Research on Canada/La recherche sur le Canada

Transcription

INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL
OF CANADIAN STUDIES
REVUE INTERNATIONALE
D’ÉTUDES CANADIENNES
Editorial Board / Comité de rédaction
Rédacteur en chef
Editor-in-Chief
Paul-André Linteau, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Rédacteurs adjoints
Associate Editors
Alan Cairns, University of British Columbia, Canada
Walter Pache, University of Augsburg, FRG
Mildred A. Schwartz, University of Illinois at Chicago, U.S.A.
Managing Editor
Secrétaire de rédaction
Christian Pouyez
Publications Officer
Agent des publications
Guy Leclair
Advisory Board / Comité consultatif
Jacques Allard, Université du Québec à Montréal, Canada
Paul Blyton, University of Wales, United Kingdom
Cornelius Boekestijn, Free University, The Netherlands
John E. Carroll, University of New Hampshire, U.S.A.
Paul Claval, Université de Paris-Sorbonne IV, France
Ramsay Cook, York University, Canada
Lois Foster, La Trobe University, Australia
Karen Gould, Bowling Green State University, U.S.A.
Hans Hauge, Aarhus University, Denmark
Dafna Izraeli, Bar-Ilan University, Israel
Marjory Harper, University of Aberdeen, United Kingdom
Hiroaki Kato, Daito Bunka University, Japan
Gregory Marchildon, The Johns Hopkins University, USA.
Franca Marcato Falzoni, Université de Bologne, Italie
K.R.G. Nair, University of Delhi, India
William H. New, University of British Columbia, Canada
Riana O’Dwyer, University College, Galway, Ireland
Alison Prentice, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, Canada
Michèle Therrien, Institut des langues et civilisations orientales, France
James Vance, University of California, U.S.A.
Lothar Wolf, University of Augsburg, FRG
Zhao Deyan, Fuzhou University, China
Fabio Ziccardi, University of Milan, Italy
The International Journal of Canadian
Studies (IJCS) is published twice a year by the
International Council for Canadian
Studies. Multidisciplinary in scope, the IJCS
is directed to people around the world who
are interested in the study of Canada.
Paraissant deux fois l’an, la Revue internationale d’études canadiennes (RIEC) est
publiée par le Conseil international
d’études canadiennes. Revue multidisciplinaire, elle rejoint les lecteurs de divers
pays intéressés à l’étude du Canada.
The IJCS publishes thematic issues containing articles (6500 words maximum), notes
(4500 words maximum), and review essays. It
favours analyses that have a broad perspective, and essays that will interest a readership
from a wide variety of disciplines. The articles
must deal with Canada, not excluding comparisons between Canada and other
countries.
La RIEC publie des numéros thématiques
composés d’articles (maximum 6500 mots),
de notes (maximum 4500 mots) et d’essais
critiques, et privilégie les études aux perspectives larges ainsi que les essais de synthèse
aptes à intéresser un vaste éventail de lecteurs. Les textes doivent porter sur le Canada
ou sur une comparaison entre le Canada et
d’autres pays.
The IJCS is a bilingual journal. Authors may
submit articles in either French or English.
Individuals interested in submitting papers
must first forward to the IJCS Secretariat a
one-page proposal. The Editorial Board will
examine the proposals from which a selection
will be made. Authors will then be invited to
transmit articles which will be peer-reviewed.
The Editorial Board will make a final
decision whether the paper will be published.
La RIEC est une revue bilingue. Les auteurs
peuvent rédiger leurs textes en français ou en
anglais. Les personnes intéressées à soumettre
un texte doivent d’abord faire parvenir au
secrétariat de la RIEC une proposition d’une
page. Le Comité de rédaction examinera les
propositions puis effectuera une sélection.
Les auteurs choisis seront invités à envoyer
un article, qui sera évalue par des pairs. Le
Comité de rédaction prendra la décision
finale quant à la publication.
The content of articles and review essays is
the sole resposibility of the author.
Les auteurs sont responsables du contenu de
leurs articles ou essais.
Send all correspondence to the:
Veuillez adresser toute correspondance à la :
International Journal of Canadian Studies
2 Daly avenue, Ottawa, CANADA K1N 6E2.
Revue internationale d’études canadiennes
2, avenue Daly, Ottawa, CANADA K1N 6E2
Yearly subscription (two issues):
Abonnement annuel (deux numéros) :
Can$30 Regular subscription
Can$20
ICCS Associations Member
Can$20 Student, retiree
30 $ CAN abonnement régulier
20 $ CAN membres des associations du CIEC
20 $ CAN étudiants, retraités
Subscribers outside North America, please
add Can$5 for postage.
Abonnes de l’extérieur de l’Amérique du
Nord, s.v.p. ajouter 5 $ CAN (frais de port).
Make cheques payable to the International
Journal of Canadian Studies.
Libeller votre chèque à l’ordre de la Revue
internationale d’études canadiennes.
ISSN 1180-3991
ISSN 1180-3991
© All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the permission of the IJCS.
© Tous droits réservés. Aucune reproduction n’est permise sans l’autorisation de la
RIEC.
International Journal of Canadian Studies
Revue internationale d’études canadiennes
l-2 - Spring-Fall/Printemps-automne 1990
Research on Canada/La recherche sur le Canada
Table of contents/Table des matières
Paul-André LINTEAU
Introduction/Présentation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .5
Jean-Claude ROBERT
La recherche en histoire du Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11
Dennis FORCESE
Sociology in Canada: A View from the Eighties
. . . . . . . . . . . . 35
André BLAIS
Les études sur la politique canadienne :
une contribution modeste mais « distincte » . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 55
Maureen Appel MOLOT
Where Do We, Should We, Or Can We Sit? A Review
of the Canadian Foreign Policy Literature . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 77
William H. NEW
Studies of English Canadian Literature
. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 97
Jacques ALLARD
Où en sont les études sur la littérature québécoise ?
. . . . . . . . . .115
Caroline ANDREW
Laughing Together: Women’s Studies in Canada . . . . . . . . . . . .135
Joanne BURGESS
Exploring the Limited Identities of Canadian Labour:
Recent Trends in English-Canada and in Québec . . . . . . . . . . . .149
Mark McGOWAN
Coming Out of the Cloister: Some Reflections on Developments
in the Study of Canadian Religion in Canada, 1980-1990 . . . . . . . 175
William METCALFE
“Modifïed Rapture!": Recent Research on Canada
in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 203
Luca CODIGNOLA
The View from the Other Side of the Atlantic
. . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
Alan F. J. ARTIBISE
Pacific Views of Canada: Canadian Studies
Research in Asia-Oceania . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 259
Review Essays/Essais critiques
Roberto PERIN
Quelques synthèses récentes sur l’évolution du Canada . . . . . . . . 281
Konrad GROß
Literary History of Canada . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 293
Authors/auteurs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 301
Introduction
Présentation
As far back as the Amerindian oral
narratives and Jacques Cartier’s
travel accounts, Canada has been
the subject of observation and study
by its own inhabitants and by the
foreigners who frequented its
shores. In the course of the
nineteenth Century, thanks to the
development of universities and
learned societies, the study of
Canada became more systematic
and scientific. History, literary
studies, and natural sciences were
among the frrst disciplines to tackle
the subject, followed by sociology,
economics, geography, and political science, among others.
Aussi loin qu’on remonte dans
l’histoire, depuis la tradition orale
des Amérindiens et les récits de
voyage de Jacques Cartier, on constate que le Canada a toujours été
un objet d’observation et d’étude
aussi bien pour ses habitants que
pour les étrangers qui abordaient
ses rives. Au cours du XIXe siècle,
l’étude du Canada est devenue plus
systématique et plus scientifique.
Le développement des universités
et des sociétés savantes y a
contribué de façon notable. Les
travaux dans des disciplines comme
l’histoire, les études littéraires et les
sciences naturelles ont d’abord fait
leur marque. Puis sont venues les
contributions de la sociologie, de
l’économique, de la géographie, de
la science politique et de
nombreuses autres disciplines.
The 1960s marked the beginning of
a quantum leap in the study of
Canada, due to the prodigious
growth in the number of universities, and the parallel increase in
the number of faculty and students.
Books, articles, and dissertations
on Canada proliferated, and a new
expression was coined to designate
this field of inquiry: Canadian
studies. These two words underscored the desire to ensure a
privileged position for teaching and
research on C a n a d a i n t h e
academic world, at a time of pervasive international influences on
scholarship. The establishment of
the Journal of Canadian Studies/
Revue d’études canadiennes and, a
little later, of the Association for
Canadian Studies, were steps
towards the recognition of the
International Journal of Canadian studies /
1-2, Spring-Fall/Printemps-automne 1990
À partir des années 1960, les études
sur le Canada ont fait un bond
prodigieux, amplifié par la multiplication des universités et par la
croissance phénoménale de leur
corps professoral et de leur
clientèle étudiante. La production
de thèses, de livres et d’articles s’est
accrue de façon marquée. C’est
alors qu’apparaît au Canada le
vocable : « études canadiennes ».
Celui-ci témoigne d’une volonté
d’assurer et de faire reconnaître
une place de choix à l’enseignement
et aux recherches sur le Canada
dans les universités, où les influences étrangères sont très fortes. Pour
mieux asseoir ce mouvement, on
crée la Revue d’études canadiennes/
internationale d'études canadiennes
IJCS / RIÉC
legitimacy of this area of study. In
Quebec, a parallel development
took place, with the growth of
Quebec studies. Apart from its
clearly nationalist dimension, this
movement for Canadian/ Québec
studies had a specifïcally scholarly
objective, that is to say, the creation
of a network of specialists from
various disciplines to foster interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary
research.
Journal of Canadian Studies puis
l’Association d’études canadiennes. Parallèlement, au Québec, se
développe le champ des études
québécoises. Ce double mouvedimension
ment
revêt
une
nationaliste évidente, m a i s i l
répond aussi à un objectif scientifique nouveau : celui de favoriser le
rapprochement de spécialistes
venant de diverses disciplines, tout
en encourageant les études et les
travaux multidisciplinaires et interdisciplinaires.
The 1970s witnessed the development of a new phase, namely the
internationalization of Canadian
studies. Although not a completely
new phenomenon, the interest
shown by foreign scholars in
Canadian studies reached new
heights during this decade. In a
number of countries, Canadianists
expressed the need for a forum in
which they could exchange ideas
and discuss the results of their
research. Thus were born the fïrst
associations for Canadian studies
abroad, soon to be followed by the
publication of learned journals and
conference proceedings.
Au cours des années 1970, un autre
phénomène commence à se
manifester : celui de l’internationalisation des études canadiennes. L’intérêt des étrangers pour le
Canada n’est évidemment pas un
phénomène nouveau, mais il atteint
alors une dimension inconnue
jusque-là. Dans divers pays, les
canadianistes sont désormais assez
nombreux pour songer à se
regrouper afin d’avoir un lieu
structuré qui leur permettre
d’échanger leurs vues et de diffuser
les résultats de leurs recherches.
Ainsi naissent les premières associations d’études canadiennes
hors du Canada. Leur création est
bientôt suivie de la publication
d’actes de colloques et même de
périodiques.
A further step in the internationalization of Canadian studies
was taken in 1981, with the establishment of the International Council for Canadian studies, and the
number of member associations in
the ICCS has increased steadily
since that date. In 1989, the International Council decided to launch an
international
scholarly journal
devoted to the study of Canada.
6
Ce processus d’internationalisation
prend une forme plus achevée avec
la création, en 1981, du Conseil international d’études canadiennes
dont le nombre d’associations
membres s’accroît au fil des ans. Au
printemps de 1989, le Conseil
décide de lancer une nouvelle revue
scientifique internationale consa-
Research on Canada /La recherche sur le Canada
Initiated by the then PresidentElect Jean-Michel Lacroix and
President Alan F.J. Artibise, the
at providing
project
aimed
Canadianists from around the
world a new medium for the dissemination of their research. An
editorial board was formed and
work began immediately on several
fronts: defining the editorial policy,
establishing procedures, and planning the first issues of the journal.
The International Journal o f
Canadian Studies/Revue internationale d’études canadiennes is a
scholarly journal, bilingual, multidisciplinary, and international,
which publishes articles on
Canada. These fundamental characteristics define the Editorial
Board’s guiding principles. The
bilingual nature of Canada is
reflected in the decision to publish
articles in English or in French.
The journal will publish articles of
high scholarly standing, targeted at
an audience of academics from a
wide variety of disciplines. In order
to reinforce the multidisciplinary
approach, the IJCS will publish
thematic issues, thus creating a
favourable environment for interaction and comparison of methods
and concepts. The journal is open
to Canadianists from around the
world, who are invited to participate as authors or subscribers.
The Editorial Board chose, as the
theme of the first issue, an overview
of recent research on Canada. It is
crée à l’étude du Canada. Fruit des
efforts de deux de ses présidents,
Jean-Michel Lacroix et Alan F.J.
Artibise, cette décision vise à offrir
aux canadianistes du monde entier
un nouveau lieu de publication et de
diffusion. Le comité de rédaction,
formé au cours de l’été 1989, se met
aussitôt à l’oeuvre afin de définir les
caractéristiques et la politique de la
nouvelle publication et de préparer
les premiers numéros.
La Revue internationale d’études
canadiennes/International Journal
of Canadian Studies est une publication savante, bilingue, multidisciplinaire et internationale ayant
pour objet des travaux sur le
Canada. Ces caractéristiques fondamentales inspirent la politique
élaborée par le comité de
rédaction. En publiant des articles
en anglais ou en français, la revue
reflète le caractère bilingue du
Canada. Elle souhaite obtenir des
textes de haute tenue scientifique
qui s’adressent à une clientèle
universitaire d’horizons disciplinaires variés. D a n s l e b u t d e
renforcer les perspectives multidisciplinaires, le revue publie des
numéros thématiques grâce auxquels la synergie des points de vue
et des méthodes est accentuée. Elle
est au service des canadianistes du
monde entier qui sont invités à
participer à son développement
comme auteurs ou comme abonnés.
Le comité de rédaction a choisi
d’amorcer la publication de la
revue avec un premier numéro
consacré à un bilan de la recherche
récente sur le Canada. Il s’agit d’un
numéro double qui pourra être
7
IJCS/RIÉC
hoped that this double issue will
serve as a reference tool for both
teachers and students.
The reader will find in the first
group of articles an update on
recent trends in a number of disciplines or fields of study, taking
into account the contributions of
both francophone and anglophone
researchers. The second group of
articles deals more specifically with
the development of international
research on Canada. Authors have
been invited to avoid producing
long bibliographical inventories,
focusing instead on their own interpretation of the most revealing
trends in recent research on
Canada. Finally, two review essays
assess a few seminal books in history and literature.
utilisé comme instrument de
référence, en particulier par les
professeurs et leurs étudiants.
Un premier bloc d’articles fait le
point sur les tendances récentes
dans un certain nombre de disciplines ou de champs d’études, en
tenant compte des apports respectifs des auteurs anglophones et
francophones. Un deuxième bloc
est plus spécifiquement consacré
au développement de la recherche
sur le Canada à l’échelle internationale. Les auteurs ont été priés
d’éviter les longs inventaires bibliographiques et de produire plutôt
des essais interprétatifs qui mettent
en lumière les tendances les plus
révélatrices. Suivent deux essais
critiques rendant compte d’ouvrages importants en histoire et en
études littéraires.
When perusing these papers, one is
struck by the persistence of two distinct intellectual discourses in
Canada: the English Canadian and
the “Québécois.” Differences are
found in the objects of study, as well
as in the conceptual approach and
methodology. E c h o e s o f t h i s
duality can also be found in the
writing of Canadianists abroad.
These differences do not preclude,
however, the occasional collaboration between anglophone and francophone scholars.
Une première constatation se
dégage nettement de l’ensemble de
ces travaux. Il existe toujours au
Canada deux univers intellectuels
distincts : celui du Canada anglais
et celui du Québec. Les différences
touchent tout autant les objets
d’étude que les questionnements et
les méthodes. L’existence de ces
deux univers intellectuels se reflète
d’ailleurs aussi dans la production
des canadianistes à l’extérieur du
Canada. Il n’y a cependant pas que
des divergences et les auteurs signalent un certain nombre de cas de
collaboration entre chercheurs
anglophones et francophones.
The scope and diversity of research
being conducted on Canada is
Une deuxième constatation touche
l’ampleur et la diversité des études
sur
le
Canada.
Ces
deux
phénomènes sont particulièrement
8
Research on Canada /La recherche sur le Canada
another striking feature. This
phenomenon is particularly true in
the United States and Europe, and
one can see the beginning of the
same widening of perspectives in
Asia and Oceania. In Canada itself,
Canadian studies are well represented in all disciplines of the
humanities and social sciences,
where genuinely Canadian topics
are marked by an innovative approach. International intellectual
influences are still present, of
course, especially in the fields of
history, women’s studies or labour
studies, but they have lessened in
the fields of sociology and political
science.
marqués en Europe et aux ÉtatsUnis et commencent à se
manifester en Asie et en Océanie.
Au Canada même, les études
canadiennes occupent une grande
place dans toutes les disciplines des
humanités et des sciences sociales.
Dans de nombreux secteurs, les
travaux a b o r d e n t d e s s u j e t s
spécifiquement canadiens et se signalent souvent par leur originalité.
Certes, les influences intellectuelles
étrangères sont encore présentes
dans des domaines comme
l’histoire et les études sur les femmes ou sur les travailleurs; elles
semblent l’être beaucoup moins en
sociologie et en science politique.
The vast majority of research on
Canada is tied closely to specific
disciplines. True multidisciplinary
research is the exception, with most
attempts taking the form of a juxtaposition of disciplinary studies.
This is especially true of proceedings of conferences. Likewise, comparative studies on Canada and
other countries are few and far
apart.
On remarque aussi que la plus
grande partie de la production
reste encore associée à une discipline spécifique. Les véritables
travaux multidisciplinaires sont peu
nombreux. Les rapprochements
prennent le plus souvent la forme
d’une juxtaposition de travaux disciplinaires, en particulier dans les
actes de colloques. De même les
études comparatives portant sur le
Canada et sur d’autres pays ne sont
pas légion.
The articles presented in this issue
reveal the fragmentation and multiplication, within each discipline,
of the subjects of study. This seemingly never-ending sub-division of
knowledge makes the writing of
syntheses all the more essential.
The two review essays which critique scholarly work in this area afford ample proof that true global
synthesis is not an easy task. It is
Au sein de chacune des disciplines,
les bilans présentés ici soulignent la
fragmentation et parfois même
l’éclatement des objets d’étude. La
multiplication des sous-spécialités
rend encore plus nécessaire la
production d’ouvrages de synthèse.
Certes, la rédaction d’une synthèse
vraiment englobante est difficile,
comme nous le font voir les deux
essais critiques, mais elle est
également essentielle au progrès de
la connaissance et à la diffusion des
9
IJCS/RIÉC
nonetheless crucial for the development of knowledge and the dissemination of research results.
Taken together, the articles which
compose this first issue offer a
portrait of the recent trends which
characterize Canadian studies. On
behalf of the Editorial Board, I
wish to thank both the authors and
the assessors for their fine contributions. I also wish to express my
appreciation to the International
Council for Canadian Studies for
its help and support. The Editorial
Board is proud to present this fïrst
issue, which should prove both intellectually stimulating and professionally useful, and which augurs
well for the future of both the journal and Canadian studies.
Paul-André Linteau
Editor-in-Chief
10
résultats de la recherche scientifique.
Dans l’ensemble, les textes qui
composent ce premier numéro offrent un portrait assez net des tendances récentes qui caractérisent
les études canadiennes. Le comité
de rédaction remercie vivement les
auteurs qui ont accepté de participer à cette démarche ainsi que
les évaluateurs, qui ont fait de
précieux commentaires. Il remercie
également les dirigeants du Conseil
international d’études canadiennes
dont l’appui a permis de mener à
bien ce projet. Le comité est fier
d’offrir à ses lecteurs un premier
numéro stimulant sur le plan intellectuel et utile sur le plan professionnel, ce qui augure bien pour
l’avenir.
Paul-André Linteau
Rédacteur en chef
Jean-Claude Robert
La recherche en histoire du Canada1
Résumé
La recherche est inséparable de ses conditions de production. Effectuée
surtout par des historiens rattachés à des universités ou à des organismes
gouvernementaux, elle est largement financée par des fonds publics. Quatre
tendances historiographiques la marquent : la dichotomie entre une historiographie de langue francaise et une de langue anglaise; la segmentation
et la fragmentation de l’objet historique; la focalisation sur le social; et
l‘ouverture aux influences extérieures. La production d’instruments de travail
exigeant la collaboration d 'un grand nombre d’historiens, comme le Dictionnaire biographique du Canada, a constitué une dimension importante de la
recherche au cours du dernier quart de siècle. L‘examen des thématiques dans
la production des cinq dernières années fait apparaître des secteurs de plus
grand dynamisme, tels que les études sur les Amérindiens, les grandes régions
canadiennes, l’histoire des femmes, celle du monde rural et celle du droit. Les
autres secteurs ne restent cependant pas inactifs. Deux conclusions se
dégagent : le recul de l‘explication basée sur l'économique et la place centrale
occupée par la famille dans l‘analyse historique.
Abstract
Research cannot be segregatedfrom the conditions of its production. Historical research, whether it is conducted by university-based scholars or by
others—mostly professional historians in govemment agencies—is largely
dependent upon public funding. It is characterized by four historiographical
trends: the dichotomy between anglophone and francophone historiographies; the fragmentation of the historical object; the focus on social
history; and the opening to external influences. The production of research
tools involving the contribution of a large number of historians, as in the case
of the Dictionary of Canadian Biography, has represented an important
dimension of research over the last 25 years. Wïthin the historical production
of the last five years some fields of research stand out as particularly active
ones: native studies, Canadian regional studies, the history of women, of the
rural world and of the law. Two conclusions stand out: the diminishing
importance of economics-based interpretations of history and the central
position occupied by the family in the historical analysis.
Faire le point sur les directions actuelles de la recherche en histoire tient
un peu de la gageure en raison, notamment, de la diversité de la production
et de la fragmentation de la discipline en de nombreux champs. Néanmoins,
je tenterai ici d’en indiquer les principaux axes. Il va sans dire qu’il s’agit
International Journal of Canadian Studies / Revue internationale d’études canadiennes
IJCS / RIÉC
d’une opération très subjective, marquée par mes propres affinités tant
historiographiques que méthodologiques. J’examinerai d’abord les conditions de production de la recherche sur les plans institutionnel et historiographique, puis les principaux instruments de travail avant de traiter
des grandes thématiques.
Pour orienter mes réflexions, j’ai surtout considéré la production des
années 1985 à 1989, notant au passage les livres, les articles des principales
revues savantes canadiennes, les mémoires et les thèses, sans oublier les
programmes des congrès de la Société historique du Canada et de l’Institut
d’histoire de l’Amérique française. Enfin, j’ai effectué un relevé des travaux
subventionnés par le Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du
Canada (CRSHC) et par le Fonds FCAR (Québec).
Les conditions de production de la recherche
a) Le cadre institutionnel
Au Canada, comme partout ailleurs dans le monde, la recherche historique
s’organise à l’intérieur d’un cadre, les universités constituant les principaux
lieux de production. Depuis le dernier quart de siècle, l’expansion et la
régionalisation ont marqué leur évolution. Entre 1962 et 1985, le nombre
de professeurs à temps plein y a plus que triplé tandis que les inscriptions
aux études avancées à temps complet sextuplaient. Cette importante croissance explique en bonne partie l’explosion de la recherche et le maintien
d’une production relativement abondante. Pour répondre à la croissance
de la demande et à un souci d’accessibilité, les gouvernements provinciaux 2
ont créé de nouveaux établissements et cherché à mieux desservir leur
population. Dans les provinces plus populeuses, on a élargi le réseau
d’universités pour mieux le répartir géographiquement. Or, ce mouvement
s’est accompagné d’une poussée d’intérêt pour les études régionales et
locales. L’effet net de ce double phénomène a été non seulement
d’augmenter et de diversifier la production, mais encore de multiplier les
éléments de stimulation et de diffusion, comme les revues savantes ou les
colloques et congrès.
À côté des universités, les organismes de financement jouent un rôle
déterminant. La recherche en histoire est soutenue en premier lieu par le
Conseil de recherches en sciences humaines du Canada qui offre de
nombreux programmes. Il convient d’en souligner deux, celui des bourses
de doctorat et celui des subventions de recherche. Le premier constitue la
principale source d’aide financière pour les études de 3 e cycle et, comme
tel, il soutient l’activité des jeunes chercheurs. Le second apporte un
soutien financier à la recherche libre en histoire. Ajoutons enfin que le
Conseil subventionne les publications savantes : revues et livres. Ainsi, il
joue un rôle essentiel depuis sa création.
12
La recherche en histoire du Canada
Dans certaines provinces, il existe aussi des organismes gouvernementaux
dont la mission est de subventionner la recherche. L’exemple du Québec
est bien connu : son Fonds FCAR offre des programmes analogues à ceux
du CRSHC avec un objectif avoué d’agir en concertation et en
complémentarité avec ce dernier. On y retrouve des programmes de
bourses 3et de subventions de recherche. La situation à cet égard diffère
selon les provinces.
Enfin, il existe des fondations qui jouent un rôle important en accordant
des bourses ou des subventions. Ajoutons que presque toutes les universités
sont appuyées par une ou des fondations, plus ou moins bien nanties.
La recherche historique se fait également à l’extérieur des universités. Dans
ce secteur, la diversité est fort grande : à côté d’organismes gouvernementaux comme les grands musées, on trouve de petites associations et certaines entreprises privées. Le gouvernement fédéral y joue un rôle
important. Un de ses organismes des plus actifs est le Service canadien des
parcs (Parcs Canada) qui emploie plusieurs historiens et s’intéresse à de
nombreux domaines : sa mission est de mettre en valeur le patrimoine
historique canadien.
En outre, divers ministères interviennent aussi dans des secteurs précis. Par
exemple, celui de la Défense nationale encadre, par le biais de ses services
historiques, bon nombre de chantiers en histoire militaire tandis que celui
des Affaires extérieures et du commerce extérieur finance divers travaux
historiques ainsi que la diffusion des résultats de recherche.
Des ministères et organismes provinciaux sont également de la partie. C’est
le cas du Québec avec son Institut québécois de recherche sur la culture
(IQRC), lequel pilote un certain nombre de travaux dont une série sur
l’histoire des régions. C’est aussi le cas de l’Ontario avec, par exemple, la
Multicultural History Society. Ainsi, la recherche historique à l’extérieur
des universités est-elle loin d’être négligeable.
L’apport des associations scientifiques est également très important. La
Société historique du Canada et l’Institut d’histoire de l’Amérique
française sont les principales associations à vocation générale auxquelles
s’ajoutent de nombreux regroupements d’historiens par spécialité. Ces
diverses associations jouent surtout leur rôle par le biais de congrès annuels
ou de colloques spécialises ainsi que par leurs publications. De plus, elles
servent de point de ralliement pour la collectivité des chercheurs lorsque
se fait sentir le besoin d’une action concertée dans un domaine particulier.
Elles sont donc un rouage essentiel de l’organisation de la recherche au
Canada.
13
IJCS/RIÉC
On ne peut parler de recherche historique sans souligner la place des
archives. Ce secteur a suivi une évolution parallèle à celle des universités :
expansion et régionalisation. Depuis vingt-cinq ans, en effet, le nombre de
dépôts d’archives s’est multiplié et la diversité de la documentation recueillie s’est accrue. Par ailleurs, les Archives nationales du Canada ont maintenu une politique de large accessibilité aux chercheurs (heures
d’ouverture, prêts de microfilm, etc.). Parallèlement, les archives des
provinces se sont développées. Par exemple, les Archives nationales du
Québec ont réorganisé et régionalisé leurs collections dans le but de se
rapprocher des usagers.
Un aspect mérite également d’être accentué, la modernisation du cadre
juridique des archives, tant au fédéral que dans les provinces. En particulier, les archives constituées par les diverses administrations publiques
et les services gouvernementaux sont maintenant mieux protégées et des
lois permettant l’accès à l’information facilitent l’ouverture de certains
domaines à la recherche. Il n’en reste pas moins que certaines dispositions
contraignantes des lois sur la protection des renseignements personnels
peuvent fermer à la consultation certaines archives pour une très longue
période.
Cela dit, l’organisation concrète de la recherche historique peut s’appuyer
sur des bases solides. Il ne faut toutefois pas oublier que dans une très large
mesure, elle forme un système qui est largement tributaire du financement
gouvernemental, qu’il s’agisse des budgets des universités, des musées ou
des organismes subventionnaires. Elle est donc soumise aux fluctuations de
la conjoncture et aux aléas des finances publiques.
b) Le cadre historiograhique
Au-delà de ce cadre concret, la recherche est également conditionnée par
certains traits de l’historiographie canadienne. En fait, dans ce domaine,
les lourdeurs du passé influent sur le développement. Je ne propose pas ici
une analyse exhaustive des grands caractères de l’historiographie
canadienne, mais plutôt un examen rapide de quatre caractéristiques qui
m’apparaissent importantes dans la détermination des choix de recherche.
La première est la dichotomie. Le Canada possède deux historiographies
nationales - une canadienne-française et l’autre canadienne-anglaise qui se développent séparément, et ce, depuis le siècle dernier. Jusqu’à
maintenant, peu d’historiens ont étudié ce phénomène la plupart se
contentant de faire l’analyse d’une seule historiographie4 . Les effets de
cette dichotomie sont connus. D’abord, la base des deux discours est
différente. L’historiographie canadienne-anglaise cherche plus volontiers
à se donner comme cadre l’ensemble du Canada 5 tandis que
l’historiographie canadienne-française s’en tient davantage au Québec, ne
14
s’intéressant au reste du Canada que dans la mesure où des événements
extérieurs au Québec ont une influence sur lui. En fait, si l’on regarde
attentivement, il n’y a pas, en langue française, un discours sur l’histoire
nationale du Canada. C’est, à mon avis, une lacune grave pour la connaissance historique.
Les échanges entre les deux historiographies sont fort lents. D’abord, il faut
faire la part des problèmes linguistiques : si, généralement, les historiens
canadiens-français utilisent dans leurs textes des travaux écrits en anglais,
l’inverse n’est pas toujours le cas chez leurs collègues canadiens-anglais.
Aussi, les rapports s’établissent le plus souvent par la médiation des
spécialistes de la période. Par exemple, c’est par le biais des travaux rédigés
en anglais par les spécialistes de l’histoire du Québec que les acquis de
l’historiographie francophone sont transmis avec, évidemment, quelque
retard. Cela s’est traduit par une tendance au cloisonnement à l’intérieur
d’une même spécialité et, semble-t-il, par un accord tacite de non-intervention dans le champ de l’autre, ce qui aggrave la fragmentation de la
connaissance historique. Il en résulte la création d’une historiographie très
morcelée, et ce, pour presque toutes les périodes, la seule exception, et
encore, étant la Nouvelle-France. Par exemple, si on prend le XIXe siècle,
l’absence de vue globale est frappante; on fait toujours l’histoire des
colonies britanniques de l’Amérique du Nord comme s’il n’y avait aucun
rapport entre elles, aucune appartenance commune à un même système.
La segmentation et la fragmentation de l’objet historique forment une
seconde caractéristique. Le dernier quart de siècle a été marqué par un
recul de l’histoire nationale au profit d’une plus grande attention portée
aux sous-ensembles territoriaux canadiens6. Les historiens ont découvert
les limited identities, ce qui permettait de donner une nouvelle légitimité
aux recherches historiques ne portant pas sur la construction de l’identité
nationale7. De fait, si on excepte le cas du Québec, qui avait toujours été
différent, cette attitude a accompagné l’essor d’un mouvement important
de segmentation de l’histoire qui s’est traduit par une floraison de travaux
un peu partout au Canada, mais qui a particulièrement marqué la région
de l’Atlantique, devenue un des fers de lance du mouvement de segmentation en histoire canadienne8. Quant à la fragmentation de l’objet historique,
il s’agit d’une tendance générale de l’historiographie occidentale9 et, ici
comme ailleurs, elle est liée au développement des spécialisations à
l’intérieur de la discipline historique. On peut déplorer cette évolution en
y voyant la montée d’un esprit sectaire à l’intérieur de chacune des
spécialisations. Malgré les risques, cependant, il s’agit bel et bien d’un
élargissement et d’un approfondissement de l’objet historique10.
La focalisation de l’objet historique sur le social constitue une troisième
caractéristique
de l’historiographie canadienne. Graduellement,
l’interrogation du passé se déplace du politique vers la société, ce qui
15
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entraîne à la fois un approfondissement de l’analyse sociale et un danger
d’évacuation de l’instance politique11. Les historiens s’attachent davantage
à comprendre le développement et l’imbrication des différentes composantes de la société, qu’il s’agisse de l’urbanisation, de l’industrialisation,
de la croissance démographique, des classes sociales ou de la composition
ethnique de la population. De plus, ce mouvement s’accompagne d’une
attention portée aux anonymes de l’histoire, aux gens ordinaires. Fernand
Ouellet a bien montré la progression de cette tendance dans ses travaux sur
l’évolution de l’historiographie québécoise12 , et elle existe ailleurs au
Canada 13.
Enfin, quatrième caractéristique, l’historiographie canadienne, tant celle
de langue française que celle de langue anglaise, ne peut plus être
considérée comme se développant en vase clos. Branchée sur les grands
courants historiographiques contemporains, elle en subit les influences et
participe aux débats sur son évolution qui s’est produite sous la pression
conjuguée de plusieurs facteurs. Au Canada anglais, l’explosion de la
demande d’enseignants universitaires durant les années 1960 a entraîné
l’embauche de professeurs américains ou canadiens formés dans les
universités américaines. Ils ont ainsi influencé directement les
14
méthodologies et les problématiques de l’histoire . Les Britanniques ont,
dans une certaine mesure, exercé une influence similaire. Cette situation a
provoqué des remous, en particulier une remontée du nationalisme et, par
un effet de retour, un intérêt renouvelé pour l’histoire canadienne. Par
ailleurs - et cela vaut pour l’ensemble du Canada -, la plus grande
fréquence des études à l’étranger a permis à beaucoup d’historiens d’aller
chercher des modèles dans d’autres historiographies. Enfin, les rapports
sont devenus plus réguliers et plus fréquents avec les historiographies
britannique, américaine et française.15 En outre, l’histoire s’est faite plus
sensible à l’apport des autres disciplines des sciences humaines, ses
praticiens suivant de plus près les développements théoriques et
méthodologiques.
Ces caractéristiques forment ce qu’on pourrait appeler des tendances
lourdes de l’historiographie canadienne et continuent à exercer leur influence sur la recherche en cours.
Les grands instruments de travail
Il n’est que justice d’entamer l’examen de la recherche proprement dite par
les instruments de travail, les travaux de nature historiographique et les
synthèses. Depuis une vingtaine d’années, en effet, les historiens canadiens
ont consacré beaucoup de temps et d’énergie à la mise au point
d’instruments de recherche. Dans une large mesure, ce travail a été
entrepris dans le cadre de collaborations interinstitutionnelles et interlinguistiques et facilité par une attitude très favorable de la part des
16
organismes subventionnaires comme le CRSHC16. Les résultats, dans bien
des cas, sont à la hauteur des espérances : avec le Dictionnaire biographique
18
du Canada 17 l'Atlas historique du Canada et The Canadian
19
Encyclopedia , ils se sont dotés d’un trio d’ouvrages de références
fondamentaux, chacun capable d’apporter une stimulation importante à la
recherche 20.
Le premier de ces grands chantiers a mobilisé à peu près tous les historiens
travaillant sur la période visée et les a forcés, peu ou prou, à tâter du genre
biographique. Il représente, dans l’historiographie occidentale, un exemple
remarquable pour sa complexité et ses apports novateurs à la recherche
. 21
Le premier volume a été publié en 1966 et onze autres ont suivi jusqu’ici,
couvrant la période allant des origines à 1900. L’intérêt du Dictionnaire est
multiple. Comme instrument de référence, il est vite devenu indispensable
et, pour la recherche, il sert d’aiguillon. Dans un premier temps, il a obligé
les chercheurs à faire le point sur les grands personnages. Non seulement
les détails de leur vie ont dû être scrutés, mais leur signification historique
et historiographique revue, ce qui fait que les travaux liés à ce dictionnaire
dépassent de beaucoup la simple anecdote. De plus, il a permis aux
chercheurs de cerner empiriquement certains éléments de la vie
économique et sociale. Par exemple, c’est en travaillant sur plusieurs
biographies d’hommes d’affaires du XIXe siècle que l’on touche du doigt
l’importance de la mobilité géographique et sociale qui amène de
nombreux fils de cultivateurs de la campagne à la ville pour en faire des
marchands ou des entrepreneurs. Ensuite, il a permis une exploration
documentaire et archivistique dont les retombées se sont fait sentir sur les
autres directions de recherche. En particulier, il aura été l’occasion de
répandre l’utilisation des minutiers de notaires et des autres sources
généalogiques. Ajoutons enfin que la mise en commun des expertises
canadienne-française et canadienne-anglaise a créé un lieu d’échange entre
les deux historiographies.
Le projet d’Atlas historique du Canada arrive à point nommé. Les rares
atlas historiques existants sont ou bien périmés en ce qui concerne
l’information historique, ou bien limités dans le temps, ou encore ne
consistent qu’en un recueil de reproductions de cartes anciennes.
Parallèlement, la géographie historique a fait des progrès rapides ces
dernières années et un atlas représente un vecteur idéal pour rendre
compte du développement des connaissances.
En 1987, le premier volume de l’Atlas, couvrant la période de la préhistoire
à 1800, a été publié22. Deux autres volumes sont prévus, le second portant
sur le XIXesiècle et le troisième sur la première moitié du XX esiècle. La
facture de l’Atlas est souple. Chacune des planches thématiques (près de
soixante-dix par volume) peut contenir des cartes, des graphiques ou des
diagrammes ainsi qu’un texte explicatif concis. L’importance de ce projet
17
IJCS / RIÉC
pour la recherche est triple. On y prend en considération la formation et
l’évolution du paysage canadien, paysage pris ici dans son acception
géographique large. L’Atlas fournit en outre la première occasion de
spatialisation des données historiques de base. Jamais, en effet, avait-on
entrepris systématiquement d’intégrer les deux dimensions espace et
temps; bien sûr, quelques auteurs l’avaient fait, le temps d’une
monographie, mais cette fois-ci, l’ambition est plus vaste et les retombées
sur la recherche seront importantes. Pour les historiens, l’Atlas amènera
une première prise de contact avec le processus de différenciation spatiale
du pays, une meilleure illustration de la répartition des phénomènes sur
l’ensemble du territoire et un renouvellement de la critique des sources. En
fait, il s’agit de la fusion des acquis de l’histoire sociale récente et de ceux
de la géographie historique. Enfin, il met en rapport les historiens
canadiens-français et canadiens-anglais tout en stimulant les échanges
interdisciplinaires, non seulement entre historiens et géographes, peu
fréquents jusqu’alors dans le contexte universitaire canadien, mais entre
anthropologues, archéologues et économistes. Cette œuvre permettra ainsi
de réduire l’écart entre les deux historiographies et d’y introduire des
considérations spatiales et pluridisciplinaires.
Le dernier instrument cité ici, The Canadian Encyclopedia, n’a pas les
mêmes exigences que les deux premiers. Il est destiné à un public plus vaste,
et plus particulièrement aux étudiants du secondaire; ses rubriques sont
parfois très succinctes et ses lacunes ont été maintes fois critiquées 23.
Cependant, il a intégré la recherche la plus récente dans certains domaines,
et son emploi comme son utilité sont probablement plus répandus que ses
critiques veulent bien l’admettre.
L’existence de ces trois ouvrages montre que les historiens canadiens,
comme d’ailleurs les praticiens des disciplines voisines, ont tenu à se doter
d’instruments de recherche modernes et d’envergure nationale; le fait
qu’un grand nombre d’entre eux aient choisi de surseoir à l’exécution
d’autres travaux pour y apporter leur contribution montre que le milieu,
dans son ensemble, tenait à ces réalisations. Rappelons enfin l’existence
d’un quatrième instrument, le recueil des Statistiques historiques du
Canada, dont la première édition remonte à 1965 24. Aussi faut-il signaler
que certaines grandes banques de données élaborées dans le cadre de
projets de recherche sont accessibles au public; c’est le cas pour les données
du Projet de démographie historique de l’Université de Montréal (Registre
informatisé de la population du Québec ancien).
La production d’instruments de recherche ne se limite pas à ces grands
travaux transcanadiens. Il faut également souligner les guides
d’introduction et les bibliographies essentielles au développement de la
recherche, notamment le Guide du chercheur en histoire canadienne
préparé sous la direction de Jean Hamelin25. Cet ouvrage de plus de 800
18
pages combine des introductions thématiques et des bibliographies malheureusement non commentées. Utile aux chercheurs, sa portée est réduite
à cause de l’absence de commentaires comme ceux que l’on trouve dans
son pendant de langue anglaise26. Enfin, essentielles au progrès de la
recherche sont les bibliographies. Les principales revues historiques du
Canada, la Canadian Historical Review et la Revue d’histoire de l'Amérique
française, ont toutes deux une importante rubrique bibliographique
repérant les parutions majeures en histoire. Toutefois, il semble que la
première soit en passe d’abandonner ce secteur. Néanmoins, il faut signaler
qu’un des animateurs de l’équipe de bibliographie de la Revue d’histoire,
Paul Aubin, a entrepris de publier une bibliographie révisée et augmentée.
Jusqu’à maintenant, trois volumes ont vu le jour, couvrant la période
1946-1980 27. De plus, certains champs de recherche disposent de bibliographies spécialisées comme la « Bibliographie courante sur l’histoire de
la population canadienne et la démographie historique au Canada »
publiée dans la revue Histoire sociale — Social History. Ainsi, les chercheurs disposent de bons instruments de repérage pour les travaux parus
depuis 1946.
Les publications sur l’évolution de l’historiographie sont assez nombreuses,
chaque revue présentant régulièrement des articles de bilan. Cependant,
deux auteurs seulement se sont identifiés à ce domaine de recherche et ont
produit des réflexions d’envergure. Au Canada anglais, Carl Berger a
publié The Writing of Canadian History Aspects of English-Canadian
Historical Writing Since 190028. La première édition (1976) s’arrête en 1970
et pour la deuxième (1986), Berger a ajouté un chapitre traitant des
développements récents. Malheureusement, le livre est davantage utile
pour la période avant 1960, l’auteur arrivant mal à dégager les lignes de
force de la production historique du dernier quart de siècle. Côté canadienfrançais, Serge Gagnon s’arrête, dans son plus récent volume, à des historiens ayant publié une partie principale de leur œuvre à la fin des années
1960 et au début des années 197029. Ainsi, la réflexion historiographique
ne touche pas encore la production récente. D’une manière générale, les
travaux de nature historiographique 3 qui
traitent de la production courante
0
sont plutôt de nature informative30 ou alors tentent de démontrer
l’existence d’une tendance centrale dans l’historiographie31.
Je place résolument la production de synthèses dans cette section parce
qu’elles jouent un rôle dynamique dans la recherche. Même si l’on peut
penser qu’une synthèse risque d’agir comme frein à cause de l’impression
de connaissance assurée qui s’en dégage32, il m’apparaît, au contraire,
qu’en tentant d’intégrer l’ensemble des résultats de recherche sur un sujet,
elle permet de mieux désigner les zones floues de la connaissance, qu’il
s’agisse de lacunes de la recherche ou de questions d’interprétation. Il est
clair, cependant, qu’une synthèse en appelle tôt ou tard une nouvelle, car
on ne peut pas déstructurer autrement l’organisation du savoir.
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IJCS / RIÉC
Dans la mesure où la recherche du dernier quart de siècle a morcelé la
connaissance historique, on a assisté depuis quelques années à une
demande accrue pour des synthèses. Ressenti d’abord dans les
spécialisations de la discipline (histoire ouvrière, histoire des femmes,
histoire économique, histoire religieuse, etc.), ce besoin l’a également été
plus globalement. Dans la majeure partie des cas, les synthèses portent la
marque des travaux de recherche récents, et ce, non seulement par leur
contenu factuel, mais surtout par leur façon de poser les problèmes et la
vision d’ensemble. Pour l’histoire canadienne, l’exemple le plus réussi l’ouvrage de John H. Thompson - peut servir d’illustration et de modèle 33.
Faisant partie d’une série lancée presque vingt-cinq ans avant sa parution
et conçue d’une manière assez traditionnelle, cet ouvrage tranche nettement par l’envergure de sa vision de la société canadienne et son intégration
des approches et des connaissances nouvelles. En particulier, les aspects
culturels sont très bien traités et intégrés à l’ensemble. Sur un autre plan,
la synthèse d’histoire canadienne rédigée pour un plus vaste public sous la
direction de Craig Brown34 réussit à bien intégrer l’essentiel des acquis de
la recherche récente comme les éléments de remise en question d’une
certaine vision centraliste de l’histoire canadienne. Un travail identique a
été entrepris pour l’histoire du Québec, avec la même volonté de refléter
les acquis de l’historiographie35, pour l’histoire de la vaste région de la
Prairie 36et pour l’Ontario37. Enfin, presque tous les secteurs de la recherche ont fait l’objet de synthèses récentes, ce qui devrait permettre de mieux
orienter les efforts de réflexion et d’analyse.
Quelques thématiques de recherche
Dans cette partie, j’aimerais examiner d’un peu plus près certaines
thématiques qui m’apparaissent significatives tant à cause des travaux déjà
réalisés que des retombées prévisibles. Mon propos n’étant pas de
procéder à un examen fouillé de tous les secteurs de l’histoire canadienne,
je n’ai donc pas retenu le plan traditionnel par périodes ou par
spécialisations. Les thématiques choisies ne prétendent pas épuiser
l’ensemble de la recherche en cours. Cette activité étant traditionnellement
marquée par l’individualité, et certains développements y étant tout à fait
imprévisibles, il serait présomptueux de prétendre enfermer ainsi, dés le
départ, toutes les possibilités.
Le champ de l’histoire des Amérindiens et de la Nouvelle-France est en
passe de se renouveler radicalement grâce surtout à l’apport des
anthropologues et des sociologues. En effet, dans la foulée de travaux
comme ceux de Bruce Trigger38 et de Denys Delâge39 , les historiens sont
amenés à réévaluer le rôle des Amérindiens dans l’histoire de la NouvelleFrance. En mettant l’accent sur la compréhension de leur propre vision de
l’histoire et non plus sur celle qu’ont les sources européennes, presque
essentiellement missionnaires, on tend à opérer un certain rééquilibrage
20
40
entre la « vision des vaincus » et celle des Européens de l’époque, reprise
largement et exclusivement par les historiens canadiens41. En fait, on peut
penser qu’un nouveau paradigme est en train de s’établir, inversant
l’insistance accordée exclusivement jusqu’ici au phénomène de
l’installation d’une collectivité d’origine européenne. Cette réévaluation
touchera sans doute profondément l’histoire de la Nouvelle-France parce
qu’elle entraîne une modification de l’équilibre entre les Amérindiens et
les Européens.
Si l’histoire démographique de la Nouvelle-France a progressé, on note
toutefois un certain affaiblissement de l’intérêt. L’ambitieux projet de
reconstitution de la population entrepris par Hubert Charbonneau et ses
collègues du Département de démographie de l’Université de Montréal a
déjà donné lieu à nombre d’études sous forme d’articles, de mémoires ou
de thèses. La parution du premier ouvrage utilisant systématiquement la
banque de données42 marque une étape dans la vie de cette entreprise. On
y trace le profil des pionniers, c’est-à-dire des hommes et des femmes venus
de France et ayant eu des lignées de descendants dans la colonie. Il est à
espérer que l’existence de ces donnée; sous une forme plus accessible
stimulera la recherche dans ce domaine43.
Signalons enfin un autre secteur actif qui déborde la Nouvelle-France, la
traite des fourrures. Pour cette période, les travaux semblent davantage
porter sur l’organisation de la traite au XVIIIe siècle et sur les ramifications
transocéaniques de ce commerce44. Tout le secteur de la traite des fourrures dans l’Ouest pour les XIX” et XXe siècles constitue un domaine très
actif et, dans la foulée des travaux de Sylvia Van Kirk et d’Arthur J. Ray,
les interrogations se sont élargies au cadre général de l’activité45.
La segmentation de la recherche historique a eu d’excellents effets sur la
recherche. Le renouveau d’intérêt porte plus généralement sur la constitution et l’identité des grandes « régions » canadiennes. Ce phénomène n’est
cependant pas entièrement inédit. D’une part, il y a toujours eu le cas du
Québec, avec sa vision et son historiographie; d’autre part, une certaine
forme d’historiographie régionale a toujours existé. Ce qui est nouveau
dans ce contexte, c’est la remontée de la légitimité de l’approche régionale
chez les historiens professionnels. Couplée avec le mouvement de
décentralisation des universités, cette approche insuffle vigueur et enthousiasme à la recherche. Hors le cas du Québec, le champ le plus
dynamique à l’heure actuelle est celui des provinces de l’Atlantique. Une
infrastructure de recherche dont une composante importante est la revue
Acadiensis, qui a suscité des groupes très actifs dans le passé, comme le
Maritime History Group de l’Université Memorial de Terre-Neuve, appuie
ce champ. Il s’y est ainsi formé une historiographie qui cherche à renouveler
les problématiques du développement. Tournant résolument le dos aux
images classiques de conservatisme inné et d’immobilisme 46, les
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chercheurs des provinces de l’Atlantique ont entrepris d’analyser tous les
aspects de la construction de la grande région depuis les débuts de la
colonisation jusqu’à nos jours. Leurs travaux touchent tous les domaines,
qu’il s’agisse de l’histoire urbaine avec ceux de W. Acheson47, de l’histoire
des conditions de vie avec ceux de Judith Fingard 48, ou encore des travailleurs avec ceux d’Eric W. Sager49.
Cette revalorisation de la segmentation se retrouve partout, même du côté
de l’Ontario, traditionnellement perçue par les autres historiens canadiens
comme le bastion d’une vision centraliste, réductrice de l’histoire
canadienne. Depuis quelques années, en effet, divers chantiers ont été
ouverts - à l’instar de ce que fait l’Institut québécois de recherche sur la
culture - pour développer une meilleure connaissance du passé ontarien.
La thématique diverse est ancrée dans l’histoire sociale, politique,
économique ou dans la production d’instruments de travail (bibliographie,
recueil de cartes anciennes, etc.) et a déjà donné lieu à quelques ouvrages,
la Ontario Historical Studies Series. Les provinces de l’Ouest et la
Colombie-Britannique ont été touchées elles aussi comme en témoignent
les publications récentes et la vitalité de revues comme B.C. Studies.
À l’intérieur du Québec, l’intérêt pour l’histoire régionale est très ancien.
S’appuyant sur les travaux du géographe Raoul Blanchard, de nombreuses
équipes se sont formées et ont pris comme cible une région. Une des plus
connues est celle qu’anime Gérard Bouchard (SOREP) de l’Université du
Québec à Chicoutimi, qui a déjà produit de très nombreux travaux et qui
s’apprête à étendre sa base de données démographiques à l’ensemble du
Québec50. Soulignons également les travaux sur l’histoire de la Mauricie,
dirigés par René Hardy et Normand Séguin51 ainsi que les diverses équipes
du projet d’histoire régionale de l’IQRC.
L’histoire des femmes continue d’être un champ dynamique. Très rapidement, l’intérêt s’est déplacé des premiers groupes féministes vers l’analyse
des modalités de l’insertion des femmes dans la société. Ce déplacement
nous a valu les travaux de Bettina Bradbury sur l’économie familiale au
XIX” siècle et son intérêt pour le statut des veuves52, ceux de la regrettée
Marta Danylewycz sur les religieuses et les enseignantes 53, ceux de
Micheline Dumont et Nadia Fahmy-Eid sur l’éducation des filles54et
l’intérêt nouveau que l’on porte au travail des femmes. Dans ce dernier cas,
on peut noter deux tendances. Dans un premier temps, à la suite des travaux
de Graham Lowe sur la féminisation du travail de bureau 55, on s’intéresse
à cet aspect du développement du marché du travail; dans un second temps,
l’approche devient plus englobante et on cherche à saisir le rôle des femmes
à une échelle plus vaste que le strict lieu de travail, comme l’a fait Joy Parr
dans ses études consacrées aux petites villes de Paris et de Hanover
(Ontario) 56. Ces développements dans le domaine de l’histoire des femmes
sont susceptibles d’exercer une influence qui dépasse le cadre d’une
22
spécialité. En interpellant la façon dont on fait l’histoire, les recherches
dans ce secteur sont de nature à infléchir l’ensemble de l’historiographie.
L’histoire rurale canadienne a été un champ d’étude relativement négligé
dans le passé, chose surprenante pour un pays dont l’économie et la
main-d’oeuvre ont été pendant si longtemps reliées à l’activité agricole.
Depuis quelques années, cependant, un certain nombre d’éléments
stimulent les travaux dans ce domaine. Signalons d’abord la publication
irrégulière mais soutenue des Canadian Papers in Rural History depuis
1978. Cette série, due à l’initiative de Donald H. Akenson, en est rendue à
57
son septième volume . Les articles ne traitent pas exclusivement d’histoire
canadienne, mais celle-ci conserve tout de même la part du lion. Au Québec
existe un important projet d’histoire rurale comparée entre le Québec et la
France de l’Ouest. Déjà trois volumes d’actes ont été publiés58et les travaux
se poursuivent; il sert en fait de véritable regroupement des chercheurs en
histoire rurale.
Les axes d’étude en histoire de l’agriculture sont plutôt variés, encore que
dans le cas du Québec, on observe une certaine concentration des efforts
sur la différenciation sociale des cultivateurs et surtout sur la transmission
du patrimoine59. Tout se passe comme si après des années de controverses
sur la qualité et la quantité de la production, on cherchait maintenant à voir
dans les conditions de reproduction de la paysannerie canadiennefrançaise la clé d’un équilibre séculaire entre les besoins de la famille, la
production agricole et le marché.
L’histoire du droit est un secteur en plein développement. L’attention des
historiens s’est d’abord portée sur le fonctionnement judiciaire pendant le
Régime français avec les travaux d’André Lachance et de John
Dickinson 60. Mais il y a une remontée de l’intérêt pour l’utilisation du droit
dans un cadre plus large. Certains y sont venus par le biais de la nécessité
posée par leur enquête, notamment Bettina Bradbury dont les travaux
portent sur le statut des veuves61. D’autres y sont venus par une interrogation plus vaste basée sur le rôle du droit dans la société à travers, notamment, les notions de contrôle et de régulation sociales62. Une diversité
d’approches domine le champ, comme en témoignent d’ailleurs des publications collectives récentes63.
L’histoire militaire a toujours eu ses fidèles, mais elle semble depuis peu
susciter une plus grande attention. D’une part, des synthèses et des travaux
de facture plus traditionnelle continuent d’être publiés et d’autre part, des
recherches s’apparentant à la « nouvelle histoire militaire » commencent à
faire leur apparition, comme le dernier livre de Jean-Pierre Gagnon
consacré aux soldats du 22e Bataillon 64. Les travaux portent surtout sur la
période d’avant la Seconde Guerre mondiale, cette dernière étant encore,
pour le moment, dominée par les productions classiques : récits d’anciens
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65
combattants et mémoires . Si le XIXe siècle est manifestement négligé, il
faut souligner le travail d’Elinor Kyte Senior sur l’histoire militaire des
rébellions dans le Bas-Canada qui jette une lumière nouvelle sur ce
conflit 66. Signalons par ailleurs l’intérêt que les historiens de l’art portent
au rôle des artistes et de l’art en temps de guerre67.
Pour ce qui est de l’histoire des idées, il faut évoquer l’existence d’une
nébuleuse de recherche autour de l’histoire de l’éducation, de l’histoire
intellectuelle, de l’histoire des sciences et des techniques, de l’histoire de
la culture et même de l’histoire des idéologies. Il y a une certaine convergence dans les interrogations récentes. D’une part, en histoire de
l’éducation, on semble délaisser une approche un peu trop mécaniste, axée
sur la notion de contrôle social et chercher à mieux cerner le contenu
véhiculé par les institutions 68. Du côté de l’histoire intellectuelle, on semble
se sensibiliser davantage à un certain pluralisme et délaisser l’analyse des
seuls penseurs nationalistes69. Quant à l’histoire des idéologies, longtemps
fort populaire au Québec, elle semble en perte de vitesse, si l’on excepte le
travail de Fernande Roy sur le libéralisme qui indique bien la voie à suivre
pour renouveler le champ70.
À l’heure actuelle, l’intérêt semble se porter sur l’examen de la genèse des
sciences, naturelles comme sociales, ainsi que sur l’évolution des
techniques. Ces divers domaines sont quelque peu interreliés et ont suscité
des travaux novateurs qui nous font découvrir une facette inédite de
l’histoire canadienne. Pensons ici à la synthèse sur l’Histoire des sciences au
Québec 71 , à l’étude de Suzanne Zeller 72 ou aux travaux de Dianne Newell
sur la technologie
* 73. Pour les sciences sociales, le récent livre de Marlene
Shore est exemplaire74. Dans ces ouvrages, l’interrogation porte à la fois
sur le développement intellectuel des disciplines, leur progrès institutionnel, les politiques des praticiens eux-mêmes, les luttes de pouvoir et les
rapports entre le monde des affaires et celui de la science.
En terminant ce survol qui ne prétend pas être exhaustif, je voudrais
signaler certaines thématiques qui se maintiennent et d’autres qui semblent
être délaissées. La biographie est un genre inséparable de l’histoire. C’est
en tout cas une espèce qui n’est pas menacée de disparition. Il faut bien
dire que le cadre est tentant et qu’il bénéficie du climat favorable au retour
au « narratif75», derrière lequel il faut décoder aussi une réévaluation de
l’incidence des forces individuelles plutôt que collectives dans l’explication
historique. Dans ce contexte, la biographie apparaît comme le vecteur
idéal, d’autant plus que le genre n’a pas été insensible à l’évolution de
l’historiographie. L’histoire politique plus traditionnelle n’est pas morte
non plus et on la retrouve davantage dans les études sur le XXe siècle; elle
aussi a connu une évolution dans le sens d’un élargissement des perspectives. L’histoire des travailleurs continue d’explorer des avenues bien
24
tracées et bien balisées, mais elle semble aussi accuser un certain essouflement.
Certaines thématiques apparaissent en stagnation; ainsi, l’histoire urbaine,
qui a connu un essor important dans les années 197076, ne semble plus offrir
de problématique ou de cadre interprétatif attirant les chercheurs. On
pourrait dire la même chose de l’histoire plus proprement économique,
encore que, dans ce cas, il faut sans doute y voir le reflet d’un phénomène
plus large, vraisemblablement relié aux transformations contemporaines
de l’économie77. Notons cependant un intérêt grandissant pour l’histoire
des entreprises comme en témoignent le succès récent de la synthèse de
Michael Bliss78et la naissance d’une nouvelle série consacrée à l’histoire
de l’entreprise79.
Si l’on regarde maintenant la recherche avec un certain recul (ce qui est
malaisé), on est frappé par deux constatations de nature méthodologique,
pour ne pas dire paradigmatique. La première est que l’explication basée
sur l’économique semble céder le pas à des systèmes explicatifs plus vastes
et plus complexes qui auraient une meilleure valeur heuristique. Dans ce
contexte, la régression de la référence à un certain marxisme simplificateur
est symptomatique. La recherche vers le droit, le pouvoir ou les institutions
vise à dépasser ce réductionnisme et amène à terme une réévaluation de
l’instance politique. La seconde est la position centrale occupée par la
famille.
