Hello and welcome to my blog for English 470A – Oh Canada! “Our Home and Native Land?” I will be blogging and joining this class from Ottawa for the term as my partner is a student at the University of Ottawa and I jumped at the chance to move here for her as well as the opportunity to experience Canada from a different perspective. I plan to return to Vancouver, where I have lived for the majority of my life, in the spring to continue working and preparing for my masters in counselling psychology. I hold a degree in Anthropology from UBC and, after working for the past few years, I have refocused on career as a clinical counsellor. I am currently taking prerequisite courses for counselling and finishing my diploma in guidance studies through UBC. I am also taking a couple of interesting courses such as this while I am at it. It seems to be a perfect time for me to learn more about this nation through Canadian literature and story.
This course looks to explore the relations between canon building and nation building, emphasizing the often overlooked role of Canada’s Indigenous peoples in this process. I expect that this class will teach me about the relationships between literature and storytelling in Canada through a lens that will help me challenge colonizing narratives and representations that are prevalent in Canada. I am also hopeful that this course will explore the idea of having a Canadian identity and what it really means to be Canadian, both historically and in Canada today. I expect to learn about this idea and many others through rich and powerful stories that will deepen my interest in this land. I also hope to expand my working knowledge of social media platforms and the way in which they can be used to positively connect individuals, tell stories and create social change. I have avoided Facebook and the like thus far, but I now feel that it is a good time to join the blogosphere and connect with others on important topics. This course is giving me a great reason to explore this important medium and to learn about its connection to the future of Canadian literature.
Works Cited
“Discover Canada, The Rights and Responsibilities of Citizenship”. Government of Canada, 1 July, 2012. Web. 9 Jan, 2014.
“Rideau Canal National Historic Site of Canada, Ottawa Locks Walking Tour”. Parks Canada. Government of Canada, 16 Sept, 2013. Web. 9 Jan, 2014
Hi Paul, hope you are staying warm enough in the Ottawa winter! Your studies in Anthropology will be of interest to us all, especially when we study the first stories – as you will see, our readings of these stories come from ethnologist and anthropologists. What area of anthropology did you study? Your link to the Canadian government site was an interesting read – the multicultural story has become the story our government’s seem to favor identifying with these days. This was not always so. I am looking forward to learning more about your perspectives and working with you this semester. Thanks.
Hi Erika, Thanks for your reply. The Ottawa winter is a shock to my system, but I am hanging in there. I found myself in Montreal at the beginning of the month where it was -42! During my undergrad I focused on sociocultural anthropology at UBC because I was most interested in the cross cultural issues surrounding race and gender. I am very much looking forward to the content of this course and applying my personal interests to the subject matter. Thanks