Hello and welcome readers,
My name is Landon Tang, and I am a 4th year Psychology major. This course is one of my final (hopefully) credits at UBC before I finish with a BA. My focus in Psychology is on the effects of social perspectives and culture on cognitions/thoughts of individuals.
This blog is a part of the English 470A Canadian Literary Genres course. This course is an exploration into story-telling: the interactions between the First Nations people and the European settlers, and the gradual movement towards what we now consider Canadian culture. There is a critical thinking focus on what stories are being told, which ones we choose to believe and listen to, and how these stories impact our views.
I expect that this course will provide me with important and relevant source material that I can use to form an understanding of how Canadian views have shifted. By reading the novels, and the blogs that other students provide I will be able to compare and contrast current opinions and ones from the past. Utilizing my understanding of Human Psychology I will attempt to analyze the material I read, and combine it to create a semi-linear ‘picture’ of alterations in cultural consciousness. Being that Canada is a multicultural, heterogeneous nation, whose population heavily relies upon immigration to grow, it will be fascinating to understand how other people view this country (especially those who were most affected by colonization). I hope that by the end of English 470 that I will be able to answer three questions: 1) What does it mean to be Canadian? 2) What is Canadian culture? 3) How did we come to develop this idea of Canadian culture, and what struggles were faced in its development?
http://www.huffingtonpost.ca/2015/05/06/bil-c-51-anti-terrorism-passes-vote_n_7227520.html
This article is a part of the C-51 bill following. It outlines a set of controversial security laws that will impact our freedoms as Canadian citizens as a trade off for national security. It redefines the amount of authority that agencies that previously only gathered information will now have, and allows them to decide what counts as a threat to national security. This bill will alter the course of Canada and its citizens but it’s too early to know how. It has the potential to be passed within the year, and may not be the first of its kind.
I look forward to your replies,
Landon Tang
Works cited:
Buchot, Emmanuel. Canada Climatic Map. 2008. Photographic book. Web. 12 May. 2015.
Lum, Zi-Ann. “Controversial Anti-Terror Bill Passes House With Liberals’ Help.” The Huffington Post. HuffingtonPost.com, 6 May 2015. Web. 12 May 2015.
Paterson, Erika. ENGL 470A: Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. University of British Columbia, 2015. Web. 12 May 2015.
Hello Landon,
Welcome to our course of studies; I do believe you will indeed be able to answer your three questions by the end of term – I think your are really going to enjoy the challenges of this course! Thank you for a great introduction.
One note – when you hyperlink – instead of posting the url on the page – Write the title or name for the link and then highlight the name and click the hyperlink tool [it looks like the link in a chain and is in your tool bar above] a box will open, past the url in the box and save – and the link will appear on the highlighted name. Thanks
Hi Landon! I really loved the questions you incorporated, the meaning of being Canadian and its culture in a land of diversity and welcomed immigration. Being an immigrant myself, it’s was hard at first to define who I was. Am I still part of the country I was born from or am I now a sole citizen of Canada? And looking around me now after six years of living here, I came to realize more and more that I was definitely not the only one who had these questions in my mind. My appreciation for Canada grew more and more as time went on, I truly got to see how multicultural this country is, beautifully and acceptingly so. So you’re right about the fascination on finding out more on the stories of the first nations as well as the colonial aspect that made Canada what it is today. I think it’s so important and interesting to read about the roots of Canada, its people and its literature, to help us not only understand the history but also help us figure out what it really means to be a part of this country, to be Canadian and to find the answers in defining ourselves and the people around us.
Best,
Angela
Hi Angela,
Sorry about the delayed response. Yea, I think Canada is unique in that it doesn’t just have a static cultural identity. Instead it’s a culmination of several cultures. It’s hard to describe what it means to be Canadian, but that complexity is really a defining feature of Canada. It’s a combination of all the cultures and people that call Canada home. Canada has also done pretty well at recognizing, integrating, and righting wrongs in history. At least that’s how I’ve come to see it.
-Landon
Hey Landon,
It is exciting that you are almost done! I tried to go for a psychology major but couldn’t seem to get the hang of statistics enough for it. Then I learned they accept it to the teaching program here at UBCO.
I hope that with the information that we are learning through this class it will help understand how Canadian’s think. Hopefully through this class you will be able to answer the questions that you are proposing here. I believe that through the material that we read.
Hope that the rest of your blogging goes well!!
-Kathryn
🙂
Hi Kathryn,
Thank you, and yeah statistics in Psychology is pretty unorthodox (I was lucky I had an understanding teacher). I think that even with the first two books by Chamberlin, and King, I am already developing an answer to my third question.
Good luck on your blog as well,
Landon
Hey Landon, nice to meet you! I too am (hopefully) graduating after this semester! Haha. I am really glad that you raised “how these stories impact our views”! I find this is important in current affairs- perception is a key sensory tool we possess as thinkers, and of course is necessary for dialogue and the synthesis for change! As with any culture, in order to explore what it means ‘to be’ it is important to go back to the very beginning, not just what currently would define a culture in a more ‘modern’ sense! As a result, exploring Native literature is thus important to discover what is important to ‘the Land’ as in many cultures it is referred to as ‘the motherLAND’ and thus it is both interesting and important to explore what steps were taken to achieve the success of development that a nation such as Canada has achieved!
Can’t wait to learn more from you!
🙂
Hi Debra,
Good luck with your final term. Well-said, understanding a culture holistically definitely requires exploring the past, and finding how events led to the development of present-day society.
Landon