About Us

Welcome to Literary Intervention’s group about page. Each of us is interested in different aspects of Canadian identity and nationalism, a concept we still have yet to agree on. Our educational focuses are diverse as well: ranging from Music, to English Literature, to Psychology. Our three picture collage represents what Canada means to us.

Timothy Choi

I am a fourth year Bachelor of Music student pursuing a double major in piano performance and English literature at the University of British Columbia. Taking this course has incited a curiosity in defining our national identity, and I hope that through this project I will come to a better understanding of this elusive and confounding concept. I am particularly interested in the linguistic diversity of Canada and the problem it poses on the creation of a national literature. This course is, after all, an English course designed to look at the Canadian literary output in the English language, and so it is imperative that we at least mention and discuss the fact that this country is officially bilingual. I hope to bring to this project the insight gained from my recent exposure to the francophone contribution to our national literary canon. If the task at hand is finding common ground between Canadians in order to tell the common story of this nation, we must seek out a linguistic common ground, if that is at all possible, or devise alternate solutions that will best accommodate this challenge to national unity.

Evan Franey

I’m in my 5th year of my undergraduate degree (taking it slow), and will be graduating this November with a major in Psychology and minor in English Literature. Although my first passion is Creative Writing, I decided to go forward with Psychology and Literature to try and find intersections between them that can help me create fully realized characters. I was born profoundly deaf, but was instantly drawn to sound when I got cochlear implant at the age of 3; from that, I became interested in the power of words, and the things they evoke. As a lover of nature, I associate English Literature with the Romanticism, and American Literature with the Pastoral, but when it comes to Canadian literature I become conscious of how the Canadian rainforest may be part of my national identity, but isn’t for everybody—what exactly constitutes a universal national identity is elusive.

Hailey Froehler

My name is Hailey Froehler and I am a fourth year English Literature major. Since beginning this course my interests have grown from merely criticizing colonialism to redefining Canadian nationalism. I began the course with a general interest in Canadian literature, and particularly how colonialism affected Canadian literature. Ending the course, I instead find my interests moving toward national identity and what qualifies as “Canadian”. Looking at immigration, for example, is significant in Canada considering every person who is not Aboriginal is a product of some kind of immigration. In addition, I find that defining what is “Canadian” has always been unnecessarily difficult. Comparing ourselves to a country like the United States, for example, makes Canada almost seem un-nationalist.

Landon Tang

I’m a fourth year Psychology student in the Bachelor of Arts program. My focus in Psychology is on cognitive interventions, and neurological functioning. I’ve always been interested in why people choose to engage in the actions they do, what leads people to like or dislike someone, and what creates psychological dysfunction (biological and genetic, psychological, hormonal/chemical, structural abnormalities of the brain, and cultural/societal/upbringing all play a part in the creation of mental illness). Through my studies I’ve learned that people are more similar than they are different, problems vary according to societal and cultural beliefs, and background/peripheral details are incredibly important (in formation of relationships, judgements, evaluations). My interest in psychology has recently moved to the world of perception created by the brain: how much of what we see and hear is filled in by the brain’s expectations, what errors the brain makes in its functioning, and how much free will we actually have and to what degree we are really just a product of our brain’s automation (the brain thinks up an action 5-10 milliseconds before we are aware and react)?

I’m interested in Canadian literature and culture because of its multicultural focus. It would seem that there isn’t a signal unifying characteristic that makes a person Canadian. This is of concern to me because national identity acts as a sort of glue that keeps different people connected, and history and recent news (Sweden’s anti-immigrant party won majority seats, rise of racism in the UK and Greece) demonstrates a growing necessity for people to feel bound to each other despite differences. Canada is an interesting country because it relies heavily upon immigration to keep population steady between birth and mortality rates. Canada is also recognized for promoting multiple cultures and their festivities, and allowing these people freedom to practice (some provinces better than others). What’s interesting is that each province is very different in terms of their beliefs, and views on different cultures. It is my opinion that attention should be provided to acknowledging the diversity of the population, and educating the population on differing beliefs as equally valid (as to avoid ethnocentrism).