En effet, la famille se retrouve au cœur de nombreuses recherches. Nous
avons mentionné l’histoire des femmes avec les travaux de B. Bradbury et
de J. Parr. On pourrait tout aussi bien citer ceux de Joanne Burgess 80 et de
Peter Bischoff 81 sur les ouvriers où la centralité de la famille apparaît
également comme une composante essentielle. Dans le domaine de
l’histoire de l’agriculture, on retrouve le même phénomène. Les études sur
les migrations accordent la préséance à la famille. Qu’on étudie les immigrants italiens au XXe siècle 82, les immigrants irlandais au XIXe siècle 83,
les Canadiens français aux Etats-Unis ou encore les migrations interne84,
partout la famille est présentée comme le « chaînon manquant » qui
expliquerait la cohérence sociale des groupes. En fait, on peut se demander
s’il n’y a pas un certain danger à ainsi ériger la famille en « variable
indépendante » pour à peu près tous les champs de la connaissance
historique. Non pas qu’il faille minimiser son rôle - au contraire je crois
que la centralité de l’institution mérite d’être soulignée -, mais il faut
craindre que cette unanimité aboutisse tôt ou tard à un cul de sac. À Force
de tout rejeter sur la famille, on risque d’évacuer le secteur des rapports
entre individu et société et à ne rien pouvoir expliquer autrement que par
un appel aux valeurs culturelles.
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Dans son ensemble, et outre ce qui précède, la recherche actuelle ne semble
pas innover sur le plan méthodologique. Tradition et éclectisme dominent,
ce qui n’empêche pas certains travaux de mettre en œuvre des méthodes
plus raffinées ou nouvelles. Signalons enfin que même s’il reste encore des
grands projets ancrés dans l’analyse informatique d’une masse énorme de
documents, ceux-ci n’apparaissent plus ornés de la même aura que dans
les années 1970 : une certaine modestie quant aux possibilités heuristiques
de ces grands fichiers a remplacé un certain triomphalisme 85. Notons
également que les historiens du Québec semblent privilégier davantage que
leurs collègues d’ailleurs au Canada la recherche en équipe.
Ce survol serait incomplet sans mentionner une nouvelle dimension de la
recherche historique : son internationalisation. En effet, depuis quelques
années, l’histoire canadienne suscite des travaux dans d’autres pays,
particulièrement chez ceux qui ont entretenu des liens avec le Canada86
Ces travaux sont importants, car dans une large mesure, ils utilisent des
sources que les historiens canadiens ont tendance à négliger sinon à
méconnaître et apportent un complément d’éclairage à de nombreuses
questions. C’est ainsi qu’en Italie, des chercheurs utilisent les archives
romaines pour éclairer certains aspects de l’histoire87. C’est le cas aussi en
Grande-Bretagne où la tradition est plus ancienne88 et aux États-Unis avec
les études sur le syndicalisme et celles sur les Franco-Américains.
***
Au terme de cet examen de la recherche historique, une première
conclusion s’impose, celle d’un certain mûrissement; en 1990, elle possède
une organisation bien déployée, ses professionnels, ses grands instruments
de travail. C’est une historiographie qui dispose de ses caractères et
paramètres propres et qui tend, comme toutes les autres, à répondre aux
grandes interrogations qui préoccupent la société. On doit noter, cependant, que les questions constitutionnelles ou encore les relations entre
francophones et anglophones n’ont pas beaucoup d’effet sur les travaux des
historiens. Dans ce sens, la pérennité de certains traits - et je pense ici à
la dualité des historiographies ou à la segmentation - ne me paraît pas
menacée. Cependant, ces mêmes traits n’ont pas que des effets négatifs; le
dynamisme de certains champs de recherche atteste de leur vitalité et de
leur viabilité. De plus, leur apport à la connaissance d’une histoire
canadienne globale et unique est très important parce qu’ils proposent des
visions complémentaires qui l’interpellent et l’informent.
Par ailleurs, l’historiographie canadienne apparaît également comme étant
de son temps, car en dépit de ses idiosyncrasies, elle reste très sensible aux
interrogations et aux débats qui sollicitent la discipline historique partout
dans le monde. Son évolution durant le dernier quart de siècle est parallèle
à ce qui s’observe ailleurs; ses contacts avec les historiographies
26
britannique, américaine et française ont agi comme des facteurs de stimulation et elle ne peut que bénéficier d’un dialogue plus ouvert avec l’extérieur.
Notes
Je tiens à remercier mes collègues Chad Gaffïeld, Paul-André Linteau
et Normand Séguin pour leurs commentaires sur une première version
de ce texte.
2. La Constitution du Canada accorde aux provinces l’entière
responsabilité de l’éducation, même si le gouvernement fédéral finance
directement ou indirectement une partie importante de
l’enseignement postsecondaire.
3. Pour le second et le troisième cycles.
4. Voir à titre d’exemple, les travaux parallèles de Carl Berger, The
Writing of Canadian History. Aspects of English-Canadian Historical
Writing since 1900. 2 e ed., Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1986;
et de Serge Gagnon, Quebec and Its Historians. The Twentieth Century.
Montreal, Harvest House, 1985.
5. Même si, à ce propos, on doit souligner la critique des historiens de
l’extérieur de l’Ontario qui font valoir que ce discours national est en
fait un discours centraliste, souvent basé sur l’unique expérience de
l’Ontario et d’une partie du Québec. Pour une illustration de cet
aspect, voir J.-C. Robert, « Quelques réflexions sur l’historiographie
canadienne récente », Canadian Historical Review, LXIII,l (March
1982), p. 46-59.
6. Pour évoquer les grands découpages régionaux à l’échelle du Canada
(province ou groupe de provinces), j’utilise le terme segmentation,
réservant le terme régionalisation aux études de régions à l’intérieur
du cadre provincial.
7. J.M.S. Careless, « “Limited Identities” in Canada », Canadian Historical
Review, L (March 1969), p. l-10.
8. Voir la préface de P.A. Buckner et David Frank, eds. The Acadiensis
Reader: Volume One. Atlantic Canada Before Confederation. Fredericton,
Acadiensis Press, 1985, p. 7-10.
9. Le phénomène est d’ailleurs plus vaste, comme l’a montré le rapport
de G. Barraclough, Tendances actuelles de l’histoire. Paris, Flammarion, 1980.
10. W. Acheson, « Doctoral Theses and the Discipline of History in
Canada, 1967 and 1985 », CHA, Historical Papers/Communications
historiques, 1986, p. 1-10; M. Kammen, « The Historian’s Vocation and
the State of the Discipline in the United States », M. Kammen, ed. The
Past Before Us. Ithaca, Cornell University Press, 1980, p. 19-46.
11. Cette dernière question est très complexe; pour une tentative
d’explication dans le contexte canadien, voir John English, « The
1.
27
IJCS / RIÉC
Second Time Around: Political Scientists Writing History », Canadian
Historical Review, LXVII,1 (March 1986), p. 1-16. Le problème avait
déjà été souligné par Tony Judt, « A Clown in RegaI Purple: Social
History and the Historian », History Workshop, 7 (Spring 1979), p.
66-94. Pour une mise au point récente voir René Rémond, dir. Pour
une histoire politique. Paris, Le Seuil, 1988.
12. F. Ouellet, « La modernisation de l’historiographie et l’émergence de
l’histoire sociale », Recherches Sociographiques, XXVI,1-2 (1985), p.
11-83.
13. David Gagan et H.E. Turner, « Social History in Canada: A Report on
the “State of the Art” », Archivaria, 14 (Summer 1982), p. 27-52.
14. J.B. Conacher, « Graduate Studies in History in Canada: The Growth
of Doctoral Programmes », CHA, Historical Papers/Communications
historiques, 1975, p. 1-15; P. A. Buckner, « “Limited Identities” and
Canadian Historical Scholarship: An Atlantic Provinces Perspective »,
Journal of Canadian Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes, 23,1-2 (Printempsété 1988), p. 177-198; John English, « The Second Time Around:
Political Scientists Writing History », Canadian Historial Review,
LXVII,l (March 1986), p. l-16.
15. Voir, par exemple, A. Dubuc, « L’influence de l’école des Annales au
Québec », Revue d’histoire de l'Amérique française, XXXIII (1979), p.
357-386; D. Gagan et H.E. Turner, « Social History in Canada: A
Report on the “State of the Art” », Archivaria, 14 (Summer 1982), p.
27-52.
16. Outre ses programmes réguliers, le CRSHC a aussi un programme de
préparation d’instruments de recherche pour les études canadiennes.
17. Publié simultanément en anglais par la University of Toronto Press et
en français par les Presses de l’Université Laval, 10 volumes parus et
1 sous presse.
18. Publié simultanément en anglais par la University of Toronto Press et
en français par les Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1 volume paru
en 1987 et 1 en 1990.
19. Deux éditions ont paru : une première en 3 volumes, en anglais,
Edmonton, Hurtig Publishers, 1985; et, en français, Montréal, Stanké,
1987; une deuxième en 4 volumes, en anglais seulement, Edmonton,
Hurtig Publisher, 1988.
20. Ajoutons ici que ces trois réalisations ont bénéficié du support financier du CRSHC ainsi que de celui du gouvernement de l’Alberta pour
le troisième.
21. Voir le compte rendu très louangeur que la revue Annales a consacré
aux trois premiers volumes : Jean Meyer, « Une grande entreprise : le
Dictionnaire biographique du Canada », Annales ESC, 30,1 (Janvierfévrier 1975), p. 253-256.
22. R. Cole Harris, dir. Atlas historique du Canada. Vol. I. Des origines à 1800.
Montréal, Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1987; Historical Atlas of
28
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
Canada. Vol. I. From the Beginnings to 1800. Toronto, University of
Toronto Press, 1987.
Voir en particulier le compte rendu qu’en a fait V. Nelles dans The
Canadian Historical Review, LXVIII,l (March 1987), p. 108-113; et
celui de Margaret Conrad, « The Canadian Encyclopedia of Limitless
Identities », Acadiensis, XIX,1 (Fall 1989), p. 204-208.
La deuxième édition est parue en 1983 (Ottawa, Statistique Canada).
Jean Hamelin, dir. Guide du chercheur en histoire canadienne. Québec,
Presses de l’Université Laval, 1986. Soulignons qu’une première version, très différente, avait déjà été publiée en 1969.
D.A. Muise, ed. A Reader’s Guide to Canadian History, vol. 1: Beginnings
to Confederation. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1982; J.L.
Granatstein et P. Stevens, eds. A Reader’s Guide to Canadian
History, vol. 2: Confederation to the Present. Toronto, University of
Toronto Press, 1982.
Paul Aubin et Louis-Marie Côté. Bibliographie de l’histoire du Québec
et du Canada, 1946-1965. 2 volumes. Québec, IQRC, 1987; Paul Aubin
et al. Bibliographie de l’histoire du Québec et du Canada, 1966-1975.
2 volumes. Québec, IQRC, 1981; Paul Aubin et Louis-Marie Côté.
Bibliographie de l‘histoire du Québec et du Canada, 1976-1980. 2
volumes. Québec, IQRC, 1985.
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1986.
Serge Gagnon. Quebec and Its Historians. The Twentieth Century.
Montreal, Harvest House, 1985.
Voir, par exemple, D. Gagan et H.E. Turner, « Social History in
Canada: A Report on the “State of the Art” », Archivaria, 14 (Summer
1982), p. 27-52; Guy Laperrière, « L’histoire religieuse au Québec :
principaux courants, 1978-1988 », Revue d’histoire de L’Amérique
française, 42,4 (Printemps 1989), p. 563-578.
C’est ce que fait Fernand Ouellet dans : « La modernisation de
l’historiographie et l’émergence de l’histoire sociale », Recherches
sociographiques, XXVI,1-2 (1985), p. 11-83; « La question sociale au
Québec, 1880-1930. Perspectives historiographiques et critiques », G.
Kurgan-van Hentenryk, dir. La question sociale en Belgique et au
Canada XIX e-XX e siècles. Bruxelles, Université Libre de Bruxelles,
1988, p. 45-80.
Graeme Wynn, « Atlantic Perspectives: A Review Essay », Canadian
Historical Review, LXIX,3 (September 1988), p. 351.
John H. Thompson avec Allen Seager. Canada 1922-l 939: Decades of
Discord. Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1985.
Craig Brown, ed. The Illustrated History of Canada. Toronto, Lester &
Orpen Dennys, 1987; parue l’année suivante, en français, sous le titre :
Histoire générale du Canada. Montréal, Boréal, 1988.
P.-A. Linteau, R. Durocher, J.-C. Robert, Histoire du Québec contemporain. Tome 1. De la Confédération à la crise (1867-1929), nouvelle
édition refondue et mise à jour. Montréal, Boréal, 1989; P.-A. Linteau,
29
IJCS / RIÉC
R. Durocher, J.-C. Robert, F. Ricard, Histoire du Québec
contemporain. Tome 2. Le Québec depuis 1930, nouvelle édition
révisée. Montréal, Boréal, 1989.
36. Gerald Friesen. The Canadian Prairies. A History. Toronto, University
of Toronto Press, 1984.
37. Dans le cadre des Ontario Historical Studies Series. Voir, par exemple,
Ian M. Drummond. Progress Without Planning The Economic History of
Ontario from Confederation to the Second World War. Toronto,
University of Toronto Press, 1987.
38. Bruce G. Trigger. Natives and Newcomers. Canada's "Heroic Age”
Reconsidered. Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1985.
39. Denys Delâge. Le pays renversé. Amérindiens et Européens en
Amérique du Nord-Est, 1600-1664. Montréal, Boréal, 1985.
40. Il y a un parallèle évident à faire entre la Nouvelle-France et l’empire
espagnol, même si la place des indigènes était différente. Voir, par
exemple, Nathan Wachtel, La vision des vaincus. Les Indiens du Pérou
devant la Conquête espagnole. Paris, Gallimard, 1972.
41. Bruce G. Trigger, « The Historian’s Indians: Native Americans in
Canadian Historical Writing from Charlevoix to the Present »,
Canadian Historical Review, LXVII,3 (1986), p. 515-342.
42. Hubert Charbonneau et al. Naissance d’une population. Les Français
établis au Canada au XVIIe siècle. Paris et Montréal, INED, Presses
Universitaires de France et Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1987.
43. Yves Landry, « Le registre de population de la Nouvelle-France : un
outil pratique au service de la démographie historique et de l’histoire
sociale », Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française, 38,3 (hiver 1985), p.
423-426.
44. Gratien Allaire, « Officiers et marchands : les sociétés de commerce
des fourrures, 1715-1760 », Revue d’histoire de l‘Amérique française,
40,3 (Hiver 1987), p. 409-428. Voir aussi Bruce Trigger, Toby Morantz
et Louise Dechêne, dirs. Le Castorfait tout: Selected Papers of the Fifth
North American Fur Trade Conference. Montreal, Lake St. Louis Historical Society, 1987.
45. Sylvia van Kirk. “Many Tender Ties”. Women in Fur-Trade Society,
1670-1870. Winnipeg, Watson & Dwyer Publishing Ltd., 1980; Arthur
J. Ray. The Canadian Fur Trade in the Industrial Age. Toronto, University
of Toronto Press, 1990.
46. Sur ce point, les travaux d’E. R. Forbes sont éclairants; voir en particulier son dernier recueil, Challenging the Regional Stereotype.
Fredericton, Acadiensis Press, 1989.
47. T. W. Acheson. Saint John. The Making of a Colonial Urban Community
48. Judith Fingard. Jack in Port. Sailortowns of Eastern Canada. Toronto,
University of Toronto Press, 1982.
30
49. Eric W. Sager. Seafaring Labour: The Merchant Marine of Atlantic
Canada, 1820-1914. Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press,
1989.
50. Gérard Bouchard, dir. SOREP. Rapport annuel 1988-1989. CIRP,
1989. Le rapport contient un exposé des projets et une bibliographie
des travaux réalisés jusqu’en 1989.
51. René Hardy et Normand Séguin. Forêt et société en Mauricie.
Montréal, Boréal, 1984.
52. Bettina Bradbury, « Surviving as a Widow in 19th-Century Montreal »,
Urban History Review/Revue d’histoire urbaine, XVII,3 (Février 1989),
p. 148-160.
53. Marta Danylewycz, Taking the Veil: An Alternative to Marriage,
Motherhood, and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840-1920. Toronto,
McClelland and Stewart, 1987; paru en français sous le titre, Profession :
religieuse. Un choix pour les Québécoises. Montréal, Boréal, 1988.
54. Micheline Dumont et Nadia Fahmy-Eid, Les couventines. Montréal,
Boréal, 1986.
55. Graham S. Lowe, Women in the Administrative Revolution. The
Feminization of Clerical Work. Toronto, University of Toronto Press,
1987.
56. Joy Parr, The Gender of Breadwinners. Women, Men, and Change in Two
Industrial Towns, 1880-1950. Toronto, University of Toronto Press,
1990.
57. Donald H. Akenson, ed. Canadian Papers in Rural History. V.
Gananoque, Langdale Press, 1986; Canadian Papers in Rural History.
VI.. Gananoque, Langdale Press, 1988; Canadian Papers in Rural
History. VII. Gananoque, Langdale Press, 1990.
58. J.-P. Wallot et J. Goy, dirs. Société rurale dans la France de L’Ouest et
au Québec (XVII e -XX e siècles). Montréal, Université de Montréal,
1981; J. Goy et J.-P. Wallot, dirs. Évolution et éclatement du monde
rural. France-Québec, XVIIe -XXe siècles. Paris, Editions de l’École des
Hautes Etudes en Sciences Sociales, 1986; F. Lebrun et N. Séguin, dirs.
Sociétés villageoises et rapports villes-campagnes au Québec et dans la France
de L’Ouest, XVIIe-XXe siècles. Trois-Rivières, CREQ, Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 1987.
59. Voir, par exemple, Gérard Bouchard et Régis Thibeault, « L’économie
agraire et la reproduction sociale dans les campagnes saguenayennes
(1852-1971) », Histoire sociale-Social History, Vol. XXVIII, no 36,
(novembre 1985), p. 237-258; et Christian Dessureault, «L’égalitarisme
paysan dans l’ancienne société rurale de la vallée du Saint-Laurent :
éléments pour une réinterprétation », Revue d’histoire de L’Amérique
française, 40,3 (hiver 1987), p. 373-408.
60. André Lachance. La justice criminelle du roi au Canada au XVIIIe
siècle. Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 1978; John A. Dickinson.
Justice et justiciables. La procédure civile à la Prévôté de Québec,
1667-1759. Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 1982.
31
IJCS / RIÉC
61. Bettina Bradbury et al. « Régimes matrimoniaux : le droit et la pratique
à Montréal, 1820-1845 », Communication au congrès de l’Institut
d’histoire de l’Amérique française, Sherbrooke, 1989.
62. Voir, par exemple, J.-M. Fecteau, Un nouvel ordre des choses : la
pauvreté, le crime, l'État au Québec, de la fin du XVIIIe siècle à 1840.
Montréal, VLB, 1989.
63. « Histoire québécoise du droit/Quebec Legal History », McGill Law
Joumal/Revue de droit de McGill, 32,3 (Juillet 1987); W. Wesley Pue et
Barry Wright, eds. Canadian Perspectives on Law & Society. Issues in Legal
History. Ottawa, Carleton University Press, 1988.
64. Jean-Pierre Gagnon. Le 22e Bataillon. Québec, Presses de l’Université
Laval, 1986.
65. Marc Milner, « Reflections on the State of Canadian Army History in
the Two World Wars », Acadiensis (Spring 1989), p. 135-150.
66. Elinor Kyte Senior. Redcoats & Patriotes. The Rebellions in Lower
Canada, 1837-38. Stittsville, Canada’s Wings, 1985.
67. Maria Tippett. Art at the Service of War: Canada, Art, and the Great War.
68. Chad Gaffield, « Back to School: Towards a New Agenda for the
History of Education », Acadiensis (Spring 1986), p. 169-190.
69. Clarence Karr, « What Happened to Canadian Intellectual History »,
Acadiensis, (Spring 1989), p. 158-174; Doug Owram, « Intellectual
History in the Land of Limited Identities », Journal of Canadian
Studies/Revue d’études canadiennes, 24,3 (Automne 1989), p. 114-128.
70. Fernande Roy. Progrès, harmonie, liberté. Le libéralisme des milieux
d’affaires francophones à Montréal au tournant du siècle. Montréal, Boréal,
1988.
71. Luc Chartrand, Raymond Duchesne et Yves Gingras. Histoire des
sciences au Québec. Montréal, Boréal, 1987.
72. Suzanne Zeller. Inventing Canada. Early Vïctorian Science and the Idea of
a Transcontinental Nation. Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1987.
73. Dianne Newell. Technology on the Frontier: Mining in Old Ontario.
Vancouver, University of British Columbia Press, 1986.
74. Marlene Shore. The Science of Social Redemption. McGill, the Chicago School,
and the Origins of Social Research in Canada. Toronto, University of Toronto
Press, 1987.
75. Mark Phillips, « The Revival of Narrative: Thoughts on a Current
Historiographical Debate », University of Toronto Quarterly, 53,2
(Winter 1983-4), p. 149-165; Dwight W. Hoover, « The Return of the
Organization of American Historians Newsletter,
Narrative? »,
(November 1989), p. 8-9.
76. Pour un survol du champ, voir Paul-André Linteau et Alan F.J.
Artibise. L’évolution de l’urbanisation au Canada : une analyse des
perspectives et des interprétations. Winnipeg, Institute of Urban
Studies, University of Winnipeg, 1984; paru simultanément, en version
32
77.
78.
79.
80.
81.
82.
83.
84.
85.
86.
87.
88.
anglaise, The Evolution of Urban Canada: An Analysis of Approaches and
Interpretations.
Voir, par exemple, J. Marseille, « Pour une histoire économique optimiste », Institut d’histoire économique et sociale de l’Université de
Paris I. Recherches et travaux Bulletin No 18 (décembre 1989), p. 1-8.
Michael Bliss. Northern Enter-prise. Five Centuries of Canadian Business.
Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1987.
Peter Baskerville, ed. Canadian Papers in Business History. Vol I.
Victoria, University of Victoria, 1989.
Joanne Burgess. « The Growth of a Craft Labour Force: Montréal
Leather Artisans, 1815-1831», Historical Papers/Communications historiques, 1988, p. 48-62.
Peter Bischoff. « Des forges du Saint-Maurice aux fonderies de
Montréal : mobilité géographique, solidarité communautaire et action
syndicale des mouleurs, 1829-1881 », Revue d’histoire de L’Amérique
française, 43,l (été 1989), p. 3-29.
Sylvie Taschereau. Pays et Patries. Mariages et lieux d’origine des
Italiens de Montréal 1906-1930. Montréal, Université de Montréal,
1987.
Bruce S. Elliott. Irish Migrants in the Canadas. A New Approach.
Kingston, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988.
France Gagnon. « Parenté et migration : le cas des Canadiens français
à Montréal entre 1845 et 1875 », Historical Papers/communications
historiques, 1988, p. 63-85.
Pour un bilan, voir « Les bases de données historiques : l’expérience
canadienne depuis quinze ans », Histoire Sociale-Social History, Vol.
XXI, no 42 (novembre 1988), p. 283-317.
Voir plus loin dans ce numéro l’article de Luca Codignola.
Voir, par exemple, Luca Codignola. The Coldest Harbour of the Land:
Simon Stock and Lord Baltimore’s Colony in Newfoundland, 1621-1649.
Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988.
Voir le récent colloque tenu à Edimbourg et dont les actes viennent
d’être publiés : Ged Martin, ed. The Causes of Canadian Confederation.
Fredericton, Acadiensis Press, 1990.
33
Dennis P. Forcese
Abstract
The establishment and growth of Anglophone and Francophone sociologies
in Canada are described with emphasis upon the period from the 1960s
through the 1980s. Two distinct sociologies are identified, each somewhat
remote or isolated from the other, and also from other national sociologies.
The two Canadian sociologies are no longer dependent upon non-Canadian
graduate training and have developed clear research agenda. Each, however,
has tended to emphasize powerful conceptual models and nationalist sentiments to the relative disregard of quantitative research or skills development.
Résumé
L‘article illustre le développement des sociologies francophone et
anglophone au Canada en insistant sur la période des années 1960 aux
années 1980. Il décrit deux sociologies distinctes, distantes ou isolées l’une
de l ‘autre ainsi que des autres sociologies nationales.
Les deux sociologies canadiennes ne dépendent plus de l’extérieur pour la
formation de leurs diplômés et elles ont développé un programme de
recherche bien défini Chacune a cependant eu tendance à mettre l’accent
sur la conceptualisation et la formulation de modèles, ainsi que sur les
sentiments nationalistes, au détriment de la recherche quantitative ou de
l‘amélioration des habiletés.
Introduction
An overview essay on Canadian sociology begs the question: is there a
Canadian sociology? Were the question put prior to 1961, or even during
that decade, the answer would properly have been in the negative. A state
of the art essay would have been spartan and wishful, or anticipatory, rather
than having a good deal of completed work to examine. A 1968 Preface to
the third edition of the then-dominant anthology in Canadian sociology
could cite, as a dubious indicator of “vigorous development” over the
previous twenty years, a table of contents consisting of fifty-five assiduously
collected articles, a growth of nineteen since the initial edition seven years
earlier (Blishen et al., 1968:xi). In 1990, however, after two decades of
Canadian intellectual nationalism and academic growth, there are clearly
grounds for an affirmative response, despite sociology in Canada sharing
what is probably a worldwide loss in influence since the heady days of
expansion in the late 1960s and the 1970s (Boden et al, 1990).
There most certainly is sociology in Canada, and sociology conducted by
Canadians. Fortunately, too, there is a Canadian sociology-at least two.
One observer even suggests that there are several “regional sociologies”
(Whyte, 1984:110). A consideration of recent published works upon which
most of the following remarks are based does not suggest such a degree of
dispersion. But it is clear, despite some convergent thematic content and
issues, that the fundamental duality of Canada’s two founding language
groups is mirrored in its sociologies. There is a sociology in and of EnglishCanada. And there is a sociology in and of Quebec.
As the two sociologies have developed through the present decade, both
are somewhat parochial, immeshed in intellectual nationalisms. Both have
had resort to theoretical schools of external origin such as Marxist and
feminist theories. But the consequent Canadian literature is not expressed
or tested in non-Canadian publishing outlets. Both have striven mightily to
displace American-produced texts in Canada’s university classrooms, and
rarely publish American or European contributors in their journals.
Anglo-sociology appears to aspire to a Canada-wide perspective. It is,
however, markedly deficient in its Quebec-content and probably aptly
characterized as “Ontario-centric”. While it does attempt to reach beyond
a national preoccupation to some consideration of the discipline and of
Canadian society as they relate to others, by way of some comparative
empirical work, it tends not to effectively utilize the work of sociologists in
the United States or elsewhere.
Francophone sociologists, on the other hand, by and large unabashedly
attend to Quebec-specific issues (Whyte, 1984:109; Béland and Blais,
1989), implicitly and sometimes explicitly associating themselves with
Quebec social and political autonomy. Not all Francophone sociologists
are Québécois, but the overwhelming majority employed in Quebec tend
more to local Quebec issues and actions rather than pan-Canadian ones.
Even Anglophone sociologists employed in Quebec’s two major Englishspeaking universities have tended to focus on Quebec issues as they have
shifted from what historically had been an American-oriented sociology.
However, perhaps because of an infatuation with theory, Quebec editors
are more apt to publish American and especially European contributors
than are their Anglophone counterparts.
For both
decades,
achieved
cited in
36
sociologies, during the developmental experience of the past few
an inward character has emerged. Canadian sociology has
institutional standing and even respectability, but is rarely seen or
sociological literature abroad. While distinctive “national”
sociologies have now been established in Canada, the bulk of the work cited
does not inform an international social science of sociology. The converse
also applies to the work of sociologists in other nations, especially the
empirical work, not impacting in Canada as it once did in the earlier period
of over-dependence upon non-Canadian literatures. Perhaps only temporarily, a result of the deliberate nationalist disassociation, the intellectual
permeability and openness characteristic of the pre-establishment period,
when Canadian sociology in Anglophone and Francophone Canada was
dependent upon non-Canadians, is not evident in 1990 when Canadian
sociology is strong enough to benefit from such an infusion rather than be
inundated by it.
Nor is there much traffic between the two Canadian sociologies. The
persisting “structural dualism” in Canadian sociology is evidenced by the
scant interaction between the Anglophone and Francophone sociological
networks. In the time-honoured Canadian fashion, the two rarely meet,
even in the nominally dual-lingual pages of The Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology where the work of Quebec sociologists, when it
appears, is apt to be in English. Similarly, in the major Quebec journal,
Sociologie et sociétés, American and British sociologists are more often
published than Anglo-Canadians, and the only concessions to the Englishspeaking are translated titles and abstracts.
Although the venerable solitudes have been expressed in the two
sociologies, resulting in distinguishable characteristics, they also appear to
share some developmental elements. Where Quebec sociology has been
more politically and socially engaged, and also more theoretical, sociology
in English-Canada has been more American-dominated, more empirical,
and less sensitive to political issues and applications. Yet, while such
features are demonstrable in recent literature, a Quebec observer has noted
that the two sociologies share some theoretical foci (Fournier, 1985:798).
Fournier (1985) remarks a shared interest in phenomenology, critical
theory, political-economy and feminism. Certainly, the latter two theoretical orientations are, as mentioned below, major features of the two
sociologies.
Additionally, both sociologies have an issues orientation, and both tend to
engage at a conceptual level rather than in basic empirical research. The
theoretical emphasis of Francophone sociology is more explicit, but the
participation rate of Anglophone sociologists in empirical research is
consistently moderate, probably representing a minority of sociologists.
Both sociologies have tended to de-emphasize methodological skills, and
both have suffered from a somewhat self-fulfulling paucity of basic and
regular research funding. Also in common is a parallel expansion, with the
two sociologies sharing in a Canada-wide university growth in the 1960s.
37
IJCS /RIÉC
The Institutionalization of Sociology
Since the early 1970s, sociology in Canada has achieved acceptance in the
academies of the nation and in the labour market. It is in the universities
where sociology has most clearly become an established presence, commanding high undergraduate and graduate enrolments. In comparing
Anglophone and Francophone institutional success within post-secondary
education, one finds comparable student demand and enrolment growth
(Juteau and Maheu, 1989:368-370).
This establishment success occurred rather rapidly. Until 1961, the only
discrete or “independent” department of sociology in the country was at
McGill University in Montreal, founded by Chicago-trained American
Carl Dawson and continued by Everett Hughes after the model of the
Chicago school. In English-Canada, McGill University’s sociology clearly
had the headstart. The Department that Carl A. Dawson founded and
chaired was known as the Department of Sociology and Social Work until
1933. In 1948, the Department became Sociology and Anthropology (Ross,
1984:4). From its inception, the McGill Department experienced significant opposition from academic traditionalists, especially historians and
philosophers (Ross, 19844). Ultimately, despite its early and vigorous
origins, the Department never extended its influence, and never produced
a body of indigenous sociologists to staff the faculty establishments of the
nation’s universities.
At Canada’s largest university, the University of Toronto, a Department of
Sociology emerged from an affiliation of convenience with economics.
Under the guarded leadership of S.D. Clark, who never forgot Harold
Laski’s suspicion of sociology as representing “one of the worst features of
American university education” (Clark, 1979:393), the University of
Toronto did not establish a distinct department of sociology until 1963
(Brym, 1986:3). Lodged until then in the Department of Political Economy,
sociology was regarded suspiciously as an Americanism and an intellectual
lightweight.
In Francophone Canada, Quebec’s oldest university, Laval, established a
sociology department as early as 1935, which slowly evolved under the
leadership of Georges-Henri Lévesque into the change-oriented and influential École des Sciences Sociales. The character of sociology at Laval
was also somewhat influenced by Everett Hughes, who spent a year there,
in 1942, and successfully encouraged some Francophone students to pursue
the Chicago-style sociology, including postgraduate studies at Chicago
(Ostow, 1985:8-9).
Since the late 1960s, every university in Canada has had its sociology
department, often with a graduate program. Doctoral programs are
38
well-established, and the discipline is now self-reproducing in the Canadian
academy. In the universities, sociology has been somewhat segregated from
other social sciences such as economics, history and psychology. But it has
maintained links with anthropology, expressed in several joint departments
and shared curricula. Also, shaped by the political-economy emphasis
discussed below, sociology has forged some effective collaboration with the
discipline of political science. Off-campus, professional sociologists have
established themselves in the non-academic market in a diversity of
capacities once reserved for persons with other training, from pollsters to
public service statisticians and auditors.
The institutional success of sociology in Canada must, of course, be
qualified. Whatever the depth of its entrenchment within universities,
sociology is much less convincingly of significant social influence. In terms
of public awareness, while some of the conceptual and research literature
has filtered into high school curricula and media reports, the discipline’s
annual meetings and now-numerous publications are largely overlooked
and unreported. Sociology in Canada in 1990 suffers a measure of intellectual marginality, a particular reflection of the affliction that may be argued
to generally characterize the place of intellectuals in Canadian society. In
Canada, and English-Canada in particular, academic intellectuals are not
often media darlings, and rarely influence, let alone generate, public discourse. Anglo-sociological opinion especially, in contrast to social sciences
disciplines such as economics or psychology, has not had a conspicuous
influence on Canadian social life, social debate or social policy over the
decades.
Quebec sociological influence has fared somewhat better. Québécois
sociologists, active in the intellectual and political revolution that led to
Quebec’s enhanced semi-autonomous status within the struggling
Canadian federation, were characterized from their early moments as
activists, part of a social movement producing a “sociology of praxis”
(Juteau and Maheu, 1989:378). Unlike their Anglophone counterparts in
Canada and like their American contemporaries in the 1960s, Quebec
sociologists had a cause. As that cause or mission has come to be realized
or adopted more broadly by others, there appears to be some decline in the
influence of sociologists in Quebec (Maheu, 1989:18-19). Quebec
sociologists are now confidently entrenched within the university structure,
but perhaps less effectively engaged externally.
It might also be argued that sociologists, like most social scientists, have
generated little empirical research compared to the number of practitioners. Funding is scarce, and the utility of sociological research is not
recognized, reinforcing funding stringency for the discipline. Also, however, there tends not to be a research culture, where the majority of
sociologists are continually engaged in some research enterprise along with
39
their graduate students. Because of scant funding, anti-positivist ideologies
and heavy teaching loads, sociological research is intermittent. Much of the
scholarlywork is conceptual or theoretical, without quantitative grounding.
Too often, the major doctoral programs, though defined as research
degrees, de-emphasize methodological training. Students rarely have the
opportunity to join a research team and apprentice with a skilled research
scholar.
Despite such failings, and given that the discipline had a fragile foundation
from postwar Canada into the 1960s, the Canadian sociologies have been
extremely successful in establishing themselves as distinctive intellectual
and academic communities. They have, as we shall attempt to demonstrate
below, produced a significant body of literature with a cumulative and
distinctively Canadian character.
The Canadianization of Sociology
An indicator of the successful canadianization of sociology, a discipline
dominated by American issues, literature and personnel into the 1960s, is
the abundance of published work. Though text-like, much of this work is
important for it has permitted a shift in the information conveyed in
university classes. While the first “Canadian” text was published in 1929,
with three editions up to 1948 (Dawson and Gettys, 1929), there was little
Canadian content in this American-published book, with nothing to follow
until the 1960s. American texts and monographs dominated Canadian
undergraduate classrooms in sociology, while most Canadian graduate
students who wished to pursue studies went abroad, especially to the
United States.
In Quebec and in English-Canada, the meagre postwar print offerings of
Canadian sociologists were largely produced by Canadian publishers.
Newly recruited sociologists at Canada’s expanded and new universities,
contending with a paucity of indigenous material, initially resorted to
American books and hastened to cultivate Canadian substitutes. Anthologies and information-barren texts characterized the initial responses
to the new demand. The most ubiquitous volume was an anthology by
Bernard Blishen and colleagues (Blishen et al., l96l), and another early
compilation by Mann (1963). In Francophone Canada, Guy Rocher offered a “general introduction to sociology” which was actually an introduction to rather abstract sociological theory. Translated for the English
market, it met with little success (Rocher, 1968; 1972). In Ontario, a
co-authored text marketed by a British publishing subsidiary tried very hard
to incorporate the scant sociological research and available public data into
the “sociological perspectives” derived from the United States, and struggled to contend with far more sophisticated American competitors
(Crysdale and Beattie, 1973).
40
A burgeoning of basic material occurred in the 1970s with the surge in
attendance in university sociology courses, the ensuing creation of an
attractive new market, and the employment of young, ambitious sociology
faculty members, several of them Canadians. While the rather conservative
Canadian publishing industry reacted slowly, new Canadian content in
English-Canada was sought out, ironically, by large publishing houses that
were American subsidiaries, such as Prentice-Hall and McGraw-Hill. In
producing this classroom-oriented print material, large undergraduate
populations were provided Canadian data and illustrations, though much
of it not yet drawn from original, basic sociological research. American
content was gradually supplemented and even displaced.
A succession of works appeared, several of them multi-authored or edited
(Forcese and Richer, 1975; Ramu and Johnson, 1976; Himmelfarb and
Richardson, 1980; Teeven, 1982; Grayson, 1983; Hagedorn, 1983; Rosenberg et al., 1983; Ishwaran, l986; Curtis and Tepperman, 1990). Integrated,
monograph-style introductory texts entered the market, again largely
through the auspices of American subsidiary publishing houses.
(Mansfield, 1982; Lundy and Warme, 1986; Tepperman and Richardson,
1986) It is noteworthy, however, that probably the most successful basic
sociology text, first published in 1976 and now in its fifth edition, is an
artfully adapted American work with integrated Canadian content.
(Spencer, 1976; 1990).
Throughout this period, significant changes also occurred in the venue for
professional scholarly publications. In the early days, prior to the expansion
of academic sociology in the 1960s, sociologists such as John Porter were
published in the now defunct Canadian Journal of Economics and Political
Science. The dominant contributors to this journal were economists and
political scientists. In 1964, while still organized as the Anthropology and
Sociology Chapter of the Canadian Political Science Association,
sociologists and anthropologists launched their own organ, the Canadian
Review of Sociology and Anthropology. Not until two years later, in 1966,
was the Canadian Sociology and Anthropology Association inaugurated
with the Review as its official journal.
The discipline now has two major English journals. The Canadian Review
of Sociology and Anthropology/La Revue canadienne de sociologie et
d’anthropologie is the official journal of the Canadian Sociology and
Anthropology Association. It is committed, as its title implies, to a continuing relationship between the disciplines of sociology and anthropology, and
also to a rather unsuccessful effort to bridge the Anglophone/Francophone
sociological communities. The Review, therefore, while overwhelmingly
English-content dominated does publish a small minority of papers in
French, and always has abstracts in both languages. It has published since
May 1964, sometimes irregularly, sometimes with a peer review backlog,
41
IJCS /RIÉC
and sometimes with an insufficient supply of quality submissions. A second
journal, the Canadian Journal of Sociology/Cahiers canadiens de sociologie,
was founded by sociologists at the University of Alberta and began publishing in 1975. Though we cannot measure the relative prestige or importance
of the two journals, there is no doubt that the junior entry, the Canadian
Journal, has attracted prominent contributors and has published frequently
cited papers.
Also noteworthy as a publishing outlet, because of Canadian sociology’s
continuing and now rejuvenated political-economy character, was the journal Studies in Political Economy, founded in 1979. From its inception, it has
reflected collaboration between sociologists and political scientists.
The prominent but not sole medium for Francophone sociologists tends to
be Sociologie et sociétés, published from 1969. Committed to theme issues,
topics such as demography, the professions and technology have characterized recent volumes, all considered in the utter absence of Anglophone
contributors and with infrequent citations from the Anglophone literature.
Even major Anglophone monographs are absent from the pages of
Sociologie et sociétés. The Anglophone journals do devote a significant
place to book reviews. These reviews capture the non-national literature,
and include Quebec publications.
In contrast, Sociologie et sociétés does
not publish book reviews.
It must be noted that the new Canadian literature tends to disassociate itself
from American and other “national” sociological literatures. This is less
apparent with regard to monographs and texts, and not so pronounced in
the papers published in Sociologie et sociétés, but markedly true of the
papers published in the two Anglophone journals. American citations tend
not to be of research papers published in the major United States journals
- and Canadians infrequently publish in these journals -but of books. Just
as sociology in the United States has been oblivious to the established
literature produced in Canada, Canadian sociologists have increasingly
turned away and perhaps become somewhat oblivious to American
materials.
Dominant Themes
Sociology in Canada has developed a distinctiveness over the previous
twenty-five years. The Anglophone and Francophone sociological networks both focus upon Canadian themes. There is, however, a discernible
difference in Anglophone and Francophone content. Prior to the 1960s,
Quebec sociology had some distinguishable character arising from its
interest in social change in Quebec society. Anglophone sociology, on the
other hand, was an utterly marginal reflection of American sociology until
the very late 1960s with the deliberate intent to “Canadianize”. Despite few
42
contacts, the two developed a common political-economy/neo-Marxian
commitment to the analysis of class and other social inequalities and,
somewhat more recently, feminist thought has infused both Canadian
sociologies.
Our analysis is, of course, selective. There is inevitably something
idiosyncratic and arbitrary in selecting themes, and in citing some illustrative works to the exclusion of others. The thematic elements identified
overlap, even in the work of the same individuals and may be variously
labelled and described. One “trend report” suggested that development/underdevelopment analysis, ethnic and class stratification and
mobility, and the study of political life are the major sociological emphasis
in Anglophone Canadian sociology (Brym, 1986:1). Another remarked
upon a shift to a structural mode of analysis, as in dependency analysis, with
attention to regional disparities, and class and ethnic stratification (Whyte,
1984). Yet another, with a rather more theoretical perspective, also identified structuralism and ethnomethodology as discernible elements
(Berkowitz, 1984).
While in the Canadian sociologies one can find examples of all of the
interests otherwise found in American sociology, curricula and literature,
fields such as organizations, education, deviance and demography have not
been part of the mainstream of “trendy” Canadian sociology. The last two
areas, however, have been of note. The last is probably the most
methodologically sophisticated field within the discipline in Anglophone
and in Francophone Canada. In Quebec as well, demography has been
politically and policy-relevant, intruding upon the fundamental Quebec
concern with social survival as a linguistic and cultural minority in North
America.
The “sociology of deviance, crime and law”, identified by one writer as very
nearly a major thematic focus in Canadian sociology (Brym, 1986:1), is a
frequent subject of comparative American-Canadian work. The attention
to criminal deviance has been most distinguishable in the content of the
Canadian Journal of Sociology. Another area of comparative work in the
mainstream, because of stratification analysis and political-economy, has
been the study of class politics, discussed further below (Ogmundson, 1975;
Brym et al., 1989).
A major work in 1971 by a Francophone sociologist employed at Englishspeaking McGill University, and published in the United States, remains a
superior analysis of third-party politics, artfully integrating data and internationally derived generalizations and theory (Pinard, 1971). Generally,
however, Quebec interest in comparative work has tended to be more
macro-oriented and non-empirical. Interest in popular movements, politics
and the state have received frequent comparative attention in Quebec
43
IJCS / RIÉC
sociology. An example of this comparative perspective is to be had in a 1983
edition of Sociologie et sociétés devoted to “L’Etat et la société”
(Dandurand et al., 1983).
In 1989, the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology published a
“state of the art” issue devoted to Francophone sociology, under the special
editorship of Danielle Juteau and Louis Maheu. Nine of the eleven authors
and the editors were from the Université de Montreal, Quebec’s large,
urban university. Every essay was published in English, and obviously
targeted the Anglophone majority subscribing to the Review. Characteristically, only the abstracts were in French. The contributors reflected
basic features of Francophone sociology, including the persisting interest
in the survival of Quebec society (Bourque, 1989), the interventionist
character of Quebec sociology (Renaud et al., 1989) and the “marginal
position of quantitative analysis” (Béland and Blais, 1989533). Other
clearly identified features were class analysis (Laurin-Frenette, 1989),
mentioned in the editorial introduction, the marriage of feminist sociology
and praxis (Juteau and Maheu, 1989).
Neo-Marxist class analysis was a major influence upon Francophone
Canadian sociology in the 1970s. As in English Canada, one finds, for
example, the theoretical work of Nicos Poulantzas influencing class
analysis. (Legaré, 1977) By the 1980s, again as in Anglophone sociology,
feminist perspectives predominantly shaped sociological enquiry. (LaurinFrenette, 1981)
At the level of problem definition, Quebec sociology’s persisting interest in
language or ethnic group differences and discrimination (Béland, 1987)
has, with the newer feminist influence in sociology, incorporated interest
in gender inequalities (Beland and De Sève, 1986). A perusal of work in
the longstanding tradition of ethnic group analysis (Juteau-Lee, 1983)
suggests that it is less empirical than its Anglophone counterpart. Additionally, an interest in work and the professions is well represented in modern
Quebec sociology (Couture, 1988) and, as in Anglophone Canada, it has
been shaped by feminist influences (Laurin-Frenette, 1981).
There are some other thematic features of Francophone sociology that
seem relatively unrepresented in English-Canada. Examples include
interest in mental health and associated care (Sévigny, 1985), artistic work
(Rioux et al., 1985), t echnology, especially computer technology, and social
change (Proulx, 1984). Perhaps reflecting a so-called new entrepreneurial
Quebec, one also finds in Francophone sociology, relatively absent in
English, Canadian interest in management and evaluation research
(Renaud, 1988).
44
Sociology in Canada: A Kew from the Eighties
Another distinguishable element of Quebec sociology, as remarked earlier,
is demographic work. Demographers, as in Anglophone Canada, have
tended to be the most consistently research-oriented and empirically/
methodologically skilled of the sociological community. Demography has
also been a reflection of the unyielding Quebec sensitivity to language
populations, and the issue of the viability of a Francophone culture on an
English-speaking continent. Aging in society (Masse and T.-Brault, 1984)
and the demographic consequences associated with declining fertility and
limited immigration are the most recent manifestation of the demographic
issues surrounding the continued survival of Quebec as a distinct society.
An antagonism between empirical and theoretical work is more
pronounced in Quebec than elsewhere in Canada. Béland and Blais (1989)
observed that empirical research has a marginal place in Quebec academic
sociology, and is more in evidence in non-academic sociological practice.
There is a conspicuous non-empiricism, even anti-empiricism, in Quebec
sociology. Even as one finds an issue of Sociologie et sociétés devoted to
“méthodes” (Houle, 1982), the papers are conceptual, indulging in
theoretical speculation about sociological methodology.
In an issue of Sociologie et sociétés (Dumas, 1987) devoted to new themes
or interests in Quebec sociology, the papers tend to be very theoretical and
lack a clear substantive focus. One concernwas the absence of and the quest
for an integrating theoretical paradigm. Another feature was the evident
perception of tension, perhaps even contradiction, between empiricism and
theory. The closing roundtable, which included comments from two
Anglophone sociologists, was oriented around “La nécessaire mais difficile
alliance entre des organismes de subventions
la recherche et la
communauté scientifique”. In Quebec and in Anglophone Canada, the
steering effect of financial agencies as sociologists engage in empirical
research is an explicit concern.
Even the marked applied interest in modern Quebec sociology that one
might expect to deviate from the prevalent theoretical character seems
dominantly abstract. In the sociology of work (Kempeneers, 1987), health
care (Renaud and Simard, 1986), aging (Masse, 1984), politics, law and
social policy (Rocher and Vandyche, 1986), and even demography (Piché,
1987), a suspicion of empiricism or positivism repeatedly surfaces, and the
works remain theoretical. Notably, in 1989, an entire issue of Sociologie et
sociétés was devoted to Talcott Parsons (Béland and Rocher, 1989), an
American theorist whom few among the current generation of Anglophone
graduate students would have read or considered worth reading.
The empirical character of Anglophone Canadian sociology was set initially
in the post-war study of stratification. The dominant thematic interest in
Anglophone Canadian sociological content has been inequality - class,
45
IJCS / R I É C
ethnic, linguistic, regional and gender inequalities. Within this persisting
conceptual and research agenda, so profoundly legitimated by John Porter
(1965), there are distinguishable, albeit overlapping, theoretical and empirical interests.
The tradition of elite analysis, associated with the career of John Porter,
was the first truly distinctive Anglo-Canadian sociology. Porter’s work,
culminating in The Vertical Mosaic (1965), gave the emergent discipline in
Canada a place of pride. In Porter’s sociology, elite analysis was closely
associated with class and ethnic stratification. A distinguishable elite
analysis, modified by neo-Marxian political-economy, has persisted in
Canadian sociology, and bridged the Anglophone and Francophone isolation, as in the work of Jorge Niosi (Niosi, 1980; 1981). Analysis of the
corporate elite and the Canadian power structure (Clement, 1975;
Fournier, 1976; Carroll, 1986; Veltmeyer, 1987), the relationship of the
corporate elite to public sector organizations, such as universities and
hospitals (Ornstein, 1988), and the judicial and bureaucratic elite (Olsen,
1980) have run through the three growth decades of sociology in Canada,
from 1960 to the present.
Within the stratification literature in Anglophone sociology, there has been
a persisting interest in occupational status and mobility. Regularly, the basic
occupation scale first developed by Bernard Blishen is updated (Blishen et
al., 1987). The nature and the factors effecting status attainment, with a
particular interest in gender and ethnicity, and Anglophone and Francophone comparisons, (Béland, 1987; Béland and De Sève, 1986) have been
a persisting expression of empirical research (Boyd et al., 1985; Béland,
1987; Blakely and Harvey, 1988).
Another persisting interest is ethnic study (Driedger, 1987; Li, 1988). In
Porter’s work, ethnicity was acknowledged as intrinsic to Canadian differentiation, but viewed as rather vestigial and clearly subsidiary to
economic considerations. So, too, at present, ethnic study is curiously
marginalized, and the current work tends to be ethnographic or descriptive.
While intent upon fundamental questions of inequality as well as the
recently discovered Canadian concern with racism, ethnic studies in
Anglophone sociology are generally not located within or engaged by the
powerful theoretical traditions characteristic of political-economy or
feminist analyses. A striking exception is the work of Breton, who has
struggled to attend to ethnic and linguistic analysis as it relates both to
Canadian state interventions and the “symbolic order” of developing
Canadian society (Breton, 1984).
In the late 1970s and early 1980s, political-economy, strongly infused by
neo-Marxist theory, became a dominant paradigm in English-Canadian
sociology. In 1989, a special issue of the Review (Myles, 1989) explored
46
political-economy as expressed in sociology and, similarly, the Canadian
Journal of Sociology (1989) devoted a review symposium to “new developments in comparative political economy”. The stratification theme, still
somewhat associated with elite analysis, especially in the early work of
Wallace Clement, shifted to a greater interest in power, the state and
labour. Elite analysis has persisted, but the study of class and power as
broader structural phenomena has been clearly distinguished within the
literature, especially as a feature of the nationalist character of Canadian
sociology (Brym, 1989).
Closely related has been a regional analysis, rooted in expressions of staples
and dependency theory that now infuse modern Anglo-Canadian sociology
(Brym and Sacouman, 1979; Warriner, 1988; Creese, 1988; Matthews,
1988). So, too, the study of social change and social movement, evident in
Quebec sociology, has been a feature of the overarching political-economy
paradigm that has merged with elements of dependency analysis. Some of
the work is nearer sociologically-informed historical narrative, with themes
of uneven development, class and dependency permeating pan-Canadian
and regional Canadian social histories (Conway, 1984).
The other major element of contemporary sociology in Anglophone
Canada is feminist analysis. Feminist sociology was marked in a special 1988
edition of the Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology (Armstrong
and Hamilton, 1988). The feminist influence, obviously a model that spans
several social sciences disciplines, has been emergent within the more
traditional and neo-Marxist influenced attention to occupational and class
inequalities. In particular, as one might expect, labour force and occupational status analysis have shaped empirical feminist sociology in
Anglophone Canada and generated a complex and rather well-integrated
theoretical and empirical literature (Armstrong and Armstrong, 1978;
Cuneo, 1985; Carroll, 1987; Fox and Fox, 1986; Fox, 1987; Northcott and
Lowe, 1987; Lowe, 1987). The feminist paradigm also prompted a link-up
with the earlier tradition in Canadian sociology of occupational and work
studies (Lowe, 1987).
Somewhat on the periphery of this work are some comparative efforts
associated with inequality, mobility and deviance. Comparative social
analysis in Anglophone sociology tends to be intent upon contrast with the
United States. A major comparative empirical contribution, still in process,
is that of John Myles. His work, influenced powerfully by that of American
sociologist Eric Olin Wright (1982) and his comparative class analyses,
attends to social class analysis, labour force characteristics and dependency
(Black and Myles, 1986; Myles, 1988). Comparing crime rates (Kennedy et
al, 1989; Lenton, 1989; 1989a; Hagan, 1989; 1989a), values, voluntary
association membership (Curtis et al., 1989), or political radicalism are
other familiar themes. The latter, especially the study of politics and social
47
class in a comparative perspective, often intent upon the nature of regions
and third-party political support, has been a recurring and notable feature
(Pinard, 1971; Myles and Forcese, 1981; Brym et al., 1989) producing
frequent vigorous published exchanges (Bell, 1989 Sinclair, 1989).
Conclusions
Our synopsis of current sociological interests in Canada does suggest some
developmental commonalities and some thematic clustering. Both the
Anglophone and Francophone sociological communities have developed
rapidly, pressed by expanding university populations, and ambitious to
create Canadian or Quebec literatures distinguishable from the American
and the European. Both the developmental haste and the meagre resource
base have tended to produce sociologies, Anglophone and Francophone,
that have discounted research training and numeracy. American positivism
was repudiated by many in the surge of neo-political-economy, and the
repudiation was reaffirmed as feminist theory infused sociology. Social
criticism rather than social science has, therefore, tended to dominate both
of Canada’s sociologies.
A view of Anglophone sociology published by a Quebec sociologist in a
review edition of the Canadian Review stated that Quebec sociology by and
large ignored its English counterpart and had a stereotyped image of it as
American-dominated and excessively empirical. In contrast, Quebec
sociology was characterized as more humanist in orientation, more
European-oriented and more theoretical (Fournier, 1985). A contrasting
view, in 1989, by a Toronto-based observer, would complain, however, that
Francophone sociology in Canada had lost its critical passion and become
dominated by empiricism and the “research grant” (Nielsen, 1989:714). In
our estimate, however, although Anglophone sociology is distinguishably
more empirical in nature, neither of Canada’s sociologies has generated
“high levels of methodological skill” (Berkowitz, 1984:9) or formidable
quantitative research literatures.
The development of Canada’s two sociologies has occurred to a remarkable
degree with infrequent contact with one another or with other national
sociological communities. In part, the isolation and the non-empiricism are
both functions of the nationalist intellectual agenda, and also of the stagnant
recruitment to university faculties through the 1980s. As recruitment accelerates, and becomes more competitive, while Canadian graduate
schools will be expected to provide the bulk of new academic appointees,
conceivably, a trans-Canadian and trans-national competition for skilled
personnel in the 1990s will infuse more skills-oriented, quantitative and
cosmopolitan elements into Canada’s two sociologies.
48
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Rocher, Guy and Robert Vandyche (éds.), “Droits et pouvoir : Pouvoirs
du droit” Sociologie et sociétés 18,l (1986): 3-170.
Ross, Aileen, “Sociology at McGill in the 1940’s” Society 8,l (1984): 4-5.
Sévigny, Robert (éd.), “Santé mentale et processus sociaux”, Sociologie et
sociétés 17,4 (1985): 5-167.
Sinclair, Peter, “Social Credit and social class: a comment”, Canadian
Journal of Sociology 14,3 (1989): 390-394.
Spencer, Metta, Foundations of Modern Sociology (Scarborough: PrenticeHall of Canada, 1976; 5th ed. 1990).
Teeven, James J. (ed.), Basic Sociology: A Canadian Introduction
(Scarborough: Prentice-Hall of Canada, 1982).
Tepperman, Lorne and R. Jack Richardson, The Social World: An Introduction to Sociology (Toronto: McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 1986).
Veltmeyer, Henry, Canadian Corporate Power (Toronto: Garamond Press,
1987).
Warriner, G. Keith, “Common property rights and regional subordination
in a staples economy”, Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology
25 (1988): 493-519.
Whyte, Donald R., “Sociology and the nationalist challenge in Canada”,
Journal of Canadian Studies 19,4 (1984): 106-129.
Wipper, Audrey (ed.), The Sociology of Work (Ottawa: Carleton University
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Wright, Eric Olin, “The American Class Structure”, American Sociological
Review 47 (1982): 709-724.
53
André Blais
Les études sur la politique canadienne :
une contribution modeste mais « distincte »*
Résumé
Le texte propose un bilan des publications récentes sur la politique
canadienne, bilan qui tend à confirmer l'‘hypothèse que la science politique
canadienne se caractérise davantage par des études de cas bien menées que
par la construction de théories originales. Les études comparant les provinces
ou le Canada avec d’autres pays sont rares. Les liens entre la communauté
scientifique canadienne-anglaise et québécoise-francophone sont minces.
Finalement, il y a peu de signes d’une américanisation de la science politique
canadienne.
Abstract
The paper reviews the recent literature on Canadian politics. This review
supports the hypothesis that Canadian political science is characterized by
well-researched case studies much more than by innovative theory building.
There are few studies comparing Canada or the provinces with other
countries. The links between the English-Canadian and FrancophoneQuébécois scientific communities appear to be weak. Finally, the American
influence on Canadian political science seems to be minimal.
L’objet de ce texte est de proposer un bilan des études récentes sur la
politique canadienne. Sont donc exclus les travaux portant sur les relations
internationales (voir le texte de Maureen Molot) et les idées politiques. Ce
sont les orientations des ouvrages contemporains qui nous intéressent;
aussi, nous concentrerons-nous sur les études publiées au cours des dix
dernières années. Il ne s’agit donc pas de passer en revue les grands
classiques de la science politique canadienne, mais plutôt de définir les
courants actuels.
Dans le but de cerner les principales caractéristiques des œuvres récentes,
nous chercherons en particulier à faire ressortir les objets d’étude
privilégiés ou négligés, les perspectives, problématiques et démarches les
plus souvent retenues. Ce faisant, nous essaierons de voir dans quelle
mesure la science politique canadienne se distingue de ce qui se fait ailleurs
dans cette discipline, notamment aux États-Unis, et jusqu’à quel point on
peut parler d’une ou de deux productions canadiennes - celle du Canada
et celle du Québec francophone. Parce que ce sont les grandes tendances
qui nous intéressent, il nous faudra nécessairement être sélectif dans la
IJCS / RIÉC
recension des écrits. Nous insisterons davantage sur les travaux qui nous
apparaissent les plus importants ou les plus révélateurs d’une approche ou
d’une perspective déterminée.
Nous commencerons, de façon classique, par les travaux portant sur la
Constitution canadienne. Les péripéties de l’Accord du Lac Meech ont
souligné jusqu’à quel point celle-ci demeure un enjeu fondamental de la
politique canadienne. Nous aborderons ensuite l’analyse des institutions
politiques. Dans un troisième temps, nous nous intéresserons à ce que
produisent ces institutions, c’est-à-dire à l’étude des grandes orientations
gouvernementales. Nous terminerons par un bilan de la recherche sur le
processus de représentation politique : l’opinion publique, les élections, les
partis et les groupes.
Il eut paru tout à fait normal, il y a trente ans, de commencer un texte comme
celui-ci par la Constitution et les institutions : en fait, cela serait allé de soi.
