What is Canada?
To give us all an idea of our preconceptions coming into the course, write your blog entry on what you think Canada is and what the storyline(s) of Canadian history are; i.e. “Canada is ….” And “Canadian history is about ….” – you fill in the blanks!
The idea of Canada as a multicultural nation is relatively new. But is it, given what you’ve learned in lecture so far?
Is economic behaviour universal? Do all people pursue their material self-interest all the time? Put another way, can you think of situations where a “backward sloping supply curve” would explain your behaviour?
Communication across cultures is tricky. Do you have an experience of how you successfully or unsuccessfully negotiated a cultural boundary? Did you work out a “middle ground”? How?
What factors shaped the limits of accommodation in British North America in the early 1800s?
Given what you’ve learned this week about the politics of representation, what ideological purposes does the image below fulfill?
In what ways were the Rebellions in the Canadas similar to those in the Atlantic region? To what extent and in what ways might the 1830s be seen as an age of revolution in British North America?
Reflecting on the course so far, and not just on this week’s lectures, to what extent and in what ways can “Canada” be considered a “Metis civilization” as John Ralston Saul terms it?
Can we consider team sports part of governmentality? Why?
So what is Canada? Specifically, what are the storylines running through the first half of this course?
