scholarly journals Constructing patriotism: How Canada's History Hall has evolved over 50 years

2018 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Cynthia Wallace-Casey
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
National Narrative ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Analysis Methodology ◽  
National Capital ◽  
Past Wrongs ◽  
Indigenous Voices

In this article, I illustrate how the national narrative in Canada's Museum of History has evolved over 50 years. Located in the national capital of Ottawa, the new Canada's History Hall presents a concise overview of a nation, stretching from time immemorial to the present. It was opened on 1 July 2017 as a signature exhibition in celebration of Canada's sesquicentennial. It also represents a fourth manifestation of a national museum narrative for Canada. From humble beginnings in 1967 (when Canada celebrated its centennial), the narrative has changed substantially in response to national policies and societal values. Adopting a critical discourse analysis methodology, and drawing from archival evidence, I analyse how this national narrative has evolved. Canada's History Hall presents Canadian students with a concise national template for remembering Canada's past. Over the past 50 years, this narrative has changed, as curators have employed artefacts and museum environments to construct patriotic pride in their nation. Until 2017, this narrative was blatantly exclusionary of Indigenous voices. More recently, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada has called for reconciliation in education, including public forums for education. The Canadian Museum of History has responded to this call by weaving Indigenous voices into the national narrative of the new Canadian History Hall. In so doing, I argue, the museum has successfully entwined patriotism with reconciliation against past wrongs.

scholarly journals Considering Indigenous Environmental Issues in Canadian Curricula: A Critical Discourse Analysis

2021 ◽  
Vol 19 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-128
Author(s):  
Gregory Lowan-Trudeau ◽  
Teresa Fowler
Keyword(s):  
Discourse Analysis ◽  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
Oil And Gas ◽  
Environmental Issues ◽  
Gas Pipeline ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Critical Discourse ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Analysis Methodology

This article presents insights from a curricular review of Canada’s ten provinces and three territories with a focus on critical Indigenous environmental issues. This inquiry was conducted amidst nationally prominent events and socio-ecological movements such as the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, Idle No More and numerous oil and gas pipeline protests. We share findings revealed through this review informed by Eisner’s (2002) three curricula—the explicit, implicit and null—and a qualitative critical discourse analysis methodology.

scholarly journals Denials of Racism in Canadian English Language Textbooks

2017 ◽  
pp. 42-61
Author(s):  
Trevor Gulliver ◽  
Kristy Thurrell
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
English Language ◽  
Racial Diversity ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
Antiracist Education ◽  
Nationalist Discourse ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Language Textbooks ◽  
Ethnic And Racial Diversity

This critical discourse analysis examines denials of racism in descriptions of Canada and Canadians from English language textbooks. Denials of racism often accompany racist and nationalist discourse, preempting observations of racism. The study finds that in representations of Canada or Canadians, English language texts minimize and downplay racism in Canada’s past and present while problematically and uncritically constructing Canadians as committed to multiculturalism and ethnic and racial diversity. The authors echo the call made by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for antiracist education and education materials that speak frankly of racism in Canadian history. Cette analyse critique du discours porte sur le déni du racisme dans des descriptions du Canada et des Canadiens tirées de manuels de langue anglaise. Les dénis du racisme accompagnent souvent le discours raciste et nationaliste, empêchant ainsi la reconnaissance du racisme. Cette étude a trouvé que dans leurs représentations du Canada ou des Canadiens, les manuels de langue anglais minimisent ou amoindrissent les cas de racisme dans le passé et le présent tout en proposant, de manière problématique et incontestée, une vision des Canadiens comme étant attachés au multiculturalisme et à la diversité ethnique et raciale. Les auteurs répètent l’appel de la Commission de vérité et de réconciliation pour un enseignement et du matériel pédagogique antiracistes qui dévoilent ouvertement le racisme dans l’histoire canadienne. 

scholarly journals Clearing the Path to Truth: Clearing the Plains: Disease, Politics of Starvation and the Loss of Aboriginal Life, by James Daschuk, and the narrative of Canadian history. A Commentary

2016 ◽  
Vol 26 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-52
Author(s):  
Mary-Ellen Kelm
Keyword(s):  
Settler Colonialism ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
History Of

This paper considers how Clearing the Plains helps contextualize, through Canada’s long history of settler colonialism, the findings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

WHEN INDEMNITY BECOMES DISDAINFUL: REVENGE AS METAPHOR FOR ‘UNFINISHED BUSINESSES’ IN POST-APARTHEID SOUTH AFRICAN DRAMA

Imbizo ◽  
2017 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 71-83
Author(s):  
Busuyi Mekusi
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Popular Opinion ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Human Interactions ◽  
The Past ◽  
The Government ◽  
Past Wrongs