Cette évidence a été fortement contestée, au Canada comme ailleurs, à
partir des années 1960. La montée du behaviorisme, avec son insistance sur
les comportements, puis de l’analyse des politiques, qui mit l’accent sur ce
que font « vraiment » les gouvernements, et de l’économie politique, qui se
concentra sur les forces sociales à l’origine des changements politiques, fit
en sorte que les institutions furent laissées aux vieux politicologues qui
n’avaient pu se recycler. Les années 1980 ont donné lieu à la redécouverte
des institutions et à la réhabilitation de l’analyse institutionnelle (Landry,
1984).
La Constitution
La grande question constitutionnelle au Canada a toujours été celle du
fédéralisme et, plus particulièrement, celle des relations entre le Québec
et le Canada anglais. S’est ajoutée dans la décennie 80 la question des droits
individuels découlant de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés.
Le fédéralisme pose la question de la division des pouvoirs entre les
différents ordres de gouvernement. Le fédéralisme canadien est-il plus ou
moins centralisé que les autres fédéralismes ? L’après-guerre a-t-il donné
lieu à un processus de centralisation ou de décentralisation ? Ce sont là des
questions bien difficiles que les politicologues canadiens semblent vouloir
éviter, se concentrant plutôt sur les mécanismes des relations entre les
ordres de gouvernement ou de représentation régionale à l’intérieur des
institutions fédérales (voir les études publiées par la Commission
MacdonaId, en particulier Smiley et Watts, 1985, et Simeon, 1985). Young
et al. (1984) ont mis en doute la thèse du « province-building », qui
soutenait, entre autres choses, que les gouvernements provinciaux
grugeaient le pouvoir du gouvernement fédéral Cette remise en question
étant faite, il reste à établir un bilan d’ensemble du degré de centralisation
56
Les études sur la politique canadienne
de la fédération canadienne (pour une tentative dans ce sens, v o i r
Orban, 1984).
On peut également s’interroger sur l’influence du fédéralisme sur les
politiques gouvernementales. L’analyse serrée et nuancée de Banting
(1987) est à cet égard exemplaire. Il conclut que le fédéralisme a freiné
l’essor de l’État-providence au Canada, mais aussi que le développement
des programmes sociaux a consolidé le pouvoir du gouvernement fédéral.
On ne dispose malheureusement que de peu d’études de ce genre dans les
autres secteurs (voir, cependant, Schultz et Alexandroff, 1985).
Finalement, le fédéralisme soulève la question des relations entre francophones et anglophones, d’une part, et entre le Québec et le reste du
Canada, d’autre part. Le phénomène le plus important à cet égard est
évidemment la montée et le déclin (apparent) du mouvement
indépendantiste. Curieusement, les études les plus poussées sur ce sujet
proviennent du Canada anglais. Le livre de Coleman, The Independence
Movement in Quebec, 1945-1980 (1984), présente l’analyse la plus serrée
de la question. L’auteur interprète la montée de ce mouvement comme une
réaction contre le processus de modernisation politique. Les lacunes de
cette interprétation ont bien été exposées par McRoberts (1988, p. 435436); la génération de l’après-guerre, en particulier, a vu dans
l’indépendance la suite logique de la modernisation rapide du Québec que
l’on a appelée la Révolution tranquille. Malheureusement, les
politicologues québécois, qui ont pourtant été obnubilés par la question
« nationale » dans les années 1970 (voir, par exemple, Bourque et Légaré,
1979), n’ont pas produit d’analyse systématique du phénomène. De même,
l’Accord du Lac Meech a suscité l’intervention de plusieurs politicologues
canadiens (voir, en particulier, le numéro spécial de la revue Canadian
Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques, septembre 1988, et Swinton et
Rogerson, 1988), mais on ne dispose toujours pas de recherches fouillées
sur les facteurs qui ont mené à l’Accord et sur la dynamique politique qui
s’en est suivie. Il serait particulièrement important de déterminer quel
cadre d’analyse permettrait le mieux de rendre compte des péripéties de
cet Accord. Les politicologues semblent avoir été plus intéressés à « tuer » ou
à « sauver » l’entente qu’à l’expliquer.
D’autre part, le changement constitutionnel le plus important depuis 1867
aura certes été l’adoption de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés,
laquelle confère de nouveaux pouvoirs aux tribunaux au détriment du
Parlement. Il s’ensuit que la Cour suprême du Canada joue maintenant un
rôle crucial dont les politicologues devront nécessairement tenir compte
(Russell, 1987). Comme dans le cas de l’Accord du Lac Meech, nous
n’avons pas d’étude serrée des forces politiques qui ont mené à l’adoption
de la Charte (on retrouve des éléments d’interprétation dans Davenport et
Leech, 1984, et McWhinney, 1982). Par contre, l’incidence politique de
57
IJCS / RIÉC
cette dernière a déjà fait l’objet d’analyses intéressantes. Morton (1987),
en particulier, conclut que les premières années de mise en œuvre de la
Charte montrent bien que celle-ci a permis aux tribunaux de jouer un rôle
beaucoup plus actif dans l’orientation des politiques gouvernementales.
Selon lui, l’élément le plus important qui se dégage des premières décisions
de la Cour suprême touche le droit criminel; la Charte, en mettant l’accent
sur la procédure équitable (due process), avantage les accusés et a donc une
orientation « libérale ». À mesure que le nombre de décisions augmente,
l’étude de ses effets deviendra de plus en plus sophistiquée et pourra être
enrichie de comparaisons avec la situation américaine. Notons finalement
qu’au Québec les politicologues ne se sont pas penchés sérieusement sur
cette question, l’abandonnant aux juristes.
Les institutions
Les institutions peuvent être caractérisées selon les trois fonctions
traditionnelles de l’État : le législatif, l’exécutif et le judiciaire. La question
classique de la science politique concerne le pouvoir relatif des diverses
branches du gouvernement. La recherche porte également sur le processus
de sélection menant aux différents postes d’autorité, les stratégies des
acteurs, l’organisation et le fonctionnement des institutions.
Une des observations classiques a trait au déclin du rôle du Parlement
depuis le début du 20e siècle. Pross (1985) a cependant fait valoir que la
tendance semble s’être inversée depuis un certain nombre d’années, citant
à ce sujet l’intérêt grandissant que les groupes portent au Parlement. Il ne
faudrait toutefois pas exagérer ce phénomène. Franks (1987) est clair à cet
égard : la domination de l’exécutif n’est pas substantiellement entamée.
Le Parlement peut également être conçu comme faisant partie du processus de sélection des dirigeants politiques. L’élection à la Chambre des
communes constitue une première étape vers la détention de postes
d’autorité. Le nouveau député doit ensuite convaincre le premier ministre,
ou le chef du parti s’il est dans l’opposition, qu’il a la compétence et
l’habileté nécessaires pour assumer des responsabilités. Ces mécanismes
de sélection ont été assez peu étudiés au Canada. Les analyses sur les
origines des parlementaires se font rares. Notons toutefois l’étude de
Pelletier et Crête (1988; voir aussi Pelletier, 1989) qui ont voulu vérifier
dans quelle mesure les réalignements électoraux ont transformé le personnel politique au Québec. Ils concluent que le taux de roulement est effectivement plus élevé au moment d’élections critiques, mais que pour le reste,
les différences sont beaucoup moins nettes qu’aux États-Unis. Pour ce qui
est du processus de nomination des présidents et vice-présidents des
comités, nous ne disposons que de l’analyse, qui date maintenant un peu,
d’Atkinson et Nossal (l980).
58
L’étude du fonctionnement du Parlement est, quant à elle, plus avancée.
Le livre de Franks (1987), en particulier, fait bien le tour des recherches
sur la procédure parlementaire, le rôle des comités et la réforme du Sénat.
L’ouvrage de White (1989) sur l’Assemblée législative de l’Ontario et les
analyses réunies par Levy et White (1989) sur les autres corps législatifs
provinciaux fournissent un heureux complément. Cette dimension
classique de la science politique canadienne, si elle est moins vivante que
dans le passé, n’en demeure pas moins présente et importante.
On a déjà souligné le rôle dominant de l’exécutif au sein du gouvernement.
Il n’est donc pas surprenant de constater que les études à son sujet sont
plus nombreuses. Au sommet, on retrouve évidemment le premier ministre.
Assez curieusement, cette fonction n’a suscité que quelques travaux. Dans
les années 1970, le livre de Hockins (1976) avait fait le point sur le pouvoir
du premier ministre et ses relations avec le Cabinet et l’appareil administratif. Plus récemment, Pal et Taras (1988) ont colligé un ensemble de
textes sur le rôle des premiers ministres. Le livre a le mérite de traiter des
gouvernements provinciaux tout autant que du fédéral et de poser le
problème du leadership dans la perspective de l’analyse des politiques
gouvernementales. Les auteurs sont cependant les premiers à reconnaître
le caractère exploratoire de leur recherche. La science politique
canadienne n’a toujours pas produit de bilan systématique du pouvoir réel
du premier ministre.
Vient ensuite le Cabinet. Une première question concerne sa constitution
même : le nombre de ministres, la nomination de ministres d’État ou de
super-ministres... Les changements institutionnels ont été décrits par Clark
(1975). On note en particulier le nombre croissant de ministres au cours
des années 1980. Les facteurs responsables de cette tendance n’ont pas fait
l’objet d’une étude approfondie. Chenier (1985) a cependant noté le
recours croissant à des ministres d’État et a bien cerné les problèmes
associés à cette pratique.
Qui devient ministre ? Lammers et Nyomarkay (1982) ont montré qu’au
Canada, comme aux États-Unis, en France et en Grande-Bretagne, le profil
de carrière des ministres est marqué par la croissance de la spécialisation,
de la nationalisation et de la bureaucratisation. De telles études sur les
origines du personnel politique, dans une perspective historique et comparative, sont malheureusement trop rares.
Les sous-ministres représentent quant à eux le sommet de la hiérarchie
administrative. Eux aussi ont été relativement peu étudiés. Mentionnons
toutefois les travaux de Bourgault et Dion (1989) démontrant que la
mobilité des sous-ministres est maintenant très grande - moins de deux
ans par même poste, en moyenne - et que le processus de nomination reste
peu politisé - un changement de gouvernement n’a que peu d’effet sur les
59
IJCS / RIÉC
mutations et les départs. Plus récemment, ces deux auteurs (Bourgault et
Dion, à paraître) ont mis en lumière le haut niveau de satisfaction des
ministres à l’endroit des sous-ministres et indiqué que cette satisfaction
découle, en bonne partie, d’une communauté d’intérêt dans la défense de
leur ministère.
Mais la question qui a incontestablement le plus occupé les spécialistes de
l’administration publique concerne le rôle des organismes centraux et
l’imbrication des fonctions administratives et politiques. À cet égard,
l’étude comparative de Campbell (1983) sur les organes centraux au
Canada, en Grande-Bretagne et aux États-Unis a fait marque. Dans un
article fort cité, Aucoin (1986) a également montré comment la philosophie personnelle du premier ministre exerce une forte influence sur
l’organisation des rouages centraux de l’État.
Pour ce qui est des processus, c’est évidemment l’élaboration du budget
qui a fait l’objet des études les plus importantes. Les analyses sont ici
nombreuses et riches et portent sur les gouvernements provinciaux autant
que sur le fédéral (voir, en particulier, Maslove, Prince et Doern, 1986;
Doern, Maslove et Prince, 1988; Savoie, 1990). Tout en décrivant le processus formel de décision, ces études soulignent l’importance du contexte
politique et économique dans la prise de décisions. Il s’en dégage l’image
d’un processus complexe, soumis à une myriade de contraintes. Malheureusement, nous ne disposons pas encore d’analyse plus détaillée qui
viserait à vérifier un modèle théorique particulier.
Finalement, il convient de souligner l’œuvre magistrale de Gow (1986) sur
l’histoire de l’administration publique au Québec. Cette étude imposante,
qui embrasse un siècle d’histoire et toutes les facettes du régime administratif québécois, constitue une bible d’informations pour étudiants et
chercheurs. Cette recherche, qui s’inscrit dans la tradition de Hodgetts
(1973), n’est peut-être pas à la mode; elle n’en demeure pas moins un des
ouvrages majeurs en sciences sociales au Québec.
La dernière branche du gouvernement, le judiciaire, est la plus négligée des
politicologues, et pour de bonnes raisons, puisque son pouvoir était
jusqu’ici relativement limité. L’adoption de la Charte canadienne des droits
et libertés a évidemment modifié l’état des choses et on peut prédire que
les politicologues commenceront, eux aussi, à scruter à la loupe les
décisions des tribunaux. Déjà, un certain nombre d’ouvrages (Morton,
1985; Snell et Vaughan, 1985; Russell, 1987) ont déblayé le terrain. Des
études plus approfondies devraient nous permettre, sous peu, d’établir
dans quelle mesure l’idéologie des juges influence leurs décisions (pour une
première analyse dans ce sens, voir Flanagan, Knopff et Archer, 1988).
60
Les politiques gouvernementales
Au Canada, comme ailleurs, l’analyse des politiques a été le champ d’étude
qui, au cours des deux dernières décennies, a connu l’essor le plus
important. Des programmes e n c e d o m a i n e ( p a r f o i s j u m e l é à
l’administration publique) ont été créés, le champ a « sa » revue (Canadian
Public Policy/Analyse de Politiques) et les études se font de plus en plus
nombreuses. À ce courant s’ajoute celui de l’économie politique, dont
l’objet privilégié est également le rôle de l’État, et qui dispose aussi de sa
revue (Studies in Political Economy).
Ce qui frappe d’abord à ce sujet, c’est la prédominance des études
monographiques. L’exemple type de cette démarche est le livre de
Campbell et Pall (1989), qui présente une analyse de six enjeux précis : le
contrat d’entretien du CF-18; la Loi sur les brevets pharmaceutiques; la
pornographie; l’avortement; l’Accord du Lac Meech; l’Accord de libreéchange. Les études comparatives sont beaucoup plus rares. Le courant de
recherches quantitatives comparant l’« output » des différents Etats
américains (voir, par exemple, Erikson, Wright et McIver, 1989) n’a pas
vraiment son pendant au Canada (voir, cependant, Blais, Cousineau et
McRoberts, 1989). Si cela peut s’expliquer en partie par le plus petit
nombre de provinces au Canada, il faut y voir aussi le sous-développement
de la recherche comparative au Canada.
Il est en effet un peu navrant de constater l’absence quasi totale de
recherches comparant systématiquement les politiques de quelques
provinces différentes. Il n’y a pas eu de suite, par exemple, au classique
Prairie Capitalism (Richards et Pratt, 1979), lequel ne compare d’ailleurs
que ponctuellement les politiques des gouvernements de la Saskatchewan
et de l’Alberta (pour une exception intéressante, voir Skogstad, 1987). Dans
la même veine, les politicologues canadiens ne se livrent guère à des
comparaisons entre les politiques canadiennes et celles d’autres pays, en
particulier celles de notre voisin du Sud. Il est symptomatique, à cet égard,
que l’analyse la plus approfondie, qui examine l’évolution des programmes
de sécurité sociale au Canada et aux Etats-Unis au cours de la décennie 70,
soit l’œuvre d’un Américain (Leman, 1980).
Rose (1976) a défini les trois fonctions essentielles de l’État comme étant
la défense de l’intégrité territoriale, le maintien de l’ordre et les finances.
La première fonction relève de l’étude des relations internationales. Pour
ce qui est des deux autres, force est de constater la pauvreté de la recherche.
L’analyse du contrôle de la criminalité est laissée aux criminologues. La
lacune est encore plus sérieuse en ce qui touche la fiscalité. Alors que les
économistes produisent des tonnes d’études sur les effets directs et indirects de différents impôts (pour un survol, voir Boadway et Kitchen,
1980), ils ne se penchent guère sur les facteurs qui poussent les
61
IJCS / RIÉC
gouvernements à privilégier tel impôt plutôt que tel autre. Malheureusement, les politicologues n’ont pas pris la relève, et l’on ne sait toujours que
très peu de choses sur les déterminants de la stratégie fiscale des gouvernements. La petite monographie de Good (1980) n’a eu aucune suite.
C’est la politique économique qui a retenu l’attention des politicologues et,
à cet égard, ce sont probablement les entreprises publiques qui ont donné
lieu aux études les plus nombreuses et les plus importantes. Deux ouvrages
méritent d’être signalés. D’abord, l’étude de Faucher et Bergeron (1986)
sur Hydro-Québec; il s’agit de l’analyse la plus fouillée d’une entreprise
publique au Canada dans laquelle les auteurs examinent non seulement les
grandes orientations de la Société, mais également les choix concrets
concernant la grille tarifaire, les achats... Laux et Molot (1988), pour leur
part, présentent une vue d’ensemble de la place des entreprises publiques
au Canada et des débats qui les entourent. Les deux études insistent sur la
dérive des entreprises par rapport au pouvoir politique.
De toutes les mesures adoptées par le gouvernement canadien depuis la
Seconde Guerre mondiale, aucune n’a probablement suscité de controverse plus féroce que la Politique nationale de l’énergie. Dans leur
analyse des tenants et aboutissants de cette politique, Doern et Toner
(1985) démontrent, entre autres choses, que trois ministres seulement
participèrent à la décision, mais qu’ils jouèrent, à cet égard, un rôle tout
aussi déterminant que les bureaucrates. La recherche constitue un exemple type d’analyse d’une politique, de sa genèse à son adoption, à sa mise
en application et à l’évaluation de ses effets. La Politique de l’énergie a
également donné heu à une des très rares applications concrètes de la
théorie des jeux. James (à paraître) indique comment cette théorie peut
rendre compte de l’accord conclu entre le gouvernement du Canada et
celui de l’Alberta, en 1981.
Les politiques sociales, quant à elles, sans avoir été négligées, ont été
relativement moins analysées. Citons d’abord l’étude minutieuse de
Vaillancourt (1988), qui examine la panoplie de mesures adoptées par les
gouvernements du Canada et du Québec entre 1940 et 1960. Banting
(1987), pour sa part, présente l’analyse la plus systématique des
programmes de sécurité du revenu et de l’influence des institutions
fédérales sur leur évolution.
Parmi les études portant sur des programmes donnes, celle de Pal (1988)
sur les origines et l’évolution de l’assurance-chômage au Canada mérite une
attention particulière. L’originalité de l’analyse tient au fait que l’auteur
s’est employé à évaluer la capacité de différents modèles théoriques de
rendre compte des politiques adoptées. Pal conclut que des facteurs de
nature bureaucratique ont exerce une incidence considérable sur
l’évolution du programme, ce qui indique une forte autonomie de l’État
62
vis-à-vis des forces sociales. Ce type de recherche, qui tend à confronter
différentes problématiques, est malheureusement trop rare.
Dans la même veine, il convient de souligner l’analyse de Tuohy (1988) sur
la sur-facturation dans les soins médicaux au Canada. La profession
médicale a perdu sur cette question (la surfacturation a été abolie), ce qui
va à l’encontre de la thèse voulant que les intérêts structures (comme pour
les médecins) jouissent d’une influence disproportionnée. Selon Tuohy, ce
cas illustre la vulnérabilité de ces intérêts sur des enjeux à portée
symbolique. Elle ajoute, cependant, que de telles défaites ne sont pas
complètes; en contrepartie, les gouvernements ont offert des hausses de
tarifs ou des mécanismes d’arbitrage.
Il serait évidemment fastidieux de passer en revue toutes les facettes de
l’intervention gouvernementale qui ont fait l’objet d’études ponctuelles. En
fait, il est vraisemblablement plus intéressant de noter les secteurs négligés.
À ce titre, c’est probablement dans le domaine de l’éducation, surtout
primaire et secondaire, que le vide est le plus criant (voir, cependant, Migué
et Marceau, 1989). On ne sait pratiquement rien sur ce qu’on enseigne dans
les écoles et sur le rôle des différents acteurs dans la définition des
programmes, pour ne prendre qu’un exemple.
La représentation politique
Dans le modèle démocratique, les grandes orientations gouvernementales
sont censées correspondre aux vœux de la majorité des citoyens et dans ce
modèle, l’élection tient une place centrale, car elle constitue le fondement
de la légitimité du régime politique. C’est dans cette optique que seront
d’abord abordées les études électorales ainsi que les analyses de
l’institution électorale par excellence, les partis. On examinera ensuite les
ouvrages portant sur l’opinion publique et les groupes.
La première question que soulève l’élection est celle des règles. C’est une
question sur laquelle les politicologues se sont beaucoup penchés. Il est
significatif, à cet égard, que l’article de la Revue canadienne de science
politique le plus cité (Courtney, Kawchuk et Spafford, 1987) soit celui de
Cairns (1968) sur les effets pervers du système électoral canadien. Les
politicologues ont activement participé au débat sur le système électoral,
tant au Canada anglais qu’au Québec (Irvine, 1985; Blais et Lemieux, 1988).
La publication de Representation and Electoral Systems: Canadian Perspectives (Johnston et Pasis, 1990) témoigne de la vitalité de ce champ d’étude.
Notons cependant que d’autres aspects de la loi électorale, en particulier
l’épineuse question du financement, ont été beaucoup moins approfondis.
La sociologie électorale, au Canada comme ailleurs, se définit d’abord par
l’existence d’une énorme banque de données; à chaque élection depuis
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IJCS / RIÉC
1965 (à l’exception de 1972), une équipe d’universitaires a effectué un
important sondage, dont les données sont mises à la disposition de tous les
chercheurs. En conséquence, l’analyse du comportement électoral procède
essentiellement à partir de données individuelles. L’approche écologique,
qui a naguère eu ses adeptes (voir, en particulier, Lemieux, 1971), est plus
ou moins tombée en désuétude.
La question classique sur laquelle s’est penchée la sociologie électorale au
Canada a été l’influence relative des différentes variables socioéconomiques sur le vote. Le rôle de la religion, en particulier, a donné lieu
à un débat intéressant (Irvine, 1974; Johnston, 1985). Toutefois, ce type de
préoccupation attire de moins en moins les chercheurs. L’interrogation
porte maintenant davantage sur l’influence des leaders et des enjeux, sans
doute parce que cette question offre plus d’intérêt sur le plan théorique.
Par voie de conséquence, la réflexion n’a guère progressé récemment sur
la correspondance (ou l’absence de correspondance) entre clivages sociaux
et électoraux et sur le sens de cette correspondance (voir, cependant,
Gidengil, 1989).
La thèse principale des auteurs des sondages effectués lors des élections
fédérales de 1974, 1979 et 1980 (Clarke et al., 1984) soutient que les leaders
exercent une influence beaucoup plus marquée que les enjeux. Une telle
conclusion, qui se fonde sur les réponses obtenues à des questions ouvertes
où l’on demande aux électeurs ce qui a motivé leur vote, est toutefois fragile.
Heath et al. (1985) ont démontré qu’en Grande-Bretagne, les électeurs
disaient n’accorder que peu d’importance à la question des nationalisations, mais que pourtant, les opinions sur cet enjeu étaient étroitement liées
au vote.
Mais l’étude la plus approfondie du comportement électoral, Two Political
Worlds (1985), a été faite par Blake et porte sur les élections en ColombieBritannique. Elle s’intéresse tout particulièrement au clivage idéologique
entre le Crédit social et le NPD, mais identifie également les groupes
sociaux associés aux différentes tendances. Blake établit que les enjeux et
les idéologies peuvent avoir une forte incidence sur le vote.
Les élections sont également un moment privilégié de communication
politique. L’analyse de contenu de la couverture des campagnes par les
médias a mis en lumière la propension à présenter l’élection comme une
course et à n’accorder que la portion congrue aux enjeux (Wagenberg et
al., 1988). Pourtant, l’analyse des programmes des partis (Irvine, 1987)
révèle qu’ils se différencient les uns des autres. De plus, la grande majorité
des engagements pris par le parti élu sont effectivement tenus (Monière,
1988).
64
Une élection démocratique ne saurait s’envisager sans la présence de partis
politiques. La science politique canadienne s’est toujours intéressée aux
partis et cet intérêt se maintient. La parution récente de trois livres, ceux
de Gagnon et Tanguay (1988), de Perlin (1988) ainsi que de Wearing
(1988), confirme que les partis demeurent, aux yeux des politicologues,
l’institution politique par excellence.
Les partis peuvent être étudiés dans la perspective de deux problématiques,
l’une plus interne où l’accent est mis sur le fonctionnement de
l’organisation, et l’autre externe où le système de partis constitue l’objet
d’analyse. La première problématique est nettement moins populaire que
la seconde. On ne dispose guère d’analyse approfondie du contrôle que
peut exercer le leader sur les orientations d’un parti. De même, la question
fondamentale des sources de financement, des motivations qui
sous-tendent les contributions et des obligations implicites ou explicites
qu’un parti contracte envers les bailleurs de fonds n’a pas vraiment été
analysée. Paltiel (1985) a bien déblayé ce terrain, mais il reste à déterminer
comment le financement agit sur le fonctionnement des partis.
Le livre de Perlin (1988) apporte toutefois un eclairage intéressant sur un
aspect crucial de la vie interne des partis, la sélection du chef lors des
congrès au leadership. Les études de Blake (1988) et de Johnston (1988),
en particulier, définissent bien les sources de cohésion et de division à
l’intérieur des partis. Le livre ne fait malheureusement qu’effleurer les
variables organisationnelles proprement dites, le jeu des stratégies et le
déploiement des ressources à l’échelle locale (voir l’analyse intéressante
mais trop brève de Carty, 1988).
En ce qui concerne le système des partis, la question classique est de savoir
si ces derniers ont tendance à se différencier les uns par rapport aux autres
ou si, au contraire, ils sont portés à se rapprocher. Traditionnellement, la
politique canadienne est perçue comme étant marquée par la recherche du
compromis (le « brokerage politics »). Si Brodie et Jenson (1980) estiment
que cette description est juste, ils n’en soutiennent pas moins que le modèle
n’explique pas pourquoi les partis adoptent pareille stratégie. Mais Blake
(1988) et Johnston (1988) vont plus loin en soulignant des différences
marquées dans les attitudes et les idéologies des délégués aux congrès de
leadership des différents partis. Dans la même veine, Nadeau et Blais (à
paraître) observent que les Canadiens distinguent assez nettement les trois
principaux partis.
Les politicologues québécois se sont également intéressés de près aux
partis politiques. Leur objet d’analyse est cependant différent; comme c’est
le cas dans d’autres domaines, les Québécois se concentrent exclusivement
sur la scène politique provinciale. La problématique se fait aussi plus
ambitieuse et abstraite. Lemieux (1985), plus que tout autre, représente ce
65
IJCS / RIÉC
type de démarche, en proposant une théorie systémique qui s’applique tant
aux composantes et fonctions des partis qu’aux systèmes partisans.
L’analyse de Pelletier (1989) est plus traditionnelle. À partir d’un examen
minutieux des campagnes électorales, des programmes et des personnels,
l’auteur trace un portrait des différents partis et de leur évolution dans le
temps.
Si les partis sont l’enfant chéri de la science politique, l’analyse des groupes
d’intérêt correspond également à une longue tradition. Au Canada, deux
livres récents s’imposent tout naturellement sur cette question. Le premier
est l’ouvrage-synthèse de Pross (1986) qui fait preuve de grandes qualités
et offre une large perspective. Pross s’intéresse à l’évolution du rôle des
groupes depuis le début de la Confédération et cherche à déterminer les
principaux facteurs qui ont marqué cette évolution. On y retrouve une
multitude de références à des groupes de nature très variée pour illustrer
les différentes propositions; ces exemples sont bien répartis géographiquement. Les mérites et limites de la théorie d’Olson (1965) pour expliquer
la formation des groupes sont exposés de façon intelligente. L’auteur
soutient principalement que ce sont des variables politiques, en particulier
la croissance de l’État et le processus de bureaucratisation, qui ont favorisé
la prolifération des groupes et leur progressive institutionalisation et il
illustre cette thèse de quelques études de cas. L’analyse manque toutefois
de profondeur. Les études de cas ne sont pas menées de façon systématique
et on a l’impression que Pross sous-estime la capacité des groupes, surtout
les plus puissants, de manipuler les institutions politiques dans le sens de
leurs intérêts. L’étude ne fournit par ailleurs que peu d’informations sur le
fonctionnement interne des groupes, les structures formelles et le degré de
participation.
Dans une autre étude, Coleman (1988) examine quant à lui, les associations
industrielles au Canada. L’auteur distingue quatre types de réseaux Étatindustrie (le pluralisme de pression, le pluralisme de cooptation, le
pluralisme de clientèle et le corporatisme), caractérise le type de réseau
prévalant dans six secteurs et cherche à identifier les facteurs responsables
du type de réseau observé dans un secteur donné. Il soutient que les
variables structurelles, comme le niveau de concentration (industrielle et
géographique), sont plus importantes que les variables institutionnelles telles que le fédéralisme. La démarche de Coleman est fort intéressante.
L’idée de comparer les réseaux État-industrie dans différents secteurs et
même dans différents pays est astucieuse. Sa démonstration laisse cependant à désirer. Le livre mentionne à plusieurs reprises le pouvoir variable
des différents groupes, mais est étrangement muet sur l’exercice du
pouvoir. L’analyse est centrée sur les structures formelles. L’auteur semble
tenir pour acquis qu’un groupe bien organisé et cohérent a effectivement
beaucoup d’influence. Les chapitres consacrés aux différentes associations
ne mettent pas en relief les grands enjeux politiques du secteur, les intérêts
66
en présence et les politiques concrètes adoptées. Finalement, on s’étonne
de constater qu’un livre portant sur l’action collective ne fait que mentionner au passage le problème du resquilleur et n’examine pas les stratégies
mises de l’avant par les dirigeants pour y faire face.
Les élections, les partis et les groupes sont autant de relais de l’opinion
publique vers les dirigeants politiques. Mais l’opinion publique constitue,
en soi, un objet d’étude important. À cet égard, l’étude la plus importante
est celle de Johnston (1986), qui traite de l’appui au régime et aux institutions politiques, au point de vue confiance ou cynisme envers les divers
ordres de gouvernement ainsi que des attitudes et des opinions à l’endroit
d’un grand nombre d’enjeux économiques et politiques. Parmi les
conclusions les plus intéressantes, citons les deux suivantes :
1)
2)
la légitimité du gouvernement fédéral n’est pas contestée. La confiance
envers le gouvernement fédéral évolue dans le même sens que le crédit
accordé aux autres institutions et est tributaire de la conjoncture
économique;
la division des pouvoirs entre le gouvernement fédéral et les gouvernements provinciaux s’accorde assez bien avec l’état de l’opinion
publique.
Par ailleurs, les politicologues n’ont pu s’empêcher de s’interroger sur la
nature de l’identité canadienne. C’est d’ailleurs le thème de la toute
première analyse de l’opinion publique au Canada (Schwartz, 1967). Le
premier volet de la question nationale renvoie au statut du Québec dans la
fédération canadienne. La décennie 80 a été marquée par le référendum
sur le projet de souveraineté-association et, plus récemment, par le débat
sur l’Accord du Lac Meech. Sur la question référendaire, la contribution
la plus substantielle est celle de Pinard et Hamilton (1984). Ils soutiennent
en particulier qu’il y avait beaucoup de confusion et d’ignorance à propos
de la notion de souveraineté-association et que cette situation a profité au
camp du OUI. Les données présentées par Pinard et Hamilton sont
abondantes et, dans l’ensemble, convaincantes. Cependant, Pammet et al.
(1984) indiquent que les Québécois ont voté davantage en fonction de leur
sentiment d’appartenance (ou non) à la communauté canadienne que par
rapport à leur position sur la souveraineté-association et que ce fut là une
cause importante de la défaite du OUI. Dans cette perspective élargie, le
comportement référendaire apparaît plus rationnel. Ces analyses sont
intéressantes; elles n’en demeurent pas moins très partielles. Il est navrant
de constater qu’un événement aussi marquant de l’histoire canadienne n’ait
pas fait l’objet d’une analyse globale.
Le deuxième volet de la question nationale concerne les relations entre le
Canada et les États-Unis. LeDuc et Murray (1984) ont montré comment
les attitudes envers le voisin américain sont marquées par l’ambivalence et
67
IJCS / RIÉC
le pragmatisme. Cette question a constitué l’enjeu pratiquement unique de
l’élection de 1988 et déjà, les premières analyses (Johnston et al., à paraître)
indiquent que les opinions sur l’Accord de libre-échange étaient liées à une
combinaison complexe de considérations économiques, politiques,
culturelles et même psychologiques.
L’adoption de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés risque d’influencer
la façon même dont les Canadiens définissent leur identité. La Charte invite
à penser en termes de droits individuels de même qu’elle reconnaît à
certains groupes un statut formel (Cairns, 1988). Une enquête importante
du groupe Sniderman et al. a précisément pour objet de décrire et
d’expliquer les attitudes des Canadiens à l’égard des droits et libertés. Dans
un premier article publié dans la Revue canadienne de science politique,
Sniderman et son équipe (1989) étudient les attitudes à l’égard des droits
linguistiques. Ils démontrent que les attitudes en ce domaine dépendent,
d’une part, de valeurs plus larges - notamment les vues sur l’égalité et,
d’autre part, de considérations stratégiques. Les Francophones sont moins
portés à avoir deux poids deux mesures, c’est-à-dire à affirmer des droits
pour leur propre communauté et non pour l’autre. Selon les auteurs, cela
tient au fait que l’adoption d’une norme unique va dans le sens des intérêts
des groupes minoritaires. Dans cette perspective, les attitudes découlent
d’une combinaison de valeurs et d’intérêts, une conclusion similaire à celle
de Johnston et al. (1989) dans le cas du libre-échange canado-américain.
Des travaux importants ont été faits ou sont en voie de réalisation sur les
déterminants de l’opinion publique au Canada. Certains trous béants
demeurent, cependant. La recherche plus fondamentale quant à la plus ou
moins grande stabilité des opinions et attitudes, qui a suscité un débat
considérable aux États-Unis (Kinder, 1983), n’a pas eu de résonance au
Canada. De même, on ne trouve pas de recherche systématique sur la
formation de l’agenda politique et sur l’influence des médias sur l’évolution
de l’opinion publique, sujets qui ont fait l’objet de travaux considérables
ailleurs (Iyengar et Kinder, 1987).
Conclusion
La science politique canadienne est en constante évolution. Le nombre de
politicologues continue de croître, ce qui permet à la discipline d’élargir
ses perspectives et d’aborder de nouvelles questions. La décennie 70 a
donné lieu à la création d’un nouveau champ, l’analyse des politiques, qui
a continué de prendre de l’expansion au cours de la dernière décennie.
L’adoption de la Charte canadienne des droits et libertés a forcé les
politicologues à se préoccuper du fonctionnement et de l’influence du
système judiciaire.
68
L’expansion de la discipline s’accompagne d’une plus grande
spécialisation. Cette tendance comporte des risques, car elle peut entraîner
le fractionnement de la discipline en écoles, ce qui rendrait difficile le
dialogue. Dans cette perspective, Almond (1988) a parlé de la division de
la science politique américaine en sectes isolées les unes des autres. La forte
réaction qu’a suscité le texte d’Almond (voir, par exemple la discussion
dans le numéro de mars 1990 de Political Science and Politics) indique qu’il
y a là un problème réel. En fait, il est désormais presque impossible de
dresser un bilan de la science politique, comme l’auteur de ces lignes a pu
le constater en prenant lui-même conscience du nombre d’ouvrages qu’il
avait négligé de lire depuis quelques années.
Le fractionnement de la discipline est cependant moins marqué au Canada
en raison de la plus petite taille de la profession et des départements, ce
qui freine la spécialisation. Mais la politique canadienne elle-même
contribue à mitiger l’éclatement de la discipline. Cairns et Williams (1987)
ont fait remarquer que la crise constitutionnelle a eu pour effet de fournir
aux politicologues canadiens un foyer commun d’intérêt autour de la
question relative à la dynamique État-société civile. Dans la mesure où la
réalité politique canadienne force les politicologues à se pencher sur les
enjeux classiques de la science politique, c’est-à-dire les règles constitutionnelles, les tendances centripètes sont plus fortes au Canada qu’aux ÉtatsUnis. La meilleure façon de lutter contre le fractionnement de la discipline
consisterait donc à faire en sorte que les politicologues discutent davantage
de l’actualité politique et moins de leurs modèles (voir Shapiro, 1990).
Les années 1970 avaient donné heu à un débat virulent sur l’américanisation
de la science politique canadienne. Avec un recul de près de vingt ans, on
peut faire les observations suivantes. Premièrement, très peu de Canadiens
se sont livrés à des études comparatives canado-américaines, le leadership
sur ce sujet étant laissé à un Américain, Seymour Martin Lipset.
Deuxièmement, les Canadiens publient l’essentiel de leurs travaux sur le
Canada au Canada, la revue privilégiée demeurant la Revue canadienne de
science politique (voir Young, 1989). Troisièmement, les problématiques
utilisées sont variées et ne correspondent que bien partiellement à ce qu’on
observe aux États-Unis. Par exemple, la théorie des choix collectifs, qui a
donné heu à de nombreux travaux aux États-Unis, a peu d’écho au Canada.
Finalement, la méthodologie quantitative, qui peut être considérée comme
une des caractéristiques de l’école américaine, demeure marginale au
Canada, à l’extérieur de son champ d’étude privilégié - la sociologie
électorale. Le numéro type de la Revue canadienne de science politique
comporte un article quantitatif sur cinq.
Enfin, on peut se demander dans quelle mesure la science politique
québécoise-francophone ressemble à sa contrepartie au Canada anglais ou
s’en distingue. Force est de constater que les relations entre les deux
69
IJCS / RIÉC
communautés scientifiques sont pour le moins espacées. La présence d’une
revue commune fait en sorte que les liens unissant les deux communautés
sont plus grands que dans d’autres disciplines, la sociologie en particulier
(voir Juteau et Maheu, 1989). Mais les projets de recherche communs sont
rarissimes, les politicologues québécois se cantonnant dans l’étude de la
politique provinciale et les anglophones étant peu portés aux comparaisons
inter-provinciales. Sauf lorsqu’il s’agit de la question nationale, ils
s’ignorent mutuellement. Il y a cependant des indices de changement,
surtout en provenance du Québec. La défaite référendaire a rappelé aux
Québécois qu’ils faisaient partie du Canada et que la politique fédérale
était peut-être plus importante que la politique provinciale, même au
Québec.
On a avancé que la science politique canadienne s’est davantage illustrée
par des études de cas bien menées et des applications de théories élaborées
par d’autres que par la construction de théories originales (Stein, Trent et
Donneur, s.d.). Notre analyse confirme cette hypothèse. Les études
comparatives se font rares, les élaborations théoriques également. Encore
une fois, le Québec se distingue sur ce plan, comme en font foi en particulier
les travaux de Lemieux (1985) et Bélanger (1985). Peut-être peut-on
espérer que les politicologues canadiens feront preuve d’un peu plus
d’audace et produiront des études de cas comparatives débouchant sur des
réflexions théoriques originales.
*
Je remercie Stéphane Dion, André J. Bélanger et deux évaluateurs
anonymes pour leurs commentaires sur une première version de ce
texte.
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Maureen Appel Molot
Where Do We, Should We, or Can We Sit?
A Review of Canadian Foreign Policy Literature*
Abstract
This article reviews the Canadian foreign policy literature from the
perspective of what is seen as its preoccupation with Canada's “location ” in
the international system. It examines works that depict Canada as a "middle", “principal” or “dependent” state, arguing that each of these depictions
has theoretical as well as descriptive weaknesses. The article also discusses
a range of works analyzing Canada-U.S. relations, and briefly notes that the
literature on Quebec’s international relations is, too, characterized by a
concern with "place “. It concludes with some suggestions for further research.
Résumé
L’article présente un bilan de la production sur la politique étrangère du
Canada, étudiée du point de vue de ce que devrait être la place du Canada
au plan international. Il analyse les ouvrages qui présentent le Canada
comme un Etat « moyen », « principal » ou « dépendant » et démontre les
faiblesses de ces descriptions tant sur le plan théorique qu ‘au niveau descriptif Il traite également des recherches sur les relations canado-américaines et
souligne le fait que la production sur les relations internationales du Québec
se caractérise aussi par un souci pour la place du Québec dans le monde.
L ‘auteure conclut en suggérant quelques pistes de recherches.
Canadian foreign policy literature in large measure reflects the Canadian
preoccupation with Canada’s place in the world, a preoccupation with
status, position, influence and power. This theme of “place” links otherwise
very different strands of literature. The more traditional Canadian foreign
policy perspective debates whether Canada is a “middle” or “principal”
power,1 and examines Canada’s place in the world primarily from the
perspective of diplomacy and international politics. The political-economy/
economic nationalism literature addresses the question of Canada’s global
status principally in economic terms, and discusses whether Canada is
dependent, part of the periphery or part of the core. 2The most important
sub-theme or corollary to this “position” concern is Canada’s relationship
to the United States. This literature, also voluminous, examines various
facets of bilateral ties across a spectrum of issues, from defence to
economics. While diverse in perspective, what is common to much of this
literature is its attention to the implications of this most critical of Canada’s
foreign relationships in terms of Canadian domestic and foreign policy
decisions. Most recently, the literature on Canada-United States relations
has focused largely on the decision to negotiate the Free Trade Agreement
(FTA).3
The second major theme or organizing principle of Canadian foreign policy
literature is policy formulation - that which investigates the way in which
Canadian foreign policy is made and the role of institutions - governmental
and non-governmental - in the process. Sometimes described as “statist”,4
this literature is divided between that which discusses the efforts of diverse
Canadian interest groups to influence foreign policy outcomes5 and discussions that focus more directly on the state actors responsible for foreign
policy decisions.66 In its analysis of questions such as the degree of state
autonomy in foreign policy decision-making, or the importance of
bureaucratic politics, the process literature has emphasized the impact of
domestic sources on policy outcomes and has tended to downplay, if not
ignore, the importance of external or systemic forces.7 Important though
this literature is to an understanding of Canadian foreign policy, limitations
of space preclude an analysis of the process literature and the paradigms
which have structured its arguments.
Different interpretive and philosophical predispositions characterize the
writing on Canadian foreign policy. Nonetheless, the primacy of the dual
interests in position and process remains, a phenomenon which derives
from history and the continuing intellectual interests of analysts of
Canadian foreign policy. This legacy has definite strengths: it has produced
a literature rich in debates from the perspectives of problem solving and
critical theory. 8 But it is also a tradition which has been captured by its own
preoccupations and has, therefore, remained highly descriptive, rarely
posing questions about the implications of paradigm choice and paradigm
debate for its endeavours. Moreover, it has left many important questions
about Canadian foreign policy and Canada’s place in the world unasked
and, therefore, undebated. This essay is an effort both to review the sum
of recent Canadian foreign policy literature and to pose a number of
questions about possible new directions for Canadian foreign policy research. The selection of material and the organization of any review article
are by definition subjective, and result in the discussion of some works to
the exclusion of others. The lack of attention to the literature on defence
policy, for example, is not a judgment of its importance, but rather a
reflection of the author’s interest in other questions.
International relations and the concerns of foreign policy have changed
substantially over the last two decades as the issues on the global agenda
increase in diversity. No longer are international relations courses structured solely around considerations of war and peace, arms control and
disarmament, critical questions though these continue to be. Quite clearly,
78
the definition of international relations has broadened to include a host of
environmental and economic issues. Of significance among the latter are
trade and tariff questions, and the organizations created to promote international trade, the new protectionism, technology transfer, the movement
to regional trading blocs, the internationalization of production, and the
rise of the Newly Industrializing Countries, to note but a few of the topics
currently considered within the confines of the field. The rapidly growing
interest in international political-economy during the late 1970s and 1980s
has influenced the research agenda in Canada and elsewhere, as scholars
began to examine the formulation of foreign economic policy and states’
responses to global economic change and crises.9 Among the results of this
broadened definition of international relations has been a new focus on the
conditions of state autonomy and paradigms of state-society relations, and
the development of shared interests between Canadian foreign policy, now
defined more broadly than ever to include foreign economic policy, and
Canadian political-economy, as scholars undertake research on subjects of
common concern.
Where Do We Sit?
(a) The middle power perspective: The debate over Canada’s place in the
global system has long galvanized Canadian academics, although the
theoretical assumptions which structure it have often been more implicit
than explicit. This is particularly true of the historic discussion of Canada
as a middle power. In recent years, the debate has focused more on
Canada’s position within the global economy than on the country’s involvement in military/security or international diplomacy questions. The original
conception of Canada as a “middle power” was the result of comparison Canada was less “powerful” than the United States, Britain or France and
more so than most of the countries of the world. Precise categorization,
however, was rarely specified.10 Moreover, since much of this middle power
literature was focused on Canada’s dedication to and participation in the
construction and maintenance of the postwar order, decisions on criteria
for determining the effectiveness of this role bordered on the impossible.
The genesis of the perspective lay in the functional concept of representation, developed in Ottawa during World War II, which asserted that
absolute size alone was insufficient to determine participation in the councils of the war and postwar period. Rather, capacity for contribution
interest and expertise should all play a role in decisions on representation. 11
Concomitant with this view of Canada as a middle power was that of
Canada’s commitment to liberal internationalism.12 In large measure the
creation of foreign policy practitioners, liberal internationalism expressed
in rhetoric and practice the assumption that Canada could have an impact
on world affairs precisely through its activities as a middle power. What was
recommended and analyzed was a Canadian praxis that emphasized
79
support for international organizations, peace-keeping, promotion of international dialogue (and it was hoped agreement) in functional areas such
as law of the sea and human rights, and concern to improve conditions in
the Third World.
The perspective of liberal internationalism was clearly the predominant
intellectual lens through which Canadian foreign policy was analyzed in the
postwar period and for at least two decades after the war. Moreover, as I
shall argue below, it remains a significant analytical perspective, though
more for its hortatory connotations than its analytical rigor. It was also a
perspective which distinguished Canadian foreign policy literature from
that produced in the United States, where the realism of Henry Morgenthau 13 was the predominant paradigm. For many in Canada, realism was
not only an alien paradigm but also one subject to much criticism by analysts
who decried both its roots and its policy implications. l4 Nonetheless, for
many Canadian practitioners and students of international relations, this
realist paradigm was the one utilized in teaching courses on international
relations. The Canadian experience of middle powermanship may have
been useful to argue the limitations of a U.S.-centered approach to analysis
and as an organizing device for readers on Canadian foreign policy.15A t
the same time, however, the preeminence of the realist paradigm in the
general international relations literature engendered tensions in Canadian
analyses of global politics and of Canadian behaviour. With respect to the
creation of and Canadian participation in NATO and NORAD, for example, 16 Canada may have insisted on the inclusion of Article 2 (about
economic cooperation) in the NATO charter, but the conception of the
alliance and the explanation for Canadian participation lie in recognizmg
the realities of a bipolar world. Similarly, Canadian defence policies and
many analyses of it are premised on superpower conflict.17
By concentrating on the analysis of instances of liberal internationalism or
Canada’s middle power status, Canadian foreign policy literature has
tended to ignore considerations of national interest in Canadian action,
despite emphasis in the larger international relations literature on precisely
this issue. The result was a sense, intentional or not, that Canadian foreign
policy decisions were altruistic. Whether it was “the grain of economic
interest”18 or motives that captured other domestic considerations,
Canadian foreign policy behaviour was motivated by the national interest
in a stable, international order that would prevent or reduce conflict and
promote economic growth.19
The tensions in Canadian foreign policy analysis between liberal internationalism and realism can perhaps be resolved through what Keating,
following Hedley Bull and Martin Wright, has characterized as the
“Grotian perspective on the nature of international politics”. 20 This is an
attempt at a nuanced view of interstate relations which combines a
80
recognition of continuing interstate conflict, on the one hand, with at least
a minimal commitment to the maintenance of international order, on the
other. Although at one level this argument may be simply another way to
express the liberal internationalist tradition, at another, it suggests the need
to counterpoise the realist or Hobbesian conception of anarchy in a fashion
that more appropriately captures not only the Canadian but also the global
situations. Moreover, it provides a provocative, alternative intellectual
formulation of one of the dominant traditions in Canadian foreign policy
analysis.
For all the criticism of liberal internationalism by analysts as well as
practitioners,21 its continuing underlying attraction in the analysis of
Canadian foreign policy is ironic. As Tucker noted in his discussion of
Canadian foreign policy in the Trudeau era, Trudeau may have spoken
disparagingly of the idea of Canada as a middle power, yet, his stance on a
range of issues, from North-South concerns to those of the environment
and the diminution of global conflict, confirmed the perspective he disdained.22 Part of the explanation for the attraction of liberal internationalism may be its resonance within much of the Canadian public, as
submissions and presentations to parliamentary committees studying
Canadian foreign policy since the mid-1980s reveal.23 But equally significant is the belief among analysts and politicians in Canada’s responsibility to actively promote an improved quality of life around the world.
This is the theme of the Matthews and Pratt volume, Human Rights in
Canadian Foreign Policy,244 which examines Canada’s record in promoting
human rights in a variety of countries and international institutions, and an
important component of the Holmes and Kirton book, Canada and the New
Internationalism.255 It is also the perspective that shapes much of the
literature on Canada and international development,26 and Canadian efforts to promote solutions to regional conflicts.27 Two recent books edited
by Cranford Pratt contrast realism with what is termed “humane internationalism”, and examine the ability of middle power internationalism to
ameliorate conditions in the Third World. 28 Much of the aid and regional
conflict resolution literature is critical of Canadian efforts: too much
Canadian aid is tied; Canada ignores human rights infringements in its
distribution of aid; the level of development assistance should not have been
lowered; the Canadian state benefits more from aid than the recipients;
there is a gap between Canadian rhetoric and its endeavours to reduce
regional conflict . 299 But the basis for the assessment of Canadian performance is grounded in the expectation of an enduring Canadian commitment to international peace and justice.
(b) The principal power view: A major challenge to the liberal internationalist explanation for Canadian foreign policy, one that also had its
roots in the mainstream international relations literature, is Dewitt and
kirton’s conception of Canada as a “principal power”. The origins of this
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conception of Canada’s status are twofold, a frustration with the middle
power view of Canada because it did not capture the reality of Canadian
capabilities and, second, the assessment that the realist view of the international system had to be rethought in terms of its appropriateness to a
changed global environment. 30 Antecedents of the principal power formulation among Canadian foreign policy analysts were the arguments of
James Eayrs, and Lyon and Tomlin that on many indices of national
capability, Canada ranked not with the middle powers, but with those
generally agreed to be major actors.31 Dewitt and Kirton argued further
that Canada’s participation in international fora and its initiatives on issues
necessitated a new interpretation of its position. Finally, in their view, the
global system envisioned by the realists no longer existed. With American
hegemony under challenge in an ever more complicated global environment, there was a need to reconceptualize the international system and to
recognize the opportunities that these changes provided actors like
Canada. In their advocacy of principal power status for Canada, Dewitt
and Kirton identify with the complex neorealist perspective within international relations theory.32
Although a stimulating interpretation of the Canadian position and an
effort to link international relations theorizing with the study of Canadian
foreign policy, the principal power formulation has not had a major impact
on Canadian foreign policy analysis. The reasons for this lie both in the
Dewitt Kirton volume itself- the case studies which constitute an important part of their “proof’ lie outside the mainstream of Canadian foreign
policy behaviour and the theory of complex neorealism is neither easily nor
convincingly applicable to the Canadian experience - and in the lack of
subsequent studies prepared to employ this paradigm which would permit
additional critical evaluation of it. With the exception of Canadian political
-economy literature, there has been little interest in recent years in macroanalyses of Canada’s global status. At the same time, the conception of a
more complex global environment, which offers opportunities for state
action at a number of levels and in diverse locations, is now a given in our
conceptions of the international system. Although Canada and the New
Internationalism was cited above as reflecting the Canadian penchant for
strengthening international institutions, at least some of the chapters in the
volume have been influenced in their conception of world order by the ideas
of complex neorealism.
(c) The economic structuralist perspective: The third tradition which has
examined Canada’s place in the world emanates from a very different
intellectual perspective than the two discussed above. Variously described
as the “economic nationalist” or “peripheral dependence” perspective, 33
this literature concentrates its attention on economic structure, primarily
the level of foreign, direct investment in Canada, and on economic indicators, rather than diplomatic/military/security activity, to explain both
82
Canada’s global position and many of its policies. Proponents of this view
of Canada include a wide variety of Canadian analysts from diverse disciplines as well as a host of public policy practitioners. The theoretical
underpinnings of this approach are diverse, and include the writings of
Harold Innis 34 and the application of dependency theory to the Canadian
situation. 35 Its practical origins lie in the growing concern during the 1960s
over American control of Canadian industry and the broad public policy
implications of such control. While it is difficult to encapsulate a literature
that is more disparate in its arguments than either the middle power or
principal power depictions, in essence, most of this literature argues that
the structure of the Canadian economy (high levels of foreign ownership,
technological dependence, composition of exports) has produced a
political-economy that resembles that of a less rather than a more
developed state with the attendant limitations that such status imposes on
state autonomy. 36 Juxtaposed to this view of Canada is a different, critical,
economic perspective, one that describes the country not as dependent but
the opposite - an imperial power in its own right, albeit a secondary one,
that exported capita l abroad. 37
Much of the political-economy debate of the last few years on Canada’s
current position assumes a middle ground between the two views just
expressed, arguing that, notwithstanding Canada’s truncated industrial
structure, the Canadian GNP, standard of living, competitive trade position
and growing international prominence of its capital make comparisons
between Canada and Third World state s questionable. 38 Moreover, the
dependency perspective does not allow for the possibility of change in
status over time. Resnick argues that although Canada might have been
classified, following Wallerstein, as “semiperipheral”39 in the years prior
to World War II, since 1945, there have been important changes in the
indicators used to measure Canada’s position; as a result, Canada should
now be “classified as one of the core countries in the world, in economic
terms especially”.400 All three of these economic structure categorization
efforts have difficulties that stem from their theoretical assumptions. The
dependency theorists so concentrated on Canada’s relationship with the
United States that they ignored Canada’s position relative to the rest of the
world. The argument that Canada is an imperialist power disregarded the
importance for Canada of its bilateral relationship with the U.S. And the
perimeter of the core perspective assumes too much from the increase in
Canadian direct investment abroad, particularly in the U.S.41
The debate over Canada’s status has never been confined solely to
academic analysts. Two reports, one by the Canadian Government, the
second, an annual international review of the competitiveness of a number
of economies at varying stages of development , exemplify the challenges of
the status discussion and the divergent assessments that it generates.
Competitiveness and Security, the Mulroney government’s green paper on
83
Canadian foreign policy, presents a rather gloomy picture of Canada’s
international economic position, suggesting that the country’s declining
international competitiveness has rendered it vulnerable to a rapidly changing global economy.42 Taking a very different perspective on Canada is the
World Competitiveness Report (WCR) which, in its 1989 edition, suggests
that Canada’s international competitiveness ranking among twenty-two
development market economies, as measured by nine different variables,
had risen from sixth to fourth.43 The point made by the WCR and by
Canada’s inclusion as a member of the G-7 is that the country has considerable economic strength and potential; how that potential is harnessed and
how industry adjusts to a rapidly changing global economy are issues that
have been addressed frequently in recent years, particularly in the context
of Canada-United States relations.
Where Do We Sit? Canada-U.S. Ties
Given the level of Canadian trade dependence (approximately 30 percent
of the Canadian GDP) and trade concentration (close to 75 percent of our
trade is with the United States), a number of trends in the global economy
during the 1980s generated questions about the appropriate future
economic path for Canada. Among the more significant of these were the
increase in U.S. protectionism, exemplified by the passage of the 1988
Omnibus Trade and Competitiveness Act, the European Community’s
decision to move toward a single market by 1992, and uncertainties about
the outcome of the Uruguay Round of GATT talks.44 The importance of
secure access to U.S. markets catapulted the age-old question of CanadaU.S. free trade to prominence once again in the context of the Royal
Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for
Canada (the Macdonald Commission), and the commiitment of the Mulroney government to improve Canada-U.S. relations.45 If regional trading
blocs were one possible, future trade scenario, Canada, might have little
alternative but to formalize what many already saw as extant: a North
American trade entity.46
Canada-U.S. relations have been analyzed from a variety of vantage points
over the years. 47 One perspective, which might broadly be styled the
economic nationalist school, takes as its point of departure Canada’s
economic (and military) dependence on the United States and the resulting
constraints on Canadian sovereignty. This tradition, initiated in foreign
policy terms by Clarkson’ s An Independent Foreign Policy for Canada?,48
had its counterpart on the domestic and foreign economic policy sides in a
number of publications, some of which fall under t h e rubric of the dependency approach within Canadian political-economy.49 On the opposite side
of the philosophical spectrum was the literature, produced primarily by
economists, that criticized the concerns of those who decried high levels of
American investment in Canada, the composition of Canadian exports,
84
technological dependence, etc. Arguing that the tariff simply protected
inefficient Canadian industry, proponents of what some termed the
continentalist perspective maintained that economic prosperity would
result from reduced government-imposed barriers to trade. 50 Less
prominent, but still significant because they represented an effort to analyze
bilateral relations using an international relations literature of some influence through the 1960s, were examinations of Canada-U.S. relations that
employed a regional integration framework. 5 11 The obvious differences
between the experiences of the European Community and Canada-U.S.
- (a) the number and relative size of participants, and (b) the formalized
versus unconscious character of economic and political connectionsmade the application of a literature which focused on the measurement of
progress toward a specific end problematic. At the same time, the theoretical and practical questions raised by the integration literature, among them
the automaticity of the process and the necessity of political institutions to
manage economic linkages,52 exemplified the assumptions and concerns of
proponents and opponents of closer bilateral ties.
The issues addressed by the latest bevy of publications on Canada-U.S. free
trade differ little at one level from those raised over the years about the
evolving relationship. At the root of the discussion are differences in
perspective that engender divergent attitudes about whether closer ties
with the United States-now examined in much more focused terms -will
be to Canada’s benefit or detriment. As Woodside notes, the FTA collected
in one document a host of “longstanding issues in Canada-United States
relations- the desirability of a continental energy policy and investment
review, the proper role of U.S. banks in the Canadian financial market, and
the kind of industrial policy we should pursue...“.53 While the FTA was
under negotiation, a number of volumes either supporting or opposing freer
trade with the U.S. appeared.54
4 At another level, when the provisions of
the agreement became known, analysis could become much more specific.
Thus, subsequent to the signing of the agreement, came publications
analyzing the negotiation process, the provisions of the agreement (most
notably the chapters on dispute settlement and energy), and whether
Canada made too many concessions to obtain the agreement.55
It is far too early in the history of the agreement to even begin to contemplate an evaluation of the impact of free trade on Canada. Whether
bilateral trade disputes increase or decrease in the future will only in part
be a function of free trade. Equally significant will be how industry in
Canada and the U.S. adjusts to both the challenges of free trade and to
increasing international competition. In a number of industries critical of
the economic health of both economies, the immediate prognosis is for
considerable adjustment, with the domestic political ramifications that this
necessarily involves. 56 Also of relevance will be the outcome of the Uruguay
Round of tariff talks, European progress toward 1992 and the stability of
85
IJCS / RIÉC
the global economy. Many of these important international politicaleconomy issues went unaddressed in the analyses of the FTA because the
literature tended to preoccupy itself with the larger pro and anti questions.
Where Does Quebec Sit?
Location has also been a focus of some of the foreign policy literature
emanating from Quebec. Generated by a particularistic concern with
provincial place and a desire to legitimate the province’s international role,
there have been a number of books and articles which discuss the overall
evolution of Quebec’s international activities and its relations with specific
countries. The Painchaud reader, noted in footnote 15 above, contains a
section on Quebec’s international relations; Albert Legault and Alfred 0.
