Dialogue

Dialogue Summary

An introduction of the team’s intervention strategy. Include some discussion on how your research addresses a particular call to action. State this clearly.

Throughout the course of this online conference, the focus of Team Blue’s interest and research has been in investigating the ways in which capitalism and neoliberalism affect what literature is produced and consumed by Canadians, considering how these forces affect future generations of writers, and discussing how these systems may be subverted to produce a more holistic and diverse literary market and national canon. Our research included fiction and non-fiction literature, as well as the effect of imposing the English language on scientific studies. Our strategies included researching neoliberal market trends in the publishing and literature consumption world, discovering organizations who operated outside the typical publishing world, and researching a variety of clubs, groups and organizations whose work enhances the presence of excellent and diverse literature in Canada. By engaging with other team members in our conference dialogue, we were able to learn even more than we were able from research alone.

Central points, issues, and questions arising from the dialogue:

• Many populations are silenced as a result of our current economic system.
• How are these populations silenced?
• The influences of capitalism and neoliberalism on oppressed individuals were far-reaching and encompassed nearly every aspect of a writer’s life.
• When we say oppressed, in what way do we mean it?
• Further study confirmed that many diverse works were being published and consumed in Canada, so our focus will be on individuals who are oppressed economically as a result of neoliberalism and capitalism, as well as the role of the imposition of English language on all literature.
• Socio-economic circumstances experienced by oppressed individuals: raised by parents who were not able to afford post-secondary education/focused on working to provide for their families, education that lacks focus on creative activities, lack of opportunities poor living conditions, no place to write, no time to write due to work schedule, lack funds for writing technology (ie. Computer, internet, pen and paper) no funds for post-secondary or specific writer workshop training. In general, many economically oppressed individuals are made to worry more about finances than about working on their writing. Neoliberalism dictates that time is money.
• If one of these oppressed writers is able to complete a work, how does it get published?
• At first we considered that publishing companies and mega-corporations would be so consumed with earning a profit on the books that they published, that they would not consider giving a newer or less experienced author a shot.
• Mega-corporations employ only a handful of buyers who make important purchasing decisions for many retail bookstores, which lowers the chances of new authors being noticed by large retailers. Also homogenizes the literary market place, which affect the tastes and interests of readers and consumers.
• We considered the possibility of self-publication, available online in print or eBook format. The only problem was that there was a cost. In order to take part in the literary world, many companies require that author’s pay for their published works, and even take royalties off of every sale. Furthermore, the self-publishing companies do not promote the author’s work, and the author must do it themselves or they will never receive any money until their book has sold to many individuals. This makes promoting and selling one’s work almost a full time job , but most economically oppressed individuals do not have this kind of time.
• Silver lining: The popularity of Internet shopping has dealt a blow to large retail stores. In addition, companies like Amazon make it possible for any book to find a reader thanks to specific searches and recommendations based on books a shopper already likes. This increases the chances that a new narrative will be popular.
• Silver lining: If a book does well on Amazon, they are often printed in hardcover and sold at large retailers, increasing profits for the author.
• What is the art of everyday? Is it fair that sometimes the art of everyday (ie. Fanfiction) does not financially benefit it’s creator?
• Homogenized literature – Editors/publishers/writers make narratives that are consumable, so they will sell more. This is the dictating of what stories are consumed and which ones die.
• Silver lining: Groups and organizations such as Canada Reads, Governor General’s Award, Oprah’s book club etc. do much to promote diverse literature that is reflective of the cultural mosaic of Canada.
• Problems with English as a ‘universal language’ – Important information is lost in translation, so sometimes academic studies are not translated into English. This leaves gaps in international research resulting in a market approach for social-science research.
• Knowledge production in Anglo-American spaces is affected by translation and publishing decisions, rather than the validity and importance of the research.

Quotations:

  “By mass-producing a “simpler” form of literature (so to speak), our society has mass-produced people who do not and will not learn about knowledge systems and worldviews apart from their own and those essentialized in popular novels. In this way, neoliberalism reinforces racism, essentialism, and cultural imperialism within our society and against minorities”

Nick Babey – Team Canoe

Nick’s insights were extremely astute and powerful in reminding us of the real world effects of homogenized and essentialized literature. Nicks’ theory also helps us to bring our research full circle, as we believe that some of these dangerous attitudes that develop as a result of lack of education from diverse literature, will be integral in maintaining the current world order that oppresses so many. How will we teach our children to think critically, if literature is already thought through for them?

 

“There are multiple self-publishing websites where diverse material can be shared which reduces the influence that capitalism has. I mainly see two problems with this 1) there are less advertising for the piece of literature being published which means that it gets fewer readerships and 2) there is generally no financial benefit to the author”

Samantha Smirfitt – Team Canoe

Samantha’s observations are absolutely correct and highlight perfectly the frustrating and seemingly inescapable culture of self-publishing. If writers are rejected by publishers, who operate under capitalism and neoliberalism, then they are expected to self-publish or simply release their work for free on the internet. Self-publishing, as of yet, is not very profitable for new author’s. As a result, authors are not able to engage in and benefit from capitalism through the sale of their work. This brings to mind even more questions about the validity of art or literature as a reflection of its purpose. Snobby opinions dictate that art is made for art’s sake, but only the wealthy, who already benefit from capitalism, can afford to create art for art’s sake with no intention to profit financially from it.

 

   “I wonder, then, if eBooks will help those people actually publish physical books. I believe books like the Martion started out this way, and Fifty Shades of Grey. It seems, then, that more ‘out there’ novels can still make it into ‘big-book’ stores through this method”

Sylvia Halpert – Team Canoe

 

Sylvia’s observation was the first to make a suggestion of how new authors could subvert the system that may oppress them. Our team checked into Sylvia’s hunches that The Martian and Fifty Shades of Grey were both originally self-published online and she was correct! Fifty Shades of Grey actually started as fan fiction based on the vampire series Twilight. This is exciting news because it shows that if an author has talent and a little bit of luck, they are able to find success. However, this intervention in the capitalist and neoliberal areas of literature does not take in to account the socio-economic history of these writers and does not address issues of inequality that silence the narrative voices of so many oppressed populations.

Conclusion

This conference has shown us that the issues surrounding publication and consumption of literature in a neoliberal and capitalistic nation are more prevalent and pervasive than we originally imagined. Our team has struggled to determine which courses of or calls to action would be most appropriate and realistic given the sweeping presence of an economic system that on one hand benefits, and on the other oppresses us.

Specific Areas for Future Research:

• Determine the extent to which scholarships and bursaries consider the language arts
• Explore the influence of community lead literacy projects (such as Canada Reads) in motivating and inspiring writers, as well as educating readers
• Determine the extent to which self-publishing is profitable for authors
• Interrogate new literature to determine if the extent to which important ideals are essentialized in narratives