art – from the Canucks logo to the walkway entering Canada when you arrive from international flights at the YVR Airport – but the stories of these artworks are not always heard. And I am guilty of looking at them with an air of distance and I know it can seem non-Canadian to some. Last term, I attended a mini-class field trip in one of my sociology courses. We visited the Museum of Anthropology on campus. There, the guide walked us through the artwork and artefacts displayed and spoke of how often people have complained about the legitimacy of contemporary Aboriginal artwork being mixed in with the “traditional”. Upon starting this course, I am reminded of the tour guide’s story and how it raised the question of what can be considered “real” or authentic Aboriginal artwork and what is not. What is Canada then? Who is a Canadian and who is not? Whose work is allowed to pass the mark and whose isn’t? I’m hoping this course will add on to these questions that are very difficult to answer (and probably have no single all-defining answer) and to help me gain knowledge and understanding of the perspectives of European and Indigenous Canadians.
Nice iphoto!
Haha, thank you!
Hey Crista,
I think you make an excellent point about what it means to be an “authentic” Canadian. What criteria must we meet and who is in charge of delineating such standards? Is it an unspoken agenda? Or is it blatantly indoctrinated in “legitimate” documents such as the Indian Act, which was responsible for the creation of residential schools designed to “kill the Indian in the child” (CBC News 2011).
I think we’re living in an exciting time period. We’re just beginning to critically examine our history with the intent of contemplating a more inclusive, diverse and multicultural Canadian identity.
I look forward to reading your opinions on future assignments!
“Background: The Indian Act.” CBC News. The Canadian Press, 2011. Web. 8 Jan. 2014.
Hello Crista!
I really enjoyed reading your post and am looking forward to your next ones! Your comments about the separation or distance involved in viewing art and other objects from a different culture are very thought-provoking. I just visited the Charles Edenshaw exhibit at the Vancouver Art Gallery. Edenshaw was a Haida artist who lived from 1839 -1920. I felt that I couldn’t fully grasp the significance of his artwork without listening to someone recount or interpret the stories that are explicitly drawn, carved, or painted on his works. My lack of understanding leads me to question my reaction to artwork in general, as there could very well be many hidden stories involved in works that initially seem more accessible to me.
“Charles Edenshaw.” Current Exhibitions. Vancouver Art Gallery, 2013. Web. 9 January 2014.
Hi Crista, thanks for the great introduction and thought-provoking questions: an excellent way to begin. We will be exploring questions of authenticity and identity quite a bit, so you are beginning with excellent questions. I agree with Zara, we are living in an exciting time for so many reasons – one being our ability to shape identities online: unmediated and interconnected with so many “others.” In the past, the art that you question was most often ‘misrepresented’ by the context in which it was presented. You will certainly have the opportunity to explore your questions and I look forward to working with you – thanks, Erika
Hi Crista! I was reading your post and realized that we have a lot in common: English literature major, Sociology minor, Canadian-born Chinese, and I also took a class on queer theory (with Dr. Sean Saunders). I am also glad to find somebody who shares a similar point of view on Canadian identity.
I particularly like your comment on who is a Canadian and who is not because different people may picture a different individual when the word “Canadian” is mentioned.
If you studied the concept of binaries in queer theory, perhaps you will agree with me that they also appear in Canadian society. There is a mold and criteria of an ideal Canadian and either individuals fit it or not at all. There is no middle ground.
I hope we will have further correspondences this term! 🙂