Hero, Jr. edited a volume exploring Quebec’s links with Anglophone
Canada, the United States and the rest of the world; 57 Gerard Hervouet
and Helene Galarneau with a team of contributors reviewed La Présence
intemationale du Québec over the years 1978 to 1983.58 Among all of
Quebec’s international connections, perhaps none has received more attention than its ties with the United States as analysts have focused on a link
which, in economic terms especially, is critical for Quebec.59
Does Location Matter?
Concern with Canada’s status within the global system has produced a
Canadian foreign policy tradition diverse in philosophical perspective yet
rather narrow in the range of issues it has examined. While the question of
position may be important, and recent work has demonstrated the increasing complexity of determining location, it reflects a fixation with either
power or the lack thereof which needs some rethinking. For the moment,
at least, Canadian international relations scholars have turned away from
debates on the appropriateness of prominent paradigms for the Canadian
situation. Though power is clearly a central concept in the international
relations literature, there are limits to the intellectual progress that can
emanate from grand theory.
Moreover, the attention to position has led to the neglect of a host of other
issues of relevance. Perhaps most crucial has been the relative lack of
attention from a Canadian perspective to the evolving global system and
what this means for Canada across a range of foreign policy topics. Cognizant of the theoretical impact of regime literature over the last decade, it
is noteworthy that there has been no analysis of Canada’s behaviour in
international economic and other institutions as what Lake describes as a
“system supporter” , 60 particularly given the liberal internationalist tradition in Canadian scholarship. Has Canada consciously assumed the role of
system supporter in the GATT or the IMF, and has this role altered with
the passage of time? are there limits to supportership? Does the regime
86
paradigm of analytical utility have a Canadian perspective, or does it
exemplify a theoretical preference at variance with Canadian interests?
Though there has not been space in this essay to review the literature on
foreign policy formulation, suffice it to note that here, too, there is an
enormous potential research agenda, particularly with respect to foreign
economic policy where state autonomy is arguably more restricted because
of the mobilization of domestic interests. Are changes in the global
economy increasing the constraints under which foreign policy is made and,
therefore, by implication, reducing the significance of domestic interests?
The growing overlap in research interests between scholars of foreign and
domestic policy, produced by the development of international politicaleconomy on the one hand, and the revival of Canadian political-economy
on the other,61 enhances opportunities for new understanding. In sum,
although a review of Canadian foreign policy literature demonstrates its
richness, it also illustrates the urgency of new intellectual challenges.
Notes
*
For their helpful comments and revision suggestions, I aml grateful to
Tony Porter and two anonymous reviewers.
1.
The literature on Canada as a “middle power” is vast. Some of it will
be noted briefly below in the discussion of the internationalist perspective in Canadian foreign policy. Among the more prominent examples
of this perspective are: John Holmes, The Better Part of Valour: Essays
on Canadian Diplomacy (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1970);
Holmes, Canada: A Middle-Aged Power (Toronto: McClelland and
Stewart 1976); J. Ring Gordon, ed., Canada’s Role as a Middle Power
(Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1966); Denis Stairs, The Diplomacy
of Constraint: Canada, the Korean War and the United States (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press 1974); Annette Baker Fox, The Politics of
Attraction: Four Middle Powers and the United States (New York:
Columbia University Press 1977). The conception of Canada as a
“principal” power is that of David Dewitt and John Kirton, Canada as
a Principal Power (Toronto: John Wiley & Sons 1983).
Among the relevant works here are: Stephen Clarkson,An Zndependent
Foreign Policy for Canada? (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1968);
Clarkson, Canada and the Reagan Challenge (Toronto: James Lorimer
& Co. 1982, 1985); Glen Williams, “Canada in the New International
Political Economy” in Wallace Clement and Glen Williams, eds., The
New Canadian Political Economy (Montreal: McGill Queen’s University Press 1989), pp. 117-139; Williams, “Canada and the International
Political Economy”, Studies in Political Economy 25, pp. 107-140;
Philip Resnick, “From Semiperiphery to Perimeter of the Core:
2.
87
IJCS /RIÉC
3.
4.
5.
6.
88
Canada’s Place in the Capitalist World Economy”, Review 12:2, Spring
1989, pp. 263-297.
Literature supportive of the FTA includes Gilbert Winham, Trading
with Canada: The Canada-U.S. Free Trade Agreement (New York:
Twentieth Century Fund Paper 1988); Richard Lipsey and Robert
York, Evaluating the Free Trade Deal (Toronto: C.D. Howe Institute
1988); Richard Lipsey and Murray Smith, Taking the Initiative:
Canada’s Trade Options in a Turbulent World (Toronto: C.D. Howe
Institute 1985); Bernard Landry, Commerce sans frontieres : le sens du
libre-échange (Montreal: Editions Québec/Amérique 1987); John
Crispo, ed., Free Trade: The Real Story (Toronto: Gage 1988). Among
the books critical of the FTA are: Duncan Cameron, ed., The Free
Trade Papers (Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. 1986); Cameron, ed.,
The Free Trade Deal (Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. 1988); John W.
Warnock, Free Trade and the New Right Agenda (Vancouver: New Star
Books 1988). Among the volumes which attempt to evaluate the issue
and contain both supportive and critical positions are: Michael
Henderson, ed. The Future on the Table: Canada and the Free Trade
Issue (Toronto: Masterpress 1987); Marc Gold and David LeytonBrown, eds., Trade-Offs on Free Trade: The Canada-U.S. Free Trade
Agreement (Toronto: Carswell 1988); Alan Maslove and Stanley
Winer, eds., Knocking on the Back Door: Canadian Perspectives on the
Political Economy of Freer Trade with the United States (Halifax:
Institute for Research on Public Policy 1987).
Elizabeth Riddell-Dixon employs this terminology to describe some of
the more recent process literature. “State Autonomy and Canadian
Foreign Policy: The Case of Deep Seabed Mining,” Canadian Journal
of Political Science 21:2, June 1988, p. 297.
Among the more prominent examples here are Elizabeth RiddellDixon, The Domestic Mosaic: Interest Groups and Canadian Foreign
Policy (Toronto: Canadian Institute for International Affairs 1985);
David Taras and David H. Goldberg, eds., The Domestic Battleground:
Canada and the Arab-Israeli Conflict (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s
University Press 1989); many of the books and articles that discuss
Canadian foreign policy with respect to Southern Africa and Latin
America, for example, or Canadian aid and human rights policies,
implicitly or explicitly focus on interest-group views and demands.
The major “process” volume is Kim Richard Nossal’s The Politics of
Canadian Foreign Policy, 2nd ed. (Toronto: Prentice Hall 1989). Also
useful is Denis Stairs and Gilbert Winham, eds., Selected Problems in
FormulatingForeign Economic Policy (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press 1985). Among the relevant articles are Nossal and M. Atkinson,
“Bureaucratic politics and the new fighter aircraft decisions,”
Canadian Public Administration 24:4, Winter 1981, pp. 531-562;
Nossal, “Analysing the Domestic Sources of Canadian Foreign Policy,”
International Journal 39, 198384, pp. l-22; John Kirton and Blair
Dimock, “Domestic Access to Government in the Canadian Foreign
Policy Process 1968-1982,” International Journal 39, 1983-84, pp. 6898; Kirton, “The Foreign Policy Decision Process” in M.A. Molot and
B.W. Tomlin, eds., Canada Among Nations 1985: The Conservative
Agenda (Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. 1986), pp. 25-45; Kirton,
“Foreign Policy Decision Making in the Mulroney Government” in
B.W. Tomlin and M.A. Molot, eds., Canada Among Nations, 1988: The
Tory Record (Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. 1989), pp. 21-38; Harald
Von Riekhoff, “The Structure of Foreign Policy Decision Making and
Management” in B.W. Tomlin and M.A. Molot, eds., Canada Among
Nations, 1986: Talking Trade (Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. 1987),
pp. 14-30.
This argument is made by Michael Hawes in “Structural Change and
Hegemonic Decline: Implications for National Governments,” in
David G. Haglund and Michael Hawes, eds., World Politics: Power
Interdependence and Dependence (Toronto: Harcourt Brace
Jovanovich 1990), p. 198.
These categorizations of theory are those of Robert W. Cox, “Social
Forces, States and World Orders: Beyond International Relations
Theory”, Millenium 10,2, 1981, pp. 126-155.
The volume of books and articles on these subjects is enormous.
Readers will always disagree on the salience of particular works;
however, among the more influential non-Canadian focused works are
Peter Katzenstein, Between Power and Plenty (Madison: University of
Wisconsin Press 1978); Peter Gourevitch, Politics in Hard Times
(Ithaca: Cornell University Press 1986); Helen Milner, Resisting
Protectionism (Princeton: Princeton University Press); Michael Piore
and Charles Sabel, The Second Industrial Divide (New York: Basic
Books 1984) to list but a few. Among the relevant Canada-centered
publications are Duncan Cameron and François Houle, eds., Le
Canada et la nouvelle division intemationale du travail/Canada and the
New International Division of Labour (Ottawa: University of Ottawa
Press 1985); John Holmes and Colin Leys, eds., Frontyard Backyard:
The Americas in the Global Crisis (Toronto: Between the Lines 1987);
Rianne Mahon, The Politics of Industrial Restructuring: Canadian
Textiles (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1984), again to cite but
some of the literature on this broad topic.
10. Dewitt and Kirton list the comparison countries in Canada as a
Principal Power, pp. 22-23. Nossal also notes the difficulties in defining
middle power in The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy, 2nd ed., pp.
46-50. These authors, as well as Michael Hawes discuss the middle
power/internationalist perspective in some detail. Michael Hawes,
Principal Power, Middle Power, or Satellite: Competing Perspectives in
the Study of Canadian Foreign Policy (Toronto: York University
Research Programme in Strategic Studies 1984), pp. 3-8.
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IJCS /RIÉC
11. Nossal, The Politics of Canadian Foreign Policy, pp. 47-49; Dewitt and
Kirton, Canada as a Principal Power, pp. 17-21.
12. Liberal internationalism connotes an approach to international politics
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
90
and the global system that stresses opportunities for conflict resolution
and accepts a real role for international institutions and non-major
powers such as Canada. Juxtaposed to liberal internationalism is
realism, which sees power in zero-sum terms and assumes a system of
continuing interstate conflict in which nation-states egoistically pursue
their own interests.
Hans Morgenthau, Politics Among Nations; The Struggle for Power and
Peace, 5th ed. (New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1973).
See, among others, John Kirton, “Realism and reality in Canadian
foreign policy,” International Perspectives January/February 1987, pp.
3-8; Axel Dorscht et al., “Canada’s International Role and ‘Realism”',
International Perspectives May/June 1986, pp. 6-9; September/October
1986, pp. 6-9; and papers delivered at the conference on “The Consequences of Paradigm Hegemony in the Study and Practice of International Relations in Canada”, Carleton University, October 9-11, 1986.
In a reader edited by Paul Painchaud, De Mackenzie King à Pierre
Trudeau : quarante ans de diplomatie canadienne (Quebec: Les Presses
de l'Université Lava1 1989), the growth of Canada’s international
activities is discussed in terms of three spheres in which Canada has
been active: global, within the western alliance, and in the north-south
system. For an earlier reader which adopted a similar format see
Painchaud, éd., Le Canada et le Quebec sur la scene intemationale
(Quebec: Université Lava1 1977). The Quebec perspective on foreign
policy will be noted briefly below.
For a recent discussion on the background to NORAD and Canadian
and American perspectives on cooperation and distance, see Joseph
T. Jockel, No Boundaries Upstairs: Canada, the United States and the
Origins of North American Air Defence (Vancouver: University of
British Columbia Press 1987).
For a recent analysis of Canadian defence policy see D.W. Middlemiss
and J.J. Sokolsky, Canadian Defence: Decisions and Determinants
(Toronto: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich 1989). The appropriateness of
a neutralist position for Canada is debated in Claude Bergeron et al.,
Les choix géopolitiques du Canada : l ‘enjeu de la neutralité (Montreal:
Editions du Méridien 1988). Tom Keating and Larry Pratt’s Canada,
NATO and the Bomb: The Western Alliance in Crisis (Edmonton:
Hurtig Publishers 1988) examines the history of Canada’s participation
in NATO and the importance of a multilateral approach to Canadian
security. Although events in the last year in particular necessitate a new
analysis of superpower relations, the Mulroney government’s white
paper on national defence, Challenge and Commitment (Ottawa:
Supply and Services Canada 1987), assumed a bipolar world. The
Conservative government’s foreign policy green paper adopted a
neorealist view of the world. See Competitiveness and Security (Ottawa:
Supply and Services Canada 1985), pp. 10-12.
18. Reg Whitaker, “The Cold War and the Myth of Liberal Internationalism,” paper presented at the annual meetings of the Canadian
Historical Association and the Canadian Political Science Association,
June 8, 1986, p. 6.
19. Tom Keating, “Making a Virtue of Necessity: Perspectives on Canada’s
Defence and Foreign Policies,” paper presented to the conference on
“The Consequences of Paradigm Hegemony in the Study and Practice
of International Relations in Canada”, Carleton University, October
9-11, 1986, p. 16.
20. Keating, “Making a Virtue of Necessity...“, p. 12.
21. Among the foreign policy practitioners, the most outspoken critic of
the conception of Canada as a middle power was Prime Minister
Trudeau. See, among others, Nossal, The Politics of Canadian Foreign
Policy, pp. 51-52 and Michael Tucker, Canadian Foreign Policy:
Contemporary Issues and Themes (Toronto: McGraw Hill 1980).
22. Ibid. Hawes, Principal Power... , pp. 6-9 and Nossal, The Politics of
Canadian Foreign Policy, pp. 51-52, also suggest the continuing
salience of this view of Canadian behaviour.
23. See Report of the Special Joint Committee on Canada’s International
Relations, Independence and Internationalism (Ottawa: Queen’s
Printer 1986) and Report of the Standing Committee on External
Affairs and International Trade on Canada’s Official Development
Assistance Policies and Aid Programs, For Whose Benefit? (Ottawa:
Queen’s Printer 1987).
24. (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press 1988).
25. (Toronto: Canadian Institute for International Affairs 1988).
26. See, for example, Martin Rudner, “New Dimensions in Canadian
Development Assistance Policy,” in B.W. Tomlin and M.A. Molot,
eds., Canada Among Nations 1988: The Tory Record (Toronto: James
Lorimer & Co., 1989), pp. 149-1.68; Cranford Pratt, “Ethics and
Foreign Policy: The Case of Canada’s Development Assistance,” International Journal 43:2, 1988, pp. 264-301; John Hendra, “Fit to be
Tied: A Comparison of the Canadian Tied Aid Policy with the Tied
Aid Policies of Sweden, Norway and Denmark,” Canadian Journal of
Development Studies 8:2, 1987, pp. 261-281.
27. See, for example, Chris Brown, “Canada and Southern Africa:
Autonomy, Image and Capacity in Foreign Policy” and Tim Draimin
and Lisa North, “Canada and Central America” both in M.A. Molot
and F.O. Hampson eds., Canada Among Nations 1989: The Challenge
of Change (Ottawa: Carleton University Press 1990), pp. 207-224 and
225-243.
28. Cranford Pratt, ed., Middle Power Internationalism: The North South
Dimension (Montreal: McGil-Queen’s University Press 1990) and
Cranford Pratt, ed., Internationalism Under Strain: The North-South
91
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
92
Policies of Canada, the Netherlands, Norway and Sweden (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press 1989).
See the sources cited in footnotes 25 and 26 as well as Kim Richard
Nossal, “Mixed Motives Revisited: Canada’s Interest in Development
Assistance,” International Journal 43:2, 1988, pp. 264-301, who argues
that Canada’s development assistance program is designed primarily
to benefit the interests of policy formulators; the interests of
beneficiaries are of secondary importance.
Canada as a Principal Power, pp. 36-46.
James Eayrs, “Defining a New Place for Canada in the Hierarchy of
World Power,” International Perspectives May/June 1975, pp. 15-24;
Peyton Lyon and Brian Tomlin, Canada as an International Actor
(Toronto: Macmillan of Canada 1979). Also reflecting this perspective
is Norman Hillmer and Garth Stevenson, eds., Foremost Nation:
Canadian Foreign Policy and a Changing World (Toronto: McClelland
and Stewart 1977).
Complex neorealism is an analytical perspective in international relations which accepts the primacy of politics (as does realism), but which
goes beyond standard realism to recognize the existence of international order based on the convergence of interests among actors. See
Dewitt and Kirton, Canada as a Principal Power, pp. 36-46. This
perspective bears some resemblance to the Grotian view outlined
above, although with greater emphasis on the realist side of the argument.
The first term is that of Hawes, Principal Power, Middle Power or
Satellite, pp. 20-26; the second, that of Dewitt and Kirton, Canada as
a Principal Power, pp. 28-36. As subsequent paragraphs will indicate,
the economic structuralist perspective has mostly depicted Canada as
being “dependent” on the U.S. because of the structure of its economy.
This literature has been influenced by the arguments of Latin
American dependency theorists such as Andre Gunder Frank.
Innis was particularly concerned about the impact on Canada of staples
dependence, especially when this came to focus heavily on the United
States. H.A. Innis, “Economic Trends in Canadian-American Relations” in Mary Q. Innis, ed., Essays in Canadian Economic History
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1956), pp. 233-241.
The first to do so was Kari Levitt, Silent Surrender: The Multinational
Corporation in Canada (Toronto: Macmillan 1970). As Canadian
political-economy experienced a revival in the late 1960s and after
many scholars adopted the dependency perpsective to portray the
Canadian situation.
Among the proponents of this view are Wallace Clement, Continental
Corporate Power (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1977); Clement,
Class, Power and Property: Essays on Canadian Society (Toronto:
Methuen 1983); Daniel Drache, “The Crisis of Canadian Political
Economy: Dependency Theory vs. the New Orthodoxy,” Canadian
37.
38.
39.
40.
41
42.
Journal of Political and Social Theory 7,3, Fall 1983, pp. 25-49; Michael
Clow, “Canadian Political Economy and the International Underdevelopment and Dependency Debate,” Canadian Political Science
Association papers, Ottawa 1982.
The major proponents of this view are Steve Moore and Debi Wells,
Imperialism and the National Question in Canada (Toronto: 1975).
Jorge Niosi discusses Canada’s role as a capital exporter in contradistinction to the view of Canada as part of the periphery. Canadian
Multinationals (trans. of Les multinationales canadiennes, Toronto:
Garamond Press 1985).
Among the more prominent proponents of this view are Glen Williams,
Not For Export: Towards a Political Economy of Canada’s Arrested
Industrialization, updated ed., (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart
1986); Williams, “On Determining Canada’s Location Within the International Political Economy,” Studies in Political Economy 25,
Spring 1988, pp. 107-140; Philip Resnick, “From Semiperiphery to
Perimeter of the Core: Canada’s Place in the Capitalist WorldEconomy,” Review 12,2, Spring 1989, pp. 263-297; William Carroll,
Corporate Power and Canadian Capitalism (Vancouver: University of
British Columbia Press 1986). An element of Resnick’s argument is the
changed position of the United States. For a discussion of the latter,
which also includes Canada, see Bertrand Bellon and Jorge Niosi,
L ‘industrie américaine : fin de siécle (Montreal: Boreal Express 1987).
A review of these diverse perspectives can be found in Raymond
Hudon, “Locating Canada in the International System,” paper
prepared for the conference on “Paradigm Hegemony and International Relations in Canada”, Carleton University October 9-11, 1986.
A more recent review essay on Canada in the international politicaleconomy is Glen Williams’ “Canada in the International Political
Economy,” in Wallace Clement and Glen Williams, eds., The New
Canadian Political Economy (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University
Press 1989), pp. 116-137.
Immanuel Wallerstein, The Modem World System: Capitalist Agriculture and the Origins of the European World-Economy in the Sixteenth
Century (New York: Academic Press 1974).
Resnick, “From Semiperiphery to Perimeter of the Core..“, p. 273.
Resnick discusses the indices of classification and the reasons for the
change in Canada’s position, pp. 273-292.
For this latter point, I am indebted to Tony Porter.
Department of External Affairs, Competitiveness and Security: Directions for Canada’s International Relations (Ottawa: Minister of Supply
and Services 1985). For reviews of the document see Maureen Appel
Molot and Brian W. Tomlin, “The Conservative Agenda” in Molot and
Tomlin, eds., Canada Among Nations, 198.5: The Conservative Agenda
(Toronto: James Lorimer & Co. 1986), pp. 3-24 and Canadian Institute
of International Affairs, Behind the Headlines 42,6 and 43,l 1985.
93
43. European Affairs 1989. See, particularly, the summary table on p. 117.
The 1990 report has moved Canada down to 5th place. The Globe and
Mail June 20, 1990, p. B3.
44. For a discussion of the challenges the 1990s present for Canada, see
Lorraine Eden, “Two Steps Forward, One Step Back: Into the 1990s”
in M.A. Molot and F.O. Hampson, eds., Canada Among Nations, 1989:
The Challenge of Change (Ottawa: Carleton University Press 1990), pp.
135 162.
45. For a review of the history of the idea, see J.L. Granatstein, “Free Trade
Between Canada and the United States: The Issue That Will Not Go
Away” in Denis Stairs and Gilbert Winham eds., The Politics of
Canada’s Economic Relationship with the United States, Volume 29,
Royal Commission on the Economic Union and Development
Prospects for Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1985).
For statements supportive of bilateral free trade prior to the Mulroney
government’s decision, see Economic Council of Canada, Looking
Outward: A New Trade Strategy for Canada (Ottawa: Information
Canada 1975) and Standing Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs,
Canada-United States Relations, particularly Volume 3 (Ottawa:
Minister of Supply and Services 1982).
46. Since mid-1989, there has been growing discussion about a MexicoU.S. free trade agreement and its possible implications for Canada as
well as a North American free trade agreement involving all three
countries. See, for example, Ignacio Trigueros, “A Free Trade Agreement Between Mexico and the United States?” in Jeffrey J. Schott, ed.,
Free Trade Areas and U.S. Trade Policy (Washington: Institute for
International Economics 1989), pp. 225-270; Gerado M. Bueno, “A
Mexican View” in William Diebold Jr., ed., Bilateralism, Multilateralism and Canada in U.S. Trade Policy (Cambridge, Mass.:
Ballinger Publishing Company 1988), pp. 105-127; Michael Hart, “A
North American Free Trade Agreement: The Elements Involved,”
paper presented to the conference entitled “Foro International:
Mexico y sus Perspectivas de Negociacion Comercial con el Exterior,
Mexico City, June ll-15, 1990.
47. A relatively recent, broad overview of the relationship which examines
a host of bilateral issues is Charles F. Doran and John H. Sigler, eds.,
Canada and the United States: Enduring Friendship, Persistent Stress
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall Inc. 1985). A similar overview of the
stresses of the relationship is David Leyton-Brown, Weathering the
Storm (Toronto: Canadian-American Committee 1985).
48. (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1968).
49. For example, D. Godfrey and M. Watkins, From Gordon to Watkins
to You (Toronto: New Press 1970; Abraham Rotstein and Gary Lax,
Independence and the Canadian Challenge (Toronto: Committee for
an Independent Canada 1972); and Ian Lumsden, ed., Close the 49th
Parallel (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1970). More recent
94
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
56.
proponents of this critical view of bilateral relations, in addition to
those cited in footnote 3, include Stephen Clarkson, Canada and the
Reagan Challenge, updated edition, (Toronto: James Lorimer & Co.
1985) and Melissa Clark-Jones, A Staple State: Canadian Industrial
Resources in Cold War (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1987).
For a review of both perspectives, see Glen Williams, Not For Export,
Chapter 7, and Kim Nossal, “Economic Nationalism and Continental
Integration: Assumptions, Arguments and Advocacies” in Stairs and
Winham, eds., The Politics of Canada’s Economic Relationship with
the United States, pp. 55-94. Among the economists who were the most
articulate proponents of the liberal economics perspective are Harry
Johnson, The Canadian Quandry (Toronto: McGraw Hill 1963); H.E.
English, Industrial Structure in Canada’s International Competitive
Position (Montreal: Private Planning Association of Canada 1964);
and R.J. and P. Wonnacott, Free Trade Between the United States and
Canada (Cambridge: Harvard University Press 1967).
The integration literature, which itself stems from two different
perspectives (neofunctionalist and transactional), is huge. Its focus,
sparked by the move toward a common market in Europe, is on the
efforts of the diverse economies to form a larger economic and possibly
political unit. The major analytical instance of use of the integration
framework in North America is Andrew Axline et al., eds., Continental
Community? Independence and Integration in North America
(Toronto: McClelland and Stewart 1974).
Charles Pentland, “North American Integration and the Canadian
Political System” in Stairs and Winham, eds., The Politics of Canada’s
Economic Relationship with the United States, p. 97.
Kenneth Woodside, “The Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement”, Canadian Journal of Political Science 22, 1, March 1989, p. 157.
See volumes cited in footnote 3. For a review article on some of these
publications, see Woodside, “The Canada-United States Free Trade
Agreement, pp. 155-170. Andre Donneur and Panayotis Soldatos
edited a volume which juxtaposed the alternatives of “diversificationcontinentalisme”. Le Canada entre le monde et les États-Unis (Toronto: Captus Press 1988).
Marc Gold and David Leyton-Brown, eds., Trade-Offs On Free Trade;
Duncan Cameron, ed., The Free Trade Deal; Peter Morici, ed., Making
Free Trade Work: The Canada-U.S. Agreement (New York: Council on
Foreign Relations 1990).
For a discussion of a number of industries in a “North American”
context, see “The North American Political Economy”, International
Journal 42, 1, Winter 1986-7. Adjustment questions join studies of
foreign and domestic economic policy. Among the latter are Frangois
Houle, “L’État canadien et le capitalisme mondial : strategies
d’insertion,” Canadian Journal of Political Science 20, 3, September
1987, pp. 467-500; Michael Atkinson and William Coleman, The State,
95
57.
58.
59.
60.
61.
96
Business, and Industrial Change in Canada (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press 1989); Rianne Mahon, The Politics of Canadian Industrial Restructuring: Canadian Textiles (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press 1984); and a number of the studies done for the Royal
Commission on the Economic Union and Development Prospects for
Canada.
“Le nationalisme québécois à la croisée des chemins”, Choix 7, 1975
(Quebec: Centre québécois de relations internationales).
(Quebec: Centre québécois de relations internationales 1984).
See “Les relations économiques Quebec-Stats-Unis,” Études Internationales, Special Issue, 2, 1, March 1971; and Alfred 0. Hero, Dr. and
Louis Balthazar, Contemporary Quebec & the United States 1940-l 985
(Cambridge: Center for International Affairs Harvard University and
University Press of America 1988).
“Supporters” are middle-sized countries which do not challenge the
hegemony but which have some influence on outcomes in the international system. David Lake, “International Economic Structures and
American Foreign Economic Policy, 1887-1934,” World Politics 35,
July 1983, pp. 517-534. Michael Hawes argues that “supportership”
deserves considerable attention in international relations research.
Michael Hawes, “Structural Change and Hegemonic Decline: Implications for National Governments” in World Politics: Power, Interdependence and Dependence, pp. 207-209.
In an article entitled “CFP (Comparative Foreign Policy) and IPE: The
Anomaly of Mutual Boredom,” International Interactions 14, 1, 1988,
pp. 17-26, Rosenau comments on the gap between the foreign policy
and international political-economy literature. The problem of field
distance is not unique to Canada.
W.H. New
Abstract
A survey of recent (1980-l 990) studies of Anglophone Canadian Literature
- involving reference texts, generic and theoretical studies, and enquiries into
various forms of life-writing for example - reveals several trends. Among
these are the tension between notions of scholarly definition and cultural
indeterminacy and the efforts of some critics to remove literary criticism from
its singular concern with the character of the state. Studies of women,
ethnicity, and native peoples, in particular, draw attention to the way language
has increasingly come to be seen as a site of the power struggle involving the
questioning of received canonical evaluations and the recognition of marginalized groups.
Résumé
Un examen des récentes études de la littérature anglophone canadienne (soit
de 1980 à 1990), y compris des ouvrages de référence, des études génériques
et théoriques et des enquêtes sur les diverses formes d’écrits biographiques,
révèle plusieurs tendances. On y retrouve en particulier la tension entre les
notions de définition savante et d ‘indéterminisme culturel et les efforts de
certains critiques de faire dévier la critique littéraire de sa préoccupation
particulière à l‘égard des caractéristiques de l’Etat. L’étude des femmes, des
ethnies et des peuples autochtones a particulièrement attiré l’attention sur la
façon dont le langage en est venu de plus en plus à être perçu comme le lieu
d’une lutte de pouvoir comportant une remise en question des jugements
d’autorité hérités et la reconnaissance des groupes marginalisés.
As the 1980s began, critics of Anglophone Canadian literature had just
come through two decades of nationalist assertion and cultural reclamation. Many thought that their cultural battle for recognition had by then
been won; Canadian literature courses were established in schools and
universities, books were available in bookstores, Canadian literary names
were familiar to general readers as well as to academic specialists, and the
past was beginning to seem like a trove of historical interest rather than a
source of colonial embarrassment. But many critics were nevertheless tired
of methods that recognized literary quality only in works that validated the
state; some were suspicious of the idea of nationalism itself. For all these
reasons, critics were beginning to question the thematic criticism that
provided the conventional mode1 at the time. Most notably, Frank Davey’s
call to arms, Surviving the Paraphrase (1982, the title essay first published
in 1976), asserted the need for technical analyses, theoretical inquiries, and
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a variety of contextual investigations. So did a special 1977 issue of Studies
in Canadian Literature called “Minus Canadian”, edited by Barry Cameron
and Michael Dixon. Paradoxically, the critics who began to investigate such
issues seemed drawn simultaneously in opposite directions: some attracted
to editorial projects that would attempt to establish exact answers and
definitive texts, others attracted by the idea of indeterminacy, probing the
textual and theoretical implications of accident and open-endedness.
Several of the chapters in Volume IV (covering the years 1972-1984) of the
Literary History of Canada (1990), ed. W.H. New, address this disparity.
Balachandra Rajan, for example, regrets the resistant, professional hierarchy that gives greater kudos to editions than to the innovative critical
questioning of editorial closure. Barry Cameron and Shirley Neuman,
among others, show how theoretical assumptions underpin and sometimes
undermine all critical declarations of authority. At the same time, editorial
projects- especially in years when the Canadian literary works dutifully
being analyzed and evaluated were textually suspect - appealed as one way
to deal with a scholarly dilemma. “Scholarship” was by definition based on
“accuracy”, ran the argument, overlooking - or sometimes just resisting the latent contradiction in the fact that scholarship is also based on choices,
and that editorial choices (like others) are as often influenced by likelihood
(and therefore uncertainty) as by unquestionable verifiability.
Editions
That said, several editorial projects did produce useful work, drawing
attention to inadequacies in previous editions or making available material
that was not otherwise generally accessible. For example, the Centre for
Editing Early Canadian Texts at Carleton University, directed by Mary
Jane Edwards, took as its mandate the ratification of the texts of several
18th and 19th century works. Douglas Cronk’s 1987 edition of John
Richardson’s Wacousta stands as a representative example both of the
problem being addressed and of scholarly responses to it. The text of
Richardson’s 1832 novel, long considered culturally significant in Ontario,
has also long been queried; Cronk’s bibliographic and historical research
led to a much corrected version, one which inevitably throws previous
critical comments on the text (though not necessarily all critical approaches
to it) into question. Other CEECT texts include Mary Jane Edwards’
edition of Frances Brooke’s The History of Emily Montague (1985), Carl
Ballstadt’s edition of Susanna Moodie’s Roughing It in the Bush (1988),
Rupert Schieder’s edition of Catharine Parr Traill’s Canadian Crusoes
(1986), and Malcolm Parks’ edition of James De Mille’s A S t r a n g e
Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder (1986). Each text comes with a
contextual commentary and explanatory notes; the volume on Trail1
provides an absorbing study of some of the textual effects of 19th century
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copyright history and of the attitudes of British publishers (expressed partly
in their handling of illustrations) to colonial realities.
Two other large editorial projects, centered at the University of Toronto
Press, were concerned separately to publish all the extant works of the poets
E.J. Pratt and A.M. Klein. The Pratt project, led by Sandra Djwa and R.G.
Moyles, resulted in three volumes in the 1980s: the general editors’ own
2-volume E.J. Pratt: Complete Poems (1989) and Susan Gingell’s collection
of letters, manuscript notes and other commentaries by the poet, E.J. Pratt
on his Life and Poetry (1983). The Klein project, led by Zailig Pollock,
amounted to three volumes by 1989: Beyond Sambation; Selected Essays
and Editorials, 1928-1 95.5 ( 1982) and A.M. Klein: Literary Essays and
Reviews (1986; both ed. Usher Caplan and M.W. Steinberg), and Short
Stories (1983; ed. M.W. Steinberg). The volume of poems reveals the extent
of Pratt’s occasional verse, much of it primarily of biographical interest.
The Klein volumes stress the amount of poetry and prose that was left in
manuscript when the writer died. The collection of his short fiction, for
example, includes some striking examples of Klein’s mature work.
Several smaller projects similarly addressed textual and editorial problems.
Among these, David Bentley’s work with the biographically elusive J.
Mackay is particularly noteworthy; Bentley’s 1988 edition of Mackay’s
Quebec Hill draws attention to questions of taste as well as text, and
provides a basis for extended commentary on the effect of fashion on 19th
century Canadian literary language. Archival research also constituted the
subject of the articles assembled in Canadian Literature 120 (1989).
This interest in “complete” and “accurate” texts also motivated the late1980s revamping of McClelland & Stewart’s New Canadian Library series.
For thirty years a staple source of literary textbooks, this series has long
been challenged for using truncated, dubious or editorially condensed
copytexts (such as its versions of Wacousta and Roughing It in the Bush);
all the volumes in the revised series, under the general editorship of David
Staines, are presented in their full form. Several anthologies, too, share in
this attempt to reclaim the past, as do Anton Wagner’s Canada’s Lost Plays
series (Vol. 3, 1980), Tom Vincent’s Eighteenth Century Canadian Poetry
(1981), and Douglas Daymond and Leslie Monkman’s Canadian Novelists
and the Novel (1981) and Towards a Canadian Literature: Essays, Editorials
and Manifestos (1985). The interest in completeness further showed in the
attention given to producing bibliographic and other reference volumes.
Reference
The multi-volume “ABCMA” series (A Bibliography of Canada’s Major
Authors) exemplifies one approach, charting careers through annotated
lists of primary and secondary works. ECW Press (directed by Robert
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Lecker and Jack David), which produced this series and the journal Essays
on Canadian Writing, emerged as a significant publisher of Canadian
criticism as well. Among its other projects, the biocritical Canadian Writers
and Their Works series is published both in volume form and in separate
fascicles. J.M. Heath’s parallel Profiles in Canadian Literature series began
to appear in 1981. W.H. New’s six ‘Canadian Writers’ volumes for the
Dictionary of Literary Biography (five of which-Vols. 53, 60, 68, 88, and
92 - had appeared by 1990) are also biocritical in form. Together, the three
series offer a range of data, from biographical and bibliographic detail to
information on performances, reception and archival locations; they also
help both to supplement the data in the &ford Companion to Canadian
Literature (1983, ed. William Toye) and to correct some of the errors in that
volume. The continuing volumes in the Dictionary of Canadian Biography,
directed by Francess Halpenny (the first twelve volumes complete by 1990),
also meticulously profile Canadians who achieved some eminence in such
enterprises as politics, cultural affairs, business, religion, Native social
organization, settlement, medicine and educational reform. G.M. Ripley
and A.V. Mercer’s annual who’s Who in Canadian Literature outlines the
identity and publications of many contemporary writers, editors, critics and
other literary figures.
Other reference books range from the fast volume of the Historical Atlas
of Canada (1987), compiled by Cole Harris, to the several guidebooks to
archival collections, such as those to the Alice Munro, Hugh MacLennan,
Robert Kroetsch and Rudy Wiebe papers held at the University of Calgary,
all produced in 1986. The Dictionary of Newfoundland English (1982),
compiled by G.M. Story et al., is a triumph of compilation, an adventure in
cultural difference as well as a guidebook to idiom; T.K. Pratt’s Dictionary
of Prince Edward Island Enghish is more modest in length Edith Fowke and
Carole Carpenter prepared a guide called A Bibliography of Canadian
Folklore in English in 1981. The second, enlarged 4-volume edition of The
Canadian Encyclopedia appeared in 1988, and The Oxford Companion to
Canadian Theatre, ed. Eugene Benson and L.W. Connolly, in 1989. An
Index to “‘Saturday Night”:: The First 50 Years 1887-1937 (1987) and Allan
Weiss’s A Comprehensive Bibliography of English Canadian Short Stories
1950-1983 (1989) both use multiple forms of indexing to facilitate use; the
Weiss book, notably, indexes the “publication” of stories on CBC radio
broadcasts as well. Robert Denham’s Northrop Frye: An Annotated Bibliography (1987) catalogues works by and about one of Canada’s most
influential modern critics. Howard Fink, with B. Morrison, compiled in
microfiche format another substantial general reference tool, indexing the
collection of CBC radio dramas now housed at Concordia University,
Canadian National Theatre on the Air, 1925-1961 (1983).
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Ethnicity
Ranging across categories - involving information retrieval, criticism and
theory-is the large body of material concerned with Native writing and
with the idea of ethnicity generally, making it a special subset of the kinds
of books mentioned so far, but also an introduction to the manifold critiques
of “authoritative” tradition and cultural hegemony. Leslie Monkman’s A
Native Heritage (1981) opened up a long-ignored critical subject, tracing in
general terms the image of the Native peoples in Canadian writing, an issue
taken up in closer detail in articles by Mary Lu MacDonald and David
Bentley in Canadian Literature’s special double issue on Native writers and
Canadian writing, no. 124-5 (1990). Terry Goldie’s Fear and Temptation
(1989), a comparative study of the Native image in the literatures of Canada,
Australia and New Zealand, approaches this subject from another angle,
emphasizing the recurrent tropes used to construct these images and
suggesting some of the social attitudes that the tropes depend on and
reconfirm. As late as 1984, it was still possible to claim that Native writers
who used English or French as their language of expression were not
themselves numerous in Canada. But by the end of the decade, this
situation had markedly changed, partly because of the activities of Native
organizations and such presses as Theytus Books in Penticton, B.C., and
Fifth House in Saskatoon. A variety of publications also demonstrated that
more Native works existed than had generally been realized, which is both
a comment on the limitations of the cultural “mainstream” and a reflection
of changes in cultural attitude, on the part of Natives and non-Natives alike,
towards the importance of Native participation in Canadian society. Penny
Petrone’s two anthologies, First People, First Voices (1983) and Northern
Voices (1988), bring together the works (respectively) of Indian and Inuit
writers from the early years of contact to the present day. The Native in
Literature (1987), ed. Thomas King et al., and special issues of Canadian
Journal of Native Studies (5:2, 1985) and Canadian Fiction Magazine (no.
60, 1987) also highlight the writings of contemporary Native fiction writers.
The Atlas of the North American Indian appeared from Facts on File Press
in 1989.
As with the Native peoples, so with other ethnic minorities. But with the
establishment of a federal Ministry of State responsible for Multiculturalism, in 1972, other minorities appeared to be more visible to cultural
commentators. The Canadian Institute of Ukrainian Studies published a
symposium entitled Identifications: Ethnicity and the Writer in Canada in
1981; and in its supplement no. 1 (1987), entitled A/Part, the journal
Canadian Literature reproduced the papers from a 1984 symposium.
Together, the two collections raise numerous questions about multicultural
validity, the effects of multiculturalism on linguistic and literary norms and
the relation between the idea of multiculturalism and access to social
power. These issues also affected several critical approaches to individual
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writers (Kogawa, Wiebe, Mistry, Laurence) and several books of theory.
Canadian Literature’s issues on Caribbean-Canadian literary connections
(95: 1982), Italian connections (106: 1985) and Slavic and East European
connections (120: 1989) indicate a continuing interest in forms of cultural
influence and social construction. Joseph Pivato’s collection, Contrasts:
Essays on Italian Canadian Writing (1985), examines one of these cultural
connections further. Walter Riedel’s The Old World and the New (1984)
examines the literary perspectives of German-Canadians. Michael
Greenstein’s survey, Third Solitudes (1989), describes the work of JewishCanadian writers, arguing that it constitutes a coherent (if diverse) alternative to the mainstream paradigms of both English- and French-Canadian
writing. A series of cultural histories addressing the experience of various
ethnic groups (South Asian, Chinese, Ukrainian, Portuguese, Welsh, etc.),
sponsored by the Ministry of State for Multiculturalism, adds to this picture
of cultural diversity. Terrence Craig’s Racial Attitudes in English-Canadian
Fiction 1905-l 980 (1987) enumerates various instances of conflict and
presumption. Some new journals took a particular cultural group as their
focus, notably the Toronto South Asian Review. Lorris Elliott’s Bibliography of Literary Writings by Blacks in Canada (1986) located titles by
African- and Caribbean-Canadian writers, and Williams-Wallace Publishers of Toronto undertook to publish works by black Canadians, among them
Dionne Brand and Marlene Nourbese Philip.
Yet in some quarters- Neil Bissoondath and Bharati Mukherjee were
vocal critics-, there was opposition to the way in which the idea of
multiculturalism operated in practice in Canada. These critics argued that
identifying differences within a culture was not the same as using systems
of categorization that in effect retained existing differences as though they
were natural and good. In the one case, difference serves to invigorate a
culture, keeping it alive; in the other, difference simply preserves a static
distribution of social power. The first is egalitarian, the second hierarchical. The first opens opportunities for change; the second operates as an
agent for keeping cultures apart - in the name of tradition, but with the
effect of validating one tradition over another. Ethnicity, in consequence
(and especially in concert with comments on class, race, region and
gender), provided evidence during the 1980s for the ongoing critical attack
on received definitions of literary canon.
Canon
The idea of a canon expressed itself in various forms-in anthologies,
publishing series, literary histories, classroom courses and in such books as
John Moss’s selective handbook, A Reader’s Guide to the Canadian Novel
(1981). In a climate that espoused such critical criteria as “universality”
and absolute values, a canon was long perceived as the necessary end or
attribute of literary studies. Critics of these criteria and their attendant
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assumptions became vocal at a much-discussed 1978 conference at the
University of Calgary; the divergent positions of Barry Cameron and
William Keith revealed in the transcript of the conference, edited by
Charles Steele in 1982 as Taking Stock, exemplify the disputes that were
just beginning to be articulated as theory. Prior to the conference, delegates
and numerous other teachers and critics across the country had been
circulated a list of titles and asked to name the “best” Canadian novels.
Margaret Laurence’s The Stone Angel turned out to be the “winner”. But
the final list of the “top ten” turned out to have more to do with familiarity
than with any criterion that could be categorized as universal quality.
Gabrielle Roy was the only Francophone writer to appear on the list; most
of the titles were available through NCL editions; realistic works (accessible
in technique) and works by Caucasian writers predominated. Those critics
who sought to question the received canon rather than to sanctify it used
such observations to argue that all critical judgments are political, that even
such notions as authorial originality and moral commitment are socially
coded terms, and that the contexts for judgment (the “subject position” of
the critic, the politics of production, the covert biases of language and
“taste”) have always to be taken into account.
While several books that appeared during the 1980s did attempt to counter
this trend and to assert paradigms of universal value, they were applauded
more by those who agreed in advance with the politics of their position than
by those who were trying to question all systems of authority. Hence the
Catholic conclusions of David Dooley, the linear paradigms of conservative
tradition outlined by Wilfred Cude, John Metcalf, and T.D. McLulich, the
Marxist arguments marshalled by Robin Mathews, and the semiotic systems
constructed by Lorraine Weir, all read to others as absolutist documents,
whatever claims they made at objectivity. D J. Dooley’s Moral Vision in the
Canadian Novel (1979), for example, celebrates the idea of evaluation,
using a closed moral system to do so. Cude’s Leavisite A Due Sense of
Difference (1980) identifies fictional quality according to linguistic and
moral order, accepting rather than questioning the legitimacy of the order
thus identified and celebrated. McLulich’s Between Europe and America
(1988) claims to trace “the Canadian tradition in fiction”, isolating a
“national” paradigm. Metcalf’s essays and reviews, as in Kicking Against the
Pricks (1982) or A Bumper Book (1986) -deliberately constructed (like
B.W. Powe’s A Climate Charged, 1984, and Paul Steuwe’s Clearing the
Ground, 1984) as exposes of academia - attack the very idea of a national
tradition in Canada. Essentially, Metcalf’s position draws on criteria of
evaluation learned in England, before his own emigration (thus
demonstrating one of the paradigms of conventional authority that those
who attack canonicity deplore); while openly subjective in declaration, it
claims objectivity in judgment, implicitly denying value to any claim upon
a Canadian heritage that might have been developing before his own arrival.
Both Robin Mathews and Margaret Atwood insist that a heritage exists,
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but they differ with each other (and with Metcalf, in basic assumption) over
its nature and the paradigms by which language expresses it; one perspective on their public disagreement is reprinted in Atwood’s Second Words
(1982). Weir’s Margaret Atwood (ed. 1983; with Sherrill Grace) is inclined
to question the assumption of any single tradition. Assembling the work of
several critics, and drawing on European theory in order to read Atwood
in terms of “language, text, and system” (thus eschewing national models
intentionally), the book nevertheless constructs rhetorical models that can
be just as restrictive. Each of these critics has followers; essays abound that
dispute the conclusions of one and corroborate those of another. Each
critical system, in other words, constructs boundaries, even in the name of
openness; and each dispute has to be read in the context of shifting (or
resistant) networks of critical influence.
Outside Canada
One of the most striking developments in Canadian studies during the later
1970s and the 1980s was the rapid expansion of interest in the field in
countries other than Canada. Canadian studies programs developed in
Europe, the U.S.A., the South Pacific and Asia, and Anglophone-Canadian
writing features in all of them. Commentaries on Canadian writing have
consequently emerged from these sources, expressed in conference
proceedings, in journals such as Etudes canadiennes and Échos du Commonwealth (both centered in France, both having published special issues
on Margaret Laurence), Australian-Canadian Studies, and The British
Journal of Canadian Studies, and in separate books. Giovanna Capone’s
Canada: Il Villaggio della Terra (1978), Walter Pache’s Einführung in die
Kanadistik (1981), Shirley Chew’s Re-visions of Canadian Literature
(1984), and Colin Nicholson’s Canadian Story and History (1986) provide
ready examples. Robert Kroetsch and Reingard Nischik’s anthology Gaining Ground: European Critics on Canadian Literature (1985) samples a
range of approaches to theory and text. Like the Laurence issue of Études
canadiennes, it also draws attention to the disparity between the nationcentered criticism dominant in Canada and the text-centered criticism
dominant in France and Germany. The influence of French literary
theory- and of Russian formalism and American semiotics- upon the
practice of criticism becomes apparent in such dichotomies. The growing
influence of theory within Canadian practice became increasingly apparent
as the 1980s wore on. The HOLIC-HILAC (History of the Literary Institution in Canada) Project at the University of Edmonton, led by E.D.
Blodgett, tried to articulate theoretical models, though on occasion it
drifted into open personal animosities. One of the annual University of
Ottawa literary symposia addressed the relevance of theory to the Canadian
scene with more dispassion; the symposium papers, edited by John Moss
as Future Indicative: Literary Theory and Canadian Literature (1987), argue
the relevance of a range of approaches. Bakhtin’s theories of monoglossia
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and heteroglossia attracted substantial attention, in part for their application to post-colonial literary strategies and post-modernist forms, and in
part for their seeming relevance to a bilingual, multicultural society.
Comparative Studies
In such contexts, a greater number of comparative studies of Canadian
literature might have been anticipated, yet beyond a few essays, such as
those of Patricia Merivale and Kathy Mezei in Canadian Literature (nos.
116, 117: 1988), there are relatively few. Philip Stratford’s All the Polarities
(1986) is the most sustained example, arguing that different conventions
emphasize diverging rather than parallel traditions in Francophone- and
Anglophone-Canadian fiction. E.D. Blodgett’s Configuration (1982)
deliberately introduces German-language writings into his discussions of
Canadian “literatures” (in the plural) in order to dispute the conventions
of bilateral argument and bicultural society. W.H. New’s A History of
Canadian Literature (1989), drawing primarily on English- and Frenchlanguage examples, alludes to numerous other cultural traditions in Canada
as well, and it emphasizes not a singular pattern of progress or decline, but
rather a series of shifting codes of connection between literary text and
social context. Clement Moisan’s A Poetry of Frontiers (1983), by contrast,
returns to the idea of “mainstream,” tracing parallels between poets from
English Canada and Quebec. Stan Fogel, in A Tale of Two Countries (1984),
tried to argue that the U.S.A. has a livelier, more experimental, more
postmodern literature than Canada because it once embraced revolution
as a course of political action; while seemingly espousing radical innovation
in literature, such a position fundamentally reiterates conservative
paradigms in its analysis of (and faith in) the linearity of cause-and-effect.
Feminist Studies
By far the greater influence of theory upon critical practice showed up in
feminist studies. From being a long-ignored subject, the role of women
within Canadian society and Canadian institutions became increasingly
visible during the 198Os, duly affecting all critical enterprises, from anthologies and course lists to literary histories and critical language. Critics
concerned with writing by women not only questioned the validity of a
number of assumptions about rights and privileges in society, they also
challenged the representations of women in speech, film and other forms
of communication. The desire to reclaim dignity, the desire for justice, the
desire for a language commensurate with experience, the desire to share in
or displace the inequitable power structures that convention had appeared
to ratify: these were among the many reasons that motivated feminist critics
and involved them in critical practices parallel to, though not identical with,
those who were more prominently concerned with regional, ethnic, and
class disparities.
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The emergence of such journals as A Room of One’s Own and Atlantis
(both founded in 1975) demonstrates one face of the critical interest in
writing by women. Conferences and collective enterprises demonstrate
others. The editorial collective called Tessera (involving Barbara Godard,
Kathy Mezei, Daphne Marlatt and Gail Scott), for example, undertook
between 1982 and 1988 (when it founded its own namesake magazine) to
edit collections of women’s criticism and to place these as entire units in
existing journals, displacing the regular editors for the issue, arguing that
such displacement was a necessary political act to allow women into
“received” critical spaces. The 1983 “Women and Words” conference in
Vancouver barred men from attending for similar political reasons.
(Women of colour subsequently challenged the political assumptions of
some feminist theorists, using a similar logic, arguing that the Eurofeminist
version of women was itself race-based.) Tessera published its work in
Room of One’s Own (1984), La nouvelle barre du jour (1985), Canadian
Fiction Magazine (1986), and CVZZ (1987); the proceedings of the “Women
and Words” conference appeared as in the feminine (1985), edited once
again not by an individual but by the “West Coast Editorial Collective”
(including Ann Dybikowski and others). The “group phrasing” stresses a
resistance in theory to the idea of individual pre-eminence.
One of the features of in the feminine is its comparative nature. Women
writers from both English and French Canada came together at the conference to address common problems; and from contacts of this kind, there
came to be a greater immediate influence of French theory and Quebec
literary practice on Anglophone women’s writing than on that by men.
Nicole Brossard, Louky Bersianik, Jovette Marchessault: such figures
became familiar influences in the work of Barbara Godard, Smaro
Kamboureli and Paulette Jiles. This interest in French theory further led
Godard into assembling Gynocritics/Gynocritiques (1986), an anthology of
feminist commentary both theoretical and applied. In this, and in Shirley
Neuman and Smaro Kamboureli’s jointly edited A Mazing Space (1986),
the nature of language is a recurrent theme. To what extent, these essays
ask, is women’s writing free from men’s language (and all its biases about
authority, authorship and “natural” order)? In what respects is silence a
language rather than a retreat from language? How can “nature” be
represented more as a process than as a landscape to be penetrated, named,
raped or claimed? How can writing be articulated as body, and vice versa?
Lorna Irvine’s Sub/Version: Canadian Fictions by Women (1985) takes up
such issues also, its title using the familiar deconstructive virgule of much
feminist criticism (a language of de/sire; the relevance of the m/other) to
suggest not just that language can articulate alternative or simultaneous
messages, but that such messages are or can be coded by gender. Two books
illustrate distinct applications of this credo. Gail Scott’s essays, Spaces Like
Stairs (1989), treat language as a metatextual body, a fluid process through
which meaning expresses itself obliquely, while Margaret Ann Jensen’s
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Love’s Sweet Return: The Harlequin Story (1984) traces the history of
Canada’s most successful romance fiction publisher and comments on the
mechanisms of gender control that are exerted by stereotype and marketdriven formula. Numerous other separate critical and biographical studies
of female writers adapted a feminist poetics to the analysis of text, the
reclamation of “forgotten” figures from history and the editing of letters
and journals.
Letters and Biography
By no means were women the sole subjects of such biographical enquiry,
but female authors did raise for editors some questions about the “standard’ nature of literary genres. To the degree that a hierarchy of value
conventionally gave precedence to poetry (particularly “epic” poetry) and
the novel, such genres as short fiction and autobiography were assigned to
the margins of significance and described by such words as “apprentice
forms”. In the heyday of New Critical Practice, moreover, biography and
other such enquiries were deemed irrelevant to textual interpretation. In
practice, women’s journals (those of pioneer writers being obvious exceptions) were consigned to a further margin still. (Carol Fairbanks used
pioneer journals as sourcebooks for her comparative study of the responses
of American and Canadian women to the land, Prairie Women, 1986.)
Hence, when feminist theory argued that genre was itself a social construct,
and that writers could argue with convention by arguing with generic
categories, such “peripheral” forms were reclaimed and read in part for
their political function. The forms of biography and autobiography were
read (and crafted) as fictions, in other words - a position examined further
in the essays collected in K.P. Stich’s Reflections: Autobiography and
Canadian Literature (1988) and in several contributions to Canadian
Literature 100 (reprinted as Canadian Writers in 1984) and 101 (1984).
Diaries, letters and journals were also re-edited for their slant on the act
and art of creation.
Several volumes appeared: Margaret Blom and Thomas E. Blom edited
Canada Home: Juliana Horatia Ewing’s Fredericton Letters, 1867-1869
(1983), glimpses of colonial society, in both verbal sketch and watercolour
drawing, by the Victorian children’s writer; Robert L. McDougall edited
The Poet and the Critic: correspondence between D.C. Scott and E.K. Brown
(1983); Carl Ballstadt and Michael Peterman edited Susanna Moodie:
Letters of a Lifetime (1985), drawing attention to the personal relations
between Mrs. Moodie and her sisters as well as to her editorial reliance on
Richard Bentley; David Stouck edited Ethel Wilson: Stories, Essays, and
Letters (1987); John Lennox and Michèle Lacombe edited Dear Bill (1988),
the selected correspondence of William Arthur Deacon; Richard Davies
edited The Letters of Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1988); Paul Tiessen
edited The Letters of Malcolm Lowry and Gerald Noxon, 1940-1952 (1988),
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Francis Mansbridge edited The Selected Letters of Irving Layton (1989);
and Laurel Boone edited The Letters of Charles G.D. Roberts (1990).
Nowhere did the relation between life and art suggest itself more strongly
than in the first two volumes (in an ongoing series) of The Selected Journals
of L.M. Montgomery (1985, 1987), edited by Mary Rubio and Elizabeth
Waterston. Montgomery’s difficult life - a life made difficult in part by the
limited options that her society gave her as a woman - found one pattern
of expression in the author’s juvenile fiction, another in her absorbing
private diaries, where she argued out her unhappiness and her stubborn
determination to persist. The stylistic shape of the journals also suggests
that Montgomery’s most mature literary skills were reserved for her private
reflections, reflections that were sublimated in her fiction and that had to
be translated in this way in order to satisfy the demands of the market within
which she was constrained to publish.
In Leacock, a Biography (1987), A.F. Moritz showed how early childhood
affects the stances taken in a writer’s later career. But that biography is
itself a construction of an image- open to romantic wish and political
filtering-is evidenced by the various approaches taken to life-writing.
Betty Keller’s skill at piecing together bits of “factual” evidence into the
shape of a personality is demonstrated both by Pauline (1981), a life of
Pauline Johnson that emphasizes the poet-performer’s deliberate adoption
of theatrical roles, and by Black Wolf (1984), a life of Ernest Thompson
Seton that explains his fascination with Teddy Roosevelt (and his commitment to the Boy Scout movement) by clarifying his belligerent resentment
of his own father. Muriel Miller’s Bliss Carman: Quest and Revolt (1985)
constructs a romantic hero paradigm by which to view her subject. Marian
Fowler’s Redney (1983) invents “likely” relationships to explain Sara
Jeannette Duncan’s behaviour. David Pitt’s insightful two-vo1umeE.J. Pratt
(1984, 1987) draws a portrait of a man preoccupied all his life by his initial
acceptance and subsequent rejection of Methodism. Usher Caplan’s Like
One That Dreamed (1982) portrays A.M. Klein as a man who embraces
language only to flee from speech. Joan Givner’s Mazo de la Roche: The
Hidden Life (1989) also follows a psychological model, suggesting that in
this case, the life can be read in terms of an unconscious lesbian desire.
Elspeth Cameron’s Hugh MacLennan: A Writer’s Life (1981) sketches
another portrait of a man whose writings derive from the tensions of his
own childhood, though her more controversial 1985 portrait, Irving Layton,
with its emphasis on the revelations of gossip, emphasizes the force of ego
over the force of id. This Layton biography has consequently to be read
against Layton’s 1985 autobiography, Waitingfor the Messiah, which, while
it does not hide ego, also reveals an infectious sense of humour and a
resistant, passionate pride which the biography acknowledges but does not
stress.
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Earle Birney’s Spreading Time (1982) recounts affectionately the author’s
childhood in Alberta and B.C. and his first forays into language. P.K. Page’s
Brazilian Diary (1987) recalls the poet’s rebirth as a painter during the years
she spent as chatelaine in the Canadian Embassy in Rio, while Adele
Wiseman’s Memoirs of a Book-Molesting Childhood (1987) less lyrically
and more wittily charts the personal past as a series of discoveries of the
power of words. The second volume of George Woodcock’s autobiography, Beyond the Blue Mountains (1987), records his first years in Canada,
teaching European literature, writing for the CBC and editing Canadian
Literature; whereas Henry Kreisel’s selected essays, Another Country
(1985), record in part the writer’s experience as a refugee in Canada,
learning English in prison camp and moving into literature as he grew up.
Margaret Laurence’s posthumously published Dance on the Earth: A
Memoir (1989) focuses on the several women in her life, and on the cause
of peace to which she was dedicated. Most of these literary autobiographies
recount an attraction to the possibilities that language promises. Philip
Kokotailo’s fascinating John Glassco ‘s Richer World (1987) compares the
manuscript and published versions of Glassco’s ostensibly “unedited”
autobiography (Memoirs of Montpamasse), demonstrating how Glassco
used language as subterfuge and coded his memoirs for careful (and
misleading) effects. The publication of Elizabeth Smart’s Juvenilia in 1988
glimpsed in a different way one writer’s early life, as (in another way) did
Sheryl Salloum’s local history, Malcolm Lowry: Vancouver Days (1987). A
series of interviews and capsule descriptions, often regionally based - as in
Andrew Garrod’s talks with Newfoundlanders, Profiles of Canadian Writers
(1986), Alan Twigg’s Vancouver and Its Writers (1986), or Doris Hillis’s
talks with Saskatchewan writers, Plainspeaking (1988) - profiled several
contemporary figures.
