The Capstone Seminar in Canadian Studies showcases representations of the sense of gain and loss in the Canadian experience

The Capstone Seminar in Canadian Studies recently held a special event at the Canadian War Museum and the Canadian Museum of Civilization that featured the work of undergraduate and graduate students involved in the second edition of the seminar.

The goal of the Capstone Seminar, which is taught by Assistant Professor of Canadian Studies, Anne Trépanier, is for the students to identify the tensions between reality and representation in the Canadian identity, and exhibit them to a greater audience.

To accomplish this, the students toured local museums with the intention of identifying alternative narratives in Canadian history.  From their extensive critical research, each student developed a three to five minute activity station featuring their hidden —alternative— narrative, which they performed at the Museum relevant to their topic (subject).

With help from the Museums’ interpretative planners, the students came up with some tremendously creative and comprehensive techniques to portray storylines that presented the audience with a different depiction of our heritage and identity.

Some examples of the student’s activities include:

Find Your Balance by Kim Munroe (undergraduate)

For the purpose of the activity a participant is given 10 sacks of grain, five in blue and five in brown. On each sack there is a word that refers to different factors of identity: language, culture, religion, values, and dress. Each sack secretly has a different weight. On the table is a balance scale, each side of the scale must only hold one colour of the sacks- therefore only blue sacks can be placed together on one side of the scale etc. The participant must decide which of the terms/sacks they will place on either side of the scale in order to make it balance. Any of the sacks may be placed; even the same term can be placed on both sides of the scale (like language for instance) if the participant wishes to do so. Many different variations are possible, however they are difficult to find.

What is the point behind all of this? “In our present time immigration is met with political acknowledgment and civil respect”, says Munroe.  “This is due to policies such as multiculturalism that have normalized the concept of a trans-national being.”

Through her activity, Munroe aimed to convey to the audience that immigration in Canada as we know it today differs greatly from the ideals of immigration that existed before such policies as multiculturalism were in place. In the past, immigrants were not always given the accessibility to integrate their past identities once they had established themselves as Canadian immigrants.

Participants are meant to imagine themselves as new immigrants to Canada in the 1920s; in doing so they must determine how much of their past identity they wish to keep, through the use of five fundamental terms of identity, and which parts of the Canadian identity they wish or have to adopt in order to find their balance.

 

The Flip Side of the Coin by Genevieve Richard (undergraduate)

In the activity entitled The Flip Side of the Coin, Genevieve Richard planned to depict the inherent contradictions in Canadian identity by focusing on how the Canadian government promotes idealistic national symbols and images through national currency, and the reality behind how Canada truly treats its environment.

Richard’s station comprises of six large replicas of Canadian coins. On the ‘tail-side’ of these replicas is the actual image which appears on the coin.  On the reverse side is a depiction of truth.  The image of truth is meant to provoke the viewer into critical thinking, making them question the use of images by the government as being symbolic as Canadian.

On one side of Richard’s twenty five cent coin replica is the woodland caribou.  On the reverse side are images of the habitats of the caribou that have been devastated by industrial development.  All of these coin replicas are accompanied by a statistic or piece of information describing what the current situation in relation to the animal or ecosystem depicted on Canadian currency.

 Help Wanted!  By John Paul Abelshauser (graduate student)

Abelshauser’s multifaceted activity conveys the inaccurate perception that Canada is a country of equal and ubiquitous opportunity.

Primarily, Abelshauser demonstrates the limited opportunities afforded to immigrants by having participants play a ‘job lottery’.  Participants draw from one of three containers that corresponded to their educational equivalency.  In trial demonstrations, most participants were shocked and outraged at their hypothetical vocations.  Abelshauser used data from Statistics Canada to insure that his lottery was an accurate portrayal of the consistently harsh reality that faces those new to Canada.

 So to Speak by Marianne Williams (undergraduate)

The activity begins with remarks briefly explaining and outlining the residential school experience and the resulting negative effect on Aboriginal languages within Canada. The intention is to show the difficulty and frustration at not being able to communicate. Through the remarks surrounding the activity and the use of traditional Aboriginal objects, the activity highlights how losing Aboriginal languages has affected their communities and the personal experiences of the survivors.

Twelve boxes, six orange and six green, are handed out, one for each participant. There are six pairs of objects, one in an orange box and the matching object in the green box. Participants with an orange box must act out the object, while the participant with a green box must find his or her corresponding match, replica of artifacts that can be found in the First Nation Hall. Once the green box participants think they have found their match, they can show their object to the orange box participant. None of the participants are able to speak and the activity is over when the first pair matches up their correct objects.

 

The definitive goal of activities like these is to establish a critical and constructive discourse on what it means to be Canadian, and to determine if Canada is as inclusive as we perceive it to be.  By decoding the complexity of our history, the audience is meant to gain a better grasp on the notion that there is no, singular altruistic Canadian narrative, but many truths that are conceived differently by varying audiences in our diverse, composite country.

Ultimately, through the Capstone Seminars, Trépanier intended to connect students to the real word of a Canadianist both in academia and in the job market.

“I believe that a graduating Canadianist should be able to decrypt messages in public discourses about Canada and Ottawa’s capital, their symbolic roles and framed in current issues”, said Trépanier.  “The Canadianist should also be able to suggest alternative readings of Canada enter and use properly all the resources available in an academic way to redistribute the finds that reflect what Canada was, is and will continue to be in the public.”

Trépanier was also thankful for Carleton’s prime location, when studying our country.

“We are very lucky to study Canada in its Capital University.  We are also to have been able to set our classroom in such a meaningful and beautiful site as these Museums.”

The gravity of what an event like this can mean to Canadians very clearly resonated with the students, as every presentation was incredibly thought out and interactive.  Each station went off without a hitch, leaving members of the audience impressed and surprised at what they were able to learn of their own country, and about themselves.

Capstone students will now complete their portrait of an aspect of the Canadian experience (historical, social, relating to the army, the school, the reserves or even food) to be edited by the editorial board (M.A students), visiting scholar Ellen Huijgh (from Belgium) and Trépanier herself.  Their articles will be the academic resonance of the Museum experience, giving the research and analytical space to illustrate new critical findings. This journal article writing will result in a real online scholarly publication that Trépanier has been developing with the support of Patrick Lyonsand his team in EDC.

The term will end with the launch of this unique publication by the Canadianists of the Capstone Seminar in the School of Canadian Studies on April 5th at 1 pm in the Canadian Studies Lounge in 1212A Dunton Tower.

More information on the Capstone Seminar Series