CONFERENCE GOALS

The goals for our conference are very straightforward. We hope to:

1. Learn more about our proposed area of interest through individual and group research.
2. Become more comfortable with the compiling of online resources and the usage of hyperlinking and web-blogging to enhance the literary research experience.
3. Facilitate discussion about our areas of research with other members of our academic community.

An image that corresponds with a lot of the ideas we have discussed in class so far. (Pietropaolo)

AREA OF RESEARCH

As a group, our mission is to pursue in the context of our course materials Susie O’Brien’s intervention, “Canadian Literary Environments,” beyond the limits of its five-minute running time. The attraction to O’Brien’s proposed strategy stems from this course’s central themes of intersections and collaboration. Academic studies increasingly tend towards specificity, which can lead to solipsism and sterility; O’Brien, however, strives to forge connections “between Canadianists of different stripes.” Canadian scholars seem primarily to be occupied with two sides of Canada’s legacy- colonialism and its residual effects (“post-colonialism”) and the environment (“ecocriticism”)- and in O’Brien’s intervention, she shows that these fields are far from being at odds. O’Brien’s discussion of Indigenous studies is of particular interest, particularly in light of this course’s content. According to O’Brien, Indigenous studies exemplify the necessary dialogue between post-colonial and eco-critical perspectives. Indigenous studies remind us that it is “impossible to talk about the environment in a meaningful way without addressing the history of colonialism” (O’Brien). It is here, at the intersection of environmental concerns and of post-colonial concerns, that perhaps we can mobilize our discussions of story as a way to think about this proposed intervention. For can we not think of the legacy of colonialism and the legacy of environmental destruction in North America as bearing narrative threads of a larger, shared story? Think of the character Eli Stands Alone in Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water who fights big business to protect Native land from destruction, an example of “environmental racism” in which the destruction of land and culture meet.

What’s most exciting about this intervention is its political aspect; it connects in very real ways to current Canadian issues. This is not Northrop Frye’s hermetically sealed literary universe but rather an interdisciplinary feedback loop. O’Brien puts forward a conception of literary/cultural theory as having effects outside of the enclosed realm of academia. It is this emphasis on politically engaged scholarship that interests us, both as participants within the institution of academia itself, and as students who would like to see the future of Canadian literary studies grounded in discussions of advocacy and of policy change.  Works like Edward Chamberlin’s If This Is Your, Land Where Are Your Stories? and Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water wear their sociopolitical concerns on their sleeve, and we read them for this reason in addition to their ample literary merit. In these works, humans are bonded to the land by narrative, a narrative in which colonialism is often foregrounded- no facet is necessarily subordinated to the other, but rather the engagements complement one another. This intervention is made in an effort to step back and examine where common interests lie so that; these issues do not exist in isolation, and neither do their solutions.

GROUP BIOS

Max Miller – I’m a student specializing in English Literature and History, entering my fourth year at UBC in the fall. I have always been “raised political” and was taught, at home and at school, to make myself aware of social and political issues from a young age. Once I arrived at university, one of my passions became rhetoric – studying the art of persuasion, the motivations behind most writing and speech, and discovering the reasons people say what they do. Additionally, my family contains a First Nations branch through my sister’s husband (a Native artist responsible for public artwork around the city, including the totem pole at Thunderbird Arena). This part of my family remains unfamiliar to me, and I know I’m miles off from understanding their experiences in this country. As such, I am very excited to have found this topic for research, which seems to find an intersection between many of my interests – our intervention looks at the way that literature and writing can enact advocacy and positive change in political policies relating to race, class, and the environment.