Lorraine McMullen’s An Odd Attempt in a Woman: The Literary Life of
Frances Brooke (1983) eschews psychology for documentary history,
recounting the author’s life as a series of engagements with the world of the
18th-century English publishing industry, the Church of England and the
Covent Garden opera house. E. Brian Titley’s A Narrow Vision (1986)
evaluates D.C. Scott’s conservative practice as Administrator of Indian
Affairs in Canada. Sandra Djwa’s thorough F.R. Scott (1987) also follows
a political model; while acknowledging the force of Scott’s father in his life,
Djwa stresses the links between the criticism Scott practised in his life as
poet and the political reform he espoused (in part as a resistance to his
father’s autocratic love) in his career as lawyer. Cynthia Dubin Edelberg’s
Jonathan Odell: Loyalist Poet of the American Revolution (1989)
demonstrates another face of political biography in that, by placing Odell
against the revolutionary context of the times and challenging his loyalist
ideas, but minimizing his subsequent role in the Maritime colonies, the
book constructs a model of a man out of step with his times rather than a
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model of a man positively committed to monarchical tradition and civil
order.
Individual Authors
Falling into a more conventional category are the many single introductory
volumes on the life and works of an individual author. Among these are the
following: Peter Thomas’s Robert Kroetsch (1980), T.E. Tausky’s Sara
Jeannette Duncan (1980), Peter Aichinger’s Earle Birney (1980), Patricia
Morley’s Margaret Laurence (1981), Hallvard Dahlie’s Brian Moore (1981),
Jan Bartley’s Invocations (on Gwendolyn MacEwen, 1983), T.D.
MacLulich’s Hugh MacLennan (1983), Keith Garebian’s Hugh Hood
(1983), Victor Ramraj’s Mordecai Richler (1983), Jerome Rosenberg’s
Margaret Atwood (1984), Ronald Binns’s Malcolm Lowry (1984), R.W.
Martin’s Alice Munro (1987), Len Early’s Archibald Lampman (1986),
Barry Cameron’s John Metcalf (1986), Michael Peterman’s Robertson
Davies (1986), R.G. Collins’s E.J. Pratt (1988), Susan Copoloff-Mechanic’s
Pilgrim’s Progress (a review of Hugh Hood’s fictions, 1988) and Ian
Balfour’s Northrop Frye (1988). The Twayne World Authors series, to
which some of the volumes are contributions, encourages a chronological
outline format, though several of these volumes transcend the strictures of
formula. Binns’s comments on Lowry are informed by rigorous familiarity
with text; Balfour’s insights into the politics of Frye’s critical position
suggest alternative avenues of approach to those of religion, which constitute the basis for John Ayre’s 1989 biography, Northrop Frye; and
Morley’s comments on Laurence in Africa effectively suggest some of the
intellectual constraints of colonial experience.
Ken Mitchell’s Sinclair Ross: A Reader’s Guide (1981) is a more personal
tribute, as are Fraser Sutherland’s John Glassco (1984), Bronwyn Drainie’s
Living the Part (1988; on her father, the actor John Drainie) and Claude
Bissell’s Ernest Buckler Remembered (1989), the latter two revealing the
authors as much as their subjects. George Woodcock’s 100 Great
Canadians (1980) is a popular treatment of a variety of figures, and though
its title uses precisely the evaluative vocabulary that much current theory
rejects, as does David Stouck’s Major Canadian Authors (1984), its selection of figures for inclusion suggests some of the paradigms of prevailing
social convention. Woodcock’s A Place to Stand On (1983) collects a range
of essays on the work of Margaret Laurence; after Laurence’s death,
Kristjana Gunnars compiled another collection as a tribute called Crossing
the River (1988), as did Christ1 Verduyn in Margaret Laurence: An Appreciation (1988). Barry Wood’s Malcolm Lowry (1980), David Staines’s
The Callaghan Symposium (1981) and Stephen Leacock: A Reappraisal
(1986), Sandra Djwa and R. Macdonald’s On F.R Scott (1983), Frank
Tierney’s The Thomas Chandler Halibution Symposium (1984), W.J.
Keith’s A Voice in the Land (1981), Michael Darling’s Perspectives on
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Mordecai Richler (1984), and K.P. Stich’s The Duncan Campbell Scott
Symposium (1980), all assemble multiple perspectives on single authors,
while still other books address complex problems that show up in the work
of individual authors, but have ramifications beyond it. The work of
Margaret Atwood, bp Nichol, Michael Ondaatje, Mavis Gallant and Alice
Munro attracted recurrent attention. Although Sherrill Grace’s Violent
Duality (1980) applies a somewhat rigid paradigm to the formal structures
in Atwood’s writings, her later studies- of Lowry, for example, in The
Voyage That Never Ends (1982), and later of expressionism in Regression
and Apocalypse (1989) -begin to apply Bakhtinian theory with instructive
insight into formal fluidity. Atwood was also the subject of Arnold and
Cathy Davidson’s collection, The Art of Margaret Atwood (1981), Frank
Davey’s Margaret Atwood: A Feminist Poetics (1984), Barbara Hill Rigney’s
Margaret Atwood (1987), and Kathryn van Spanckeren and J.G. Castro’s
collection, Margaret Atwood (1988). Patricia Monk’s Jungian analysis of
Robertson Davies’s work, The Smaller Infinity (1982), is in some measure
countered by the performance-centred analyses of Susan StoneBlackburn’s Robertson Davies, Playwright (1985). W.J. Keith’s Epic Fiction:
The Art of Rudy Wiebe (1981) models an essentially conservative Wiebewith
a coherent Christian vision; Keith’s later A Sense of Style (1990) continues
his traditionalist assessments of verbal form. Other critics attempted to
de-centre single-author criticism: for example, by combining multiple
perspectives, or by casting single authors in context with a group. Shirley
Neuman and Robert Wilson, for example, set up a dialogue-of-three with
Robert Kroetsch, in the aptly titled Labyrinths of Voice (1982), the purpose
being to reveal the impact of voice on form and the character of heteroglossia as a critical strategy. Kroetsch collected several of his own essays in The
Lovely Treachery of Words (1987), and essays by and on Kroetsch also
appeared in Open Letter (4: 1983 and 8-9: 1984). Several of Eli Mandel’s
essays appeared as The Family Romance (1986), and those of Phyllis Webb
as Talking (1982). Dennis Cooley, too, both in Replacing, his 1981 anthology, and The Vernacular Muse (1987), espoused the virtues of vernacular
rhythms, arguing that in Prairie poetry, they function as a regional, radical
and reformative force. With works of this kind, the crossover from a critical
interest in the author of a text to the political context of authorship becomes
readily apparent.
Genre Studies
Relatively few volumes studied Anglophone-Canadian poetry by itself.
Tom Marshall’s Harsh and Lovely Land (1979) attempted an historical
overview, reiterating some of the paradoxes that are suggested by Canadian
poetic responses to nature. C.D. Mazoff explained the Christian vision of
Margaret Avison’s Sunblue in Waiting for the Son (1989). More characteristic of the decade’s poetic studies are the position statements, and the
several (often polemical) introductions to anthologies, issued by poets who
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were also practitioners of critical theory, such as Frank Davey, Dennis Lee
and George Bowering. Davey, with Ann Munton, edited a special 1985
issue of Open Letter on innovative forms of the long poem. One of Lee’s
theoretical essays appeared in Descant in 1982. Bowering’s Craft Slices
(1985), A Way with Words (1982) and The Mask in Place (1982) punningly
insist on the primacy of word and rhythm (rather than message or national
identity) in both poetry and prose, and they celebrate Nicol, Sheila Watson
and Ondaatje rather than anything resembling realism. Davey’s Reading
Canadian Reading (1988) re-emphasizes the politics of canonicity and
arrangement-drawing attention to, though not altogether analyzing, the
politics of the selection and arrangement which his own work constructs
and by which it, too, is circumscribed. Angela Bowering’s Figures Cut in
Sacred Ground (1988) analyzes the iconography of Sheila Watson’s The
Double Hook; and books by Stephen Scobie (bp Nichol: What History
Teaches, 1984), Leslie Mundwiler (Michael Ondaatje: Word Image, Imagination, 1984), Sam Solecki (Spider Blues, 1985, on Ondaatje), Paul
Dutton and Steven Smith (Read the Way He Writes, Open Letter: 1986) and
Roy Miki (Tracing the Paths, 1988) - the last two being collections of essays
on Nichol- further address the intellectual implications of poetic language.
Scobie and Solecki are particularly lucid on the complexities of non-linear
form.
Another implicit attack on poetic canonicity came from an altogether
different quarter, in Pauline Greenhill’s True Poetry (1989), an appreciation
of the social significance of popular verse-writing in Ontario. But the
attention given to still other genres indicates ways in which definitions of
“literature” were expanding to address the politics of literary form. EvaMarie Kröller’s Canadian Travellers in Europe, 1851-1900 (1987), for
example, not only treats travel writing as a legitimate genre of critical study,
but in the process (by focusing on long-ignored colonial writers who
travelled in the reverse direction to the explorers, settlers and wilderness
writers whose exploits are so highly regarded in conventional literary
histories) recasts the usual equations between civil order and literary form.
The relation between literary expression and the politics of class and
disenfranchisement concerns more centrally Christopher Innes’ Politics
and the Playwright (1985), a study of the writings of George Ryga. E. Ross
Stuart’s A History of Prairie Theatre (1983) traces performance history from
the chatauqua to the present. Alice Frick’s Image in the Mind (1987)
records the impetus given to aural theatrical experiment by the emergence
of CBC radio drama in the 1940s. L.W. Connolly’s Canadian Drama and
the Critics (1987) samples reviews of 35 modern plays; and EnglishCanadian Theatre (1987) by Connolly and Eugene Benson briefly introduces the field. Renate Usmiani’s Second Stage (1983), a survey of alternate
theatre movements, demonstrates how formal and intellectual experiments
in theatre relates to particular theatre companies, with established theatres
more likely to perform conventional pieces, dependent as they are on the
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politics of market, subvention and middle-class support. Toby Gordon
Ryan’s memoir, Stage Left (1981), recal ls the left wing theatre of the 1930s,
the politics of protest being relevant to the 1980s as well as to the Great
Depression. (The essays in Virginia Harger-Grinling and Terry Goldie’s
critical anthology, Violence in the Canadian Novel since I940, 1981, suggest
how pervasive forms of violence are in Canadian writing, both in the service
of resistance and the service of the status quo; and Peter Buitenhuis’s The
Great War of Words, 1988, reviews the way literary figures were coopted to
write propaganda during World War I.) Robert Wallace and Cyndi
Zimmerman, in The Work (1982), interviewed several contemporary
playwrights, sampling their views on stagecraft, politics, character and
experiment. Canadian Theatre Review commented extensively on the art
of drama (as both text and performance), as did Canadian Children’s
Literature on another genre that was being celebrated and rediscovered in
the 1980s. Judith Saltman’s Modern Canadian Children’s Books (1987)
surveys the contemporary scene, commenting on such subjects as verse,
history, fantasy and illustration.
Short fiction, too, was read in part for the political function of formal
experiment. Michelle Gadpaille’s The Canadian Short Story (1988)
provides a brief survey, emphasizing a selection of contemporary writers.
W.H. New’s longer, comparative study, Dreams of Speech and Violence:
The Art of the Short Story in Canada and New Zealand (1986), juxtaposes
theoretical, historical and textually analytic models in order to demonstrate
how critical generalizations about literary genre and the formal practice of
the genre itself are both influenced by cultural context. Helmut Bonheim’s
The Narrative Modes (1982) probes the semiotics of rhetorical closure in
short fiction. Robert Lecker’s On the Line (1982) studies the textual
particularity of works by Metcalf, Hood and Clark Blaise, as does his more
extended elucidation of Blaise’s adaptations of autobiographical form, An
Other I (1989). J.R. (Tim) Struthers’ The Montreal Story Tellers (1985)
brings together a series of essays, histories and memoirs about the performance group in which Metcalf, Blaise and Hood were involved. Other
critics turned to the stylistic subtleties of Mavis Gallant and Alice Mum-o.
Neil Besner’s The Light of Imagination (1988), for example, shows how the
opposing attractions of history and memory take shape in Gallant’s work
as competing textual strategies; while Janice Kulyk Keefer’s Reading Mavis
Gallant (1989) provides a personal guide through the process of reader
response. Keefer also, in Under Eastern Eyes: A Critical Reading of
Maritime Fiction (1987), produced a polemical defence of regional narrative traditions. Munro’s work, like Gallant’s, attracted attention for its
stylistic contrarieties; several critics noted the writer’s deliberate use of
paradox and oxymoron to contrive in words some sense of the contrariness
of modern life, particularly as women experience it. Such criticism includes
L.K. MacKendrick’s collection, Probable Fictions (1983), E.D. Blodgett’s
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Alice Munro (1988), Lorraine York’s The Other Side of Dailiness (1988) and
Ildikb de Papp Carrington’s Controlling the Uncontrollable (1989).
When, in Private and Fictional Words (1987), a study of Canadian women
novelists of the 1970s and 1980s, Coral Ann Howells observes that language
is a “site of the power struggle” involving both national and gender recognition, she is in some sense summarizing the transition that took place in
these decades in criticism as well. Attention shifted substantially away from
thematic nationalism to questions of form, in particular as language came
to be seen as a political vehicle, a strategy of resistance to various received
versions of authority, convention and canon. Theory itself became a new
model, as in essays by Russell Brown in ECW (1982), Larry MacDonald in
Studies in Canadian Literature (1984), Barbara Godard in Open Letter
(1984), Robert Kroetsch in Open Letter (1983), Dennis Lee in Descant
(1982), and several writers in Line, (f)lip, and Malahat Review. Linda
Hutcheon’s disquisitions on metafiction and cultural nonlinearity appeared
as Narcissistic Narrative (1980), A Theory of Parody (1985) and The
Canadian Postmodem (1988). Studies of national expression, whether
involving nature or social cause- as in Allison Mitcham’s landscapecentered The Northern Imagination (1983), George Woodcock’s The World
of Canadian Writing (1980), or Dennis Duffy’s outline of the cultural
paradigms of Loyalist faith, Gardens, Covenants, Exiles (1982) - tended to
give way to other kinds of enquiry. Among the alternative forms were
studies of literary tropes, as in Gaile McGregor’s The Wacousta Syndrome
(1983), punningly subtitled “Explorations in the Canadian Langscape”;
biographies; stylistic analyses; revisionary examinations of the intricacy of
literary history, as in Brian Trehearne’s instructive reassessment of the
McGill Movement, Aestheticism and the Canadian Modernists (1989); and
studies of the shaping of literary convention itself, as in Carole Gerson’s
meticulous survey of 19th-century Anglophone critical expectation and
fictional practice, A Purer Taste (1989). Though these works do not give up
their interest in culture or the relation between culture and state, all
demonstrate a primary emphasis on language more than on nation. In
them, moreover, the critical desire for an open field within which the
imagination might range, and the persistent scholarly desire for evidence,
substance and accuracy, seek severally to combine.
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Jacques Allard
Où en sont les études sur
la littérature québécoise ?
Résumé
Fortes d'un objet mieux connu et davantage contextualisé, les études
québécoises se sont développées depuis une vingtaine d’années dans tout
l‘éventail des préoccupations contemporaines. Après avoir longtemps maintenu un reg ard ethnocentrique dans les descriptions du texte, elles ont, au
cours de la dernière décennie, fait de plus en plus porter l’accent sur
l’inscription du texte dans l'histoire, mettant au point un discours sociologique de la globalité et de l’interculturalité. On trouvera ici une esquisse de
ces mouvements, perçus à travers divers indicateurs, allant des ouvrages
généraux aux essais et aux thèses. Une bonne partie des contributions
étrangères seront également signalées.
Abstract
Stronger because of a better known and more “in context” object, Quebec
studies have made progress over the last twenty years in all aspects of
contemporary concerns. Having long maintained the traditional ethnocentric point of view in test descriptions, they have over the last decade
insisted more upon placing the text in the historical content, which has lead
to the elaboration of a sociological discursive reasoning of globality and
“interculturality“. This paper outlines these movements, perceived through
different indicators, from general works to essays and theses. A large proportion of foreign contributions will also be mentioned.
Comme on le sait peut-être, notre objet d’étude a connu depuis une
vingtaine d’années un phénomène d’appropriation très marqué chez les
universitaires québécois, particulièrement dans la génération de la
Révolution tranquille : ceux qui commencent à publier dès les armées 1960
l’ont en effet consacré dans sa spécificité, projetant sur les auteurs et leurs
œuvres un regard scientifique inédit.
Beaucoup de collègues étrangers, leurs centres, leurs associations,
particulièrement aux États-Unis, en Europe et en Asie, ont plus récemment
apporté leurs propres contributions. Le temps n’est-il pas venu de faire le
point ? Où en sommes-nous en matière de recherche et de critique, ici et
ailleurs ? Quelles sont les tendances qui se dégagent des travaux en cours ?
Les méthodes pratiquées, les perspectives ?
International Journal of Canadian Studies /Revue internationale d’études canadiennes
IJCS / RIÉC
À ces questions considérables, je tenterai d’apporter ici quelques éléments
de réponse qui ne sauraient prétendre à un véritable « état présent » : ni
les analyses partielles dont je dispose actuellement ni le format de cet
article ne le permettent. Après avoir indiqué les sources actuellement
indispensables, j’insisterai sur l’importante mise à jour qu’ont connue les
travaux d’histoire littéraire; je signalerai l’évolution récente, tant du côté
des ouvrages généraux et des éditions critiques que des essais et des thèses,
tout en évoquant les groupes de recherche à l’œuvre et les profils universitaires. Je rappellerai enfin la contribution des collègues étrangers.
Par où commencer ?
À quiconque me demande par où commencer, je réponds : avant tout,
consultez le récent Guide de la littérature québécoise1. Je le recommande
tant aux débutants qu’aux initiés pour le coup d’oeil averti qu’il autorise de
par la qualité de sa compilation et de sa classification. On le complétera
avec La littérature québécoise à l‘étranger, guide aux usagers2qui, outre des
éléments bibliographiques, contient toutes les informations utiles aux
collègues étrangers désireux de contribuer à l’avancement des
connaissances dans le domaine et, en particulier, des renseignements sur
les moyens financiers mis à leur disposition par les États canadien et
québécois. On pourra aussi suivre la chronique « Recherches » qui parait
maintenant dans la revue Voix et images3: j’y rends compte des nouveaux
instruments de travail et des ouvrages de recherche en cours ou publiés.
Un autre périodique (voué, lui aussi, exclusivement à la littérature
québécoise) est à consulter pour se tenir à jour sur l’ensemble des publications : le magazine Lettres québécoises 4. Cela dit, allons plus avant dans
notre sujet.
L’investissement dans l’histoire littéraire
S’il est un secteur des études où les chercheurs ont été et continuent d’être
productifs et rénovateurs, c’est bien celui de l’histoire littéraire, ancienne
et nouvelle. Il faut donc d’abord prendre en considération ce phénomène.
En voici quelques exemples significatifs, tirés des dictionnaires, des auteurs
et des œuvres, puis des éditions critiques en préparation5.
Pour la maîtrise du corpus : deux dictionnaires
Deux de ces répertoires, portes d’entrée naturelles du domaine, sont
actuellement sur toutes les tables des aficionados. Pour les auteurs : le
Dictionnaire des auteurs de langue française en Amérique du Nord
(DALFAN) 6. Quoi de neuf ici ? La méthode est traditionnelle, comme
dans sa version première parue en 1976 sous le titre de Dictionnaire pratique
des auteurs québécois. Il s’agit de notices bio-bibliographiques (allant
souvent jusqu’à 1986), qu’on peut dire de première ligne, concernant non
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seulement les écrivains (ou les artistes de l’écriture), mais tous les auteurs,
y compris les producteurs de livres en littérature et en sciences humaines.
À cette proposition déjà faite en 1976 de considérer tout le corpus de
l’autorat québécois (qu’il soit littéraire ou scientifique) s’ajoute toutefois
celle qu’indique le nouveau titre.
On est maintenant invité à embrasser toute l’expression écrite québécoise
dans son environnement nord-américain. Dans ce répertoire cohérent (non
exhaustif) de la francophonie continentale, on est passé de six cents à mille
six cents auteurs, majoritairement du Québec, mais aussi du Canada et des
États-Unis. Cela illustre, à sa façon, la redéfinition en cours de l’objet des
études québécoises, objet qui s’insère à nouveau dans cette problématique
restée inchoative de la francophonie américaine où l’on doit tenir compte
des œuvres acadiennes, ontariennes, manitobaines, fransaskoises, francoétatsuniennes, louisianaises, etc. Il est évident que l’inscription d’écrivains
comme, par exemple, Alfred Mercier (Louisiane), Élie Wiesel (New York)
et Marguerite Yourcenar (Maine), pour ne nommer que ceux-là, oblige à
certaine réflexion, non seulement sur notre espace francophonique, sa
dérive et ses rapports historiquement assez variés avec la France, mais aussi
sur le devenir du texte québécois, son autonomie et son rayonnement.
Cette remise à jour d’un corpus nord-américain de la francité (déjà repéré
par A. Viatte7) redit la nécessité de nouveaux types de cheminement
critique et de contextualisation socio-historique, comme tente de le faire
la revue Présence francophone8qui a repris sa parution. Un ouvrage comme
Textes de l’exode témoigne aussi, à sa façon, d’une avancée certaine du
domaine dans sa consécration de la « franco-américanie9». Ce ne sont là
que quelques-uns des rappels suscités par cette cueillette soutenue de.
R. Hamel, J. Hare et P. Wyczynski (fondateur du Centre de recherche en
civilisation canadienne-française (CRCCF) de l’Université d’Ottawa).
C’est à un autre groupe important, celui réuni par Maurice Lemire et
intégré au Centre de recherches en littérature québécoise (CRELIQ) de
l’Université Laval, que l’on doit le monumental Dictionnaire des œuvres
littéraires du Québec (DOLQ) 10dont les cinq tomes sont parus au fil des
années 1980 (couvrant presque tous les titres littéraires, des origines à
1975). Les mérites et effets de cette entreprise sont ici encore multiples.
Je signale que les introductions, d’inégale valeur, permettent tout de même
une nouvelle saisie de l’histoire littéraire, en particulier sur le plan du
développement de l’institution, de par la qualité des synthèses proposées.
Quant à ses bibliographies, même données en vrac, incomplètes ou parfois
erronées, elles restent commodes pour les chercheurs, comme on peut le
voir d’ailleurs par les rééditions et l’ampleur des recherches entreprises par
divers groupes, dont ceux que coiffe le CRELIQ. Mentionnons aussi que
dans les notices biographiques, forcément moins complètes que celles du
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DALFAN, est plus souvent indiquée, par ailleurs, l’origine sociale des
auteurs, ce qui facilite l’analyse sociologique.
Vers une réévaluation du corpus : nouvelles histoires littéraires, émergence
de la littérature populaire, éditions critiques
L’on peut donc, pour la première fois dans notre histoire, considérer la
presque totalité des auteurs et du corpus québécois et en arriver à des
ouvrages de synthèse enfin fondés sur une maîtrise réelle des données. D’où
la préparation en cours de nouvelles histoires du littéraire québécois : celle,
par exemple, de L. Mailhot (professeur à l’Université de Montréal) et celle
d’une équipe du CRELIQ. D’où, encore, bien d’autres travaux moins
connus qui se poursuivent actuellement dans le champ sociologique ou
sociocritique. Car le repérage est souvent déjà fait ou rendu accessible. On
peut ainsi, maintenant, dépouiller systématiquement les notices du DOLQ
en fonction d’une thématique précise. On peut aussi mettre en relief
l’importance relative de la littérature populaire et en faire une exploration
inédite, même si la plupart des publications de ce type n’ont pas été
retenues. Tous ces travaux supposent évidemment que les notices y soient,
qu’elles soient bien faites et qu’elles contiennent un bon résumé du ou des
sujets exploités, ce qui n’est pas toujours le cas : la rigueur manque assez
souvent, en particulier pour les œuvres moins connues, confiées à des
collaborateurs insuffisamment préparés ou mal encadrés. Mais l’essentiel
ou le point de départ y est la plupart du temps, comme je le constate pour
mes propres recherches11. Ce qui manque, nous pouvons toujours, en
partie, nous le reprocher, puisque le DOLQ a mis à contribution presque
tous les chercheurs et enseignants du domaine au Canada.
Il faut ensuite faire une place particulière à l’accélération soudaine des
éditions critiques. Après les premières de Lacourcière, de P. Wyczynski et
de ses élèves, ou encore celle de Saint-Denys Garneau par J. Brault et B.
Lacroix, sont venues celles du « Corpus d’éditions critiques », suscitées par
l’enquête dirigée par René Dionne et l’Association des littératures
canadienne et québécoise (en 1978). Déjà, plusieurs des titres parus à la
Bibliothèque du Nouveau Monde12proposent une lecture renouvelée des
classiques, de la Nouvelle-France au milieu du XXe siècle.
Parallèlement à cette entreprise gérée par l’Université d’Ottawa et
mobilisant beaucoup de chercheurs du Québec et de l’Ontario, on trouve
« L’édition critique de l’œuvre d’Hubert Aquin (ÉDAQ) », faite à
l’Université du Québec à Montréal et qui dirige les travaux de collègues
provenant de différentes universités canadiennes. Les publications prévues
dans la collection de poche « Bibliothèque québécoise », sous la
responsabilité des éditions Leméac (Montréal), devraient commencer en
1991, donnant à relire une œuvre et son époque encore toute proche, de
1929 à 197713. Je signale enfin, à ce chapitre, la constitution d’un groupe
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animé par François Ricard (Université McGill) qui projette l’édition critique de l’œuvre de Gabrielle Roy.
Comme on le devine, toutes ces recherches procurent déjà non seulement
des textes plus sûrs, mais apporteront inévitablement une information
inédite qui assurera un renouvellement de la connaissance historique et de
la lecture du corpus québécois. Il est impossible d’en faire présentement
une juste évaluation. Mais tant d’efforts soutenus de la part d’un si grand
nombre de chercheurs, de leurs universités et des organismes subventionnaires (canadiens et québécois) indiquent un approfondissement
indéniable de l’objet d’étude désormais consacré dans sa spécificité. Il faut,
par ailleurs, se souvenir de la précarité que peuvent connaître certaines
entreprises du domaine. La Revue d’histoire littéraire du Québec et du
Canada français, fondée par René Dionne en 1979, est malheureusement
disparue en 1985, après quatorze volumes d’études aussi diverses que
précieuses (en particulier la « Bibliographie de la critique »). Même à la
mode, l’histoire littéraire n’est pas toujours ardemment soutenue par les
organismes subventionnaires et les lecteurs.
Les essais : du point de vue ethnologique
globalité et de l’interculture
discours sociologique de la
Il faut aller ensuite du côté des essais pour mieux voir ce qu’entraîne ce
rapport renouvelé à l’histoire. On verra que l’appropriation patrimoniale
déjà illustrée ne va pas sans une contestation de la lecture historicoethnologique traditionnelle et de son idéologie de défense et illustration
(lire d’abord la spécificité « canadienne », puis québécoise).
15
Les essais 14 que vient de réunir notre critique le plus cité , Gilles
Marcotte, témoignent de la continuité de sa manière sociologique, tout en
nous rappelant que son auteur mettait déjà (depuis longtemps) à distance
la lecture du « pays ». Mais on notera aussi, cette fois, l’importance prise
ici comme ailleurs, depuis la fin des années 1970, par l’analyse institutionnelle. Quoique chez lui, elle soit menée davantage du point de vue de
l’écrivain que du théoricien qu’il ne veut pas être. Tel n’est pas le cas, par
ailleurs, de Lucie Robert (professeure à l’UQAM) qui dans L’institution
du littéraire au Québec16 répond précisément à la question : qu’est-ce qui
fait, au Québec, qu’un texte soit littéraire ? Sa réponse est fondée sur une
description documentée de la vie de l’expression littéraire depuis le début
du XIX e siècle jusqu’au milieu du nôtre, de sa canadianité jusqu’à sa
québécité.
Cet ouvrage, rattachable aux travaux du CRELIQ, est paru en même temps
que L‘Histoire littéraire 17, publication patronnée par le même centre. On
fait là le tour de la question à partir des théories, des méthodes et des
pratiques. Y triomphe, comme chez L. Robert, un point de vue nettement
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sociologiste, orienté par les travaux de P. Bourdieu, J. Dubois, H. Jauss,
T.S. Kuhn, pour ne citer que des non-Québécois.
Ainsi, l’historien du littéraire est devenu un historien des paradigmes, du
discours social, de l’idéologie, des séries littéraires, etc. Le littéraire est
dorénavant saisi au-delà de la manifestation privilégiée d’une nation en
quête de son territoire pour être systématiquement situé dans le discours
culturel ou social in se, ou général. Un essai qui vient de paraître s’inscrit
encore dans ce sillage et plus particulièrement dans celui des travaux de
M. Angenot 18: Une société, un récit. Discours culturel au Québec19. Dans
cet ouvrage, Micheline Cambron (qui a travaillé sous la direction de G.
Marcotte) est à la recherche d’un discours culturel global à partir de
chansons (groupe « Beau dommage »), de monologues (Yvon Deschamps),
d’un roman (Ducharme), de chroniques socio-politiques (Lysiane
Gagnon), du théâtre (M. Tremblay), de la poésie (G. Miron).
Sont donc contestées les conceptions qui « fétichisent » de quelque manière
(critique ou écrivaine) l’objet littéraire désormais relié au discours global.
On peut évidemment se demander si cette relation ne crée pas un nouvel
assujettissement : après les grilles ethnologiste et structuraliste, la
sociologiste, où l’analyse discursive fait souvent peu de cas de l’esthétique
ou de la vie spécifique des formes à travers le temps. Mais ainsi va notre
parcours, assez inventif (dans la mesure où notre expression littéraire l’est),
quoique fidèle aux courants contemporains (en Europe et en Amérique du
Nord).
Dans d’autres ouvrages récents, inscrits dans l’une ou l’autre de ces
perspectives, il faut mentionner la thématisation fréquente de la modernité
et de la postmodernité qui prétendent, en tant que notions, partager
l’expression contemporaine : 1960 constitue pour beaucoup le point tournant; avant, c’est moderne (depuis 1895 ou 1900); après, c’est postmoderne.
On retrouve ces notions dans L’avènement de la modernité culturelle au
Québec 20, Guy Delahaye et la modernité littéraire21, Stratégies du vertige22,
ou encore L ‘écologie du réel23.
Dans ce dernier livre, l’auteur propose justement de « repenser le mode
d’être de la littérature et de la culture québécoises, moins en tant que
littérature ou culture nationales qu’en tant que contemporaines », ce qui
ne fait qu’enregistrer une des propositions typiques depuis le début des
années 1980 : dépasser le regard ethnocentrique pour l’actualiser dans son
environnement total, universel ou social. Il faut préciser ici que cet environnement peut inclure l’axe strictement francophonique réactivé ailleurs,
mais le dépasse aussi, se situant à divers niveaux de l’interculturel (le
dialogue des cultures au Québec, au Canada ou dans le monde). Cette
perspective « éclatée » s’indexe même dans des ouvrages consacrés exclusivement au texte québécois comme, par exemple, dans le Voleur de
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parcours. Identité et cosmopolitisme dans la littérature québécoise contemporaine24.
On n’en est toutefois pas rendu à une mise en rapport soutenue avec les
autres littératures, si l’on songe qu’après les publications importantes des
années 197025(consacrées surtout à la poésie au Canada et au Québec),
les années 1980 restent maigres26. À retenir, cependant, le coup de chapeau
donné par Voix et images à la littérature canadienne-anglaise 2 7
(généralement négligée dans les programmes d’études littéraires francophones du Québec) et le rapprochement naissant avec les littératures
sud-américaines, du moins dans quelques articles de revues28. Il n’est
malheureusement plus souvent question de la mettre en rapport avec la
française (du moins pour la littérature d’après 1960), quoiqu’il soit évident
que notre langue littéraire est plus que jamais dans la mouvance de la
française (effet du village global de McLuhan), tout en affirmant sa couleur
propre 29.
Personne, à ma connaissance, ne s’étonne des dangers éventuels de notre
« auto-suffisance », du peu de rapports critiques entretenus avec les trois
éléments d’un quatuor pourtant fondamental : celui que notre expression
compose, à divers titres et de façon inégale, avec celles de la France (et de
la francophonie), du Canada anglais et des États-Unis. Comme si la théorie
classique des influences n’avait pas été relayée par celle de l’indispensable
intertexte dont procède, plus que jamais auparavant dans l’histoire du
monde, toute écriture. Faut-il croire que la fameuse « question nationale »
(et, partant, l’idéologie de la défense et illustration) pèse encore trop
lourdement sur l’orientation de la critique (comme sur le reste du discours
québécois) ? Faudrait-il encore (plus que jamais) assurer le territoire avant
de voyager, puisque c’est le monde entier qui (par l’immigration) nous
rejoint, provoquant ce discours de l’interculture ? Le mode interrogatif qui
surgit ici devrait indiquer aux non-initiés du domaine québécois
l’incertitude et l’ambiguïté profonde qui marque notre affirmation
littéraire, sinon politique, affirmation encore souvent plus « réactive »
qu’initiatrice.
Font donc encore exception les ouvrages comparatistes comme Carrefours
de signes30où H. Aquin se retrouve en compagnie de Dostoïevski, James,
Gide, Benn, Blanchot, Gombrowicz, Dos Passos, Simon, Carpentier, etc.
Les études comparées semblent encore plus importantes à l’extérieur du
Québec, au Canada anglais, par exemple. Quelques ouvrages récents en
témoignent, citant souvent des écrivains du Québec ou menant des études
comparees Québec-Canada31. Plus encore, c’est à l’Université de l’Alberta
que l’on prépare une histoire des institutions littéraires (française et
anglaise) au Canada. Mais c’est bien au Québec que la parution récente
d'une Bibliographie de littérature canadienne comparée (1930-1987) prend
aussi en considération les littératures allophones, c’est à dire autres que la
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française et l’anglaise32. Dans ces conditions, la visée interculturelle peut
déboucher sur une démarche interlinguistique, sur une certaine « gestion »
du choc des langues et des cultures au Québec et au Canada.
Si cette nouvelle conscience historico-sociale est fortement marquée tout
en étant souvent « dénationalisée » (en accord avec le « oui » au Canada
du référendum de 1980), cela ne doit toutefois pas occulter les orientations
plus traditionnelles qui n’en restent pas moins importantes dans les
monographies consacrées à des genres particuliers, à des textes isolés ou
encore dans de grandes traversées thématiques, comme celle de l’image de
la folie dans notre roman, faite par Robert Viau33. On le voit encore mieux
dans les essais d’André Brochu34pour qui l’analyse textuelle, opérant à
partir d’une théorie critique personnelle où sont conjuguées plusieurs des
ressources contemporaines (sartriennes, thématiciennes, narratologiques,
sociocritiques), présuppose un texte vu dans son rapport à l’existence de
notre peu le. Il en va de même pour Bernard Proulx dans Le roman du
territoire 35 où il redit que le roman de la terre a aussi été une manifestation
d’affirmation et de conquête. Autre exemple, qui porte cette fois sur
l’époque 1850-1890 : l’essai de Réjean Beaudoin consacré au messianisme
et à la naissance de notre littérature36.
Beaucoup d’autres ouvrages viennent encore à l’esprit dont celui de
Maurice Arguin sur le roman contemporain : son analyse repose sur
l’hypothèse bien connue de l’aliénation historique québécoise 37 .
Également, la série amorçée par Guy Laflèche (deux volumes parus, trois
autres à venir) sur les « saints martyrs canadiens » 38dont l’histoire et le
mythe sont vus comme fondements de notre tradition religieuse. À ce
chapitre d’une relecture des origines, il faudrait aussi tenir compte de
l’essai de H. Weinmann39qui intègre en partie l’expression littéraire dans
son interprétation sémio-psychanalytique des « meurtres fondateurs »,
depuis le Canada « sauvage » jusqu’au Québec du référendum de 1980. On
aurait toutefois tort de voir toujours du nationalisme dans le regard
ethnologisé : depuis les années 1960, son ambition est plus souvent d’arriver
à une connaissance approfondie de la spécificité québécoise que de mener
quelque guerre nationale symbolique, comme on l’a indûment prétendu.
C’est ainsi que progressent et se régénèrent les études québécoises : dans
le maintien de certaines lectures traditionnelles renouvelées pendant les
années 1960, mais aussi dans un éclatement visible de l’objet et des
méthodes, comme l’illustrent eux-mêmes les ouvrages d’histoire littéraire.
On peut cependant regretter que du côté des essais, les trop rares ouvrages
généraux ne s’intéressent guère à un ou à l’ensemble des genres ou des
discours.
Mais on l’a vu, le débat couve où s’affrontent et (parfois) se recoupent les
deux points de vue signalés : l’un plutôt traditionnel, « ethnologique », et
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l'autre, « interculturel », ou même « transculturel » ou « transnational »
(comme on dit, assez confusément, depuis les années récentes). Ce dernier
courant est par ailleurs plus porté sur la théorisation à base sociologique,
philosophique ou sémiotique d’un dialogue des cultures; le premier vit
souvent d’un point d’ancrage qu’on pourrait aussi appeler celui des
écrivains (la lecture personnelle d’une collectivité qui s’affirme). Ceux-ci
ont été très marqués par le sociologue marxiste et indépendantiste, Marcel
Rioux, et les autres spécialistes des sciences humaines qui étaient les
vedettes intellectuelles locales du début de notre « révolution culturelle »
(celle qui a commencé dans les années 1960 et qui est toujours en cours).
Ainsi se démarqueraient davantage maintenant des écrivants et des
écrivains de la critique, ceux de la nouvelle discursivité socio-sémiotique et
ceux de l’ancienne, même si les frontières sont parfois assez floues.
Beaucoup d‘« écrivains » sont très informés (surtout les plus jeunes) et
sont aussi assez « interculturels », alors que certains « écrivants » savent
« écrire » (poètes, romanciers, etc.) et restent quelquefois « ethnocentriques » plutôt qu’« interculturels » !
Un signe de la nouvelle richesse du discours critique : on s’interroge depuis
quelques années, de façon insistante, sur le genre critique, sur ses rapports
à la recherche et à la théorie (surtout la subventionnée « scientifique »),
comme l’enregistrent certains numéros des Écrits du Canada français.
Après celui consacré aux revues littéraires et culturelles doit paraître un
numéro qui fait état, en partie, de cette discussion qui oppose la critique
« mondaine » (surtout mass-médiatique, elle reste parfois présente à
l’université !) et la critique « savante » (d’abord universitaire) 40. Les
principales revues universitaires se sont d’ailleurs interrogées sur leurs
créneaux propres, leurs orientations, ce qui a donné un bilan très utile quant
à l’importance des divers courants des derniers vingt ans : histoire littéraire,
structuralisme, sociologie, sociocritique, psychocritique, génétique et
sémiotique 41.
La fécondité de cette remise en question de la critique ne conduit pas
souvent à la situer dans son rapport avec la crise que vit le littéraire et, plus
généralement, le culturel lui-même : depuis plus de vingt ans, notre monde
occidental, mass-médiatisé, réduit l’expression artistique au spectaculaire,
au diffusable, à l’immédiateté ou à la nouveauté consommable. On le sait,
on le dit : le temps est venu de la « culture contre l’art », mais on ne le
démontre pas souvent comme dans cet essai récent de Josette Féral,
consacré au financement étatique, canado-québécois du théâtre42. La
classe intellectuelle et artistique, qui depuis le XIXe siècle a donné naissance aux médias, a bel et bien cédé sa place aux « commercialisateurs »
qui, eux, fétichisent l’argent, la rentabilité du court terme et non la réflexion
critique.
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Les mémoires et les thèses : des types de travaux aux profils
universités
Peut-on voir se confirmer chez les étudiants les tendances déjà repérées
chez leurs maîtres ? Ceux qui s’intéressent aux mémoires et aux thèses
noteront assez vite qu’il y a peu d’études récentes sur ce type de recherche,
ce qui est sans doute attribuable au fait qu’on ne dispose plus d’un
répertoire général fiable depuis une quinzaine d’années 4 3. Ce qui
n’empêche pas un constat assez répandu : pendant les armées 1980, le sujet
québécois est moins souvent choisi que dans la décennie précédente. Il
aurait été et resterait actuellement supplanté par des sujets plus axés sur
des problèmes théoriques ou des littératures étrangères. Le sentiment
général est bien le suivant : nos étudiants (actuellement inscrits aux études
supérieures) s’intéressent moins qu’auparavant au domaine québécois. On
peut penser que l’intérêt des thésards ne dépend pas que des recherches,
aussi stimulantes soient-elles, de leurs maîtres. Il tient sans doute à un
ensemble de conditions où la mode « libre-échangiste » et la conscience
« interculturelle » joueraient tout autant leur rôle.
Il reste peut-être utile de rappeler quelques faits mis en relief par deux
études que j’ai faites, l’une en 197744 et l’autre en 198645. Je signalerais
d’abord que les thèses et mémoires consacrés au domaine (sujets déposés
de 1970 à 1983) proviennent à 75 p. 100 du Québec et à 25 p. 100 du reste
du Canada (surtout de l’Ontario). L’importance relative des contributions
canadiennes hors du Québec n’est pas souvent reconnue. Il faut pourtant
savoir que de plus en plus d’ouvrages portant sur notre expression en
proviennent 46; d’autres sur la littérature canadienne-anglaise renvoient à
des exemples québécois (francophones)47.
Autre statistique parlante : 94 p. 100 de ces travaux portent sur le XXe
siècle, le solde de 6 p. 100 étant consacré aux autres siècles, surtout le XIXe.
À propos de ce dernier siècle, il faut bien se souvenir que le statut littéraire
n’a pas été souvent reconnu à ses productions, ce que proposent de revoir,
chacun à sa manière, L. Robert et R. Beaudoin dans les ouvrages déjà cités.
Concernant les orientations méthodologiques, il faut mentionner qu’entre
1977 et 1983, le type dominant est celui des études socio-historiques : 40 p.
100 du total, dont le quart en socio-critique d’inspiration européenne
(C. Duchet, J. Dubois). À cette époque, l’édition critique ne représente
que 1 p. 100 du total. Deuxième type de travail étudiant : le thématique, au
sens du fourre-tout habituel : le Nord, l’eau, l’écrivain... Le thème gagnant
à partir de 1977 est celui de la femme ou du féminisme, ce qui reflète assez
bien la montée de ce mouvement pendant les années 1970. (Les études
féminines vont maintenant de soi, même si elles ne privilégient pas automatiquement le corpus québécois.) Viennent ensuite ceux du temps et de
l’espace; puis le pays ou le passé (retrait considérable par rapport au début
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de la décennie); enfin : l’amour, la mort, le diable, l’eau, la lumière,
l’humour, l’ironie, la solitude, l’imagination... (mots clés des intitulés de
mémoires et de thèses).
Le troisième type marque la percée de la sémiotique (17 p. 100) à partir de
1977 : on trouve là des propositions théoriques générales, beaucoup
d’études narratologiques, d’autres concernant les acteurs (personnages).
Vient ensuite le type « de création », produisant un ouvrage de fiction et sa
théorie (très souvent psychanalytique ou sémiotique). Se détachent, finalement, trois types mineurs : « pédagogiques » (8 p. 100), « études comparées »
(5 p. 100) et « psychanalytiques » (3 p. 100). Les pédagogiques traitent de
l’enseignement de la littérature au niveau secondaire, par exemple comment utiliser les chansons ou les pièces de théâtre. Alors que les « études
comparées » rapprochent (50 p. 100) les littératures anglo-canadienne et
québécoise : on compare M. Laurence à G. Roy; R. Wright à G. Bessette,
etc. Très peu mettent en rapport les textes québécois et étatsuniens, comme
certaines thèses qui étudient Aquin et Pynchon. Quels sont les sujets de
départ de ce type de travail ? Le concept de liberté au Canada anglais et
au Québec, le thème du pays, la découverte du moi, la poésie. Comme dans
les sujets « psychanalytiques », on convoque fréquemment Bachelard,
Freud et Jung.
Quelques commentaires sur ces pourcentages. D’abord sur la prédominance de l’histoire littéraire. En fait, de 1977 à 1986, sa part décroît. Près
des deux tiers des ouvrages (62 p. 100) sont du côté thématique et
sémiotique, avec l’innovation du type « créationniste ». Ensuite, il faut
relever le peu de travaux sur des sujets reliés à l’esthétique et à la
philosophie.
Des profils universitaires ?
Faut-il, par ailleurs, considérer que ces types s’attachent à certaines
universités ? L’histoire littéraire et la sociologie caractérisent l’Université
du Québec à Trois-Rivières, alors qu’elles sont hautement appréciées aux
universités d’Ottawa et de Montréal, à McGill et à Sherbrooke. L’université
thématique par excellence est Laval (Québec). La sémiotique est
privilégiée par l’Université du Québec à Montréal. Ottawa serait assez
« psychanalytique », pendant que Sherbrooke serait « créationniste » et
McGill « comparatiste ».
Ainsi se traceraient, du moins pour les études québécoises, trois grands
types universitaires : traditionnelles, modernes et celles de l’entre-deux, (en
mutation ?). La tradition se maintiendrait à McGill, Ottawa et TroisRivières, avec quelques nouveautés repérables ici ou là, pendant que la
contemporanéité ferait la marque de I’UQAM et de Sherbrooke, à des
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degrés divers, selon les angles choisis. Des changements seraient en cours
à Laval et à l’Université de Montréal.
Mais cet étiquetage risque de masquer la réalité vécue. Ainsi, à l’UQAM,
le doctorat en sémiologie (lettres, communications, philosophie, histoire
de l’art) fait écran aux études proprement littéraires (socio-critiques,
généticiennes, sémiotiques) et aux très nombreuses études du corpus
québécois qui n’ont pas la vitrine de Laval, Ottawa et Montréal où se
trouvent des « centres » qui affectionnent la littérarité et la québécité. Par
ailleurs, l’Université de Montréal est sans doute devenue aussi « créationniste » que l’UQAM et Sherbrooke, tout en restant le principal centre des
études françaises au Québec (sinon au Canada). À Ottawa, comme à Laval
et à Sherbrooke, se pratique aussi l’analyse sémiotique. Ou encore :
Sherbrooke est aussi comparatiste que McGill... Et puis, il faudrait citer de
nombreux groupes de recherches, ici ou là, qui ne renvoient pas forcément
une mission particulière à telle université : celui sur l’édition à Sherbrooke,
sur le « Montréal imaginaire » à l’Université de Montréal... Aussi, gare aux
conclusions trop rapides : les « images » sont trompeuses dans un paysage
où la tendance est davantage au rapprochement, puisqu’à travers des
programmes en principe différents se livre une assez vive concurrence sur
des terrains finalement recoupés48.
La contribution des collègues étrangers
Sur toute cette question des études en cours, l’on doit enfin tenir de plus
en plus compte des apports des collègues étrangers, même si leurs ouvrages
ne sont pas facilement accessibles au Québec. La compilation, même
incomplète, publiée l’an dernier par le Conseil international d’études
canadiennes sera bien utile49. Une brève analyse50 m’a déjà permis de tirer
certaines conclusions de la rubrique « Langues et littératures ». Je rappelle
ici que six pays sont particulièrement productifs.
L’Italie vient en première place avec vingt-quatre titres. Ce sont surtout
des thèses de doctorat sur Aquin, Basile, Blais, Ducharme, Godbout,
Guèvremont, Grandbois, Hémon, Lasnier, Morin (Paul), Nelligan, Ouellet
(Fernand), Roy (Gabrielle), Savard, Thériault. Signalons également les
ouvrages de L. Petroni (actes de colloque), F. Marcato (sur Ducharme) et
P. Carile (sur les relations de voyage et la Bibliothèque bleue), sans oublier
L ‘altérité dans la littérature québécoise, recueil d’exposés faits au séminaire
annuel de Bagni di Lucca, organisé par le Centre d’études québécoises de
Bologne sous le titre « La dérive des francophonies51».
Aux États-Unis, qui viennent en deuxième place pour le nombre de titres,
on trouve en revanche davantage d’ouvrages. Outre le numéro spécial de
Yale French Studies (1983), je rappellerai les contributions de J. Weiss sur
le théâtre; de P.G. Lewis sur Gabrielle Roy (sa vision littéraire) (1984) et
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sur les écrivains féminins (1985); de E.R. Babby sur Gabrielle Roy (1985);
et de M. Cagnon sur le roman (1986). La troisième place est occupée par
la France avec des ouvrages déjà anciens. Il faut compléter le répertoire du
`CIEC en rappelant le numéro spécial de la revue Littérature (no 66, 1987)
intitulé « Recherches québécoises » et se souvenir des travaux menés à Paris
par C. Duchet (Paris VIII), C. Filteau (Paris XIII) et M. Ducrocq-Poirier
(Sorbonne); à Aix par Y. Resch et son Centre Saint-Laurent (études
franco-québécoises).
L’Allemagne se place au quatrième rang avec huit titres orientés vers des
problématiques culturelles et linguistiques, si l’on met à part un ouvrage de
M. Larass consacré à Grandbois et un autre de P. Socken sur Alexandre
Chenevert de G. Roy52. La cinquième place est occupée conjointement par
l’Angleterre, grâce essentiellement aux publications de C. May sur la
littérature en général et sur l’œuvre de J. Godbout, et la Belgique avec trois
publications de colloque qui ont leur origine au Centre d’études canadiennes de l’Université Libre de Bruxelles animé par G. Kurgan-van Hentenrik
et Madeleine Frédéric.
À ce tableau, il y a lieu d’ajouter la Hongrie dont l’Académie des Sciences
vient de faire paraître un numéro spécial de Helikon, « Littératures
canadiennes », sous la direction de S. Sarkany53, de même que la Pologne
où Jozef Kwaterko (professeur à Cracovie) vient de publier un essai 54 après
son collègue Krzysztof Jarosz55. D'autres existent sans nul doute qui ne se
sont pas encore fait connaître ici.
Qu’apportent de neuf ces contributions étrangères ? Il n’est pas facile de
l’établir étant donné le peu d’études globales disponibles56 et la rareté des
comptes rendus québécois à cet égard. Je puis témoigner, pour en avoir lu
quelques-uns, que ces travaux, peu opportunistes ou de complaisance, sont
généralement informés et documentés. Quand on sait les difficultés que
représentent l’éloignement des sources et le support inégal habituellement
fourni dans certaines des universités d’origine, l’on ne peut qu’être
impressionné par l’apport de l’analyse étrangère, par sa maîtrise
méthodologique.
Cela donne une lecture habituellement très serrée des textes, dans une
exploitation thématique et discursive assez proche de ce qui se fait au
Québec, encore puisse-t-on les trouver plus conservatrices qu’ici. Les
auteurs sont-ils influencés par leurs sources québécoises ? Sans nul doute,
ce qui est tout à fait normal. Par ailleurs, certaines erreurs, attribuables à
une connaissance insuffisante du milieu québécois, sont souvent
compensées par la recontextualisation inhérente à la sensibilité ou à la
culture analytique des auteurs. Là aussi, l’objet d’études subit inévitablement un décentrement qui ne peut qu’être bénéfique au domaine entier,
pour autant qu’on puisse ici en prendre connaissance. On ne peut le faire
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que trop rarement, par exemple, dans les collaborations aux revues
québécoises (en particulier : Voix et images, Présence francophone). Une
des caractéristiques des études étrangères pourrait se définir ainsi : elles
sont davantage du côté de l’inscription du texte dans l’histoire, dans le social
ou le politique que du côté de la description (socio-critique, sémiotique,
etc.) du texte.
Conclusion
En résumé, les études québécoises récentes se déploient au Québec et à
l’étranger dans tout l’éventail contemporain des méthodes et des théories
littéraires. Marquer, comme je l’ai fait, l’importance des travaux d’histoire
littéraire dans l’établissement du corpus et de sa connaissance conduit à
mettre au jour tout un processus de réévaluation de l’ensemble textuel et
de ses multiples possibilités de contextualisation : de la francophonie
canadienne, nord-américaine ou mondiale à tout le domaine des études
comparées et des théories littéraires. Après avoir pendant longtemps
maintenu le regard ethnologique traditionnel dans les descriptions du texte,
elles ont depuis une décennie mis de plus en plus l’accent sur l’inscription
du texte dans l’histoire, mettant au point un discours sociologique de la
globalité et de l’interculturalité.
L’avenir des études littéraires au Québec apparaît aussi de plus en plus
théoricien, même si se poursuit une analyse textuelle assez libre et moins
encline à la théorisation. Il sera sans doute aussi davantage comparatiste
(à commencer par les études comparées dans le corpus québécois élargi
aux autres publications québécoises non francophones). C’est ce que l’on
est à même de constater ou de conjecturer, en dépit de la faiblesse des
indicateurs disponibles.
Pourrons-nous, là aussi, sur ce terrain, inventer ? Les praticiens sont
habituellement assez durs pour eux-mêmes et l’ensemble des discoureurs
locaux. Pour G. Marcotte, la faiblesse de notre formation philosophique
nous a jusqu’ici empêchés de produire une critique de calibre international
(nous n’avons pas encore notre Northrop Frye!). Pour Jean Éthier-Blais,
nous restons soumis à l’imitation de nos maîtres (français). Il est vrai que
les travaux de ces deux critiques les plus en vue n’ont pas encore été
reconnus en dehors de l’audience du littéraire québécois. Ils n’ont pas été
non plus engagés sur le terrain théorique. Or, les générations qui les suivent
publient justement davantage à l’étranger et participent plus à la recherche
en cours. Voilà qui devrait permettre bientôt un changement de perception,
à la condition, évidemment, que le travail accompli soit à la hauteur du
dialogue international auquel nous voulons participer. Le travail amorcé
par certains prédécesseurs, comme feu André Belleau57, y contribuera, ne
serait-ce que par la familiarité entretenue avec la théorie (Lukacs et
Bakhtine, entre autres, chez Belleau) et les problématiques
128
contemporaines (par exemple, le conflit des codes au Québec, chez Belleau, encore).
Ayant l’avantage de pouvoir s’appuyer sur un objet d’étude maintenant
établi et généralement reconnu dans sa spécificité et son autonomie, les
nouvelles générations d’ici et d’ailleurs auront à comprendre et à faire
valoir comment cette littérature joue son rôle dans les intertextes locaux et
universels; comment elle participe au discours québécois globa1 58;
comment elle change l’analyse institutionnelle déjà faite; comment elle
modifie la réflexion en cours sur le paratexte, sur la pratique des genres
littéraires, dans l’imprimé comme dans l’audio-visuel; comment elle intervient dans l’analyse de la lecture. Ce qu’elle a à proposer sur l’évolution
du récit ou de la langue française; sur le rôle du littéraire dans le social; sur
l’univers des signes; sur le rapport à soi et au monde.
Toutes ces questions et bien d’autres sont d’ores et déjà posées par des
québécistes d’ici et d’ailleurs. Qui discute de leur légitimité ou de leur
opportunité ? Voilà qui est assez étonnant si l’on veut bien se souvenir d’une
époque encore proche où l’on doutait de l’existence même de notre
littérature. C’était avant les années 1960, au temps de Robert Charbonneau, proposeur courageux (parce qu’isolé), avec la France et nous (1947)
et d’autres publications, de l’objet littéraire d’ici. Une nouvelle littérature
est donc née, qui a pris quelques siècles pour s’affirmer. Il lui aura fallu
ensuite quelques décennies pour s’afficher fortement et entrer enfin dans
l’interdiscours du monde.
Notes
1.
2.
3.
Fortin, Lamonde, Ricard, Guide de la littérature québécoise, Montréal,
Éditions du Boréal, 1988,158 p. On voudra bien s’y reporter pour les
adresses bibliographiques non données ici.
Vanasse, A., La littérature québécoise à l’étranger, guide aux usagers,
Montréal, XYZ éditeur (C.P. 5247, Succ. C, Montréal (Québec),
Canada, H2X 3M4), 1989, 95 p. Ceux qui voudront avoir tout le
panorama canadien se reporteront aussi au Répertoire des études
canadiennes, québécoises et régionales au Canada (qui fait le détail de
tous les programmes et universités du Canada), Montréal, Direction
des études canadiennes, Secrétariat d’État du Canada et Association
des études canadiennes, 3e édition, 1989, 255 p. (en français et en
anglais). Voir aussi le Répertoire international des études canadiennes,
s.l., édité par le Conseil international d’études canadiennes, 1988-1989,
103 p.
Voix et images, littérature québécoise, Département d’études littéraires,
Université du Québec à Montréal (C.P. 8888, Succ. A, Montréal
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(Québec), Canada, H3C 3P8). T rois numéros par année. L’unique
revue universitaire exclusivement consacrée au domaine.
4. Lettres québécoises, Éditions Jumonville (C.P. 1840, Succ. B, Montréal
(Québec), Canada, H3B 3L4). Quatre numéros annuels.
5. Du côté des anthologies, il y aurait peu à dire (pour les dix dernières
années) si ne venait de paraître celle de Gaston Miron et Lise Gauvin :
Écrivains québécois contemporains (depuis 1950), Paris, Seghers, 1989,
579 p., qui redonne de l’actualité à ce type d’ouvrage non signalé plus
haut. Bien fait (tout en ayant le défaut de ne retenir aucun texte du
poète le plus connu des écrivains québécois...), cet ouvrage prend le
relais de l’Anthologie de la littérature québécoise, publiée sous la direction de G. Marcotte aux Éditions La Presse (1978-1980) dont le
quatrième et dernier tome allait jusqu’en 1952.
6. Hamel, R., Hare J., Wyczynski, P., Dictionnaire des auteurs de langue
française en Amérique du Nord, Montréal, Fides, 1989, 1 364 p.
7. Voir en particulier Viatte, A., Histoire littéraire de l‘Amérique française,
des origines à 1950, Québec et Paris, Presses de l’Université Laval et
Presses Universitaires de France, 1954,545 p.; et Anthologie littéraire
de l’Amérique francophone : littérature canadienne, louisianaise,
haïtienne, de la Martinique, de la Guadeloupe et de la Guyane,
Sherbrooke, Presses de l’Univerité de Sherbrooke, 1971,519 p.
8. Présence francophone, Département d’études françaises, Université de
Sherbrooke, Sherbrooke (Québec), Canada, J1K 2R1.
9. Poteet, M. et coll., Textes de l’exode, recueil de textes sur l’émigration
des Québécois aux États-Unis (XIXe et XXe siècles), coll. « Francophonie », Montréal, Guérin littérature, 1987,505 p.
10. Lemire, M. et coll., Dictionnaire des œuvres littéraires du Québec :
tome 1, « Des origines à nos jours », 1980,927 p.; tome II, « 1900-1939 »,
1980, 1 363 p.; tome III, « 1940-1959 », 1982, 1 252 p.; tome IV, « 19601969 », 1123 p.; tome V, « 1970-1975 », 1987, 1 133 p., Montréal, Fides.
11. Ces travaux portent sur l’imagination que nous avons, dans le roman,
depuis une centaine d’années, du religieux, du politique et de
l’amoureux (recherches faites grâce à la fondation Killam).
12. Sont parus à la Bibliothèque du Nouveau Monde, Presses de
l’Université de Montréal : Beaugrand, H., La Chasse-galerie; Borduas,
P.-É., Écrits I; Buies, A., Chroniques I; Cartier, J., Relations;
Dessaulles, H., Journal; Grignon, C.-H., Un homme et son péché;
Guèvremont, G., Le Survenant; Harvey, J.-C., Les Demi-civilisés;
Laberge, A., La Scouine; Lenoir, J., OEuvres; Grandbois, A., Poèmes
(deux tomes), Visages du monde. À paraître sous peu : OEuvres de
Lahontan; Trente arpents de Ringuet. Plus tard viendront : de Ferron,
Contes, Le Ciel de Québec, L‘Amélanchier; des œuvres de Marcel
Dugas; Gabrielle Roy (seulement Bonheur d’occasion, une autre
équipe, sous la direction de F. Ricard, se consacrant à une édition
critique « légère » de l’ensemble des textes), etc.
