One Country, two national capitals? Explore national identity
performances in Ottawa and Québec city!
CDNS 4510/5002 [0.5 credit] Early Summer (May-June)
Culture, language and power in Canada. Field trip
special edition.
Prof. Anne Trépanier
This year
again, CNDS 4510/5003 provides a unique learning opportunity for students by
offering a portion of the course to take place in Quebec City, with the
collaboration of great partner institutions, namely Laval University, Collège
François de Laval and the Musée de la Civilisation, among others. This course
will include lectures, seminars, guest speakers, field visits and individual
research projects to examine a topic related to the study of power relations in
Canada as they connect to language and culture embodied in the socio-political
organisation of a city which is home to a national
government.
In this
edition of CNDS 4510/5003, the specific objects of study will be the two
national capitals contained in Canada:
Ottawa and Québec City, and their relation to History, Language and
Culture, with a focus on the other National
Capital, representations and public history.
Such a
course is designed to help meet student demand for additional research and
practical experience outside of the classroom and be challenged in an “international”
context. Québec City offers a francophone environment filled with history. It
is the place to learn about how language has become a defining tool for culture
in Québec and its power in a Canada still defining itself as a multicultural
and bilingual country. The term ends with a student symposium.
·
Overarching themes: Language,
culture and power in Canada
·
Our focus: the two national
capitals within Canada
·
Our method: immersion and
comparison
The concepts:
1. Semiotics: uncover the underlying
meaning-making system
2. "Archeology" dimension: locate
the "Truths" historically and socially to reveal political
contingencies and relations of power.
OBJECTIVES
·
Understand how the nation (the
idea) is expressed in the local and in doing so, secure specific relations of
power.
·
Understand how the
"meaning making system" of nationalism in the Canadian and the
Québécois contexts tie together specific relations of power between language
and culture...
·
Acknowledge similarities and
differences in the definition of nation supporting each national capital
comprised in Canada and the existence of a parallel complex network of
institutions and public histories.
·
Develop a sensibility for
"meaning making strategies": Heritage conservation, Public History
and National narratives
·
Fine tune reading and writing
skills inspired by the study of semiotics and immersed observation
·
Be able to efficiently present
complex ideas
·
Be able to efficiently present
results of a research project in a student symposium
TEXTS REQUIRED BEFORE COURSE STARTS (See calendar of reading discussion)
Mandatory: Course pack for CNDS 4510/5003
Will be available at Haven Books in April 2015
43
Seneca Ottawa, ON K1S 4X2
(613)
730-9888
Suggested additional readings:
v Marcel Martel and Martin Pâquet Speaking up, A HISTORY OF LANGUAGE AND POLITICS IN CANADA AND QUEBEC,
Between the Lines, publication date: May 10th 2012.
v Paul Ricoeur, History, Memory,
Forgetting, University of Chicago Press, 2006.
Testimonies
While rigorous, the writing-intensive
and interdisciplinary approach not only fostered a deep engagement with the
subject, but also provided students outside Quebec with an accessible framework
through which to examine Quebec's cultural, historical and identitary
complexity.
Valerie Luchak
The experience of the colloquium
sums up the rigor, the sense of community, and your ability to mentor a variety
of interests ranging from military history to critical theory. All the
presentations reflected an intensity on the part of the students. In the time
leading up to the colloquium I remember having conversations with my peers not
only on their topics but on the mentorship Dr. Trépanier provided. This sort of
dissemination and reverberation of ideas underlines her ability to teach and
create an environment where creativity, learning, and ultimately a desire for
success are incubated.
Benjamin T.H. Derksen