Revenge, as an instance of oppositionality, typifies past wrongs, evils, violations and disregard for human dignity which have been imputed and for which the offender must be reprimanded. The foregoing sequence is remindful of the dastardly apartheid dispensation in South Africa, which is a strong metaphor for strife and ‘ruptured’ human interactions. While the transition of South Africa to constitutionality was substantially heralded by the negotiating preponderances of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a number of people have adjudged the TRC to be a mere attempt to draw a curtain on the past - in sharp contrast to the spirit and letter of the commission. By so doing, there is a popular opinion that there are still some ‘unfinished business’ that ironically link the present with the past. Therefore, it is considered a ‘must’ that these ‘silences’ be addressed in order for the present and future of South Africa not to be intractably burdened by the past. Bhekizizwe Peterson’s and Ramadan Suleman’s Zulu Love Letter (both film and scripted play) has joined this discourse by artistically amplifying the need for an engagement with these ‘deafening silences’. It is in the light of the aforementioned that this article investigates the process of wrong and attempts by the hegemony to expiate such wrongs, in the context of impervious agents, who disregard the processes for peaceful engagements, but rather scorn and threaten victims of their vicious actions for daring to seek justice. The article sees such a repudiation of one’s evil act and the conciliatory stance of the government as capable of breeding revenge. However, the article concludes that when medicated, using certain cultural and religious beliefs, the bleeding heart that is prone to seeking revenge or retaliation (vengeance) might also be a carrier of forgiveness and collectivism.

scholarly journals Suggesting reconciliation at the hearings of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission

Afrika Focus ◽  
2005 ◽  
Vol 18 (1-2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Annelies Verdoolaege
Keyword(s):  
Critical Discourse Analysis ◽  
South African ◽  
Historical Context ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
The South ◽  
Specific Kind ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
African Context ◽  
The One

The South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) took place under unique circumstances and in a very particular historical context. This article will explore how such a specific kind of reality gave rise to a specific kind of discourse, a so-called 'reconciliation discourse'. On the one hand, this discourse offered the apartheid victims a lot of opportunities regarding linguistic expression. On the other hand, though, this discourse was also regimented and limited to a certain extent. By means of fragments from the TRC victim testimonies, this article will deal with one aspect of this linguistic manipulation, namely the introduction of the concept of reconciliation. In the first part of the article, I will explain which linguistic methods were used during the TRC hearings in order to emphasize the notion of reconciliation in the narratives of the testifying victims. In doing so, a lot of attention will be paid to the concrete interaction between the testifiers and the TRC commissioners. In a second part, I will try to investigate why the construction of this specific reconciliation discourse was necessary in the South African context. We will see that, amongst others, also political considerations played a role in the control exercised over the discourse of the TRC victims. In this way, we will understand that the reconciliation discourse of the Commission was a reflection of a very ambiguous social attitude: this discourse had to reveal as much as possible about the apartheid past - and this in a manner as spontaneous, as transparent and as open as possible -, but it also had to be adapted to certain socio-political needs. This will tell us that also a quasi-judicial institution such as the TRC involves an inevitable interplay between language on the one hand and ideology and society on the other.Key Words: South Africa, Truth and Reconciliation Commission, victim testimonies, critical discourse analysis, reconciliation, apartheid 

Using African Truth and Reconciliation Commission documentation for truth telling and reconciliation

2020 ◽  
pp. 1-5
Author(s):  
Proscovia Svärd
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
International Humanitarian Law ◽  
Humanitarian Law ◽  
Truth Telling ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Reconciliation Process

Truth and Reconciliation Commissions (TRCs) are established to document violations of human rights and international humanitarian law in post-conflict societies. The intent is to excavate the truth to avoid political speculations and create an understanding of the nature of the conflict. The documentation hence results in a common narrative which aims to facilitate reconciliation to avoid regression to conflict. TRCs therefore do a tremendous job and create compound documentation that includes written statements, interviews, live public testimonies of witnesses and they also publish final reports based on the accumulated materials. At the end of their mission, TRCs recommend the optimal use of their documentation since it is of paramount importance to the reconciliation process. Despite this ambition, the TRCs’ documentation is often politicized and out of reach for the victims and the post-conflict societies at large. The TRCs’ documentation is instead poorly diffused into the post conflict societies and their findings are not effectively disseminated and used.

The Triumph of Olemaun: Survivance, Empathic Unsettlement, and Restorying the History of Canadian Residential Schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-146
Author(s):  
Anah-Jayne Markland
Keyword(s):  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Mandatory Education ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Age Appropriate

The ignorance of many Canadians regarding residential schools and their traumatic legacy is emphasised in the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a foundational obstacle to achieving reconciliation. Many of the TRC's calls to action involve education that dispels and corrects this ignorance, and the commission demands ‘age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada’ to be made ‘a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students’ (Calls to Action 62.i). How to incorporate the history of residential schools in kindergarten and early elementary curricula has been much discussed, and one tool gaining traction is Indigenous-authored picturebooks about Canadian residential schools. This article conducts a close reading of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and Christy Jordan-Fenton's picturebook When I Was Eight (2013). The picturebook gathers Indigenous and settler children together to contest master settler narratives regarding the history of residential schools. Using Gerald Vizenor's concept of ‘survivance’ and Dominick LaCapra's notion of ‘empathic unsettlement’, the article argues that picturebooks work to unsettle young readers empathetically as part of restorying settler myths about residential schools and implicating young readers in the work of reconciliation.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document