130
13.Voir Allard, J., « L’édition critique Hubert Aquin : brève histoire d’une
entreprise et notes sur l’édition de Prochain épisode » dans L’édition
critique au Canada, à paraître prochainement chez AMS Press, New
York.
14. Marcotte, G., Littérature et circonstances, « Essais littéraires »,
Montréal, l’Hexagone, 1989,352 p.
15. Voir Hébert, P. et B. Winder, « Vingt ans de recherche en littérature
québécoise », Index- Thesaurus 1967-1987 de Voix et images, Montréal,
Service des publications, Université du Québec à Montréal, 1987. À la
rubrique des « auteurs critiques cités », G. Marcotte ne le cède qu’à
Roland Barthes.
16. Robert, L., L’Institution du littéraire au Québec, Québec, Presses de
l’Université Laval, 1989,272 p.
17. Moisan, C., directeur, L ‘Histoire littéraire, théories, méthodes,
pratiques, Québec, Presses de l’Université Laval, 1989,284 p.
18. Angenot, M., 1889, un état du discours social, Longueuil, Le
Préambule, 1 167 p.
19. Cambron, M., Une société, un récit. Discours culturel au Québec (19671976), « Essais littéraires », Montréal, l’Hexagone, 1989, 201 p.
20. Lamonde, Y. et E. Trépanier, éditeurs, L’avènement de la modernité
culturelle au Québec, Québec, Institut québécois de recherche sur la
culture, 1986, 319 p.
21. Lahaise, R., Guy Delahaye et la modernité littéraire, « Cahiers du
Québec - littérature », Montréal, Hurtubise HMH, 1987, 549 p.
22. Dupré, L., Stratégies du vertige (ouvrage consacré aux poètes féminins
N. Brossard, M. Gagnon et F. Théorêt) Montréal, Editions du Remueménage, 1989, 265 p.
23. Nepveu, P., L’écologie du réel (mort et naissance de la littérature
québécoise contemporaine), Montréal, Editions du Boréal, 1988, 245 p.
24. Harel, S., Le Voleur de parcours. Identité et cosmopolitisme dans la
littérature québécoise contemporaine, Longueuil, Le Préambule, 1989,
309 p.
25. Voir les études connues de A. Sirois, C. Moisan, R. Sutherland.
26. Ce qui ne nie en rien l’intérêt du travail de certains comme R. Giguère :
Exil, révolte et dissidence. Etude comparée des poésies québécoise et
canadienne (1925-1955), coll. « Vie des lettres québécoises », Québec,
Presses de l’Université Laval, 1984, 283 p.
27. Voix et images, « Littérature canadienne-anglaise », vol. X, no 1, 1984.
Dossier comprenant une entrevue avec D. G. Jones par R. Giguère
(« Une ou des littératures canadiennes ? »); des études : P. Smart
(« L’Espace de nos fictions : quelques réfIexions sur nos deux cultures »),
C. Bayard (« Postmodernisme et avant-garde au Canada »). Avec une
« Bibliographie sélective : poésie canadienne-roman canadien ».
28. Voix et images, « Dossier comparatiste Québec-Amérique latine », vol.
XII, no 1, (1986), p. 11-66.
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29. Sur la question des rapports à l’historique métropole française, voir
« Dépendance et autonomie des littératures francophones » dans
Présence francophone, no 26, 1985, p. l-74. On pourra aussi consulter
un ouvrage à paraître prochainement, fruit d’un colloque tenu au
Centre Saint-Laurent d’Aix-en-Provence sur La métropole culturelle :
Marseille et Montréal.
30. Krysinski, W., Carrefours de signes, essais sur le roman moderne, coll.
« Approaches to Semiotics », no 61, La Haye, Paris, New York, Mouton
Éditeur, 1981, 452 p.
31. Voir Heidenreich, R., The Postwar Novel in Canada, Narrative Pattems
and Reader Response, « Library of the Canadian Review of Comparative Literature, » vol. 8, Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University Press,
1989,197 p. (auteurs étudiés : M. Atwood, M.-C. Blais, A. Langevin,
R. Ducharme, R. Davies, L. Cohen, H. Aquin, A.M. KIein).
32. Sirois, A., Vigneault, J., van Sundert, M. et D. Hayne, Cahiers de
littérature canadienne comparée, no 1, Sherbrooke, Université de
Sherbrooke, Département des lettres et communications, 1989, 130 p.
33. Viau, R., Les fous de papier, préface du Dr Yves Lamontagne,
Montréal, Éditions du Méridien, 1989, 373 p.
34. Brochu, A., La visée critique, essais autobiographiques et littéraires,
Montréal, Éditions du Boréal, 1988,250 p. Aussi : L’évasion tragique,
essai sur les romans d’André Langevin, « Cahiers du QuébecLittérature », no 81, Montreal, Hurtubise HMH, 1985, 358 p.
35. Proulx, B., Le roman du territoire, « Les Cahiers d’études littéraires »,
no 8, Montréal, Université du Québec à Montréal, 1987, 327 p.
36. Beaudoin, R., Naissance d'une littérature. Essai sur le messianisme et
les débuts de la littérature canadienne-française (1850-1890), Montréal,
Éditions du Boréal, 1989, 211 p.
37. Arguin, M., Le roman québécois de 1944 à 1965. Symptômes de
colonialisme et signes de libération, coll. « CRELIQ », Montréal,
l’Hexagone, 1989, 280 p.
38. Laflèche, G., Les Saints martyrs canadiens : tome 1, « Histoire du mythe »,
366 p.; tome II, « Martyre d’Isaac Jogues par Jérôme Lalemant », Laval,
Éditions du Singulier, 1989, 332 p.
39. Weinmann, H., Du Canada au Québec, généalogie d’une histoire,
Montréal, l’Hexagone, 1987,487 p. Vient de paraître, du même auteur,
chez le même éditeur : Cinéma de l’imaginaire québécois, « De la petite
Aurore à Jésus de Montréal », 1990, 273 p.
40. Ecrits du Canada français, 5754, avenue Déom, Montréal, (Québec),
Canada, H3S 2N4. Voir le no 64 (1988), « Littérature et médias ». Aussi
le no 67, « Revues culturelles et littéraires » (Colloque des écrivains).
Ou encore, à paraître, « La critique en question » (Colloque des
écrivains, automne 1989).
41. Voir Voix et images, littérature québécoise, vol. XII, no 2, (1987),
p. 265-312. On se reportera aussi à la Revue d’histoire de la littérature
132
du Québec et du Canada français, no 6, « Revues littéraires du Québec »,
Ottawa, Éditions de l’Université d’Ottawa, 1983, 246 p.
42. Féral, J., La culture contre l‘art, « essai d’économie politique du théâtre »,
Québec, Presses de l’Université du Québec, 1990, 341 p.
43. Le dernier en la matière est celui de Naaman, A., Répertoire des thèses
littéraires canadiennes de 1921 à 1976, coll. « Bibliographies »,
Sherbrooke, Naaman, 1978, 453 p. Pour la période qui suit, il faut
consulter plusieurs sources variées indiquées dans le Guide de Fortin,
Lamonde, Ricard.
44. « Les sujets de thèses en littératures québécoise et canadiennefrançaise », Revue de l’Université d’Ottawa, « Histoire littéraire du
Québec », vol. 49, nos l-2, janvier-avril 1979, p. 99-103.
45. « La critique littéraire québécoise et la recherche universitaire »,
exposé, Association des littératures canadienne et québécoise,
Congrès des sociétés savantes du Canada, 30 mai 1986.
46. Parmi les titres assez récents : Paterson, J. (Université de Toronto),
Anne Hébert, Architexture romanesque, Ottawa, Éditions de
l’Université d’Ottawa, 1985, 192 p.
47. Voir, par exemple, les publications de Linda Hutcheon. The Canadian
Postmodern. A Study of Contemporary English-Canadian Fiction fait
état de H. Aquin, L. Bersianik, N. Brassard, L. Dupré, Madeleine
Gagnon, Parti pris, (Toronto, New York, Oxford, Oxford University
Press, 1988, 230 p.)
48. Remarques faites à partir de Allard, J., « Les études littéraires dans
les universités » dans Langue et société, Conseil de la langue française,
Montréal, Editeur officiel du Québec, 1982.
49. Publications et thèses étrangères/Foreign Publications and Theses,
compilation par L. Jones, Ottawa, ministère des Affaires extérieures
et du Commerce extérieur du Canada et Conseil international d’études
canadiennes, 1989, 175 p.
50. Voix et images, « Un guide à suivre, un répertoire à compléter », no 43,
(1989), p. 127-131.
51. Marcato Falzoni, F., La deriva delle francofonie, atti dei seminari
annuali di Letterature Francofone, « L’altérité dans la littérature
o
québécoise », Bologna, Editrice CLUEB, n 1, 1987, 281 p. (en
français).
52. Il faut noter que M. Socken (auteur d’une thèse sur l’œuvre de G. Roy,
sous la direction de D.M. Hayne à l’université de Toronto) est professeur à l’Université de Waterloo (Ontario).
53. Helikon, revue de littérature comparée de l’Institut d’études littéraires
de l’Académie hongroise des sciences, vol. XXXIV, nos l-2, Budapest,
1988, 290 p.
54. Kwaterko, J., Le roman québécois de 1960 à 1975, idéologie et
représentation littéraire, coll. « L’univers des discours », Longueuil, Le
Préambule, 1989, 268 p.
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55. Jarosz, K., La fonction poétique dans l’œuvre romanesque de Hubert
Aquin, Katowice, Uniwersytet Slqski, 1987, 200 p.
56. On dispose actuellement des publications suivantes : Godin, J.-C.,
directeur, Lectures européennes de la littérature québécoise, Montréal,
Leméac, 1982, 388 p.; Gauvin, L. et Klinkenberg, J.-M., Trajectoires:
littérature et institutions au Québec et en Belgique francophone, coll.
« Dossiers Media », Bruxelles, Labor, 1985, 272 p. Ou encore,
« Regards du Brésil sur la littérature du Québec » dans Études
littéraires, vol. XVI, no 2, août 1983, p. 183-W.
57. Voir Belleau, A., Le romancier fictif, essai sur la représentation de
l’écrivain dans le roman québécois, Québec, Presses de l’Université du
Québec, 1980, 155 p.; Y a-t-il un intellectuel dans la salle ?, « L’échiquier »,
Montréal, Primeur, 1984,206 p.; et Surprendre les voix, « Papiers collés »,
Montréal, Éditions du Boréal, 1986, 238 p.
58. Nous n’avons pas encore cette « Histoire de la pensée québécoise »
dont rêve Fernand Dumont. Voir son ouvrage, le Sort de la culture
(Montréal, l’Hexagone, « Positions philosophiques », 1987, 332 p.), qui
y contribue fortement, après toutes les importantes études historiques
qui ont été publiées depuis quinze ans sur les idéologies au Québec.
134
Caroline Andrew
Laughing Together: Women’s Studies in Canada
Abstract
Women's studies in Canada is looked at through the image of "laughing
together". Although not the usual image of this fïeld of studies, it sums up
many of the distinctive elements of this scholarship in Canada. The article is
organized around a number of characteristics of laughing together - it is
collective, it involves the consciousness of a shared experience, it implies
voice, it expresses pleasure, it acts as an interruption to normal modes of
explanation and behaviour and, finally, it is an act of catharsis and exorcism.
Résumé
Les études sur les femmes sont ici examinées à travers l’image de l’acte de
«rire ensemble ». Image inusitée dans ce domaine, elle résume néanmoins les
éléments distinctifs des études sur les femmes au Canada. L’article est
structuré autour de quelques caractéristiques de l‘acte de rire ensemble : c ‘est
un acte collectif; il nécessite la prise de conscience d’une expérience partagée,
il exige l'utilisation de la voix, il exprime le plaisir, il sert d’interruption aux
modes communs d’explication et de comportement et, enfin, c’est un acte de
catharsis et d'exorcisme.
Laughter is the image that, for me, best sums up the field of women’s studies
in Canada. This is not perhaps the usual image of this area and, indeed, the
analysis of discrimination and domination is not a laughing matter. But the
underlying message of women’s studies is one of community, collective
identities and optimism. It conveys the joyfulness that comes from working
together with people one likes/loves/admires.l
The image of “laughing together” carries with it a number of elements: it is
collective; it involves the consciousness of a shared experience; it implies
voice; it expresses pleasure; it acts as an interruption to normal modes of
explanation and behaviour; and, finally, laughing together is an act of
catharsis and exorcism. Women’s studies is all of these2Although it is
important to remember that this is an area of research that is world-wide,
and that feminist scholars here have been very much part of international
networks and influenced by work going on elsewhere, it is possible to
suggest certain Canadian orientations or certain characteristics of
Canadian scholarship.3This overview of women’s studies in terms of the
image of laughing together is designed to highlight the Canadian contribution to women’s studies.
IJCS / RIÉC
Laughing together is a collective experience. One cannot laugh together
alone. There are bonds in the experience that unite the participants: each
is stronger because of the group. It is not simply a number of people
laughing, it is people laughing together.
This importance of the collective nature of the experience has been particularly true of women’s studies in Canada. Indeed, it has been true in two
related, but separate, ways. Canadian feminist scholarship has given considerable weight to interpretations of women’s condition that stress collective factors such as class and, more broadly, socio-economic variables and
that, therefore, stress collective solutions. In addition, Canadian women’s
studies has been collective in the sense of inclusionary, both within the
domain of scholarship and in the links between theory and practice, between the academy and the society.
Let us first examine the importance of the analysis of collective factors in
the interpretation of women’s status in Canada, which combines a strong
political-economy strain within Canadian feminism plus the socioeconomic orientation of much of liberal feminism.
This orientation marked the Report of the Royal Commission on the Status
of Women in Canada (1970). The report was, in itself, very important for
the impetus it gave to the women’s movement and to the analysis of the
place of women in Canada (Bégin 1990, Black 1988, Hamilton and Barrett
1986). The fundamental message of the report was that the key question
for women relates to their economic autonomy, particularly equal participation in the paid labour force, but also in work at home. To this extent,
the report can best be seen as a liberal feminist reading of Simone de
Beauvoir. Its importance meant that its interpretation of reality has carried
considerable weight in determining the agenda of feminist scholarship.
Women and work has always been a central question in Canadian women’s
studies. 4
This has also been the result of the important strain of socialist feminism
within women’s studies in Canada (Adamson 1988, Armstrong and
Armstrong 1978, Armstrong and Connelly 1989, Burstyn 1990, Connelly
1986, Maroney and Luxton 1987, Phillips 1983). It has been important both
in political practice and in conceptual terms. It has marked areas of
scholarship as Bettina Bradbury (1987) illustrates in her description of
recent studies in the areas of wage labour of working-class women, the
organization of working women, and the attitudes of the left to the “woman
question” – areas that bring together women’s history and working class
history. The description given by Pat Armstrong in Labour Pains illustrates
well the basic approach being taken:
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Laughing Together: Women's Studies in Canada
This materialist analysis forms the theoretical background of this
book. There is assumed to be a single system, one dominated by
the drive for accumulation and characterized by a sexual division
of labour that subordinates women to men. This sexual division of
labour reverberates through the entire political economy, a political economy understood to encompass interpenetrating segments
of household, economy and state (p. 45).
Jensen (1990), in explaining why the first wave of feminism in Canada
receded after having obtained the right to vote, also presents a materialist
analysis although one that gives considerable weight to the way in which
collective identities are established by different groups of social actors,
including women.
These socialist feminist studies have often explicitly or implicitly been
framed in terms of needed political or state action:
Research, then, can be much more than an uncovering of evidence
indicating women’s active participation in collective action or a
documenting of women’s current successes and failures. Research
can be a central component in praxis, providing a guide to, and a
reflection on action (Armstrong and Connelly, p. 6).
Continued political pressure and education, improved legislation,
and union activity show some potential for lessening the economic
inequality experienced by women in the work force (Phillips and
Phillips, 1983, p. 184).
Brisken’s analysis of the women’s movement in Canada suggests that there
has been an attempt to combine two strategies, that of disengagement – of
creating alternate women’s structures — and that of mainstreaming— of
talking to and dealing with the general society and its institutions, including
the state (Brisken 1989). As Brisken argues, both strategies are necessary,
and the objective should be to maintain “an effective tension” (p. 94)
between disengagement and mainstreaming. This can only be done by
bringing people and groups together collectively, by including rather than
excluding, and by working with differences.
This effective tension exists in relation to the analysis of the relationship of
women, and the women’s movement, to the state. The state is seen as a
focus for action or as an instrument of social change but it is also seen as
an important force in maintaining women’s inequality. On the one hand,
studies suggest public solutions — pay equity, day care, funding for women’s
groups – but, on the other hand, the state is seen as patriarchal, and
dominated by men and male interests (Findlay 1988, Laurin-Frenette 1981,
Vandelac 1985, Vickers 1989). Collective action for women thus involves a
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combination of influencing the state and of independently creating institutions to serve the needs of women. And, indeed, the Canadian women’s
movement has been marked, up to the present, by an emphasis on the
building of broad coalitions. First, in Quebec, with the Fédération des
femmes du Québec and, then, with the development of the National Action
Committee on the Status of Women (NAC), attention has been paid to
building coalitions among groups with different ideologies, styles and foci
of political action (Black 1988):
For Canadians talk to each other - indeed shout at each other across barriers of theory, analysis and politics that in Britain, for
example, would long since have created an angry truce of silent
pluralism.... In Canada, this task has been undertaken with greater
solidarity and less suspicion between activists and intellectuals,
academics and reformers than has been the case in Britain or the
United States (Hamilton and Barrett 1986, pp. l-2).
The success of the Canadian Research Institute for the Advancement of
Women (CRIAW) is another example of this Canadian perspective.
CRIAW brings together university, government and grass-roots women in
a preoccupation to link research, policy and political action. As Margrit
Eichler states in her study of Canadian women’s studies:
The common wisdom of a close connection between women’s
studies and the women’s movement, then, is correct. It is not just
a historical link - although that is universally acknowledged - but
an on-going, difficult, frustrating, demanding, vital and genuinely
two-way connection (Eichler 1990).
The second element implicit in the image of laughing together is the
consciousness of a shared experience. We laugh with people about things
that we share and in the understanding that these are shared. That which
is shared must be understood to be shared. Women’s studies has, as its very
essence, the reconstruction of women’s experience and the rendering of
this experience more visible and more valued:
. . . l’élément dominant des luttes des femmes dans la phase récente
de résurgence du féminisme a consisté dans l’intégration croissante des femmes dans les divers espaces de visibilité sociale
(Lamoureux 1988, p. 10).
This has been done in a variety of ways. Historians have shown the importance of women’s contributions throughout Canadian history (Le Collectif
Clio 1982, Mann-Trofmenkoff and Prentice 1977, Strong-Boag and
Fellman 1986, Lavigne and Pinard 1983). An enormous literature has been
created, putting women back in areas of study where they had been
138
neglected or eliminated. Sylvia Van Kirk, for instance, shows how our
understanding of the fur trade was inadequate without an understanding
of women’s roles, particularly the role of Indian women as links between
the traders and the Indian societies:
Fur-trade society, as in both Indian and pre-industrial European
societies, allowed women an integral socio-economic role because
there was little division between the “public” and “private”
spheres, between the spheres of work and home. The marriage of
a fur-trader and an Indian woman was not just a “private” affair;
the bond thus created helped to advance trade relations with a new
tribe, placing the Indian wife in the role of cultural liaison between
the traders and her kin (Van Kirk 1980, p. 4).
This desire to capture and reinterpret the experience of women has
emerged in an extremely wide variety of areas. Three very noteworthy
examples in Canadian scholarship have been the work of Meg Luxton on
housework, of Marta Danylewycz on Quebec nuns and of Mary O’Brien on
feminist theory. Meg Luxton, in More Than a Labour of Love, has deepened
our theoretical understanding of work through her analysis of the experience of three generations of women’s work in the home in northern
Manitoba. Marta Danylewycz has reinterpreted Quebec history and
women’s history through her analysis of the lives of two communities of
nuns. And Mary O’Brien’s The Politics of Reproduction has had a wideranging influence in the area of feminist theory.
Concern for the shared experience of women led first to studies emphasizing the overall commonalities of women’s experience. But, increasingly,
women’s studies is becoming concerned to understand differences based
on class, race, ethnicity and sexual orientation, and therefore to look at the
shared experiences of different groups of women:
. . . feminists have become more aware of the contradictory nature
of their struggles and of the different consequences for women in
different classes, in different racial and ethnic groups and in
different regions of the country and of the world (Armstrong and
Connelly 1989, p. 5).
Juteau (1981) and Ng (1988) emphasized the importance of relating gender
and ethnicity. Kealey and Sangster’s Beyond the Vote (1989), in paying
particular attention to “class, ethnic, and cultural differences” (p. 5), also
illustrates this growing trend. Finnish socialist women’s activities in Canada
(Lindstrom-Best in Kealey and Sangster) were collective activities and
illustrate the shared experience of women, at the same time requiring a
sensitivity to the interrelation of “gender, class and cultural consciousness”
(p. 213):
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Differences of race, class and sexual practice have become a
primary focus of theoretical discussion. Contemporary feminist
theorists face the tasks of accounting for significant differences
among the experiences of women and, simultaneously, of discerning common threads and themes that make these experiences
specifically women’s. It is a matter of developing theoretical doors
to understand the samenesses and differences in women’s lives: of
acknowledging specificity and commonality (Code 1988, p. 20).
The shared experience of women has had to come to grips, in Canada, with
the reality of the coexistence of Anglophone and Francophone communities within Canada. In part, these must be considered separate intellectual communities, not necessarily influenced by the same events,
interpretations or intellectual traditions. However, at the same time,
feminist scholarship has created and/or reflected links between
Anglophones and Francophones. For example, in history (Lavigne and
Pinard 1983, Mann-Trofimenkoff and Prentice 1977) and literary criticism
(Godard 1987, Newman and Kamboureli 1986), efforts have been made to
bring together the two traditions, to look at them in a comparative perspective and to mutually enrich each of these perspectives by a sympathetic
understanding of the other.
Regional variations in women’s experiences in Canada have also been
important examples of working out the relations between the specificity and
the commonalities (Kinnear and Fast 1987, Latham and Pazdro 1984). The
analysis of the interrelations of region and gender is complex- the political
significance of region in Canada has been seen as something that reduces
the political saliency of other factors, such as gender, but at the same time
it is crucial in Canada to be able to see how gender, region and class
interrelate in the context of people’s daily lives:
An examination at the national level allows us to get a general
picture of the trends affecting women’s work and the family
household. By working at this level, however, crucialdifferences
between groups of women usually are lost -groups such as older
and younger women, urban and rural women, women from different classes, and women at the centre and periphery of the
national economy. For this reason, we conduct a case study of a
Nova Scotia fishing village (Connelly and MacDonald 1986, p. 54).
The recognition of differences between women and the complexity of the
interrelations of gender, class, race and sexual orientation (Wine 1988,
Newman and Kamboureli 1986) does not mean that women’s studies has
had to abandon the common experience of women. Rather, the intellectual
challenge is to fmd ways of simultaneously taking account of differences
and similarities. Women’s studies in Canada has been marked by its
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Laughing Together: Women‘s Studies in Canada
interdisciplinary nature. The consciousness of common experience has
also been true at the methodological level. Women’s studies scholars in
Canada are often discipline-based, but rarely discipline-bound:
This integrative treatment of these and other aspects of women’s
lives reflects our conception of the best approach to women’s
studies as an area of study, teaching, and research (Burt 1988, pp.
7-8).
From my perspective, a women-centered project that is broadly
inter-disciplinary, and that had, therefore, modified conditions of
objectivity and problem-driven methodological choice, would
offer us the best chance of achieving the sort of mobilization that
is necessary to begin to tackle the research agenda that women and
the women in the women’s movement are throwing up at us
(Vickers in Kealey and Sangster 1989, p. 23).
The next theme drawn from the image of laughter is that of voice and of
affirmation. Laughter is audible, in fact clearly audible. In the same way,
women’s studies has, as a central concern, the giving of voice to women.
Women have been silenced throughout history and their voices must be
rediscovered:
Le silence imposé aux femmes et accepté par celles-ci est peut-être
une caractéristique de la « culture des femmes » et il pourrait bien
être à la fois la cause et la conséquence de la dépendance
économique des femmes, à la maison comme à la fabrique. Les
jeunes filles qui cherchaient un emploi dans les fabriques devaient
sûrement respecter cette consigne du silence. Le défi, pour qui
veut faire leur histoire, est de réussir à briser ce silence (MannTrofimenkoff in Lavigne and Pinard 1983, p. 98).
This, then, poses a methodological question - how to give voice to women.
The answers have been multiple - the rediscovery of sources that have been
neglected, the introduction of sources that were not considered sufficiently
“serious” in the past. Feminist scholars have widened the kind of material
considered in order to include genres particularly relevant to women’s
experience. Helen Buss, for instance, has argued that memoirs are an
important way of capturing both the personal and the public realms of
women’s lives.
In a somewhat similar spirit, Dorothy E. Smith has elaborated a sociology
for women based on the exploration of the daily world while at the same
time analyzing the social relations in which women’s daily lives are embedded. For Dorothy Smith, “the standpoint of women is distinctive and
has distinctive implications for the practice of sociology as a systematically
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developed consciousness of society” (p. 107). Giving voice to women, then,
requires the analysis of different material, and it requires sensitivity to this
material. Denise Piché makes the same point:
On the other hand, learning about women’s needs, interests and
experiences calls for methods that will free our knowledge of all
sexist assumptions and also free women’s speech of its conditioned
responses to the environment (Piché 1988, p. 160).
It is in the area of literature and literary criticism that this idea of the
distinctiveness of women’s voice has been pursued to the fullest extent. In
speaking of women’s literature, Christyl Verduyn states that women
“préfèrent une écriture où la folie est vue comme un moyen d’échapper à
l’ordre établi, rationnel, logique, et tout à fait insatisfaisant pour les
femmes” (Verduyn in Godard 1987, p. 75). Patricia Smart elaborates these
differences in her analysis of women’s writing in Quebec:
D’autres fils conducteurs aussi traversent tous les chapitres et
apparaissent comme des lieux où se dessinent des différences
entre l’écriture des hommes et celle des femmes : une tendance à
privilégier des thèmes et des structures reliés au regard (l’oeil du
Père ?) dans l’écriture masculine, et à la voix (trace du corps et de
la présence maternelle ?) dans l’écriture féminine; un rapport
différent à la nature (surtout à l’eau « maternelle ») chez les
hommes et les femmes (Smart 1988, p. 36).
The analysis of giving voice to women has been marked by the vision of
poets and novelists writing in Canada. It has also been influenced by
feminist theorists working outside Canada: on the one hand, French writers
such as Kristeva, Iriguay and Cixous and, on the other, American theorists
following from Gilligan. Certain specifically Canadian themes, particularly
the ways in which gender interrelates with the coexistence of English and
French within Canada, emerge as is suggested by a quotation from Denise
Boucher:
I write in French and in the feminine, because I know the two
languages (Boucher in Neumann and Kamboureli 1986, p. 402).
And further, “the undoing of the French subject by the dominant English
language functions as ready allegory for the undoing of women as subject
in discourse. Within that dominant discourse, she is translated speech: ‘I
unspeak”’ (p. 403).
Laughing together also indicates pleasure. There is a pleasure in community that cornes out very strongly in women’s studies. It is a pleasure that
comes out of a tension between pain and pleasure, between the recognition
142
of domination, discrimination and inequality and the recognition of bonding, solidarity and community. Carolyn Hlus explicitly links pleasure and
pain in her analysis of womanly writing. “Violations, despite their severity,
incapable of denying woman her supreme Pleasure on her voyage of
voyages” (Hlus in Neuman and Kamboureli, p. 259). This sense of joy
permeates women’s studies - the discovery, or recovery, of the sense of
collective potential is exhilarating:
Ils nous permettent de dégager la portée sociale globale de
l’experience que nous avons acquise dans l’isolement relatif de la
sphère privée pour nous apercevoir que nous pouvons nous organiser nous-mêmes sans protection extérieure. La joie de
découvrir l’extension de nos capacités et de nous reconnaître
soeurs est telle... (De Sève 1985, p.42).
Only now she writes it, risking non-sense, chaotic language leafings, unspeakable breaches of usage, intuitive leaps, inside language she leaps for joy, showing out the walls of taboo and
propriety, kicking syntax, discovering life in old roots (Marlatt in
Godard 1987, p. 226).
Our fifth characteristic of laughter is that it, in some way, disrupts the
normal mode of exposition and introduces the unexpected. Laughter
breaks into the seriousness of conventional behaviour and reminds us that
life is more multi-dimensional than our twentieth Century social organization would often have us believe. Women’s studies, too, introduces the
unexpected and, in SO doing, raises fundamental questions about methods
of investigation and standards of evidence. Huguette Dagenais expresses
this when she describes feminist research in the 1990s:
C’est toutefois dans les problématiques, les objectifs, les questions
et les méthodes que celles-ci effectuent ce dépassement de
pseudo-objectivité et de la pseudo-neutralité attribuées à la
demande scientifique et que ces recherches innovent (Dagenais
1989, p. 6).
Feminist research has been very committed to what Thelma McCormack
calls “experientially subjective” research strategies (in Armstrong and
Hamilton 1988) - starting from the experience of women and being sure
that the research is grounded in real life experience.
The subjective element of this exploration of women’s experience is crucial.
Denise Piché has described the necessity of going beyond the initial articulation of needs by women and encouraging women to learn how to
express their own needs. Suzanne Mackenzie looks at the daily experience
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of women’s lives to understand the impact of economic restructuring
(Andrew and Moore Milroy 1988).
Dorothy Smith has been particularly important in articulating and theorizing this kind of feminist research strategy:
The critical force of these methods is contained and “institutionalized” if they are not articulated to relations creating linkages
outside and beyond the ruling apparatus, giving voice to women’s
experience, opening up to women’s gaze the forms and relations
determining women’s lives, and enlarging women’s powers and
capacities to organize in struggle against the oppression of women
(Smith 1987, p. 225).
This quotation introduces the second “unexpected” element in women’s
studies: not only do studies start by integrating women’s subjective experience but they incorporate the concern for changing reality. Feminist
scholarship is motivated by the idea that the goal of increasing knowledge
and understanding is to change reality and to improve the conditions for
women in Canadian society. This link between knowing and acting is
eloquently expressed by Cheryl Dahl from the Vancouver Research Centre:
T O understand how we might set about to end wife battering, we
must begin with the experience of a battered woman and those who
help her, we must account for this experience by examining the
legal and social structures from her perspective. It is this experience that has formed the issue. It is this experience that is
denied by those who would maintain the subordination of women
(Dahl in Andrew 1989, p. 14).
There is a tension in women’s studies that makes it, at one and the same
time, a part of the academy and an irritation to the academy. Women’s
studies is not comfortable - it wants to change the conditions that it seeks
to understand:
Feminism attempts to redress this inequality. It is directed towards
change. These essays are not the results of disinterested academic
enterprise. Rather, they form part of an action-oriented agenda
that can help to eliminate gender-based imbalances in education.
Education has always played an important part in the feminist
political agenda, partly because women have had special responsibilities for children, partly because teaching has offered opportunities to SO many educated women, including many of the early
feminists, and partly because education promises hope for change
in a new generation (Gaskett and McLaren 1987, p. 6).
144
Finally, laughter is a form of catharsis, of exorcising. It is a way of pushing
back or neutralizing the forces that dominate and that limit women. There
is a tragic side to laughter. It can be a way of speaking about the most
harmful conditions that exist, without entirely eliminating the capacity to
act. It is, certainly, a way of avoiding being the victim, even more strongly
of refusing to be the victim.
This kind of stance is a necessity for women’s studies as much of the
research has been concerned with the description of the various dimensions
of the unequal status of women in Canadian society. Lives are being played
out in conditions of minimal choice and minimal opportunities: lesser
access to education; lesser pay (even for work of equal value and much less
for the ghettoized female job markets), resulting in greater poverty in old
age; the dramatic situation of many women raising children on their own
or of elderly women; the double, and triple, minority status of Native
women; and all the varied manifestations of violence against women (rape,
pornography, wife battering).
TO be able to look at these phenomena as women’s studies as done both in
Canada and elsewhere requires belief in solidarity and collective strength.
It requires being able to weep, yes, but also to laugh together, and thus
express the optimism to act.
Notes
I received very useful comments on an earlier version of this text from
the reviewers and editors of the Journal and from Monique Bégin and
Jeanne K. Laux. I would like to thank all of these people and hope that
I have been able to take account of their comments in this version.
This essay in no way attempts a systematic review of women’s studies
in Canada, nor does it pretend to cover equally all areas of the field. It
is one reading of the area, supported by references to literature that
supports this particular reading. I have tried to look broadly at existing
studies, but clearly, my access to the overall field is influenced by my
own areas of specialization: political science and, particularly, urban
politics and policy-making.
It is important, in this regard, to mention the major Canadian feminist
journals: Atlantis, Canadian Journal of Women and the Law/Revue
juridique “la femme et le droit’: Canadian Woman Studies/Cahiers de
la femme, Fireweed, Recherches féministes, Resources for Feminist
Research/Documentation sur la recherche féministe, Women and Environments. The major Canada-wide associations most directly related
to women’s studies include the Canadian Research Institute for the
Advancement of Women, the Canadian Women’s Studies Association,
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4.
and the National Action Committee on the Status of Women. Of the
government advisory bodies in the field of women’s issues, the federal
body, the Canadian Advisory Council on the Status of Women and the
Quebec body, le Conseil du statut de la femme, maintain the most
active programs of research and publication. For a useful description
of women’s studies in Canada, see Somer Brodribb (1987), “Women’s
Studies in Canada”, Resources for Feminist Research.
It is not accidental that when the Social Sciences and Humanities
Research Council of Canada decided to set up a program of strategic
research relating to women, the theme chosen was “Women and
Work”.
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Perspective. Calgary: Detselig Enterprises, 1987.
Gilbert, Anne and Damaris Rose (éds.). Cahiers de géographie du Québec,
Espaces et femmes, 31:83, 1987.
Gingras, Anne-Marie, Chantal Maillé and Evelyne Tardy. Sexes et militantisme. Montréal: les Editions du CIDIHCA, 1989.
Godard, Barbara (ed.). Gynocritics/La Gynocritique. Oakville: ECW Press,
1987.
Hamilton, Roberta and Michèle Barrett (eds.). The Politics of Diversity:
Feminism, Marxism and Nationalism. Montreal: Book Center Inc.,
1986.
Jenson, Jane. Was it for Want of Courage’?: The Ebbing of Canada's
Maternal Feminism After Entering the Electoral Institutions. Conference presented in Oslo, December 1989: 1990.
Juteau, Danielle. “Visions partielles, visions partiales : vision (des)
minoritaires en Sociologie ?” Sociologie et Sociétés, 13:2, 1981.
Kealey, Linda and Joan Sangster (eds.). Beyond the Vote: Canadian Women
and Politics. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989.
Kinnear, Mary and Vera Fast (eds.). Planting the Garden. Winnipeg:
University of Manitoba Press, 1987.
Labour/Le Travail, Special Issue on Women and Work, 24, 1989.
Lamoureux, Diane. Fragments et collages : Essai sur le féminisme québécois
des années 70. Montréal: Les éditions du remue-ménage, 1986.
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1987.
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Politics. Montreal: Black Rose Books, 1989.
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Kegans Paul, 1981.
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148
Joanne Burgess
Exploring the Limited Identities of
Canadian Labour: Recent Trends in
English-Canada and in Quebec1
Abstract
This paper examines the writing of Canadian labour and working-class
history over the past two decades and charts the major stages in the evolution
of this fïeld of enquiry. Unlike earlier historiographical reviews, particular
emphasis is placed upon a comparison between English-Canada and Quebec
with respect to themes and approaches which have emerged in recent years.
While historians in both national communities have sought to transform
labour history into a social history of the working class, neither has succeeded
in attaining this objective. Labour historians continue to explore “limited
identities” of Canadian labour rather than the whole of working-class experience. At the same time, the article outlines some of the ways in which the
paths of English-Canadian and Québécois historians have diverged and
argues that fundamental differences still remain.
Résumé
Cet article examine l’historiographie relative aux travailleurs et au mouvement ouvrier canadien pendant les deux dernières décennies et identifie les
principales étapes dans l‘évolution de ce champ d’étude. Contrairement aux
bilans historiographiques antérieurs, il cherche à comparer l’histoire ouvrière
du Canada anglais à celle du Québec en faisant ressortir les thèmes et les
approches qui se sont imposés au cours de ces années. Deux conclusions
majeures se dégagent de cette enquête. En premier lieu, historiens et historiennes des deux communautés nationales ont tenté de transformer l’histoire
ouvrière institutionnelle en une véritable histoire sociale des travailleuses et
travailleurs, mats ils n’ont pas réussi à atteindre pleinement leur objectif
Deuxièmement, malgré des aspirations communes, les historiens canadiensanglais et québécois ont souvent emprunté des voies divergentes et de profondes distinctions persistent encore aujourd’hui
The study of Canadian working people is not the preserve of any one
discipline. In both English-Canada and Quebec, specialists in industrial
relations, economists, sociologists and historians have brought their own
particular concerns and methodologies to the study of labour-management
relations, trade unions, the labour process and working-class communities.
And despite much that is shared, the evolution of each particular discipline
remains unique. This paper will focus on a component of labour studies
IJCS / RIÉC
and labour history, which has thrived in the past two decades and whose
experience illustrates many of the broader trends at work in this field.
Since the early 1970s, the writing of labour history in Quebec and EnglishCanada has undergone tremendous expansion and transformation. Both
regions of the country have witnessed the birth of a new labour history,
dedicated to recovering aspects of working-class experience judged insignificant by earlier generations of historians. Anglophones and Francophones alike have issued calls for action to the broader academic
community, paid hommage to many of the same British and American
pioneers in working-class history, and set an ambitious agenda for themselves and their future colleagues. They have sought to form permanent
organizations: the Committee on Canadian Labour History on the one hand
and the Regroupement des chercheurs en histoire des travailleurs
québécois on the other. In both instances, newsletters have been established and numerous articles and books have appeared to document the
fruitfulness of this new approach to labour studies.
During the 1980s, labour history won recognition as a vibrant component
of historical enquiry, and its agenda has transformed the way in which the
Canadian past is perceived. Yet, while these have been years of achievement for labour history, they have also been years of controversy and
passionate debate. As the new labour historians have attempted to understand the past experience of the Canadian working class, they have had to
respond to a host of critics — some friendly, others not. These critical
assessments have expressed a wide range of concerns: those of more
traditional labour historians,2 of feminist historians3 and of historians of
ethnicity. Other discussions have arisen within the new labour history
itself.4 Generally, debates have been more acrimonious and more
numerous in English-Canada than in Quebec.5
The end of the 1980s seems to have brought some respite from the labour
wars; it has been a time for production rather than reflection on the course
being followed by Canadian labour historians. The respite will, however, be
brief. The year 1990 is about to produce a chorus end-of-decade reviews
of the state of the discipline.6 This paper itself is part of the stock-taking of
trends which emerged in recent years. In examining these trends, I will pay
particular attention to the profound differences, as well as the real
similarities, between work being done in English- and French-Canada.
These differences will best be understood if recent developments are set
within the broader context of the evolution of Canada’s two communities
of labour historians during the past fifteen years. 7
150
Exploring the Limited Identities of Canadian Labour
Parallel Births
The new labour history was born at roughly the same time in both EnglishCanada and in Quebec. Beginning in 1973, a new generation of EnglishCanadian historians set out to apply the theoretical and methodological
insights of E.P. Thompson and Herbert Gutman to the Canadian working
class. Their goal was to set Canadian history in general, and labour history
in particular, upon its head.8Affirming the importance of class as a category
of analysis in Canadian history while rejecting narrowly economist definitions of class and rigid economic determinism, they called into question a
labour history which focused too exclusively upon trade union organizations and labour’s involvement in politics. In order to recover the totality
and complexity of working-class life, new questions had to be asked, new
sources examined and new settings explored. Local communities, rather
than the national stage, were to be the focus; in place of the postwar years
of trade union expansion, the early stages of industrial revolution and class
formation were to be singled out for study.
In Quebec, the new labour history also began with a call to arms. In 1971
and 1972, young historians working at the Université Laval stated their
commitment to writing a social history of Quebec labour. They, too, expressed a desire to go beyond an exclusively trade-union history to explore
and document the organization of work, working and living conditions,
education and culture. By 1973, the fruits of these efforts were already being
published; other monographs soon followed. Meanwhile, a second group
of historians, associated with the Université du Québec à Montréal
(UQAM), were also pioneering a new type of labour history. They sought
to uncover the radical roots of the Québécois working class by studying
early labour involvement in politics. While they sometimes expressed an
interest in the condition of the working class, this was never the focus of
their research. These two groups from Laval and UQAM joined together
in the Regroupement des chercheurs en histoire des travailleurs du
Québec9 Despite their differences, both groups shared a common interest
in the history of the union movement.10
A more fundamental characteristic united these young Québéois historians: their interest in and support for Quebec’s Quiet Revolution and
the growing labour radicalism of the early 1970s. The latter stimulated their
interest in labour history; the former their, commitment to chronicling
labour’s contribution to Quebec history. Unlike their English-Canadian
counterparts, these historians felt no need to distance themselves from an
earlier generation of historians — since Quebec had no real tradition of
labour history. In fact, it was the lack of specific studies on Quebec’s labour
history that explained why so little was known. Their own pioneering work
was therefore heralded as a major breakthrough.
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On the other hand, English-Canadian labour historians were not overtly
nationalist. On the contrary, they were often explicitly critical of the
nationalist, neo-marxist school of Canadian political-economy which was
having a growing impact on the social sciences and the Canadian Left in
the early 1970s. Practitioners of the new labour history disagreed with the
latter group’s vision of an economically underdeveloped Canada which
had never experienced significant industrialization and whose working
class had fallen victim to the imperialism of American trade unions. They
sought to show that Canada had also experienced the industrial revolution
and significant class conflict. To better understand the Canadian working
class, they enthusiastically embraced the concepts and methodology of
British and American labour history and sought to apply them. In the early
stages of their work, at least, there was little sense that these historiographic
models might have to be adapted to provide insights into Canada’s specific
labour past.ll
The new generation of labour historians, at frost, rejected a national as well
as a nationalist point of view. They would study English-Canada only, not
Quebec. Even with respect to English-Canada, however, their approach
eschewed a national perspective. The writing of Canadian social history was
to be regional in perspective in order to avoid the centralist bias implicit in
national history.
A further and more fundamental difference between the new labour history
emerged in English-Canada and in Quebec in the early 1970s. Although
both groups of labour historians spoke of their desire to write a social
history of the working class, they had very different conceptions of what
constituted social history and how it should be practised. Following
Thompson, Gutman and others, English-Canadian historians were intent
upon rescuing labouring men and women from the neglect of history,
listening to their voices and recovering their vision of the world in which
they had lived and struggled. Accordingly, the workers they studied were
not passive victims of industrialization or of their employer; they resisted
and they created alternatives.
In Quebec, the influence of Thompson and Gutman was acknowledged, but
had little real impact. Labour historians of the Laval and UQAM persuasions each expressed a different vision of the working man. The former
was concerned with the “condition” of working people and the rediscovery
of their lost past. Somewhat surprisingly, this approach emphasized the
immiseration and powerlessness of wage earners, as well as the poverty of
their culture. 12 While the second group of Quebec labour historians
presented the vision of a more militant working class, it was one which
emphasized the moments of sharpest class conflict and excluded many
dimensions of labour’s experience.
152
Developments in English-Canada
The Early Years: Culture, Community and the Search for Synthesis
During the late 1970s and early 1980s, articles, monographs and a tentative
synthesis of Canadian working-class history appeared, providing
stimulating and at times contested perspectives on Canadian workers in
their workplaces and neighbourhoods, as well as on picket lines, in union
13
halls and at political meetings. Exemplified by the now classic studies of
Toronto and Hamilton’s working class in the late nineteenth century,14 this
work was preeminently concerned with uncovering the culture of working
people and its links to class formation. This concern with culture extended
from the Orange Hall to the baseball diamond, while also embracing the
rituals of shopfloor life. Articles published in Labour/Le Travail and
elsewhere in these years demonstrate this wide-ranging interest: numerous
articles examin e the workplace and aspects of associational life; many
others explore labour radicalism.
Though the two major monographs published during this period have
Ontario municipalities as their setting, as did a majority of the essays
contained in Essays in Canadian Working Class History, new labour historians were firmly committed to the study of working people and community life in all regions of Canada. In the late 1970s and early 1980s,
workers from across the country were quite equitably represented in the
pages of Labour/Le Travail. In addition, studies of the working class began
to appear in regional journals. Labour history and regional history
benefited from studies which began to challenge the stereotype of Eastern
conservatism and Western exceptionalism.15
Regardless of where they lived, however, the workers studied were overwhelmingly male. Women rarely appeared in accounts of working-class life
and only a handful of articles singled them out. Early analyses of women
workers included a number of general overviews of working women in
particular cities or periods, pioneering studies of organized women
workers, the first detailed examinations of specific groups of women
workers, and explorations of the relationship between women’s wagelabour and the family. 16 Ethnicity was perceived as a far more important
element of working-class history than gender, yet, its importance also did
not immediately translate into a significant place in labour historiography.
Despite the publication of Donald Avery’s Dangerous Foreigners,17and a
number of articles which dealt with workers of diverse origins, only the
Irish, Italians and Finns were singled out for detailed analysis.18
Of course not all labour history written in English-Canada during these
years fits into the category of new labour history. Many labour historians
continued to emphasize the study of labour organizations, strikes and the
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industrial relations system, or explored the social history of workers from
a different perspective.19 However, the practitioners of the new workingclass history increasingly came to dominate the field and as their influence
grew, the frost stage in the evolution of the new labour history came to an
end.
The turning point occurred in 1983 with the publication of Bryan Palmer’s
Working-Class Experience. The Rise and Reconstitution of Canadian
Labour, 1800-1980.20This book both extended and confirmed the vision
contained in previously published work by Kealey and Palmer on Toronto,
Hamilton and the Knights of Labour: a working class, born of Canada’s
industrial revolution, used artisanal traditions and the solidarities of
associational life to build a distinctive working-class culture and, through
the Knights of Labour, briefly challenged the capitalist order and offered
an alternative vision. According to Palmer, this achievement was never
duplicated by Canadian working men and women. His book sums up the
work accomplished over the previous decade and exemplifies both its
strengths and its weaknesses: the insights gained by extending labour
history beyond trade unionism, the difficulties of studying the culture(s) of
men and women of different regions, religions and national origins, the
failure to examine the twentieth century experience, and the preliminary
nature of so much of the research.
The publication of Working-Class Experience signified the coming of age of
the new labour history but it also marked the end of an era. In subsequent
years, there has been a retreat both from the cultural approach and from
the community-based case studies which it fostered. Other themes, already
present in the new labour history, have taken on added importance; new
issues have arisen to challenge the very definition of labour history.
Recent Trends: the Specificity of Work Ethnicity and Gender
Since 1983, Canadian labour historians have been extremely active and their
research interests have been diverse. Nevertheless, three themes have
dominated the writing of working-class history in English-Canada in recent
years: work, ethnicity and gender.21
The preoccupation with the organization of work was not new: prior to
1983, historians had been concerned with craftsmen, skilled workers and
the shopfloor. But since then, the emphasis shifted; there is now less interest
in the culture of the workplace, “the culture of control”, and a new passion
for examining the interaction of technological change, the labour process
and skill.22 The previous focus on work culture meant linking the study of
factory or workshop to life in the community beyond the factory walls. In
contrast, the emphasis on the labour process requires the painstaking
examination of production processes in specific industries and job
154
categories and has encouraged the writing of case studies of particular
industries or occupational groupings.
Fueled no doubt by contemporary concerns about technological change
and the microchip revolution, the study of workers “on the job” has thrived
in the 1980s. By the end of the decade, some very fine books, a collection
23
of essays and a variety of articles appeared. Monographs by Craig Heron,
Ian Radforth and Eric Sager exemplify the best of this approach: careful
reconstruction of the economic context and industrial setting, detailed
investigation of the technology and labour process, close attention to
management practices and nuanced analysis of workers’ response and
resistance. This examination of the changing labour process in Canada has
taken place within an international discussion of Harry Braverman’s thesis
regarding the progressive degradation of work and deskilling of working
people during the twentieth century. English-Canadian historians as well
have broadened their understanding of skill to include ideological and
political as well as technical components. At the same time, they have
argued against a simplistic portrayal of workers as increasingly deskilled
victims of managerial initiatives. Their conclusions point instead to the
variety of factors which have influenced the pace and direction of technological change and to the many ways in which skills have been destroyed,
diluted and created.24
The second major theme of the 1980s has been the relationship between
ethnicity and working-class history. The new labour history had always been
sensitive to the influence of ethnic origins on workers’ positions within the
working class and on worker militancy. The shift to studies of technological
change and the labour process reinforced this trend and many historians
incorporated ethnicity into their examination of the segmentation of the
labour force on the basis of skill; ethnicity continued to figure prominently
in discussions of strikes and union activity. 25
An even more significant influence has been the growth of ethnic studies
in Canada over the last decade or so. As an increasing number of historians
have become interested in Canada’s multicultural past, they have begun to
explore the experience of working-class members of many ethnic communities. Conferences and publications sponsored by the Multicultural
History Society of Ontario have generated a number of interesting studies,
most notably of ethnic neighborhoods and the experience of immigrant
women . 26However, much of the promise of ethnic studies has yet to be
fulfilled, and few historians have attempted to integrate the perspectives of
class and ethnicity.27
But the most exciting and significant development in recent years has been
the increased visibility of women in accounts of Canada’s labour past. The
feminist revolution in society and scholarship has brought about fundamen155
IJCS / RIÉC
tal changes in the writing of working-class history. As Bettina Bradbury
indicated in an earlier assessment of the relationship between women’s
28
history and working-class history, the growing interest in the experience
of women workers has affected labour history in two ways. On the one hand,
many of the analyses of women’s work have pursued traditional areas of
enquiry within labour history women’s participation in trade union
30
29
activity, their involvement in left wing politics, and their work for wages.
Examinations of the latter topic have taken new directions as historians
have asked themselves what factors have made most women seek paid
employment only during certain moments of their life cycle. Veronica
Strong-Boag, in a study of women of all social classes between the two
World Wars, shows how increased access to the labour market and greater
political equality did not significantly modify expectations about women’s
social role nor eliminate the traditional barriers to married women’s work
outside the home. Ruth Roach Pierson’s “They’re Still Women After All”.
The Second World War and Canadian Womanhood argues that World War
II did not bring about lasting change, as exceptional wartime demands
forced the Canadian state to call upon a reserve army of women workers
to fill jobs in factories and the armed services which had been, and would
again become, the exclusive preserve of men. 31 Why so many jobs were off
limits to women, although the boundaries of the female job ghetto might
shift over time and vary from place to place, has attracted growing attention.
Work by Gail Cuthbert Brandt, Mercedes Steedman, Joy Parr and
Margaret McCallum examine the way in which technology, gender and
class have shaped women’s position in the labour market.32 They have
shown that prevailing societal definitions of what is appropriate work for
women have been as powerful as technology and the profit motive in
determining women’s place in the productive process.
Feminist concerns have affected labour history in another way. The recognition that women have been confined to a double ghetto, their subordinate
position in “productive” labour conditioned by their primary duty to perform “a labour of love” in the home, has led to increased emphasis on
women’s domestic labour. 33 Doing justice to the history of working-classs
women has therefore necessitated a fundamental redefinition of the very
concept of work, which can no longer be simply equated with wage labour.
Liberated from these traditional constraints, labour history has expanded
to include the experience of farm women, teachers and nurses 34and begun
to explore the specific culture of working women as well as the full range
35
of their social and political activities. Joy Parr has been at the forefront
of this re-examination of women’s experience of the world of work. In The
Gender of Breadwinners. Women, Men and Change in Two Industrial
Towns, 1880-1950,36she further demonstrates that the use of gender as a
category of analysis can provide insights into the lives of male workers as
well as of women.
156
Developments over the last decade in Canadian labour history have
produced contradictory effects. Emphasis on the specific experience of
particular industries or occupational groups, of particular immigrant or
ethnic communities, and of each gender, has enriched working-class history
by forcing it to embrace a wider range of human experience. At the same
time, this emphasis has made it increasingly difficult to integrate the many
facets of Canada’s labour past. If the culturalist synthesis of the early 1980s
ran aground on the shoals of ethnic, religious, economic and regional
diversity, then, the discovery of gender has made the writing of a unified
37
labour history even more difficult. Recent attempts to knit together some
of these various strands, whether by focusing on the work processor on the
labour movement,38 achieve a coherent narrative only because so many
stitches are dropped along the way. Furthermore, none of these accounts
has succeeded in overcoming labour history’s traditional emphasis on wage
labour and, hence, on working-class men.
Developments in Quebec
Two Solitudes in Quebec Labour History
From its inception, the new labour history in Quebec has encompassed two
very different approaches to the study of working people. Over the past two
decades, historians of the working-class experience (“la condition
ouvrière”) and historians of labour institutions and working-class
radicalism (“le mouvement ouvrier”) have gone their separate ways, acknowledging each other’s presence, but rarely participating in any kind of
meaningful dialogue.
The radical/institutional strand of labour history was dominant throughout
the late 1970s and early 1980s; by certain standards, it could still lay claim
to that position today. Studies of the “mouvement ouvrier” can themselves
be divided into two somewhat overlapping categories: on the one hand,
those examinin g trade union and strike activity and, on the other, those
whose subject is labour and the Left.
Labour’s involvement in politics began to be documented in the late 1960s
and has continued to attract the attention of historians and sociologists
throughout the ensuing twenty years. Studies have appeared dealing with
matters as diverse as workers’ participation in municipal reform politics
and the response of organized labour to the 1970 October crisis.39 O n e
subject, however, has attracted a disproportionate amount of attention: the
history of the Communist Party in Quebec. 40Interest in this topic peaked
in 1983 and 1984 with the publication of two books, Virage à gauche interdit
and The Strangest Dream, as well as a very thoughtful historiographic review
41
of the topic by Bernard Dionne. The involvement of party members and
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other socialists in the labour movement also received considerable
scrutiny.42
The history of more mainstream trade union activity in Quebec has, however, been the main focus of research. Two collections of essays, two surveys
and countless articles and theses have been devoted to this topic. As other
scholars have pointed out, the study of Quebec trade unions was at the
outset strongly influenced by the writings of sociologists who claimed that,
in Quebec, class and nation had combined in such a way as to prevent the
growth of a militant labour movement prior to the postwar era. According
to this version of Quebec history, French-Canadian workers had belonged
to labour organizations on the basis of their religion and ethnicity, the
strength of their national identity had delayed the development of a distinct
consciousness of themselves as workers. Throughout the late 1960s and
1970s, interest focused on Quebec’s Catholic trade unions which were seen
as the embodiment of the Quebec working class; the major item on the
research agenda was the discovery of factors which had led to the transformation of the CTCC/CSN from a conservative to a militant labour organization . 43However, the perception of the CTCC as the tool of a clergy bent
on preventing class conflict and maintaining the Church’s hegemony was
soon called into question. In Les syndicats nationaux au Québec de 1900 à
1930, Jacques Rouillard portrayed the CTCC in a very different light and
argued that despite an official discourse which preached harmonious class
relations, union leaders and the rank and file were far more combative. 44
This rehabilitation of the CTCC and of Québécois workers in general was
continued in a number of case studies of its affiliated federations.45
Somewhat paradoxically, as the revision of the history of the CSN
proceeded, Quebec historians also came increasingly to realize that international unions had played an important role in the development of the
province’s labour movement. Their numerical predominance had long been
recognized, but it was assumed that the dispersal of the membership in a
number of distinct unions, each with its own American headquarters,
signified that until the postwar era, their combined influence had been less
than that of the CTCC/CSN. However, this view rested on a very weak
foundation. 46 Bernard Dionne’s recent study of the Conseil des matières et
du travail de Montréal shows that far from being dispersed and isolated,
members of international unions in Quebec were brought together in local
organizations. The Montreal Trades and Labour Council is noteworthy
because its members represented a significant proportion of the province’s
international union membership as well as the majority of all unionized
workers in the city. 47 Far from being a foreign body grafted onto the
Francophone working class, the MTLC and its leadership were
predominantly French-Canadian throughout these years. Dionne’s conclusions also challenge the view that AFL affiliates in the province were a
conservative force, hostile to industrial unionism and social change.48
158
.-
The greatest accomplishment of the radical/institutional approach has
been the production of the first overviews of Quebec’s labour history. The
Histoire du mouvement ouvrier au Québec (1825-1976), published in 1979,
was followed ten years later by the more scholarly and more narrowly
49
focused, Histoire du syndicalisme québécois. The latter work ably
chronicles the evolution of the Quebec labour movement; it also
demonstrates that historians of that labour movement have been totally
unaffected by calls to set trade-union history within a broader, workingclass context. In other words, these historians have failed to examine the
experience of workers who were not unionized, while analyzing the evolution of trade union structures and activities as though these were totally
divorced from general changes in the workplace, the labour force, the
family and popular culture.
The fault, however, does not lie entirely with historians of the labour
movement. Quebec academics who have studied the social history of the
province’s workers have, for the most part, accepted the division of labour
history into two separate spheres, and have rarely ventured into the study
of trade unions or radical politics. As indicated earlier, this division was
present at the foundation of the new labour history and the subsequent
evolution of the discipline merely reinforced this initial pattern. The Laval
group of labour historians gradually dispersed and by 1980, those historians
whose work had served as a bridge between working conditions and the
labour movement no longer filled this role. Fernand Harvey, after producing a study of workers in Quebec’s industrial revolution,50 gradually
withdrew from labour studies. His colleague, Jacques Rouillard, devoted
most of his research efforts to trade union history. Remaining members of
the group, David-Thierry Ruddel and Jean-Pierre Hardy, continued to
scrutinize the craftsmen of New France and Lower Canada. Unfortunately,
by its very nature, the study of pre-industrial and prefatory social groups
and working conditions provided little opportunity for dialogue with
specialists in institutional labour history.51
In the meantime, other social historians whose primary concern was urban
history, began to examine working people and their way of life. UQAM was
at the centre of this new wave of Quebec working-class history. In the late
1970s, a number of studies of nineteeth century Montreal appeared, many
nurtured by the Groupe de recherche sur la société montréalaise au XIX e
siècle. They examined the growth of industry and painted a bleak picture
of the neighbourhoods, housing conditions and health of the working
class . 52 At the same time, other researchers began to examine the relationship between the emergence of industrial capitalism, the organization of
work and the birth of the working class. Articles by Joanne Burgess and
Margaret Heap showed how changing relations of production, in an era
preceding large-scale technological change, provoked the resistance of
53
craftsmen and independent producers. Both authors were clearly
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influenced by the methodology of urban historians and the problématique
of the new labour history of the English-Canadian variety. Thus, in Quebec,
the frost decade of working-class history was predominantly socioeconomic in tone. A rare examination of working-class culture was Gérard
Bouchard’s well-crafted study of the role of religion in the shaping of
class-consciousness in the Saguenay region during the early twentieth
century. 54
The 1980s brought a number of changes in the writing of the social history
of Quebec labour, some of which echoed those taking place in EnglishCanada. Here, too, work, ethnicity and especially gender were important
themes, although there was also no abandonment of the study of culture
and community. More significantly, research on many fronts called into
question older visions of a uniformly powerless and impoverished working
class.