Hayden Cook – I’m a fourth year literature major at UBC finishing up my final credits before graduation in November. I’ve certainly enjoyed my time as a lit major and the opportunities it has afforded me, but the overwhelming revelation I’ve come out with is my (at least partially) willful ignorance to current issues. Film, music, and literature are my passions and crippling addictions; however, engaging with the works on this syllabus has been enlightening but also jarring. Now that my brain had left the academic brine jar and entered the working world sufficiently pickled, I appreciate what university has given me but fully recognize that it has left me blind in other ways, which is why this intervention appeals to me (and us). Susie O’Brien announces herself as an outsider at the outset of her talk, a perspective I can now identify with, and it is this perspective that allows her to illuminate the connections between the realm of the imagination and the reality it reflects and distorts. By hearing O’Brien out and acting on her proposed intervention perhaps we can help ameliorate the exploitation of both land and people in the future and gesture towards mending the wounds of the past. For now, I still need liberal daily doses of escapism to keep myself afloat, but it is my hope that this project helps transition me out of my cave.

Laura Avery – I’m a fourth year English Literature Major, who will be graduating in the spring. I have stretched this degree over more years than is standard, as I also work professionally as a contemporary dance artist with a Vancouver based dance company. My current literary interests are oftentimes informed by feminist and queer theory, and the ways in which these theoretical conversations contribute to the study of literary texts. I also have many questions, both as a dance artist and as a student of literature, regarding the tangible effects of a socially based, and politically responsive art practice. I am therefore interested in scholarly discussions concerned with the relationship between theory and praxis. In terms of our intervention project, I am interested in researching the ways in which eco-critical scholars are speaking to this tension between theory and “real world” practice.

Hava Rosenberg – I am a fourth year double major in English Literature and Creative Writing. I spent last semester abroad at Uppsala Universitet in Uppsala, Sweden, and currently am living in my hometown of Denver, Colorado, where I teach literature to Grade 8 students through a non-profit summer education program for underserved students in the Denver metropolitan area. My current (and ever-changing) literary interests range from Nordic and Scandinavian literature to medieval studies to postmodernism, but this class has provided me with my first opportunity to delve into First Nations literature, an experience that has broadened my research interests and really made me reconsider the literary landscape of the country I now call home.

A video we found particularly interesting: Neil Young using his celebrity to stand with First Nations against Tar Sands and assert that “Canada cannot just walk over everyone.” (Thehhammer)

TENTATIVE TEAM SCHEDULE
We’re still figuring out the details about timing, so this is a little bit generalized:

MEETING NIGHTS: MONDAY / THURSDAY 1800 – 2000 PST (AS NEEDED)
MEETING FORMAT: FACEBOOK, GOOGLE DOC
TEAM MEMBERS: HAYDEN COOK, HAVA ROSENBERG, LAURA AVERY, MAX MILLER

JULY 22 – Post team schedule to blog. (complete)

JULY 24 – Post about page to blog with individual blurbs.

JULY 24 – 31 – Pick two other teams to pair with by individually researching and discussing findings as a group via Facebook and Google Doc. Individually review and comment on other websites as per conditions of assignment 4:4.

JULY 31 – 07 – Begin drafting home page and annotated bibliography in Google Doc (already created), Hava will compile all information onto the website itself, begin commenting on partner blog and our blog for dialogue. Complete and hyperlink bibliography, ensure correct citation.

AUGUST 07 – 14 – Communicate via Facebook and Google Doc about blog posts and review members’ contributions, confirm all members have contributed. Organize dialogue summary on Google Docs, complete summary and post on website for final evaluation.

Finally, we would like to acknowledge that as students at the University of British Columbia, we are all connected by our attendance of a university campus located on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of the Musqueam people.

WORKS CITED 

O’Brien, Susie. “Canadian Literary Environments.” Canadian Literature 204 (2010): 118. Literature Resource Center. Web. 24 July 2015.

Pietropaolo, Cristina. “Oh Canada, Our Home on Native Land.” Photograph. Nationalism Studies: Monitoring the Changing World. WordPress, 11 Nov 2014. Web. 24 July 2015.

Thehhammer. “Neil Young stands with First Nations against Tar Sands – Honour the Treaties.” Online video clip. Youtube. Youtube, 13 Jan 2014. Web. 24 July 2015.