The perception of a multi-layered working class, within which certain
groups were able to achieve a measure of control over their lives and where
even the most unfortunate had some room to manoeuvre, arose first in
studies of the family economy. Bettina Bradbury’s findings encouraged
further explorations of family strategies with respect to housing and migration. Historical geographers in studies of neighbourhoods, health and living
conditions also challenged simplistic portrayals of working-class life.55 The
belief that the standards of living either worsened or failed to improve over
the half century from the industrial revolution to the Great Depression was
also called into question, most explicitly in Paul-André Linteau, René
Durocher and Jean-Claude Robert’s Histoire du Québec contemporain. De
la Confédération à la crise (1867-1929).56 None of these accounts, however,
bridged the gap between living conditions and the labour movement.
This piecemeal revision produced a more complex working-class history, a
trend which was reinforced by emerging new themes. Case studies of the
labour process began to appear, although their popularity was greater in
sociology than in history. The work of Peter Bischoff on nineteenth century
moulders, Paul-André Lapointe on twentieth century aluminium smelter
workers and Jacques Ferland on shoe and textile workers were important
for the links they established between the organization of work and trade
union activity.57
As in English-Canada, interest in the relationship between class and ethnicity also grew in Quebec during the 1980s in large measure because of the
contribution of Bruno Ramirez to the study of Italians and FrancoAmericans.. 58 In addition, Jacques Rouillard collected the reminiscences
of the last generation of Quebec migrants to New England and combined
them with a useful review of the literature. Meanwhile, the Institut
québécois de recherche sur la culture sponsored a series of monographs
160
on Quebec’s ethnic communities. Many of these studies contained useful
information on Quebec’s multi-ethnic working class.59
In Quebec, too, the emergence of feminism and the development of
women’s studies had a profound influence on the new labour history. The
publication of a collection of essays in 1977, followed by a revised and much
enlarged two-volume selection in 1983,60testified to the rapid growh of
this field. By the late 1970s, the first studies chronicling women’s wage
labour and trade union activity had begun to appear. 61 These early analyses
of women workers devoted surprisingly little attention to industrial employment: already, feminists were extending traditional definitions of labour to
62
include teachers, nurses and farm women. Soon, the study of women’s
work expanded to embrace the brothel, as well as the unpaid labour of
housewives and volunteers. 63 The historiography of women’s labour in
Quebec documents a working-class world in which the norm remained
marriage, motherhood and short-term employment for wages. However, as
yesterday’s norm becomes less and less prevalent in our own time, the
exceptions of yesteryear — the women who rejected these norms or who
were compelled to act as breadwinners — are attracting growing attention. 64
Quebec working-class history in the 1980s has enthusiastically embraced
the concept of community. Inspired by developments in family history and
the study of Quebec’s rural past, historians have begun to reconstruct the
complex interaction of work, family and neighbourhood in creating and
reproducing community life. The writings of Tamara Hareven and Gérard
Bouchard have provided useful insights into elements of cultural continuity
and change during the transition from the pre-industrial world to urban
65
society. Joanne Burgess, Peter Bischoff, France Gagnon and Lucia
Ferretti have begun to document the artisanal roots of the FrenchCanadian working class, as well as the role of family in the migration
process, in production and in the building of working-class neighbourhoods.66
Quebec and English-Canada in Perspective
Despite many common aspirations, the new labour history has developed
in very different ways in Quebec and in English-Canada over the last twenty
years. These differences initially manifested themselves in three ways: the
relationship between labour and working-class history the place given to
human agency in the account of class formation; and the nationalist commitment of the practitioners. In the intervening years, some of these differences have vanished while new distinctions have appeared.
In English-Canada, historians sought to transcend the limitations of institutional labour history by weaving the study of the union movement into a
larger tapestry of working class life. This goal has never been abandoned
161
--
IJCS / RIÉC
and significant progress has been made in explaining Canada’s trade union
history in terms of the evolution of the economy and the labour process as
well as, to a lesser extent, the ethnic and gender make-up of the working
class. However, the recent emphasis upon the workplace has led to the
neglect of community life beyond the factory walls: culture, religion and the
family have not fared well in the latest attempts at synthesis. More importantly, these accounts of working-class life are clearly unable to accommodate
the majority of working-class women who were transient members of the
work force and rarely visible in the labour movement. In Quebec, the initial
fragmentation between labour and working-class perspectives in labour
history has never been overcome, and the result has been a much impoverished institutional labour history as well as a truncated vision of
working-class life.
Nationalism, as is perhaps to be expected, continues to influence labour
historians in English-Canada and in Quebec very differently. Quebec
labour historians, regardless of their preference for the radical/institutional
or social history of working people, have been constantly aware of the
national question. And within this context, they have attempted to understand Quebec’s unique labour past. What is seen as particularly Québécois
has varied over time: lively debates have arisen over the relationship
between class and national oppression, the role of the Church in shaping
class consciousness, the importance of the union movement in propelling
Quebec society into the Quiet Revolution, and the relationship between
peasant society and the formation of the working class. In English-Canada,
on the other hand, historians have only recently begun to ask what was
specifically Canadian about this country’s working class. A recent contribution to this discussion points to some of the ways in which the geography,
political-economy, occupational structure and ethnic composition of immigration shaped the evolution of the work process and the labour movement in Canada. Surprisingly, the country’s essential national and cultural
duality has had little explicit recognition as a fundamental force shaping
class relations.
The type of social history practised by labour historians in English-Canada
and in Quebec has, byway of contrast, evolved significantly over the years.
In both places, working men and women have been portrayed as active
participants in shaping their workplace, trade unions, family lives and
neighbourhoods. In this regard, Quebec social history is now ideologically
much closer to its English-Canadian counterpart, although in methodological terms, a wide gap remains. More fundamentally, labour history across
the country has been marked by the growing awareness of gender and
ethnicity as forces which have divided working people in the past and which
now pose a new challenge to the creation of a unified synthesis of workingclass experience.
162
In both of Canada’s national communities, historians in the early 1970s
dreamed of transforming labour history into working-class history. This
task has proven far more difficult than most could have anticipated. The
emergence of new themes has led, instead, to an increasing fragmentation,
and has made the initial goal of producing a total history of the working
class appear ever more elusive. Only by undertaking studies which cross
the divide of gender, ethnicity, region and nation, and which break down
barriers between the workplace and the community, as well as between
labour institutions and the daily lives of working people, can Québécois and
English-Canadian historians overcome the limited identities of Canadian
labour.
Notes
1. I would like to thank Paul-André Linteau and my anonymous
evaluators for their constructive criticism of an earlier draft of this
paper.
2. David Jay Bercuson, “Through the Looking Glass of Culture: An Essay
on the New Labour History and Working-Class Culture in recent
Canadian Historical Writing”, Labour/Le Travail, 7 (1981): 95-112;
Kenneth McNaught, “E.P. Thompson: Writing about Labour and the
Left in the 1970s”, Canadian Historical Review, LXII,2 (June 1981):
141-168; Desmond Morton, “E.P.Thomspon dans des arpents de neige :
les historiens canadiens-anglais et la classe ouvrière”, Revue d’histoire
de l’Amérique française, 37,2 (September 1983): 165-184. For responses to these and other critical assessments, see Bryan D. Palmer,
“Working-Glass Canada: Recent Historical Writing”, Queen’s
Quarterly 86 (Winter 1979): 594-616; and idem., “Listening to History
rather than Historians: Reflections on Working-Class History”,
Studies in Political Economy 20 (Summer 1986): 47-84; Gregory S.
Kealey, “Labour and Working-Class History in Canada: Prospects in
the 1980s”, Labour/Le Travail, 7 (1981): 67-94.
3. Bettina Bradbury, “Women’s History and Working-Class History”,
Labour/Le Travail, 19 (1987): 23-44; Joanne Burgess, “Table ronde”,
Actes du colloque UQAM-RCHTQ, Histoire des travailleurs/Histoire
des femmes : points de rencontre et points de rupture, Bulletin du
Regroupement des chercheurs en histoire des travailleurs québécois,
32-33 (Summer/Fall 1985): 101-103. Other discussions of women and
their relationship to the working-class and labour history include:
Marie Lavigne et Yolande Pinard, “Présentation”, Les femmes dans la
société québécoise, Montréal, Boréal, 1977; Alison Prentice, “Writing
Women into History: The History of Women’s Work in Canada”,
Atlantis 3 (1978): 72-84; Pat Armstrong and Hugh Armstrong,
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IJCS / RIÉC
“Beyond Sexless Class and Classless Sex: Towards Feminist Marxism”,
Studies in Political Economy 10 (Winter 1983): 7-43.
4. Ian McKay, “Historians, Anthropology, and the Concept of Culture”,
Labour/Le Travail, 8/9 (1981/82): 185-241; by the same author, “The
Three Faces of Canadian Labour History”, History Workshop Journal,
24 (1987): 172-179.
5. In Quebec, there have been few public exchanges between labour
historians. Recently, Fernand Ouellet has been very critical of developments in labour and women’s history: see “La question sociale au
Quebec, 1880-1930 : la condition féminine et le mouvement des
femmes dans l’historiographie”, Histoire sociale/Social History,
XXI,42 (November 1988): 319-345; and “La question sociale au
Québec, 1880-1930. Perspectives historiographiques et critiques”,
Ginette Kurgan-van Hentenryk, éd., La question sociale en Belgique et
au Canada, XIXe et XXe siècles, Bruxelles, Editions de l’Université de
Bruxelles, 1988: 45-80.
6. These have already begun to appear: James Naylor, “Working-Glass
History in English-Canada in the 1980s: An Assessment”, Acadiensis,
XIX,1 (Fall 1989): 156-169. Meetings of the Regroupement des chercheur(e)s en histoire des travailleurs et travailleuses du Québec and of
the Committee on Canadian Labour History scheduled for the Spring
of 1990 include sessions on the “state of the discipline”. These should
lead to a number of publications in the following months.
7. Establishing the boundaries between these two communities is not
always a straightforward task as some historians in fact claim membership in both. However, for the purpose of my argument, I have chosen
to consider historians working in Quebec and studying Quebec labour,
whether they publish in English or in French, to be members of
French-Canada’s historical community.
8. These goals are set out most explicitly in the following: Russell G. Hann
et al., Primary Sources in Canadian Working-Class History, 1860-1930,
Kitchener, Dumont Press, 1973; Gregory S. Kealey and Peter Warrian,
eds., Essays in Canadian Working-Class History, Toronto, McClelland
and Stewart, 1976.
For a more extensive discussion of the context in which the new labour
history emerged in English-Canada, see the references in footnote 2,
supra.
9. References to all of these early works are to be found in Fernand
Harvey’s historiographic essay, “L’histoire des travailleurs québécois : les
variations de la conjoncture et de l’historiographie”, Le mouvement
ouvrier au Québec, Montréal, Boréal Express, 1980.
10. Fernand Harvey edited a collection of essays on the history of the union
movement in Quebec, including his own study of the Knights of Labour:
Aspects historiques du mouvement ouvrier au Québec, Montréal,
Boréal Express, 1973. Another member of the Laval group, Jacques
Rouillard, studied labour’s early involvement in politics: “L’action
164
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
politique ouvrière, 1899-1915” in F. Dumont et al., éds., Idéologies au
Canada français, 1900-1920, Quebec, Presses de l’Université Laval,
1973, pp. 267-312.
In the way that Herbert Gutman drew on E.P. Thompson’s study of
working-class culture and experience in England to formulate an
interpretation of the relationship between class and culture in
19th-Century America: Herbert Gutman, “Work, Culture and Society
in Industrializing America”, Work Culture and Society in Industrializing America: Essays in American Working-Class and Social History,
New York, 1976. See also Alan Dawley, “E.P. Thompson and the
Peculiarities of the Americans”, Radical History Review, 19 (19781979): 33-59.
This conceptualization of the working class owes much to Marcel
David, Les travailleurs et le sens de leur histoire, Paris, Cujas, 1967; it
continued to influence Quebec historians a decade later. See Yvan
Lamonde, Lucia Ferretti et Daniel Leblanc, La culture ouvrière à
Montréal (1880-1920) : bilan historiographique, Quebec, Institut
québécois de recherche sur la culture, 1982. Fernand Ouellet has also
commented on the “misérabiliste” approach of many Quebec labour
historians, although he attributes it to different causes.
A more detailed discussion of this early work can be found in the
numerous review articles which appeared in the late 1970s and early
1980s; see note 1, supra. For a chronological and thematic presentation,
see also the extensive bibliography in Bryan D. Palmer, Working-Class
Experience. The Rise and Reconstitution of Canadian Labour, 18001980, Toronto, Butterworth & CO ., 1983.
Gregory S. Kealey, Toronto Workers Respond to Industrial Capitalism
1867-1892, Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1980; Bryan D.
Palmer, A Culture in Conflict. Skilled Workers and Industrial
Capitalism in Hamilton, Ontario, 1860-1914, Montreal, McGillQueen’s University Press, 1979.
Another important monograph which shared this preoccupation with
work and culture was Judith Fingard’s study of sailors and sailortowns
in Eastern Canada: Jack in Port, Toronto, University of Toronto Press,
1982.
Revisions to Maritime working-class history are summarized in Ian
McKay, “Strikes in the Maritimes, 1901-1914”, Acadiensis, XIII,1
(Autumn 1983); they contributed to the debate on Western radicalism
and the significance of the Winnipeg General Strike, see the special
issue of Labour/Le Travail, 13 (Spring 1984), especially Gregory S.
Kealey, “1919: the Canadian Labour Revolt”.
This literature is reviewed extensively in Bettina Bradbury, “Women’s
History and Working Class History”.
Donald Avery, ‘Dangerous Foreigners ‘: European Immigrant Workers
and Labour Radicalism in Canada, 1896-1932, Toronto, McClelland
and Stewart, 1979.
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18. For example Ruth Bleasdale, “Class conflict on the Canals of Upper
Canada in the 1840s”, Labour/Le Travail, 7 (Spring 1981): 9-39; Robert
Harney, “Montréal’s King of Italian Labour: A Case Study of
Padronism”, Labour/Le Travail, 4 (1979): 57-84; Satu Repo, “Rosvall
and Voutilainen: Two Union Men Who Never Died”, Labour/Le
Travail, 8/9 (Autumn/Spring 1981/82): 79-102.
19. See, for example, David Bercuson, Confrontation at Winnipeg: Labour,
Industrial Relations, and the General Strike, Montreal, McGill-Queens
University Press, 1974; by the same author, Fools and Wise Men: The
Rise and Fall of the One Big Union, Toronto, McGraw-Hill, 1978; A.
Ross McCormack, Reformers, Rebels, and Revolutionaries: The
Western Canadian Radical Movement, 1899-1919, Toronto, University
of Toronto Press, 1977; Laurel Sefton MacDowell, “The Formation of
the Canadian Industrial Relations System During World War Two”,
Labour/Le Travail, 3 (1978): 175-l96; Paul Craven, ‘An Impartial
Umpire’: Industrial Relations and the Canadian State, 1900-1911,
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1980. Desmond Morton and
Terry Copp produced an overview of the history of workers in Canada
which emphasized the struggles and achievements of organized labour:
Working People. An Illustrated History of Canadian Labour, Ottawa,
Deneau & Greenberg, 1980.
20. Toronto and Vancouver, Butterworth & CO ., 1983.
21. For another perspective which places greater emphasis on the persistent appeal of the institutional/political and ignores the emergence of
gender, see Ian McKay, “The Three Faces of Canadian Labour History?
22. An important influence was David Montgomery, especially Worker’s
Control in America, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1979.
23. Craig Heron, Working in Steel. The Early Years in Canada, 1883-1935,
Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1988; Graham S. Lowe, Women in
the Administrative Revolution. The Feminization of Clerical Work,
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1987; Ian Radforth, Bushworkers and Bosses. Logging in Northern Ontario, 1900-l 980, Toronto,
University of Toronto Press, 1987; Eric W. Sager, Seafaring Labour.
The Merchant Marine of Atlantic Canada, 1820-1914, KingstonMontreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1989. An overview of
work being done in this field is provided by Craig Heron and Robert
Storey, eds., On the Job. Confronting the Labour Process in Canada,
Kingston-Montreal, McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1986.
24. Harry Braverman, Labor and Monopoly Capital. The Degradation of
Work in the Twentieth Century, New York, Monthly Review Press, 1974.
For a Canadian perspective on some of the debates surrounding this
book, see Craig Heron and Robert Storey, “On the Job in Canada”, in
On the Job... : 3-46.
25. See especially Craig Heron’s study of Hamilton steelworkers and Ian
Radforth’s examination of Finnish bushworkers. Another study
166
incorporating this approach is Alicja Muszynski “Race and gender;
structural determinants in the formation of British Columbia’s salmon
cannery labour forces” in Gregory S. Kealey, ed., Class, Gender and
Region: Essays in Canadian Historical Sociology, St. John’s, Committee
on Canadian Labour History, 1988: 103-120. See also Allen Seager,
“Miners’ Struggles in Western Canada” in Deian R. Hopkin and
Gregory S. Kealey, eds., Class, Community and the Labour Movement:
Wales and Canada, 1850-1930, Wales, LLAFUR/CCLH, 1989: 160198.
26. Jean Burnet, ed., Looking into my Sister’s Eyes: an Exploration in
Women’s History, Toronto, The Multicultural History Society of Ontario, 1986; Robert F. Harney, ed., Gathering Place: Peoples and
Neighbourhoods of Toronto, 1834-1945, Toronto, The Multicultural
History Society of Ontario, 1985.
27. Bruno Ramirez, “Ethnic Studies and Working-Class History”,
Labour/Le Travail, 19 (Spring 1987): 45-48. One of the exceptions is
Franca Iacovetta: see “From Contadina to Worker; Southern Italian
Immigrant Working Women in Toronto, 1947-62” in Jean Burnet, ed.,
Looking into My Sister’s Eyes: an Exploration in Women ‘s History:
195-222 and “‘The Immigrant Strikes’: Italian Construction Workers
and Ethnic Militancy in Postwar Toronto”, paper presented at the
Annual meeting of the Canadian Historical Association, Quebec, 1989.
28. See footnote 2.
29. Linda Kealey, “No Special Protection - No Sympathy: Women’s Activism in the Canadian Labour Revolt of 1919” in Hopkin and Kealey,
eds., Class, Community and the labour Movement; Wales and Canada
1850-l 930: 134-159.
30. The most important overview of women’s participation in left-wing
politics is Joan Sangster, Dreams of Equality. Women on the Canadian
Left, 1920-1950, Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1989. A number of
articles contained in Linda Kealey and Joan Sangster, eds., Beyond the
Vote, Canadian Women and Politics, Toronto, University of Toronto
Press, 1989, are also relevant. See especially Linda Kealey, “Women in
the Canadian Socialist Movement, 1900-1914”; Susan Trofimenkoff,
“Thérèse Casgrain and the CCF in Québec”; Varpu Lindstrom-Best,
“Finnish Socialist Women in Canada, 1890-1930”.
31. Veronica Strong-Boag, The New Day Recalled Lives of Girls and
Women in English-Canada, 1919-1939, Toronto, Copp Clark Pitman,
1988; Ruth Roach Pierson, “They ‘re Still Women After All". The Second
World War and Canadian Womanhood, Toronto, McClelland and
Stewart, 1986.
32. Gail Cuthbert Brandt, “The Transformation of Women’s Work in the
Quebec Cotton Industry, 1920-1950” in Bryan D. Palmer, ed., The
Character of Class Struggle. Essays in Canadian Working-Class History,
Toronto, McClelland and Stewart, 1986: 115-137; Mercedes Steedman, “Skill and Gender in the Canadian Clothing Industry, 1890-1940”,
167
IJCS / RIEC
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
168
in Craig Heron and Robert Storey, eds., On the Job...: 152-176; Joy
Parr, “Disaggregating the Sexual Division of Labor - a Transatlantic
Case Study”, Comparative Studies in Society and History, 30,3 (1988):
511-533; Margaret E. McCallum, “Separate Spheres; the Organization
of Work in a Confectionery Factory: Ganong Bros., St. Stephen, New
Brunswick”, Labour/Le Travail, 24 (Fall 1989): 69-90.
Pat Armstrong and Hugh Armstrong, The Double Ghetto: Canadian
Women and Their Segregated Work, Toronto, 1978; Meg Luxton, More
Than a Labour of Love. Three Generations of Women's Work in the
Home, Toronto, The Women’s Press, 1980; Bettina Bradbury,
“Women and Wage Labour in a Period of Transition: Montréal,
1861-1881”, Histoire Sociale/Social History, XVII,33 (May 1984): 115-131
and “Pigs, Cows and Boarders: Non-Wage Forms of Survival among
Montréal Families, 1861-91”, Labour/Le Travail, 14 (Fall 1984): 9-46;
Veronica Strong-Boag, “Keeping House in God’s Country: Canadian
Women at Work in the Home” in Craig Heron and Robert Storey, eds.,
On the Job... : 124-151, and by the same author, The New Day Recalled..,
Chapter 4.
Mary Kinnear, “‘Do you want your daughter to marry a farmer?‘:
Women’s Work on the Farm, 1922” in Donald H. Akenson, ed.,
Canadian Papers in Rural History, Vol.VI, Gananoque, Langdale
Press, 1988: 137-153; Marjorie Griffm Cohen, Women ‘s Work, Markets,
and Economic Development in Nineteenth-Century Ontario, Toronto,
University of Toronto Press, 1988; Marta Danylewycz, Beth Light and
Alison Prentice, “The Evolution of the Sexual Division of Labour in
Teaching: A Nineteenth-Century Ontario and Quebec Case Study”,
Histoire sociale/Social History, XVI,31 (1983): 81-109; Marta
Danylewycz and Alison Prentice, “Teacher’s Work: Changing Patterns
and Perceptions in the Emerging School Systems of Nineteenth and
Early Twentieth Century Central Canada”, Labour/Le Travail, 17
(Spring 1986): 59-80.
Stimulating work in this area includes Joy Parr, “Rethinking Work and
Kinship in a Canadian Hosiery Town, 1910-1950”, Feminist Studies,
13,l (Spring 1987): 137-162, “The Skilled Emigrant and Her Kin:
Gender, Culture, and Labour Recruitment”, Canadian Historical
Review, LXVIII,4 (December 1987): 529-551 and Ruth A. Frager,
“Politicized Housewives in the Jewish Communist Movement of
Toronto” in Linda Kealey and Joan Sangster, eds., Beyond the Vote...:
258-275.
The prospects for a better integration of women’s history and workingclass history are assessed in Joanne Burgess, “Separate Histories no
Longer: Women and the Writing of Canadian Labour History”, paper
presented to the 8th International Meeting of the Italian Association
for Canadian Studies, Torre Canne, Italy, April 1990.
38. Craig Heron and Robert Storey, “On the Job in Canada” in On the
Job... , pp. 3-46; Craig Heron The Canadian Labour Movement. A Short
History. Toronto, James Lorrimer & CO., 1989.
39. Annick Germain, “L’émergence d’une scène politique : le mouvement
ouvrier et mouvements de réforme urbaine à Montréal au tournant du
siècle - Essai d’interprétation”, Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique
française, (henceforth RHAF), 37,2 (September 1983): 185-199; JeanFrançois Cardin, La crise d’octobre 1970 et le mouvement syndical
québécois, Montréal, RCHTQ, 1988.
40. These included Marcel Fournier, Communisme et anti-communisme
au Québec (1920-1950), Montréal, Editions co-opératives Albert
St-Martin, 1979; Robert Comeau et Bernard Dionne, Les communistes
au Québec: 1936-l 956, Montréal, Les Presses de l’unité, 1980; Bernard
Gauvin, Les communistes et la question nationale, 1921-1938,
Montréal, Les Presses de l’unité.
41. Andrée Lévesque, Virage à gauche interdit, Montréal, Boréal Express,
1984; Merrily Weisbord, The Strangest Dream. Canadian Communists,
the Spy Trials, and the Cold War, Toronto, Lester & Orpen Dennys,
1983; Bernard Dionne, “Historiographie du Parti communiste
canadien 1960-1982”, RHAF, 37,2 (September 1983): 309-319. A collection of essays originally slated for publication in the mid-1980s only
appeared in early 1990 because of technical problems: Roberts
Comeau et al., Le droit de se taire (in progress).
42. Robert Comeau, “La Canadian Seamen’s union (1936-1949) : un
chapitre de l’histoire du mouvement ouvrier canadien”, RHAF, 29,4
(March 1976): 503-538; Andrée Lévesque, “Le Québec et le monde
communiste : Cowansville 1931”, RHAF, 34,2 (September 1980): 171182; Denyse Baillargeon, “La grève de Lachute (1947)“, RHAF, 37,2
(September 1983): 271-289.
43. See the articles by Dofny and Bernard as well as by Hélène David in
Fernand Harvey, éd., Le mouvement ouvrier au Québec, Montréal,
Boréal Express, 1980; Jacques Rouillard, “Mutations de la
Confédération des travailleurs catholiques du Canada (1940-1960)“,
RHAF, 34,3 (December 1980): 377-405.
44. Jacques Rouillard, Les syndicats nationaux au Québec de 1900 à 1930,
Québec, Les Presses de l’université Laval, 1979. He subsequently
extended his investigation of the CSN to the years after 1930: Histoire
de la CSN (1921-1981), Montréal, Boréal Express/CSN, 1981.
45. Luc Desrochers, “Les facteurs d’apparition du syndicalisme catholique dans l’imprimerie et les déterminants de la stratégie syndicale
1921-1945”, RHAF, 37,2 (September 1983): 241-269 exemplifies this
approach. See also Jacques Rouillard, “Le militantisme des travailleurs au Québec et en Ontario, niveau de syndicalisation et mouvement
de grève (1900-1980)", RHAF, 37,2 (September 1983): 241-269.
46. Robert Babcock’s “Samuel Gompers et les travailleurs québécois,
1900-1914” in Fernand Harvey, Le mouvement ouvrier au Québec,
169
IJCS / RIÉC
47.
48.
49.
50.
51.
52.
53.
54.
55.
170
Montréal, Boréal Express, 1980: 131-149 was one of the rare early
studies of international unions in Quebec. Subsequent discussions
include Jacques Rouillard, “Implantation et expansion de I’Union
internationale des travailleurs en chaussures au Québec de 1900 à
1940”, RHAF, 36,1 (June 1982): 75-105; “Les travailleurs juifs de la
confection à Montréal (1910-80)", Labour/Le Travail, 8/9
(Autumn/Spring 1981/82): 253-259.
As of 1937, they were also brought together in a provincial body, the
Fédération provinciale des travailleurs du Québec.
Bernard Dionne, “Les Canadiens français et les syndicats internationaux. Le cas de la direction du Conseil des métiers et du travail
de Montréal (1938-1958)“, RHAF, 43,1 (Summer 1989): 31-61.
En collaboration, 150 ans de lutte. Histoire du mouvement ouvrier au
Québec (1825-1976)) Beauceville, co-édition CSN/CEQ, 1979, revised
in 1984. Jacques Rouillard, Histoire du syndicalisme québécois,
Montréal, Boréal Express, 1989.
Fernand Harvey, Révolution industrielle et travailleurs. Une enquête sur
les relations entre le capital et le travail au Québec à la fin du 19e siècle.
See especially David-Thierry Ruddel, “La main-d’œuvre en milieu
urbain au Bas-Canada : conditions et relations de travail”, RHAF’, 41,3
(Winter 1988): 389-402. A number of other historians explored the
craft world of Lower Canada: Robert Tremblay, “La formation
matérielle de la classe ouvrière à Montréal entre 1790 et 1830”, RHAF,
33,1 (June 1979): 39-50; Joanne Burgess, “The Growth of a Craft
Labour Force: Montreal Leather Artisans, 1815-1831”, Canadian
Historical Association, Historical Papers, Windsor, 1988.
Much of this work was summarized in Yvan Lamonde, Lucia Ferretti
and Daniel Leblanc, La culture ouvrière à Montréal (1880-l 920) : bilan
historiographique, Québec, Institut québécois de recherche sur la
culture, 1982. See also, Terry Copp, Classe ouvrière et pauvreté à
Montréal, 1896-1929, Montréal, Boréal Express, 1978 (first published
in English); Jean de Bonville, Jean-Baptiste Gagnepetit. Les travailleurs
montréalais à la fin du XIXe siècle, Montréal, L’Aurore, 1975; Martin
Tétreault, “Les maladies de la misère - aspects de la santé publique
à Montréal - 1880-1914”, RHAF, 36,4 (March 1983): 507-526.
Joanne Burgess, “L’industrie de la chaussure à Montréal : 1840-1870
- le passage de l’artisanat à la fabrique”, RHAF, 31,2 (September
1977): 187-210; Margaret Heap, “La grève des charretiers de Montréal
1864”, RHAF, 31,3 (December 1977): 371-395.
Gérard Bouchard, “Les prêtres, les capitalistes et les ouvriers à
Chicoutimi, 1896-1930”, Le mouvement social, 112 (1980): 5-23.
Bettina Bradbury, “L’économie familiale et le travail dans une ville en
voie d’industrialisation : Montréal dans les années 1870”, Nadia
Fahmy-Eid and Micheline Dumont, éds., Maîtresses de maison,
maîtresses d’école : 287-318; Gilles Lauzon, Habitat ouvrier et
révolution industrielle : le cas du village Saint-Augustin (municipalité
de St-Henri), Montréal, Collection RCHTQ, Etudes et documents,
1989; David B. Hanna and Sherry Olson, “Métiers, loyers et bouts de
rue : l’armature de la société montréalaise, 1881 à 1901”, Cahiers de
géographie du Québec, 27,71 (September 1983): 255-275; and by the
same authors, “Dimensions sociales de la mortalité infantile à
Montréal au milieu du XIXe siècle”, Annales de démographie
historique, 1988: 299-325.
56. Paul-André Linteau, René Durocher and Jean-Claude Robert, Histoire du Québec contemporain. De la Confédération à la crise (18671929), Montreal, Boréal Express, 1989, revised edition, Ch. 9 and 28.
57. Peter Bischoff, “La formation des traditions de solidarité ouvrière chez
les mouleurs montréalais : la longue marche vers le syndicalisme
(1859-1881)“, Labour/Le Travail, 21 (Spring 1988): 9-43. Paul-André
Lapointe, “La crise du rapport salarial aux usines Jonquière de
l’Alcan”, Études socialistes/Socialist Studies, 3 (1987): 75-108; Jacques
Ferland, “Syndicalisme ‘parcellaire et syndicalisme ‘collectif’ : une
interprétation socio-technique des conflits ouvriers dans deux industries québécoises, 1880-1914”, Labour/Le Travail, 19 (Spring
1987): 49-88.
58. Bruno Ramirez, “Brief Encounters: Italian Immigrant Workers and
the CPR, 1900-30”, Labour/Le Travail, 17 (Spring 1986): 9-27; “Migration and Regional Labour Markets, 1870-1915: the Québec Case” in
Deian R. Hopkin and Gregory S. Kealey, eds., Glass, Community and
the Labour Movement; Wales and Canada, 1850-1930, Wales,
LLAFUR/Labour/Le Travail, 1989: 119-133; “French Canadian Immigrants in the New England Cotton Industry: A Socioeconomic
Profile”, Labour/Le Travail, 11 (Spring 1983): 125-142; Bruno Ramirez
and Jean Lamarre, “Du Québec vers les Etats : l’étude des lieux
d’origine”, RHAF, 38,3 (Winter 1985): 409-422. See also Sylvie
Taschereau, “L’histoire de l’immigration au Québec : une invitation à
fuir les ghettos”, RHAF, 41,4 (Spring 1988): 575-589.
59. Jacques Rouillard, Ah les États !... Montréal, Boréal Express, 1985.
For an example of the IQRC monographs, see Denise Helly, Les
Chinois à Montréal, 1877-1951, Québec, IQRC, 1987.
60. Marie Lavigne and Yolande Pinard. Les femmes dans la société
québécoise : aspects historiques. Montréal, Boréal Express, 1977; Marie
Lavigne and Yolande Pinard, Travailleuses et féministes : les femmes
dans la société québécoise, Montréal, Boréal Express, 1983; Nadia
Fahmy-Eid and Micheline Dumont, Maîtresses de maison, maîtresses
d’école : femmes, famille et éducation dans l’histoire du Québec,
61. Jennifer Stoddart and Marie Lavigne, “Les travailleuses montréalaises
entre les deux guerres”, Labour/Le Travail, 2 (1977): 170-183;
Françoise Barry, Le travail de la femme au Québec : l’évolution de 1940
à 1970. Montréal, les Presses de l’université du Québec, 1977.
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Michelle Lapointe, “Le syndicat catholique des allumetières de Hull,
1919-1924”, RHAF, 32,4 (March 1979): 603-628; Mona-Josée Gagnon,
“Les femmes dans le mouvement syndical québécois”; Marie Lavigne
et Yolande Pinard, Travailleuses et féministes: 139-160. More recent
studies of women in the labour movement include Nadia Fahmy-Eid
and Lucie Piché, Si le travail m’était conté... autrement. Les
travailleuses de la CTCC-CSN : quelques fragments d’histoire, 19211976, Montréal,,CSN, 1987. For a slightly different perspective, see
Sylvie Murray, A la jonction du mouvement ouvrier et du mouvement
des femmes : la ligue auxiliaire de l'Association internationale des
machi-nistes, Canada, 1903-1980, M.A. (History), UQAM, 1988.
62. Useful articles are to be found in Lavigne and Pinard, Travailleuses et
féministes... and in Fahmy-Eid and Thivierge, Maîtresses de maison,
maîtresses d’école... For more recent explorations of these fields, see
Yolande Cohen and Michèle Dagenais, “Le métier d’infirmière :
savoirs féminins et reconnaissance professionnelle”, RHAF, 41,2
(Autumn 1987): 155-177; André Petitat, Les infirmières : de la vocation à la profession, Montréal, Boréal Express, 1989; Yolande Cohen,
“L’Association des Cercles des fermières du Québec : sociabilité et
influence sociale”; Yolande Cohen, éd., Femmes et contre-pouvoirs,
Montréal, Boréal Express, 1987: 135-154.
63. Diane Belisle and Yolande Pinard, “De l’ouvrage des femmes
québécoises”; Louise Vandelac et al., Du travail et de l’amour. Les
dessus de la production domestique. Montréal, Editions St-Martin,
1985: 99-133; Andrée Lévesque, “Le Bordel : Milieu de travail
contrôlé”, Labour/Le Travail, 20 (Fall 1987): 13-31; Aline Charles, Le
bénévolat féminin en milieu hospitalier : le cas de l'hôpital Ste-Justine,
1907-1960, M.A. (History), UQAM, 1988.
64. Andrée Lévesque, La norme et les déviantes. Des femmes au Québec
pendant l’entre-deux-guerres. Montréal, Remue-Ménage, 1989; Bettina
Bradbury, “Surviving as a Widow in 19th-Century Montreal”, Urban
History Review, XVII,3 (February 1989): 148-160; Michèle Dagenais,
“Itinéraires professionnels masculins et féminins en milieu bancaire :
le cas de la Banque d’Hochelaga, 1900-1929”, Labour/Le Travail, 24
(Fall 1989): 45-68.
65. Tamara Hareven, Family Time and Industrial Time...; Gérard
Bouchard, “La dynamique communautaire et l’évolution des sociétés
rurales québécoises au 19e siècle et au 20e siècle. Construction d’un
modèle”, RHAF, 40,1 (Summer 1986): 51-71.
66. Joanne Burgess, Work, Family and Community: Montreal Leather
Craftsmen, 1790-1831, Ph.D Thesis (History), UQAM, 1986; Peter
Bischoff, “Des forges du Saint-Maurice aux fonderies de Montréal :
mobilité géographique, solidarité communautaire et action syndicale
des mouleurs, 1829-1881”, RHAF, 43,1 (Summer 1989): 3-29; France
Gagnon, “Parenté et migration : le cas des Canadiens français à
Montréal entre 1845 et 1875”, Canadian Historical Association, His172
torical Papers, 1988: 63-85; Lucia Ferretti, “Mariage et cadre de vie
familiale dans une paroisse ouvrière montréalaise : Sainte-Brigide,
1900-1914”, RHAF, 39,2 (Fall 1985): 233-251.
173
Mark G. McGowan
Coming Out of the Cloister: Some Reflections on
Developments in the Study of Religion in Canada,
1980-1990
Abstract
In his essay on recent developments in the study of religion in Canada, the
author focuses on two important developments which he regards as flights
from the “cloister”. The first is the development of the social-scientific and
humanistic study of religion, without the application of theological preconceptions. The second "flight” is the recent proclivity of historians and social
scientists of religion to frame new religious questions, employ more innovative methodologies and use computer-assisted techniques. This second
dimension of the paper is underscored by the new social history of religion
which examines the relationship between behaviour and belief "from the
bottom up”--or, in essence, “the view from the pew “. The author considers
three social-historical themes (religion as a social variable, religion and
popular culture, and the identification of symbolic universes) as being essential to the health of religious history in Canada. French-Canadian scholars
have consistently led their English counterparts in the breadth and innovation
of their religious historical scholarship. In addition, the paper offers an
overview of recent developments in the study of Amerindian religions and the
secularization of Canadian society. Both of these fïelds are attracting a
greater number of students and scholars who are willing to employ statistical
analysis and dialogue between the various branches of social science, ethnology and history. The exploration of non-Christian religions, women in
religion, invisible religions and non-religions necessitates the construction of
new paradigms, research models and some degree of quantification. In short,
scholars in the 1990s will have to be more daring and imaginative in their
study of Canadian religion.
Résumé
Dans son essai sur l’évolution récente de l’étude de la religion au Canada,
l‘auteur met l‘accent sur deuxpercées imp ortantes qu ‘il considère comme des
écarts à la tradition. Le premier est le développement de l’étude socioscientifique et humaniste de la religion, sans recours à des idées théologiques
préconçues. Le second écart est la récente propension des historiens et des
chercheurs en sciences sociales spécialises dans l’étude de la religion à
soulever de nouvelles questions d’ordre religieux, à utiliser des méthodologies
plus novatrices ainsi que des techniques assistées par ordinateur. Ce
deuxième aspect de l’article est illustré par la nouvelle histoire sociale de la
religion qui examine le lien entre le comportement et les croyances, dans la
perspective des pratiquants « ordinaires ». L’auteur examine trois thèmes
l-2, Spring-Fall/Printemps-automne 1990
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socio-historiques (la religion comme variable sociale, la religion et la culture
populaire et l'dentification d’univers symboliques) essentials à la vigueur de
l’histoire religieuse au Canada. Les chercheurs canadiens-français ont
toujours conservé une avarice sur leurs homologies anglophones quant à
l'envergure et au caractère novateur de leur recherche en histoire religieuse.
De plus, l’article offre un aperçu des récents progrès dans l’étude des religions
amérindiennes et de la sécularisation de la société canadienne. Ces deux
domaines attirent un nombre croissant d’étudiants et de chercheurs prêts à
mettre à profit l’analyse statistique et les échanges entre les diverses disciplines des sciences sociales, de l’ethnologie et de l’histoire. L 'exploration
des religions non chétiennes, des femmes et de la religion, des religions
invisibles et des non-religions nécessite la mise au point de nouveaux paradigmes et de modèles de recherche et un certain degré de quantification. Bref, les
chercheurs des années 1990 devront faire preuve de plus d’audace et
d ‘imagination clans leur étude de la religion canadienne.
Canadians have traditionally identified themselves as a religious people.
Since Confederation, nearly ninety percent of Canadians have claimed
1
affiliation to one of five major Christian denominations. Given this
remarkably concentrated spiritual allegiance among believers, one might
assume that Canadians would be anxious to explore their religious heritage,
but the harvest of scholarly materials on Canadian religion pales in comparison to studies of other aspects of Canadian life. In 1983, distinguished
Canadian historian John S. Moir commented that the study of Canadian
religious history was “coming of age, but slowly”, and then, he promptly
challenged scholars to be more daring in their pursuit of religious history.2
A year earlier, Roger O’Toole observed that sociologists of religion were
on the “sidelines” of the discipline in Canada and risked “intoxication” in
“the stale air of the cloister”.3 Despite these challenges and warnings by
Moir and O’Toole, research on religious issues and movements is still not
a priority on the crammed agendas of many Canadian scholars. While the
study of Canadian religion has attracted some new practitioners, many of
whom have employed innovative methods and technologies, the study of
Canadian religion remains mired in traditional questions, familiar research
topics and tried and true methods. The emergence from the “cloister” has
been slow, but very recent developments suggest that there is good cause
for hope.
Generally speaking, over the past ten years, studies in Canadian religion
have displayed little consensus or focus. A myriad of methods and conceptual frameworks prevail among scholars who toil in this section of the
Canadian academic vineyard. Historical and social-scientific studies of
Canadian religion are also entangled in the knarled vines of language,
culture, confession and discipline, perhaps suggesting that Canadian
scholars have taken to heart the gospel dictum of not letting the right hand
know what the left hand is doing. Moreover, as has been the ease with
practically every endeavour in Canadian studies, the “two solitudes” of
176
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Coming Out of the Cloister
language and culture loom over the study of Canadian religion. There is no
consensus among scholars on a definitive pattern in the study of Canadian
religion. Thus, any commentary on the state of the study of Canadian
religion, or its categories, is bound to satisfy few, and perhaps irritate many.
This paper is not intended to be an exhaustive profile of the study of
Canadian religious activity, nor does it attempt to comment on the state of
“religious studies” or “theology” as disciplines in Canada. Instead, this
essay attempts to gather together some important fragments to reconstruct
the contours of the significant historical and social scientific investigations
of Canadian religion in the past decade. Moreover, it attempts to
demonstrate some points of conjunction between English- and FrenchCanadian writing, if for no other reason than to build bridges between
scholars on both sides of Canada’s cultural-linguistic divide. It should be
pointed out that while the author has not commented directly on the
“theological versus scientific” debate over the study of religion in general,
this essay commends the work of social scientists of religion and the social
historians who are pursuing research independent of theological constructions, and who are analyzing religious questions in light of humanistic and
social scientific methods, with as few a priori - arguments from faith as
possible. Currently, departments of religious studies across the country are
reassessing the nature of their multidisciplinary craft, particularly the
extent to which arguments and postulations from a “faith perspective” are
admissible in the scientific study of religion. 4In the process, Donald Weibe
has accused Canadian religious scholars of displaying a “failure of nerve”,
by allowing theological presupposition to creep into the scientific study of
religion and religionswissenschaft.5 This paper concentrates essentially on
two flights from the cloister: first, the attempts of scholars in secular
universities to come to terms with Canadian religion without the imposition
of a particular “theology”; and, second, the movement of these secular
scholars away from traditional conceptual frameworks and methodologies.
Historical Approaches
Of all the scholars approaching the study of religion in Canada, historians
have been, perhaps, the most eclectic and often the most reluctant to flee
the cloister, thereby abandoning certain theological presuppositions and
some traditional historical methods. The scholarship of the 1980s sustains
impressions that religious historiography in Canada has been a virtual
Babel of methods, questions and interpretations, varying from the overtly
pious to the quasi-sociological. Equally as disparate are the recent publications in Canadian religious history, produced in a variety of forms:
monographs, a wide selection of thematic anthologies, and collections of
edited documents.6Despite this multiplicity of approaches and products,
contemporary religious history in both English- and French-Canada can be
sorted into three broadly based categories: providential history, humanist
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history and the social history of religion. 7Each category is rooted in an
historiographical evolution dating back several decades, yet each has its
standard bearers demanding a hearing in the present day.
Providentialist Perspectives
Most religious history written in Canada prior to the Second World War
was providential in both tone and subject matter. Pious biographies,
chronicles of denominations and parishes, and inspirational narratives of
religious movements and institutions were written with the expressed intent
of demonstrating the hand of God at work in the religious development of
Canada. The practitioners of the craft were often clergy, as rival denominations and cultural groups laid out their vision of Canada for the faithful.
Lionel Groulx, E.H. Oliver, John Carroll and A.G. Morice, to name a few,
spilled gallons of ink justifying the Protestant and Catholic interpretations
of God, and the unfolding of His glorious plan for Canada. These studies,
although valuable for their insights into particular religious groups and
issues, offered the reader little context and an impression that there was
little to the ebb and flow of Canadian life outside of the “glorious” progress
of the particular denomination, parish or person in question. Consequently,
providential history appeared to be little more than a handmaiden of
theology.
While the focus of religious history changed after the Second World War,
providential or “devotional” history has retained some practitioners and
admirers. Currently, the providential ranks are dominated by clergy and lay
believers whose interest in history often has been engendered by their own
faith experience. Congregational histories, denominational studies and
uncritical chronicles of religious orders and institutional studies generally
offer a mixed fare, ranging in tone from the mildly apologetic to the overtly
devotional. 8A second subspecies of this devotional approach, which is still
very much alive, is hagiography. The sympathetic study of Canadian
religious heros and heroines offers believers tangible historical examples
of individual devotion in action and models for Christian living. In his Indian
Bishop of the West, for instance, Frank Dolphin explores the life and
missionary career of Vital Grandin, suggesting that his story “can teach
much about the qualities of loyalty, patience and understanding, qualities
needed in every age“. 9Both hagiography and devotional studies, however,
rest at the periphery of contemporary religious history, although their
presence is strongest in Canada’s religious history associations. Here, they
generally find a receptive audience and a hearing that they would undoubtedly be refused in secular schools and societies.
There are two unmistakable features of the providential “group”: the
traditional and filiopietistic nature of the historical questions asked and the
elitist presentation of a religious history “from the top down”. Given that
178
the questions one asks frequently determine the sources one uses,
providentialists have generally failed to seek out new resources. Manuscript
collections, parish reports and newspapers remain the mainstay of
providential historical research. These researchers are not unique; until
recently, their successors in Canadian religion have rarely transcended
institutional studies or traditional sources.
The work of the providentialists reveals a basic theoretical polarization in
the study of Canadian religion. Providentialists and many humanist scholars
consider religion as transcendent and distinct from secular developments.
Such “neo-orthodox” approaches to religion recognize a sacred-secular
dichotomy, which demands that religion be studied in and of itself, and that
religious developments not be profaned by “reductionism” or reference
primarily to social, psychological or political influences. George Rawlyk’s
Ravished By the Spirit reveals this tendency by attributing the strength of
Maritime revivalism more to the ideas, hymns and preaching of its leaders
than to the whirlwind of change taking place in Maritime society. This
particular author’s own embrace of evangelical religion has facilitated the
construction of a neo-orthodox interpretation, firmly separating sacred
from secular.10 Other scholars have judged the dialectic between religion
and society to be critical in the study of Canadian religion. The secular is
judged to have a constant impact on the sacred, altering religious forms and
ideas over time. Religion, to these more liberal interpreters, is an intrinsic
part of society and culture, and, therefore the study of religion cannot be
divorced from the study of the secular. l1While the providentialist historians clearly have a neo-orthodox view, and social historians veer to
reductionism, the humanists are much more varied in their writing.
Humanist Perspectives
Since World War II, the providentialists have generally given way to
humanist scholars who have stripped God from the main action of
Canadian religious history. The more secularized movement owes its start
primarily to A.R.M. Lower’s adaption of the Weber-Tawney thesis to
Canada, Donald Creighton’s encouragement of church-state studies, and
S.D. Clark’s application of the frontier thesis to the activities of sects in the
12
pioneering phase of settlement. Neo-nationalist historians of the 1950s
and Annales-style historians of the present day have offered a similar
impetus in French Canada. There is no one humanist school, per se,
although each branch of humanist scholarship — history of institutions,
biography, and history of religious movements and thought – all have critical, historical scholarship as their common base. 13 Since 1979, English- and
French-Canadian scholars have fallen into one or all of these categories of
religious study. Common to all is a focus on religion from the “top-down”,
featuring a wide range of topics: religious elites, leadership, the development of institutions, the prominence and change of religious ideas, relations
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between church and state, and movements of reaction and reform.
Likewise, there has been little urge by humanist historians to utilize data
outside of newspapers, printed materials or manuscript sources, or adapt
the study of religion in Canada to new computer technology. Humanists
appear to be wed neither to a specific hermeneutic nor a singular method.
One case in point is William Westfall’s Two Worlds which, although focused
on elite cultural forms, ideas and leading individuals, is a stimulating
attempt to situate the religious culture of early Ontario in the broader
context of the prevailing secular “culture”.14 Here, one finds sensitivity to
the dialectic between religion and society, but within the framework of a
more traditional, intellectual history.
Humanist scholars of “institutions” in English-Canada and “histoire de
l’Eglise” in French-Canada have been very busy over the last decade. John
Moir’s reprinted Enduring Witness and Keith Clifford’s Resistance to,
Church Union in Canada stand as two excellent institutional studies of
15
Canadian Presbyterianism and the United Church experience. similarly,
George Rawlyk’s plethora of studies on the evangelical revivals in the
Maritimes greatly enhances our knowledge of the leadership of the New
Light Movement, its literature, and its impact on the religious ethos of the
region, although the reader learns little of the class dimensions of the
Baptist Awakenings. The same could be said about Robert Choquette’s two
recent books, which are solid institutional studies of Franco-Ontarian
Catholics and their efforts to preserve French-language schools in
Ontario.16 In Quebec, the “histoire de l'Église”17 category includes the
three published volumes of the mammoth Histoire du catholicisme
québécois, perhaps the most comprehensive synthesis of Quebec Catholic
history, “from the top-down. “18 The common thread in all the studies
mentioned is the tendency to see religion as Church, and church as its clergy
and leadership, be it corporate or episcopal. Consequently, institutional
studies, while exploring many contours of religious life, can rarely capture
a sense of religion among common believers. The sources themselves are
skewed to a view from the pulpit, the synod or the parson’s desk.
Recent biographical contributions also tend to reinforce the “elite” approaches still current in the study of Canadian religion. As an historical
form, biography in Canada reached its “golden age” in the 1950s and
1960s. 19 Recently, biography has lost its command of the profession, and
this is equally the case of religious biography. The Dictionary of Canadian
Biography, however, has consistently offered solid contributions on many
Canadian religious leaders, in both official languages. 20 The problems with
religious biography are shared with historical biography in general. The
temptation either is to explore character and lose sense of time and place,
or perhaps lose a sense of the characters in trying to make them a prism of
a particular age. 21 Recently, Marguerite Van Die’s biography of Nathaniel
Burwash has struck a fine balance between character and circumstance,
180
exposing the hero and his ideas within the context of Victorian-Canadian
Methodism .22 Much of the same could be said for recent biographies by
Léo-Paul Hébert, Hélène Pelletier-Baillargeon and Giselle Huot. 23Once
again, the small religious history societies encourage biographical studies
of the critical and scholarly type, in addition to hagiography. The Canadian
Society of Church History, the Canadian Catholic Historical Association,
English and French sections, and representative societies of most other
denominations have published brief biographical sketches highlighting the
contributions of individuals to respective Church institutions or to the
refinement of religious thought. Denominations themselves have commissioned biographical works. Stanford Reid’s short vignettes of Presbyterian
leaders, and Douglas Letson and Michael Higgin’s recently commissioned
biography of G. Emmet Cardinal Carter are two such examples.24 Common
to most of the biographic studies produced in the 1980s has been the strict
adherence to traditional sources and methods. As a result, biography will
continue to run the risk of being too insular, perhaps isolated from the
mainstream of religious activity.
Although religious biography has slipped in popularity, the same may not
be said of the history of “religious ideas and movements”. The history of
religious ideas, whether transmitted through individuals or movements, still
retains a high profile in the humanistic study of religion in Canada. Its
dominance can perhaps be credited with the popular belief that religious
history is simply a branch of intellectual history. These impressions are
fortified in the 1980s when one realizes the wide range of approaches to the
study of Canadian religious thought. In the 1980s, studies of divinity school
education,25 mission theory,26 messianic movements, millenarianism,
revivalism, 27ultramontanism and the social gospel have all marked the
dominance of this particular branch of the humanistic study of religion. The
anniversary of Louis Riel’s death in 1985, for instance, engendered two
interesting studies of Riel’s religious vision and mission in the West, which
attempted to transcend the bitterly politicized elements of the Riel debate,
and sought instead to ascribe Riel’s actions to a complex, personal religious
vision. 28 Related to the religious ethos of Riel’s time, Jean Hamelin and
Nive Voisine’s penetrating Les ultramontains canadiens-français offers the
best study to date of nineteenth-century French-Canadian religious conservatism. Comparative essays of ultamontanism in France and Canada place
Canadian Catholic thought within an international framework, making the
volume much more than a standard work of Canadian historical navelgazing.
29
Similarly, another long-standing theme in Canadian religious thought was
revised and expanded in the 1980s. Richard Allen and Stewart Crysdale30
pioneered the exploration into the Canadian social gospel in the 1960s and
1970s, initiating what has since become one of the central preoccupations
of Canadian religious scholars. Studies by J. Brian Scott and Brian Fraser31
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have departed from Allen’s Methodist-centred social gospel and revealed
vibrant strains of social Christianity in the Canadian Baptist and Presbyterian churches respectively. Marlene Shore’s The Science of Social
Redemption has traced the contemporary developments of social work and
sociology at McGill University, and attempts to give the reform movements
of the period some academic and scientific context. Finally, Ramsay Cook’s
Regenerators has recast the social gospel as the vehicle of secularization for
liberal Protestants in Canada.32 Cook’s study of social reform through
individual case studies, however, typifies both the strengths and weaknesses
of the history of Canadian religious movements and thought. While observations of the lives of social reformers and their writings are some of the
most tangible ways of grappling with religious ideas, these studies remained
elitist and somewhat divorced from how ideas flow into and out of a popular
social context. Such top-down studies rarely move into the pews where the
majority of believers congregate. As such, the Regenerators, among other
studies, fails to penetrate the barrier between “profession” and practice.
Social Historical Perspectives
The role of religion as a vital force in the Canadian social fabric has not
been recognized by most English-Canadian historians. Similarly, the social
history of religion has not been a prominent feature in any of the major
Anglophone academic journals, nor has it gained much recognition in
either the major learned societies or smaller denominationally-based historical associations. There is little excuse for this, considering the development of sophisticated social histories of religion in French-Canada. When
viewed in its entirety — in both French- and English-Canada — the socialhistorical category of religious study is undoubtedly reductionist, noting in
particular the dynamic inter-relationship between religion, society and
culture. This genre borrows from the “histoire des mentalités” of the Annals
School, the demographic concerns of the Cambridge social historians, the
theories of sociology and cultural anthropology and the religionwissenchaft
methods employed at the University of Chicago, a school which has contributed part of the new generation of English-Canadian religious scholars.
Social historians of religion are armed with a new set of assumptions, new
questions and new methodologies. Their belief that the study of Canadian
religion and other social variables are inextricably linked provides the
foundation upon which this genre is built. Accordingly, the historian’s focus
is redirected from the pulpit to the pew, in a sense “offering the pew’s eye
view”. The questions that subsequently arise are legion. Who are these
believers? How do they go about their daily lives? How does their religious
and social behaviour interface? Does confession coincide with social advantage or disadvantage? Does environment influence the change in
doctrine or orthopraxy? What is the essential relationship between belief
and behaviour? In true biblical fashion, this new wine demands new
182
wine-skins – the new questions beg new sources and new methods of
analysis. The sermon, the collected papers, the weekly religious newspaper
and the official church pronouncements offer the historian only a partial –
if not elitist – view of religion in Canada. Careful analysis of the routinely
generated records, in addition to the traditional sources, can offer us much
more. These social-scientific, historical studies can be classified into three
broad groupings: religion and society, religion and culture, and symbolic
universes and practices. While the French classifications considered by
Guy Laperrière33(Église et société, rencontre des cultures et héritage
culturel) may vary slightly, their components can be fitted into the general
tripartite typology offered above.
Canadian historians studying “religion and society” have cast a wide net
covering a number of social-historical sub-specialties. With an eye to recent
developments in Canadian history and the social sciences, religious historians are beginning to examine the continual relationships between
religion and pedagogy, gender, labour, class, the family and popular
associations. Gender issues, for example, have taken on a new life as the
power of the women’s movement has increased since the 1960s. Recently,
scholars have combined traditional, documentary evidence, quantification
of routinely generated records and feminist analysis to reveal women’s
religious orders in an entirely new light. As is common in the social history
of religion, one must look to scholars working on French-Canada for the
“state of the art.” Micheline D’Allaire’s and Marta Danylewycz’s books are
two ground-breaking social studies of nuns in Quebec, the role of the
religious vocation and social histories of the cloister. 34To date, there are
no comparable studies in English-Canada, although there are numerous
institutional and devotional studies of religious orders. 35 Related studies
of male clergy have also made a contribution to our understanding of
religion and class. Most notable is Nadia Fahmy-Eid’s assertion that the
Quebec priesthood constituted a distinct class, which nurtured, defended
and perpetuated ultramontane ideology. While this contention has not gone
without criticism, Fahmy-Eid’s hypothesis has laid the groundwork for
perhaps a more intensive study of the relationship between clergy, laity and
class.36Brian Young’s recent study of the Sulpician seminary in Montreal
as a business institution may ruffle the feathers of a few “providentialists”,
but it presents yet another interesting manner in which religion can be
placed within a socially secular context.37
Studies that have a less clerical emphasis when demonstrating the interaction of religion and society have been less prominent than one might hope.
In English-Canada, Stephen Speisman’s The Jews of Toronto offered some
hope to social historians of religion that community studies of religious
groups could be attempted, and new types of evidence employed. While
Speisman’s study straddles the fine line between ethnic and religious
studies, he was able to employ data derived from municipal tax assessment
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rolls to construct a more complete social picture of Toronto’s Jewry,
including such issues as social mobility, housing, occupational change and
poverty. 38 Scholarly interest in these relationships is perhaps stimulated by
a reluctance to accept the broad generalizations regarding ethno-religious
groups and their advantaged or disadvantaged economic behaviour as
ascribed to by John Porter and A.R.M. Lower.39 Donald Akenson, Walter
Ellis, Marc-Andre Bédard and Mark McGowan have examined the
relationship between religion and class, as have Gordon Darroch and
Michael Orenstein in their seminal studies of class and ethnicity in the 1871
census.40 These recent re-evaluations of the “vertical mosaic” and WeberTawney thesis suggest that religious groups cannot be prescribed a
stereotypical role in the political-economy of Canada. Religious belief did
not predispose economic classification. One might assume that discussions
of the level of secularization of Canadian religious groups might normally
fit into this historical sub-category, but in Canada, this type of scholarly
endeavour has been more the preserve of sociologists than historians.41
One innovative means of assessing religion and its social relationships is
through community associations, beneficient societies and fraternal organizations. René Hardy’s study of the Zouaves in Quebec revealed a case
of ultramontanism in social form, as well as the clergy’s attempt to socially
actualize their Tridentine world view.42 Examinations of religious associations and other groups have also prompted experimentation with techniques developed by historical geographers and demographers. One notable
case in point is Cecil Houston and William Smyth’s penetrating study of the
Orange Order, a Protestant fraternal association that frequently suggests
images of English-Canadian intolerance and anti-Catholic sentiment.
Houston and Smyth broaden this popular image of the Oiler, demonstrating its salient religious, social and beneficial features. Finally, an unpublished dissertation by Brian P. Clarke may hold the seeds of future study
for religious associations in Canada. Focusing on Toronto’s Irish Catholics,
Clarke utilizes a number of census and directory sources to build a social
and devotional profile of the Irish and their relationship to the AngloProtestant culture around them.44
Closely related to the “religion and society” sub-category are those scholars
currently examining the relationship between religion and culture. While
somewhat overlapping the concerns of some humanist historians, and their
concern for the relationship between religion and the “values, assumptions,
commitments, expressions, language [and] customs” of a people, the social
historian is preoccupied with these issues in so far as they impact on the
believer in the pew45. Once again, even within this sub-category, there is a
diversity of approaches, including inter-faith contact, intercultural relations in the mission fields and ethnicity and religion. Mission studies
emphasizing cultural contact blossomed in the 1970s with seminal
monographs by Cornelius Jaenen and Bruce Trigger. Since that time, a
184
number of essays have probed deeply into missionary contact to assess the
levels of Amerindian assimilation and resistance to white religious
culture. 46 Sophisticated inter-cultural studies have demanded not only a
command of historical and theological sources, but also a knowledge of
linguistics, cultural anthropology and sociology. Studies of ethnicity and
religion demand a similar eclecticism in scholars. Monographs and articles
by John Zucchi, Jacques Langlais, Stella Hryniuk and Murray Nicolson all
examine the ways in which immigrant groups adapt and protect their
religious heritage in the face of pressure from Canada’s host religious
cultures . 47 The methods used by scholars studying the relationships between religion and culture still vary from the traditional historical narrative
to the more complex social-statistical analysis. Zucchi’s study of Italian
national parishes in Toronto, for instance, reconstructs village migrations
to parishes and measures inter-marriage amen the several village communities located within a given “Italian” church.48
The examination of “symbolic universes and practices” ties the issues and
symbols of belief to a popular cultural context. Here the scholar uncovers
the systems of religious meaning at the level of the pew, how devotions are
integrated into the life of the laity, and how ordinary persons interpret
reality through the prisms of religion. The social historian can recapture
popular religion through a variety of sources: religious artifacts, symbols,
prayer books, catechisms, inspirational journals, parish reports and
registers and the behaviour of religious associations. Once more, FrenchCanadian scholars are light years ahead of their colleagues in EnglishCanada. Raymond Brodeur’s study of catechisms, Brigitte Caulier’s work
on religious associations, Serge Gagnon’s examination of attitudes toward
death, and Marie-Aimée Cliche’s explorations of popular devotions in New
France have few rivals in English-Canadian religious scholarship.49In all
fairness to Anglo-Canadian researchers, however, the 1980s marked the
beginning of some thoughtful studies of religion in popular culture. A.J.B.
Johnston’s Religion and Life at Louisbourg, 1713-1758, although generally
more traditional in its approach, contains at least one chapter in which the
devotional life of the faithful is discussed. Explorations of devotional life,
interfaith marriage, resistance to ecclesiastical authority, use of liturgical
language and secularization have recently been treated in a few EnglishCanadian works. 50 It must be admitted, however, that the non-sacerdotal
nature of many Protestant denominations has naturally lessened the number of avenues open to scholars seeking “a view from the pew” in Englishspeaking Protestant Canada. If Anglophone scholars are to keep pace,
however, more studies will be needed on such things as liturgical music,
prayer groups, sacramental, popular devotions, church architecture,51
Sunday school activities and the development of liturgies. Through such
explorations, historians, in conjunction with experts in other disciplines,
can reclaim the social manifestations of religious belief in Canada. Only
when this is done will historians truly flee the cloister of institutional, elitist
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and “Church’’-centered studies, and refocus scholarly attention on “the life
of the faithful”.
Social-Scientific Approaches
Historians, of course, have no monopoly on the study of Canadian religion.
In fact, they owe their coming out of the cloister, in large part, to the social
scientists, particularly sociologists and anthropologists. In the 1940s, it was
Lower’s adoption of Max Weber’s The Protestant Ethic and the Spirit of
Capitalism and S.D. Clark’s application of the “cult-sect-church” typology
that blasted Canadian religious studies from the clouds of the “providentialists”. While social scientists have offered historians a theoretical language with which to explore religion, social scientists themselves have
profited from a generous bounty of research methods and topics of study
opened to them by Canadian historians. As S.D. Clark, himself, once
admitted:
Whatever the limitations of some of the work now being done,
there has come from the new strengthening interest in historical
investigation a greatly strengthened sociology. . . . It is hard to
believe that the sociologist who has turned to history will remain
for long so little curious about the facts of history that he will be
content to leave to others the task of historical research. The
sociologist who uses history is almost bound in the end to find
himself doing history.52
Clark’s observations hold true as ever increasing numbers of social
scientists of religion incorporate historical research in their theoretical
analysis based on prescribed classical and non-classical sociological
paradigms. Functional, Marxist, substantive, phenomenological, Neibhurian and other perspectives have been tried and discarded, and new
survey techniques have been adapted in order to probe better the Canadian
religious past and “present”. Stewart Crysdale and La Wheatcroft have
synthesized this wide range of perspectives into four broad methodological
categories: (1) theories noting the independent impact of religion on social
behaviour; (2) a middle cluster of theories seeking reasons for religion’s
social impact; (3) Troeltsch’s mystic-sect-church typology and (4) theories
emphasizing religious meaning. 53 While most historians will be perplexed
by the model- building of practitioners in these sister disciplines, it cannot
be denied that in the 1980s, a wide range of theorists have produced
significant new insights into the study of Canadian religion.
It is impossible to unravel satisfactorily the complex network of theories,
disciplines and subjects in the social scientific study of religion in such a
short paper. Instead, it is possible to highlight at least three areas of study
where there has recently been some noticeable activity the secularization
186
of Canadian society the growth of sects, new religions and popular religious
movements; and studies of Amerindian religion. Although Roger O’Toole’s
lament about the scope of the social-scientific study of religion still rings
true, the quality of what has appeared over the past decade is worthy of
note and offers a modicum of hope for future research.
Religion and Canadian Secularity
The industrialization and commercialization of twentieth-century Canada
has continually raised the question of religious change and secularization.
In his pithy essay Religion, sécularisation et déplacements du sacré ,the late
Roland Chagnon presented the contours of the current theological and
social scientific studies of secularity. At the end of the article, he posits a
new model for examining secularization and the displacement of the sacred
in differentiated societies. This new paradigm necessitates the examination
of organizational, institutional and interpersonal levels of religious experience in societies that are: (1) threatened by secular organizations
fulfilling similar functions; or (2) faced by organizations that do not com54
pete with religious roles and social functions. In light of Chagnon’s
hypotheses, it is not surprising that Quebec scholars, since the Quiet
Revolution, have increasingly been stimulated by the secularization of that
province, which throughout its history had borne the indelible stamp of the
Roman Catholic Church. The loss of the Catholic monopoly in Quebec has
recently been discussed by Raymond Courcy and Fernand Dumont, among
others. Courcy, in particular, is impressed with the ability of the Church to
re-claim its relevance by allying itself to the causes of popular groups in the
Province..55 Similarly, while Dumont also sees new, alternative systems forr
Quebec, he still hopes for a renewed Christian voice in society “Nous
n’avons pas parcouru encore tout le chemin de la mutation de la culture
religieuse. Mais il est permis de souhaiter . . . que les Églises chrétiennes
retrouvent en cette conjuncture la tradition de critique et d’espérance qui
constitue le meilleur de leur héritage millénaire."56
On the English side, in the 1980s, apart from a couple of notable studies,
the social-scientific study of the responses and reaction to secularization
remains somewhat underdeveloped. Elizabeth Weber and Barry
Wheaton’s study of the exodus of Catholic priests in Atlantic Canada after
Vatican II provides a balanced and comprehensive survey of that
phenomenon. 57 On the other hand, strong reactions to the alleged
secularization of the Catholic Church have been noted in Michael Cuneo’s
Catholics Against the Church, a riveting analysis of conservative
Catholicism’s involvement in the pro-life/anti-abortion movement, and this
group’s continued frustration at the hands of the Canadian Catholic hierarchy. Conservatives see the Church in the hands of a liberal elite who are
corrupting it by bringing it into step with the modern age. 58 More ecumenical in focus is Bob Stewart’s interesting statistical portrait of secularity at
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work in British Columbia, which in some ways anticipates Reginald Bibby’s
contention that British Columbians are opting out of formalized religion
more than most other Canadians.59
Perhaps one of the most significant studies of religion and secular society,
and one worthy of special note, is Reginald Bibby’s Fragmented Gods: The
Poverty and Potential of Religion in Canada (1987). Bibby demonstrates
how Canada’s committed Christians have passed into a phase of religious
consumerism. Using three national surveys as his database, Bibby argues
convincingly that since the 1960s, Canada’s Christians have opted to pick
and choose the fragments of religion that they find usable in an increasingly
industrialized and pluralistic society. In spite of the fact that Church
attendance has dropped dramatically in Canada since World War II, Bibby
states that:
relatively few Canadians actually desert their religious groups. The
alleged defectors have seldom left home. They may not be attending services to the extent their parents or grandparents did, but
most of them have not jumped ship.60
Most Christians still demand their religious “rites of passage” while claiming at least nominal affiliation to Canada’s major Churches. In addition,
Bibby dispels several other myths about “lapsed Christians”; they are
neither joining the more robust “Conservative Christian” groups — Baptist,
Alliance, Brethren, Pentecostal, Nazarenes – nor are they being attracted
to new cults. Instead, most English- and French-Canadians consume what
they need of religion, believing that religion merely supplements the
prevailing secular ideas of morality, politics, and the quality of life.
Moreover, Bibby argues that this fragmentation transcends variables of
gender, region, urban or rural residence or denomination as an ever
selective Canadian population opts for religion "à la carte”.61
Bibby also has some tough words for Canada’s mainline churches, when he
accuses them of fostering and perpetuating “consumer religion” by trying
to be all things to all people. In a somewhat crass analogy to major North
American automobile manufacturers, Bibby depicts the churches as giant
multinational and local enterprises engaged in a relentless battle for shares
of the Canadian religious marketplace. As long as churches provide the
self-help groups, aerobics classes and popular musical liturgies, among
other things, the fragmentation and religious window shopping in Canada
will continue. Consumer culture has engendered consumer religion, and
Bibby contends that if the pattern continues, Canadian religious participation will further decline as will the role of religion in general. He suggests
that if churches can harness and promote the good of society in terms of
the value of self, human relationships and the “ultimate questions” of God
and life, reconnection can replace fragmentation.62
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Despite the growing pluralism of Canadian society in the 1980s, few studies
have addressed religious developments outside of the Christian tradition
and, in particular, the challenges they face in a “Christian Canada”. Judaism
has been the subject of a few monographs, including those by David Rome,
Marion Meyer, Sheva Medjuck and Ena Paris. The growing number of
Muslims has been virtually ignored, save for the labours of Baha Abu
Laban, Regula Qureshi and Earle Waugh.63 Other major world religions –
Hinduism, Buddhism, Taoism – and smaller faith communities, still await
treatment by scholars in Canada, although some graduate students are now
focusing on these non-Christian communities and their adaptation to
Canadian life.
Movements: Old and New
Other scholars studying the decline of religious participation in the mainline churches of Canada may choose to differ with some of Bibby’s conclusions regarding religious affiliation. Social scientists, particularly in the
province of Quebec, have become increasingly interested in new religious
groups and sects arising out the ruins of Catholicism, a faith virtually laid
waste by the “Quiet Revolution”. One of the leading scientists of these new
groups was the late Roland Chagnon. Chagnon’s studies of Scientology,
Eckenkar and the Hare Krishnas, for example, adapted the identity
theories of Hans Molto explain the recent religious pluralism in Quebec.
Catholicism, he averred, once embodied the collective identity of the
Québécois, but since its rapid l0SS of adherents in the wake of the “Quiet
Revolution”, new, smaller sects and “mystical” groups have filled the
64
existing lacuna by offering alternative personal or group identities. Mel’s
own derivative, Faith and Fragility, offers a brief overview of his identity
theory and these new groups, in addition to vignettes of other small
Canadian denominations and sects.65Jacques Zylberberg and Jean-Paul
Montmigny at the Université Laval have also embarked on the new religious
groups in Quebec, but more with an eye to the relationship between politics,
the economy and Quebec Catholicism. Specifically, this team has focused
on the growth of Charismatic Renewal and concluded that its rise was
essentially apolitical, responding to the failure of highly politicized religious
factions in both the left and right wing in Quebec.66While similar developments in this field have been slow in coming in English-Canada — with the
notable exception of Bibby et al – Frederick Bird and William Reimer have
examined rates of participation in some of Montreal’s new religious movements. Both have concluded that new groups become attractive to those
feeling a sense of powerlessness in society and given the renewed interest
in magic in Canada. 67 Pauline Côté’s valuable study of women in the
Charismatic Renewal movement in Quebec adds the gender perspective.68
Religious movements in Canadian society do not have to be “new” to
receive the attention of social scientists. As is the case among historians,
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such movements as the social gospel, temperance, and revivalism have long
been the subject of academic concern. In her recent, excellent synthesis,
Helen Ralston has demonstrated a variety of streams of thought in the
sociological study of Canadian religious movements. 69 As Ralston indicates, there are several approaches and methods at play in this
sub-specialty, ranging from Marxist interpretations, as exemplified by R.
James Sacoumen in his study of the Antigonish movement, to the historical
and class perspectives witnessed in Gregory Baum’s Catholics and
Canadian Socialism. 70 Ralston points out correctly that these studies have
all relied heavily on historical analysis, particularly the relationship between
“religious movements and the structure and development of Canadian
society". 71 In this way, some of these newer studies harken back to the
observations of S.D. Clark, that the sociologist would need to consult
history and integrate the historian’s methods into sociaI scientific study.
Baum’s work stands as a testament to this, as the sociologist deftly develops
the rise of the Catholic left in the mid-twentieth century, relating the rise
to contemporary Vatican social policy as outlined in Rerum Novarum and
Quadragesimo Anne. Much of his time is spent in micro-studies of such
notable Canadian Catholic activists as Henry Somerville, Murray Ballentyne and Baroness Catherine de Hueck Doherty. Baum’s interesting revelations about the Catholic left substantiates the contention that the area of
religious movements still holds much unclaimed territory for scholars.
Amerindian Religions
One area, however, that has received increased attention from social
scientists and other academics is the examination of Canadian native
religions. Much of this interest has been stimulated by a growing awareness
of native concerns among whites, in the wake of the civil rights movement
of the 1960s, native land claims across Canada, and the current concern
over environmental issues and the preservation of the Amerindian way of
life. Part of this consciousness-raising has called into question the role of
missionaries and the forced assimilation of Christianized natives. As seen
earlier, historians are currently engaged in the study of inter-culturaI
contact in Christian missions, hoping in part to delineate the transmission
of culture from one group to the other. Cultural anthropologists, linguists,
theologians and even philosophers 72are now engaged in the study of native
religions. Contemporary studies range from a discussion of Amerindian
acculturation to Christian beliefs 73to the cosmology and spirituality of
traditional native religions. The latter hold a great deal of promise, especially in light of recent pioneering studies by Jordan Paper, Arthur Roberts,
Susan Pierce, Ake Hultkrantz and Guy Laflèche. 74One of the best, fulllength treatments of a native group to date is Christopher Vescey’s Traditional Ojibwa Religion, which features report on religious change among
the Ojibway of northwestern Ontario.75
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.-
The study of Amerindian religion is a refreshing departure from the
Judeo-Christian focus of Canadian religious studies. On the one hand, the
study of native cosmologies is forcing researchers to “dig” into new sources
and employ new methods to religious study. Scholars venturing into this
area will have to introduce themselves to oral historical sources, the meaning of myths and symbols, and anthropological methods for unearthing the
meaning and function of the various facets of native belief and practice.
New frameworks and categories of study will also have to be constructed surely it would be academic folly to co-ordinate research of Amerindian
religions by using dated and perhaps anachronistic social-scientific
paradigms, based primarily on Judeo-Christian models. In short, the study
of Amerindian religion will force scholars to rethink research strategies,
classical paradigms, and perhaps, the study of religion itself. In this light,
Marie-Françoise Guédon recently commented:
Mais ce travail ethnographique ne s’est pas traduit par une activité
correspondante sur le plan théorique : personne n’avait l’audace
de réécrire, dans les textes d’introduction à l’anthropologie, le
chapitre sur la culture et religion, sachant trop bien en même
temps, d’une part, que les données recueillies jusqu’à présent
dépassaient toujours les modèles issus des prospectives
developpées dans le giron occidental et judéo-chrétien des
sciences sociales du dix-neuvième siècle, d’autre part que ces
mêmes données annoncaient [sic] la présence de systèmes symboliques et de modes de penser et d’être pour lesquels nous
n’avions que les indices; ces indices étaient insuffisant [sic] pour
qu’on en rende compte de facon valide dans une théorie générale
de la religion. Mais on ne peut plus les ignorer.76
The challenge is formidable, but given the most recent publications in the
area, the results can be very enlightening.
Conclusions
The flight from the cloister in Canadian religious studies over the past
decade has been two-fold. Initially, scholars studying Canadian developments have generally abandoned the theological cloister and embraced
humanistic and empirical tools for their studies. This was not a new
development in the 1980s, but certainly one that accelerated dramatically.
The second flight from the cloister - the embrace of new methods and
approaches by Canadians when studying their religious past and present has been much slower in coming. Historians have yet to free themselves
from the traditional sources of their craft, or the institutional and elitist
perspectives. French-Canadian academics have pioneered new means of
social analysis, and it will be up to Anglophones in the 1990s to profit from
these developments and forge ahead into the study of the dialectic between
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religion and society. Similarly, historians of religion may have to open
themselves more fully to computer technology to answer some of the basic
questions regarding the religious developments among ordinary
Canadians. This in itself will require more fruitful dialogue between historians and social scientists - they have much to learn from each other.
Similarly, social scientists will have to take up Roger O’Toole’s challenge
to venture beyond the cloister of classical sociological analysis, and perhaps
be more prepared to investigate the applicability of “new theories” in a
Canadian context.77
As the Canadian religious environment becomes more and more fragmented, it is essential that we refine our techniques and broaden our
perspectives when studying Canadian beliefs and value systems. John Moir
has said: “Religion has played a central role in shaping the Canadian
character and making the Canadian experience . . . Religion has been such
a vital life-force in creating present-day Canada that no apologies are
needed for our attempts to examine and explain its influences on ourselves."78Many younger academics, left deadened or angered by their
religious past in the middle of this Century, have mistakenly discarded
religion as a significant social agent in the development of Canada’s past.
The strong identification of Canadians with their churches, the publicly
legislated morality of Ultramontanism or the temperance crusades, and the
persistence of Christian social activism, are proof-perfect that until very
recently, religion has not only been relevant, but absolutely essential in
understanding Canadian development. Even today, many Canadians are
loath to surrender their “affiliation” to mainstream denominations with
which they have little actual “involvement”. The challenge for the religious
scholar is clear: leave the musty air of the cloisters and engage with
confidence in the academic mainstream.
Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
192
Reginald Bibby, Fragmented Gods: The Poverty and Potential of
Religion in Canada (Toronto: Irwin Publishing, 1987): 47.
John S. Moir, “Coming of Age, But Slowly, Aspects of Canadian
Religious Historiography Since Confederation”, Canadian Catholic
Historical Association, Study Sessions, 50th Anniversary Edition, 2
vols., 50 (1983): 89-98.
Roger O’Toole, “Some Good Purpose: Notes on Religion and Political
Culture in Canada”, Annual Review of the Social Sciences of Religion
6 (1982): 177-217.
Donald Weibe, “The Failure of Nerve in the Academic Study of
Religion”, Studies in Religion/Sciences religieuses [hereafter SR] 13
(Fall/Automne, 1984): 411-419; Charles Davis, “Wherein there is no
5.
6.
7.
ecstasy”, SR 13 (Fall/Automne, 1984): 393400; Peter Slater, “Comment on Weibe”, SR 13 (Fall/Automne, 1984): 489-90; Louis Rousseau
and Michel Despland, éds., Les sciences religieuses au Québec depuis
1972 (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, Canadian Corporation for Studies in Religion, 1988): 142-150; Wiebe, “Is Science an
Implicit Religion?“, SR 18 (Spring/Printemps, 1989): 171-84.
Weibe, “The Failure of Nerve”: 411-419.
There has been a plethora of “collections” published in recent years.
Notable among these are such fine anthologies as Dennis Butcher et
al., eds., Prairie Spirit: Perspectives on the Heritage of the United Church
of Canada in the West (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1985);
Jarold K. Zeman, ed., Costly Vision: The Baptist Pilgrimage in Canada
(Hantsport: Lancelot Press, 1988); Benjamin Smillie, ed., Visions of the
New Jerusalem (Edmonton: NeWest Press, 1983); Cyril Byrne and
Terrence Murphy, eds., Religion and Identity: The Experience of Irish
and Scottish Catholics in Atlantic Canada (St. John’s: Jesperson Press,
1987); John S. Moir and C.T. McIntire, eds., Canadian Protestant and
Roman Catholic Missions, 1820s-1960s: Historical Essays in Honour
of John Webster Grant (New York: Peter Lang, 1988); Benoît Lacroix
and Jean Simard, éds., Religionpopulaire, religion de clercs ? (Québec:
Institut québécois de recherche sur la culture, 1984); Jean Daigle, éd.,
Les Acadiens des Maritimes : études thématiques (Moncton: Centre
d’études acadiennes, 1980); Pierre Boglioni et Benoît Lacroix, éds., Les
pèlerinages au Québec (Québec: Presses de l’université Laval, 1981);
and Yves Desrosiers, éd., Religion et culture au Québec. Figures
contemporaine du sacré (Montréal: Fides, 1986). There have also been
a considerable number of collections of edited documents, a few of the
notable being: George Rawlyk, ed., New Light Letters and Songs
(Hantsport: Lancelot Press, 1983); Rawlyk, ed., The Sermons of Henry
Alline (Hantsport: Lancelot Press, 1986); Cyril Byrne, ed., GentlemenBishops and Faction Fighters: the Letters of Bishops O'Donel, Scallan
and Other Irish Missionaries (St. John’s: Jesperson Press, 1984); Luca
Codignola, ed., The Coldest Harbour in the Land: Simon Stock and
Lord Baltimore’s Colony in Newfoundland, 1621-1649 (Montreal:
McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988).
I have adapted this typology and the several sub-categories by synthesizing the ideas of Henry W. Bowden, “Ends and Means in Church
History”, Church History 54 (March, 1985): 74-88; Moir, “Coming of
Age”, passim; N. Keith Clifford, “Religion and the Development of
Canadian Society: A Historiographical Analysis”, Church History 37
(December, 1969); Clifford, “Denominational History: a Comparative
Analysis of its Problems and Prospects”, unpublished paper, Joint
Session of the Canadian Society of Church History and the American
Society of Church History, Hamilton, Canada, 25 April 1987; Guy
Laperrière, “L’Histoire religieuse du Québec : principaux courants,
193
IJCS / RIÉC
1978-1988”, Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française 42 (Printemps,
1989): 563-578.
8. M. Williamina Hogan, Pathways of Mercy: History of the Foundation
of the Sisters of Mercy in Newfoundland (St. John’s: Harry Cuff Publications, 1986); Edward Jackman, O .P ., “Irish Holylands of Ontario” in
Robert O’Driscoll and Lorna Reynolds, eds., The Untold Story: The
Irish in Ontario (Toronto: Celtic Arts of Canada, 1988): 739-42;
Marianna O’Gallagher, “Irish Priests in the Diocese of Quebec in the
Nineteenth Century”, CCHA Study Sessions 50 (1983): 403-414;
L ‘Eglise de Montréal. Aperçus d’hier et d’aujourd’hui, 18361986
(Montréal: Fides, 1986); G. Gordon Harland, “John Mark Ring,”
CSCH Papers (1983): 58-71; Philip Griffin-Alwood, “Maritime Baptists and Unimmersed Christians: The Influence of Society on Membership Practice”, CSCH Papers, 1984. Griffen-Alwood reconstructs
the traditions of maritime Baptists to support a contemporary fight
over the presence of unimmersed Christians in Baptist churches.
Lucien Campeau, La mission des jésuites chez les Hurons, 1634-1650
(Montréal: Bellarmin, 1987) is an apologia for the Jesuit missions in
Huronia.
9. Frank Dolphin, Indian Bishop of the West: The Story of Vital Justin
Grandin, 1829-1902 (Ottawa: Novalis, 1986): 10. See also Jackman,
“Irish Holylands”; O’Gallagher, “Irish Priests”; Dom Guy Marie Oury,
Mgr Briand, évêque de Québec et les problèmes de son époque (Québec:
Editions La Liberté, 1985); Jean Houpert, Monseigneur Moreau,
quatrième évêque de Saint-Hyacinthe (Montréal: Editions Paulines,
1986); Stuart Ivison, “The Activities of Margaret Cole (1853-1929)”,
Canadian Society of Church History Papers, 1984.
10. Rawlyk, Ravished By the Spirit, ix-xi. For a better contextualization of
Rawlyk’s transformation from reductionism to neo-orthodoxy, see
Terrence Murphy, “The Religious History of Atlantic Canada: The
State of the Art”, Acadiensis 15,1(1985): 153-156.
11. Larry Shiner, The Secularization of History: An Introduction to the
Theology of Friedreich Gogarten (Nashville: Abingdon, 1966); Rolland
Chagnon, “Religion, sécularisation et déplacements du sacré”, SR 18
(Spring/printemps, 1989): 127-151.
12. Moir, “Coming of Age”: 93; A.R.M. Lower, “Two Ways of Life: The
Primary Antithesis of Canadian History”, Canadian Historical
Association, Annual Report (1943); S.D. Clark, Church and Sect in
Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1948); Clark, The
Social Development of Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press,
1942); Clark enlarged and revised this latter volume as The Developing
Canadian Community (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1968).
13. Paul Laverdure claims that in English-Canada, this branch is primarily
tied to the University of Toronto. Toronto, however, was merely one
of many schools producing students in the history of religion. Recently,
one must include Queen’s as a major centre for the development of
194
“humanist” history. Laverdure, “Tendances dominantes de
l’historiographie religieuse au Canada anglais, 1979-1988”, RHAF 42
(Printemps, 1989): 579-588.
14. William Westfall, Two Worlds: The Protestant Culture of Nineteenth
Century Ontario (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s, 1989): 191-209.
15. John S. Moir, Enduring Witness: A History of the Presbyterian Church
in Canada (Toronto: Eagle Press Printers, revised 1987); N. Keith
Clifford, The Resistance to Church Union in Canada, 1904-1939 (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1985); John Webster
Grant, A profusion of Spires: Religion in Nineteenth Century Ontario
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, Ontario Historical Studies
Series, 1988); Dermis L. Butcher et al. Prairie Spirit; Jarold K. Zeman,
Costly Vision; Thomas R. Millman and A.R. Kelly, Atlantic Canada to
1900: a History of the Anglican Church in Atlantic Canada (Toronto:
Anglican Book Centre, 1983); Laurie Stanley, The Well-Watered Garden: The Presbyterian Church in Cape Breton, 1798-1860 (Sydney:
University College of Cape Breton, 1983).
16. Robert Choquette, La Foi : Gardienne de la langue en Ontario
(Montréal: Bellarmin, 1987); and Choquette, L ‘Église catholique dans
l’Ontario français du dix-neuvième siècle (Ottawa: University of Ottawa
Press, 1984). Both are companion volumes to Choquette, Language
and Religion: A History of English-French Conflict in Ontario (Ottawa:
University of Ottawa Press, 1975).
17. Laperrière, “L’histoire religieuse du Québec”, 564-5
18. Jean Hamelin and Nicole Gagnon, Histoire du catholicisme québécois.
Le XXe siècle, I. 1898-1940 (Montréal: Boréal, 1984); Hamelin, Histoire du catholicisme québécois. Le XXe siècle II. De 1940 à nos jours
(Montréal: Boréal, 1984); Lucien Lemieux, Histoire du catholicisme
québécois. Les XVIIIe et XIXe siècles, I. Les années difficiles, 1760-1839
(Montréal: Boréal, 1989). Substantial reviews of the earlier volumes
are contributed by Fernand Dumont, Ruby Heap and Pierre Savard in
“Le catholicisme au XX e siècle”, Recherches sociographiques 26,1
(1986): 101-131.
19. Robert Craig Brown, “Biography in Canadian History”, Canadian
Historical Association, Historical Papers (1980): l-8.
20. The Dictionary of Canadian Biography/Dictionnaire biographique du
Canada is published by the University of Toronto Press and les Presses
de l’Université Laval.
21. Donald G. Creighton, “Sir John A. Macdonald and Canadian Historians”, Canadian Historical Review 29 (March, 1948).
22. Marguerite Van Die, An Evangelical Mind: Nathaniel Burwash and
the Methodist Tradition in Canada, 1839-1918 (Montreal: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1989).
23. Léo-Paul Hébert, Histoire ou légende ? Jean-Baptiste de la Brosse
(Montréal: Bellarmin, 1984); Hélène Pelletier-Baillargeon, Marie
Gérin-Lajoie (Montréal: Boréal, 1985); Giselle Huot, Une femme au
195
IJCS / RIÉC
séminaire: Marie de la Charité, 1852-l 920 (Montréal: Bellarmin, 1987).
See also Gilles Chaussé, Jean Jacques Lartigue : premier évêque de
Montréal (Montréal: Leméac, 1980).
24. Stanford Reid, ed., Called to Witness. Profiles of Canadian Presbyterians. A Supplement to Enduring Witness (Hamilton, The Presbyterian Church in Canada, 1980). The Letson-Higgins volume is soon
to be published by the Archdiocese of Toronto.
25. John S. Moir, A History of Biblical Studies in Canada. A Sense of
Proportion (Chico, California: Scholars Press, 1982).
26. John W. Grant, Moon of Wintertime: Missionaries and the Indians of
Canada in Encounter since 1534 (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1984).
27. Westfall, Two Worlds, Chapter three; Rawlyk, Ravished By the Spirit;
G.A. Rawlyk, “New Lights, Baptists and Religious Awakenings in
Nova Scotia, 1776-1843: A Preliminary Probe”, Journal of t h e
Canadian Church Historical Society 25,2 (October, 1983): 43-73. A
provocative overview of recent trends in the intellectual history of
religion in Ontario can be found in A.B. McKillop, “Culture, Intellect,
and Context”, Journal of Canadian Studies 24 (Autumn, 1989): 19-24.
28. Gilles Martel. Le messianisme de Louis Riel (Waterloo: Editions SR,
Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1984) and Thomas Flannagan, Louis
“David” Riel: Prophet of the New World (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1979; reprinted Halifax: Goodread Biographies, 1983); Peter
Beyer, “La vision religieuse de Louis Rie1 : l’ultramontanisme
canadien-français au service de la nation métisse”, S R 1 3
(Winter/Hiver, 1984): 87-100.
29. Nive Voisine et Jean Hamelin, dirs., Les ultramontains canadiensfrançais (Montréal: Boréal, 1985); see also Guy Laperrière, “Vingt ans
de recherche sur l’ultramontanisme. En hommage à Philippe Sylvain”,
Recherches sociographiques 27 (1986): 79-100; and Phyllis Senese,
“‘Catholique d’abord!’ Catholicism and Nationalism in the Thought
of Lionel Groulx”, CHR 60 (June, 1979).
30. Richard Allen, The Social Passion: Religion and Social Reform in
Canada, 1914-1928 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1971);
Stewart Crysdale, The Industrial Struggle and Protestant Ethics in
Canada (Toronto: Ryerson Press, 1961).
31. J. Brian Scott, “The Western Outlook and Western Baptist and Baptist
Social Christianity, 1908-1922”, Canadian Society of Church History,
Papers (1983): l-21; Brian Fraser, The Social Uplifters. Presbyterian
Progressives and the Social Gospel in Canada, 1875-1915 (Waterloo:
CCSR, Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1988); Walter Ellis, “Baptists
and Radical Politics in Western Canada, 1920-1950” in Jarold K.
Zeman, ed., Baptists in Canada: Search for Identity Amidst Diversity
(Burlington: G.R. Welch, 1980).
32. G. Ramsay Cook, The Regenerators: Social Criticism in Late Victorian
English-Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1985).
196
Marlene Shore, The Science of Social Redemption. McGill, the Chicago
School, and the Origins of Social Research in Canada (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1987).
33. Laperrière, “L’histoire religieuse du Quebec”, 577.
34. Micheline D’Allaire, Les dots des religieuses au Canada français, 16391800. Etude économique et sociale (Cahiers du Québec, 86) (Montréal:
Hurtubise, 1986) and Marta Danylewycz, Taking the Veil: An Alternative to Marriage, Motherhood, and Spinsterhood in Quebec, 1840-1920
(Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1987); see also D’Allaire, Vingt ans
de crise chez les religieuses au Québec, 1960-l 980 (Montréal: Bergeron,
1984); Micheline Dumont-Johnson, “Les communautés religieuses et
la condition féminine”, Recherches sociographiques 19 (1978): 79-102;
Micheline Dumont and Nadia Fahmy-Eid, Les couventines.
L’éducation des filles au Québec dans les congrégations religieuses
enseignantes, 1840-1960 (Montréal: Boréal, 1986); Elizabeth Muir,
“The Bark Schoolhouse: Methodist Episcopal Missionary Women in
Upper Canada, 1827-1833” in Moir and McIntire, eds., Canadian
Protestant and Catholic Missions: 23-48.
35. There is one doctoral study of the Institute of the Blessed Virgin Mary
(IBVM) near completion by Barbara J. Cooper at York University in
Toronto. In the meantime, see Cooper, “Hagiology vs. Hagiography:
A Re-examination of the Early Years of the North American Institute
of the Blessed Virgin Mary” (unpublished conference paper, CATO150: The Archdiocese of Toronto over 150 Years Historical Conference, June 1990).
36. Nadia Fahmy-Eid, Le clergé et le pouvoir politique au Québec : une
analyse de l’idéologie ultramontaine au milieu de XIXe siècle (Montréal:
HMH, 1978); Counter cases for Quebec and Ontario have been suggested by Guy Laperrière, “Religion populaire, religion de clercs ? Du
Québec à la France, 1972-1982” in Benoît Lacroix and Jean Simard,
éds., Religion populaire, religion de clercs ? : 19-53; and Mark G.
McGowan, “‘The Cathohc Restoration’: Pope Pius X, Archbishop
Denis O’Connor and Popular Catholicism in Toronto, 1899-1908”,
Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Historical Studies 54 (1987):
69-91. Other related discussions of the clergy of note are: Jean Roy,
“Le clergé nicolétain, 1885-1904”, RHAF 35,3 (1981): 383-95; Serge
Gagnon and Louise Lebel-Gagnon, “Le milieu d’origine du clergé
québécois, 1775-1840 : mythes et réalités”, RHAF 37,3 (1983): 373-97.
37. Brian Young, In its Corporate Capacity: The Seminary of Montreal as
a Business Institution, 1816-1876 (Montreal: McGill-Queens University Press, 1986).
38. Stephen Speisman, The Jews of Toronto to 1937 (Toronto: McClelland
and Stewart, 1979, reprinted 1987).
39. John Porter, The Vertical Mosaic: An Analysis of Social Class and
Power in Canada (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1969);
A.R.M. Lower, “Two Ways of Life”.
197
IJCS / RIÉC
40. Donald Harmon Akenson, The Irish In Ontario: A Study in Rural
History (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1984) and Small
Differences: Irish Catholics and Irish Protestants, 1815-l 922
(Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988); Walter Ellis,
“From Gilboa to Ichabod: Social and Religious Factors in the Fundamentalist-Modernist Schisms Among Canadian Baptists, 18951934”, Foundations 20 (1977): 109-126; Marc-André Bédard, Les
protestants en Nouvelle-France (Québec: Société historique de
Québec, 1978); Mark G. Mc G owan, “‘We are all Canadians’: A Social,
Religious and Cultural Portrait of Toronto’s English-Speaking Roman
Catholics, 1890-1920” (unpublished doctoral dissertation, University
of Toronto, 1988); Gordon Darroch and Michael Orenstein, “Ethnicity
and Occupational Structure in Canada in 1871: The Vertical Mosaic
in Historical Perspective”, Canadian Historical Review 61 (1980):
305-333 and “Ethnicity and Class. Transitions Over a Decade: Ontario,
1861-1871”, Canadian Historical Association, Historical Papers
(1984): 111-137.
41. One important exception is David Marshall, “Methodism Embattled:
A Reconsideration of the Methodist Church and World War I”, CHR
66 (March, 1985): 48-64.
42. René Hardy, Les zouaves. Une stratégie du clergé québécois au XIXe
siècle (Montréal: Boréal, 1980).
43. Cecil Houston and William Smyth, The Sash Canada Wore: A Historical Geography of the Orange Order in Canada (Toronto: University of
Toronto Press, 1980).
44. Brian P. Clarke, “Piety Nationalism and Fraternity: The Rise of
Catholic Voluntary Associations in Toronto, 1850-1895” (unpublished
Ph.D. dissertation, University of Chicago, 1986).
45. This definition of culture was derived from George Marsden, Fundamentalism and American Culture: The Shaping of Twentieth Century
Evangelicalism, 1870-1925 (New York: Oxford, 1980).
46. Cornelius Jaenen, Friend and Foe (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart,
1975); Bruce Trigger, The Children of Aataentsic (Montreal: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1976, reprinted 1987); Trigger, Natives and
Newcomers: Canada’s Heroic Age Reconsidered (Montreal: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1985); John Webster Grant, Moon of Wintertime; Hélène Bédard, Les Montagnais et la réserve de Betsiamites,
1850-1900 (Québec: IQRC, 1988); D. Delâge, Le pays renversé.
Amérindiens et Européens en Amérique du Nord-Est, 1600-1664
(Montréal: Boréal, 1985); Barry Gough, “Father Brabant and the
Hesquiat of Vancouver Island”, CCHA Study Sessions 50 (1983):
553-568. Some Canadian missionary activity has been reserved for
communities outside of Canada. See Alvin Austin, Saving China:
Canadian Missionaries in the Middle Kingdom, 1888-1955 (Toronto:
University of Toronto Press, 1956); Jacques Langlais, Les jésuites du
Québec en Chine, 1918-1955 (Québec: Les Presses de l’Université
198
47.
48.
49.
50.
Laval, 1979); Ruth Compton Brouwer, “Wooing the Heathen - and the
Raj: Aspects of Women’s Work in the Canadian Presbyterian Mission
in Central India, 1877-1914”, Canadian Society of Church History
Papers ( 1987) : 17-32.
John Zucchi, Italians in Toronto: Development of a National Identity,
1875-1935 (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1988); Jacques Langlais and David Rome, Juifs et Québécois francais. 200 ans
d’histoire commune (Montréal: Fides, 1986); Stella Hryniuk and
Roman Yereniuk, “Building the New Jerusalem on the Prairies: The
Ukrainian Experience” in Smillie, Visions of a New Jerusalem: 136-152;
Murray Nicolson, “Peasants in an Urban Society: The Irish Catholics
in Victorian Toronto” in Robert Harney, ed., Gathering Place: Neighbourhoods of Toronto, 1834-1945 (Toronto: Multicultural History
Society, 1985): 47-73. A notable yet more traditional approach is Frank
Epp, The Mennonites in Canada, 1920-1940 (Toronto: Macmillan,
1982).
Zucchi, Italians in Toronto, Chapters 2 and 5. Zucchi’s generalizations
about the Anglophone-Catholic host community in Toronto perhaps
underestimate the social and religious changes taking place within the
“hibernized” majority. See Zucchi, “The Catholic Church and the
Italian Immigrant in Canada, 1880-1920: A Comparison Between
Ultramontane Montréal and Hibernian Toronto” in Gianfausto
Rosoli, ed., Scalabrini Tra Vecchio E Nuovo Mondo (Roma: Centro
Studi Emigrazione, 1989): 491-508.
Raymond Brodeur and Jean-Paul Rouleau, éds., Une inconnue de
l’histoire de la culture : la production des catéchismes en Amérique
française (Ste-Foy: Editions Anne Sigier, 1986); Brodeur, “Les fonctions de la religion dans la vie quotidienne d’après Le Petit Catéchisme
du Diocèse de Québec...“, SR 13 (Fall/Automne, 1984): 479-88; Brigitte
Caulier, “Les confréries de dévotion traditionnelles et le réveil
religieux à Montréal au XIX” siècle”, SCHEC, Sessions d’études 53
(1986): 23-40; Serge Gagnon, Mourir, hier et aujourd’hui (Québec: Les
Presses de l’Université Laval, 1987); Marie-Aimée Cliche, “Dévotion
populaire et encadrement clérical en Nouvelle-France : la croyance au
miracle dans la région de Québec”, SCHEC, Sessions d’étude 52
(1985): 17-34. Also interesting is Louis Rousseau, “Les missions
populaires de 1840-42 : acteurs principaux et conséquences,” SCHEC
Sessions d’études 53 (1986): 7-22; Nive Voisine, “Jubilés, missions
paroissiales et prédication au XIX e siècle”, Recherces sociographiques
23,1-2 (1982): 125-36. A good collection on various issues in religion
and popular culture is the previously cited, Lacroix et Simard, Religion
populaire, religion de clercs ? Another is Benoît Lacroix, La religion de
mon père (Montréal: Bellarmin, 1986).
A.J.B. Johnston, Religion in Life at Louisbourg, 1713-1758 (Montreal:
McGill-Queen’s, 1984), Chapter 5; Terry Crowley, “The Inroads of
Secularization in Eighteenth-Century New France: Church and People
199
IJCS / RIÉC
at Louisbourg”, CCHA Historical Studies 51 (1984): 5-28; Clarke,
“Piety, Nationalism and Fraternity”; McGowan, “The Catholic Restoration”; Ellis, “From Gilboa to Ichabod,“; James Penton, “The
Response to Two New Religions in Canada in the 1880s: The Latterday Saints and the Salvation Army”, CSCH Papers (1987): 81-96. While
methodologically traditional, Penton does explore the deemed “offensive” practices of the Mormons and Salvation Army. One study that
combines a study of symbolic universes with cultural contact is Gerald
Ediger’s “Language Transition in the Vineland Mennonite Brethren
Church”, CSCH Papers (1988): 97-116.
51. Westfall, Two Worlds, Chapter five.
52. S.D. Clark, The Developing Canadian Community: 294.
53. Stewart Crysdale and Les Wheatcroft, “The Analysis of Religion” in
Crysdale and Wheatcroft, eds., Religion in Canadian Society (Toronto:
Macmillan, McLean-Hunter Press, 1976): 32-35.
54. Roland Chagnon, “Religion, sécularisation et déplacements du sacré”
in Yvon Desrosiers, éd., Religion et culture au Québec: 21-51.
55. Raymond Courcy, “Le rôle social et politique de l’Église catholique au
Québec”, (Université de Bordeaux, thèse de 3e cycle, 1981); more
accessible is his “L’Église catholique au Québec : de la fin d’un
monopole au redéploiement dans une société plurielle” in Westfall and
Rousseau, Canadian Issues/Thèmes Canadiens : Religion/Culture: 8698.
56. Fernand Dumont, “Mutations de la culture religieuse dans le Québec
f r a n c o p h o n e ” in Westfall and Rousseau, eds., C a n a d i a n
Issues/Thèmes canadiens: Religion/Culture: 20; see also Dumont,
“Crise d’une Eglise, crise d’une société” in F. Dumont, J.
Grand’Maison, J. Racine and P. Tremblay, éds., Entre le Temple et l’exil
(Québec: Leméac, 1982): 11-49.
57. Elizabeth Weber and Barry Wheaton, The Career-Change of Atlantic
Area Roman Catholic Former Diocesan Priests After Vatican II, Data
and Description (Halifax: Mount Saint Vincent University, 1985).
58. Michael Cuneo, Catholics Against the Church: Anti-Abortion Protest
in Toronto, 1969-1985 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1989).
59. Bob Stewart, “That’s the B.C. Spirit!: Religion and Secularity in Lotus
Land”, CSCH Papers (1983): 22-35. Bibby; Fragmented Gods 87-91.
60. Bibby, Fragmented Gods: 51; Bibby’s landmark book emerged out of a
series of studies done in collaboration with other scholars throughout
the 1970s and 1980s. Some of these studies include: Bibby and Merlin
B. Brinkerhoff, “The Circulation of Saints: A Study of People Who Join
Conservative Churches”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 12
(1973): 273-283; ibid., “Circulation of the Saints Revisited: A Longitudinal Look at Conservative Church Growth”, Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion 22 (1983): 253-262; and Bibby and Harold R.
Weaver, “Cult Consumption in Canada: A Further Critique of Stark
and Bainbridge”, Sociological Analysis 46 (1985): 445-460.
200
61. Ibid: 80-85.
62. Ibid.: 261-271.
63. Earle Waugh, Baha Abu-Laban, Regula Qureshi, eds., The Muslim
Community in North America (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press,
1983); Ena Paris, Jews: An Account of Their Experience in Canada
(Toronto: Macmillan, 1980); Sheva Mejuck, The Jews of Atlantic
Canada (St. John’s: Breakwater, 1986); Marion Meyer, The Jews of
Kingston: A Microcosm of Canadian Jewry? (Kingston: The Limestone
Press, 1983); David Rome, Judith Nefsky and Paule Obermeir, Les juifs
du Québec : Bibliographie rétrospective annotée (Québec: IQRC, 1981).
64. Roland Chagnon, “Les nouvelles religions dans la dynamique socioculturelle récente au Québec” in Westfall and Rousseau, eds.,
Canadian Issues/Thémes canadiens: Religion/Culture: 118-151. Much
of the structural underpinning to this article relies on Hans Mol,
Identity and the Sacred: A Sketch for a New Social-Scientific Theory of
Religion (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1976). Chagnon’s contribution in
this area has been formidable. Included in his most recent studies are:
La scientologie : une nouvelle religion de la puissance (Montréal:
Hurtubise, 1985); Trois nouvelles religions de la lumière et du son : la
Science de la Spiritualité, Eckankar, La Mission de la Lumière Divine
(Montréal: Editions Paulines, 1985); Conversions religieuses et nouvelles religions (Montréal: Fides, 1988); “Nouvelles religions et quête
d’identité : le cas de l’Eglise de scientologie de Montréal”, SR 1 2
(1984): 407-432.
65. Hans Mol, Faith and Fragility: Religion and Identity in Canada (Burlington: Trinity Press, 1985): 119-172.
66. Jacques Zylberberg and Jean-Paul Montmigny, “Reproduction sociopolitique et production symbolique : engagement et désengagement
des charismatiques catholiques-québécois”, Annual Review of the Social Sciences of Religion 4 (1980): 121-48. For broader perspectives on
new religious movements, see Zylberberg et Jean-Paul Rouleau, éds.,
Les mouvements religieux aujourd’hui: théories et pratiques (Montréal:
Bellarmin, 1984).
67. Frederick Bird and William Reimer, “Participation Rates and Parareligious movements”, Journal for the Social Scientific Study of Religion
21(1982): 1-14.
68. Pauline Côté, “Socialisations sacrales, acteurs féminins, postmodernité : les femmes dans le Renouveau charismatique canadienfrancophone”, SR 17 (Summer/Eté, 1988): 329-346.
69. Helen Ralston, “Strands of Research on Religious Movements in
Canada,” SR 17 (Summer/Été, 1988): 257-77.
70. Gregory Baum, Catholics and Canadian Socialism (Toronto: James
Lorimer, 1980); R. James Sacouman, “Underdevelopment and the
Structural Origins of Antigonish Movement Co-operatives in Eastern
Nova Scotia”, Acadiensis 7 (1977): 68-85.
71. Ralston, “Religious Movements” : 261-262.
201
IJCS / RIÉC
72. Michael Pomeldi, “Beyond Unbelief: Early Jesuit Interpretations of
Native Religions”, SR 16 (Summer/Été, 1987): 275-288.
73. Jean Baribeau, “L’influence de l’évangélisation sur la conception de la
vie et de la mort chez les Têtes-de-Boule au dix-neuvième siècle”, SR
9 (Spring/Printemps, 1980): 201-206; John Webster Grant, “Missionaries and Messiahs in the Northwest”, SR 9 (Spring/Printemps,
1980): 125-136; Winona Stevenson, “The Red River Indian Mission
School and John West’s Little Charges”, Native Studies Review 4,1-2
(1988): 1129-66; Dominique Deslandres, “L’éducation des
Amérindiennes d’après la correspondance de Marie de l’Incarnation”,
SR 16 (Winter/Hiver, 1987): 91-110; Ake Hultkrantz, “The Problem of
Christian Influence on Northern Algonkian Eschatology”, SR 9
(Spring/Printemps, 1980): 161-184.
74. Jordan Paper, “From Shaman to Mystic in Ojibwa Religion”, SR 9
(Spring/Printemps, 1980): 185-200; Paper, “Cosmological Implications
of Pan-Indian Sacred Pipe Ritual” in Don McCaskill, ed., “Amerindian
Cosmology”, a special joint issue of The Canadian Journal of Native
Studies 7,2 (1987) and Cosmos: 297-306; Thomas Abler, “Dendogram
and Celestial Tree: Numerical Taxinomy and Variants of the Iroquoian
Creation Myth” in McCaskill, ed., “Ameridian Cosmology”: 195-222;
Susan Pierce, “Ivory, Antler, Feather and Wood: Material Culture and
the Cosmology of the Cumberland Sound Inuit, Baffin Island, Canada”
in McCaskill, ed., “Amerindian Cosmology”: 307-22; Arthur O.
Roberts, “Eskimo Religion: A Look at Four Transitional Persons”,
Canadian Journal of Native Studies 1,1(1981): 89-100; Guy Laflèche,
“La chamanisme des Amérindiens et des missionnaires de la NouvelleFrance”, SR 9 (Spring/Printemps, 1980): 137-160. Less successful is the
integration of native and academic perspectives in Earle Waugh and
K. Dad Prithipail, eds., Native Religious Traditions (SR Supplements
8) (Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 1979).
75. Christopher Vescey, Traditional Ojibwa Religion and Its Historical
Changes (Philadelphia: The American Philosophical Society, 1983).
76. Marie-Françoise Guédon, “Perspectives nouvelles en anthropologie
de la religion”, Newsletter, Research Centre for the Study of Religion,
Department of Religious Studies, University of Ottawa, no. 3 (January,
1990): 8.
77. One such venture has been Peter Slater’s attempt to discern a “civil
religion” in Canada, following the lead of Robert Bellah in the United
States. Slater, “On the Apparent Absence of Civil Religion in Canada”
in Henri-Paul Cunningham and F. Temple Kingston, eds., Friendship
and Dialogue Between Ontario and Quebec (Windsor: Canterbury
College, [1983]).
78. John S. Moir, Enduring Witness, xi.
202
William Metcalfe
“Modified Rapture !" Recent Research on
Canada in the United States
Abstract
The study of Canada in American universities has grown impressively since
1980, with l arge increases in Association for Canadian Studies in the United
States (ACSUS) membership, in numbers of courses taught and degrees
taken, plus the rap id development of the American Council for Québec
Studies (ACQS). So, too, has serious research on Canada increased: many
more papers are presented at scholarly meetings, both the American Review
of Canadian Studies and Québec Studies Prosper, and valuable articles on
Canada by Americans increasingly app ear in disciplinary journals. Booklength studies emerge frequently in the fields of literature, international
relations, economics and business; researchers are also active in sociology,
environmental studies, urban studies, communications, and the law. Yet,
important lacunae in research coverage remain, senior Canadianists at
major institutions may not be replaced satisfactorily, and not enough young
Americans are earning PhDs in Canadian specialties.
Résumé
L ‘étude du Canada dans les universités américaines a connu, depuis 1980,
une croissance impressionnante qu’illustre bien la forte augmentation du
nombre de membres de l'Association d’études canadiennes aux Etats-Unis
(AECEU), du nombre de cours enseignés et des diplômes obtenus, et la
croissance rapide de l’ACQS (American Council for Québec Studies). En
outre, les recherches significatives sur le Canada ont également connu une
croissance rapide : beaucoup plus d’articles sont présentés lors de colloques
scientifiques, l’American Review of Canadian Studies et la revue Québec
Studies prospèrent, et de plus en plus d’articles de grande qualité sur le
Canada, rédigés par des Américains, paraissent dans des revues de nature
disciplinaire. Plusieurs livres sont publies dans les domaines de la littérature,
des relations internationales, de l’économie et des affaires; les chercheurs
sont également actifs en sociologie, en études de l’environnement, en études
urbaines, en communication et en droit. Pourtant, il subsiste encore
d’importantes lacunes dans certains domaines de recherche; en outre, les
principales universités n’assurent pas encore de façon satisfaisante le
remplacement des canadianistes qui prennent leur retraite, et finalement, et
le nombre de jeunes Américains qui obtiennent des doctorats dans des
spécialités canadiennes est insuffisant.
The size of the American higher education establishment is, on the face of
it, mind-boggling. As of 1988, there were perhaps 2,650 four-year degreeInternational Journal of Canadian Studies / Revue internationale d’études canadiennes
IJCS / RIÉC
granting institutions in the country and upwards of 2,900 additional twoyear institutions. The number of students enrolled in these educational
establishments does not even bear thinking of, while the legions of faculty
are in themselves daunting to contemplate. Even accepting the fact that
most of the two-year institutions are unlikely to place a high value upon
research, let alone the publication of research results, and the probability
that the majority of the four-year colleges and universities may share this
attitude, one is confronted by a staggering number of research-oriented
operations. This is especially striking when measured against the fact that
there were, in 1989, not more than 68 four-year degree-granting institutions
of higher learning in all of Canada.
Given the considerations suggested above, it is not surprising that the
Association for Canadian Studies in the United States (ACSUS), founded
almost twenty years ago, is “the world’s largest Canadian studies group”,
boasting over 1,300 members, most of whom are teaching Canadian-content courses at some 500 American colleges. 1 Data from the four most
recent ACSUS biennial conferences (1983, 1985, 1987 and 1989), academic
gatherings which now attract as many as 4% registered participants,
demonstrate that this ever-growing tribe of professors interested in the
study of Canada is extremely active in research activities designed to
produce papers readable at such gatherings. One finds that more and more
U.S.-based professors (it is futile to try to distinguish between resident
aliens and “real” Americans) are presenting more and more papers at the
ACSUS revels: 59 such papers were given at Samoset, 92 at Philadelphia,
142 at Montreal and 178 at San Francisco.2
But data demonstrating the rapid and most welcome growth of ACSUS
over the past decade are not, by themselves, sufficient to suggest the general
growth of Canadian studies in the United States. Many academics who balk
at paying dues to their third, fourth, or fifth professional association (and
thus do not join ACSUS) teach about Canada and do research involving
Canadian subjects. Some content themselves with membership in one or
another of the so-called “regional”: the Western Social Science Association (WSSA), perhaps, or the Midwestern Association for Canadian
Studies (MWACS), the deliciously acronymed Middle Atlantic & New
England Conference for Canadian Studies (MANECCS) or the Southeast
Association for Canadian Studies (SEACS). A growing number of
demonstrably active colleagues are members of the American Council for
Québec Studies (ACQS) which, since 1983, has published the excellent
scholarly journal Québec Studies, and whose membership has published an
extraordinary number of monographs on Quebec, especially on Quebec
literature, during the past half-decade. Some researchers disdain to belong
to or to write for any but the most “prestigious” (i.e. the oldest), disciplineoriented associations and societies; others give their energies to vibrant,
younger groups like the Popular Culture Association which, early in 1990,
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“Modified Rapture!”: Recent Research on Canada in the United States
incorporated considerable Canadian content in its meetings held in Toronto. Wherever they may, or may not, appear in the rosters of professional
associations active in this immense country, scholar-teachers interested in
Canada multiply, and the end results of that multiplication include many
more undergraduates interested in Canada, more graduate students doing
work on Canada and increasing numbers of articles and monographs in our
field.
An astonishing amount of doctoral-level research on Canada, or involving
Canadian-related topics, is done in the U.S. each year. A computer search
of Dissertations Abstracts from 1985 through 1988 suggests that at least 347
“Canadian” doctoral dissertations were completed in those years at institutions which deposit theses with this service. Of these, perhaps 74 were done
in the sciences, often involving geological topics; one is not sure that these
can all be counted as “Canadian studies” per se. Moreover, 21 were the
by-products of theological degrees, many undoubtedly by ministers intending to return to callings north of the border upon completion of their work.
Some 93 were in the field of education, often with the kind of title which
suggests the work of temporarily expatriate Canadian school teachers
aspiring to higher salaries and/or titles in their home educational system.
The rest (which may well have been done by Canadians who have already
returned to jobs north of the border) included 47 dissertations in environmental studies, 55 in economies or business areas, 16 in literary studies, 29
in sociology or social work, 17 in polities and perhaps as few as 8 in history.
It seems reasonable to conclude that the United States is producing a not
inconsiderable, but nevertheless relatively small number of doctorates in
the area of Canadian studies. When one considers, however, that this pool
must constitute one of the important bases for an academic faculty which
must train the American “Canadianists” of the future, one’s sense of
rejoicing is, at the very least, muted.
Let us return to a brighter landscape, that of the current research activity
of the present group of faculty involved in Canadian work in American
colleges and universities. If the evidence of the programs of ACSUS, ACQS
and the Canadian studies “regionals” is examined, the situation is promising
and, as Alice would say, “promisinger” with each passing year. Examination
of the records of the Canadian Department of External Affairs and International Trade and of the Government of Quebec’s ministére des Relations
intemationales, both of which administer annual grant competitions for
researchers, corroborates this optimism. 3Although External Affairs offered research support to “Senior Fellows” in the U.S. as far back as 1979,
it did not create a full-fledged competition for research funds until the
1984-85 academic year. For the past three years, the competition for
individual faculty awards has attracted large numbers of applications; in
one year, forcing a second competition and culminating, this past year, in
over one hundred applications for the grants. As remarkable as the raw
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numbers is the fact that the applications are coming from more and more
institutions, from all parts of the country and in ever more varied areas of
study. American professors are doing research in political science and
politics, history, international relations, sociology, aging, anthropology,
literature in both official languages, urban development, social work,
educational studies, geography, geology, linguistics, communications, the
fine and performing arts, environmental studies, business, trade, legal
studies and traditional economics, to name only those which appear
repeatedly in External Affairs’ competition files. Similar conditions prevail
in the Quebec Government’s research grant competitions: numbers of
applications are up, numbers of fields are also increasing.
External Affair’s individual faculty research grants are supplemented by
the ongoing programs which fund Senior Fellows and Institutional Research projects. The former are professors who can demonstrate that their
research has already placed them within reach of completion, in a
reasonable time, of a book manuscript; it must be said that the record of
actual publication of these books is, allowing for inevitable and expected
delays in schedules, remarkably good. Institutional Research Grants have
tended to produce edited volumes of conference proceedings or special
issues of learned journals (the American Review of Canadian Studies
(ARCS) Inuit Art issue of Spring 1987, and the Daedalus issue on Canada
in the Fall of 1989) as well as many articles appearing in journals of varied
specialties.
Given all this activity, both in research and, of course, to a lesser extent in
the publication of research results, it is clearly impossible to do justice, in
any specific aspect, to current trends in research on Canada in the U.S. in
any one article intended to provide something of an overview. A close look
at the contents of the American Review of Canadian Studies for the past
decade suggests a number of general conclusions. We have certainly seen,
in ARCS, evidence of a considerable increase in American scholarly interest in Canada’s economy and her business and trade relationships with the
U.S., in Canadian law, and in aspects of her society and social problems,
together with her urban development strategies. These are things one
would expect, after all, given the transborder struggles attendant upon
achieving, and now implementing, the historic Free Trade Agreement, the
incorporation of the innovation of judicial review into the Canadian Constitution of 1982, the commonality of American and Canadian concerns
over systems of health care, multiculturalism and its problems, and the
whole panoply of what appear to be urban-focused problems with social,
geographical and developmental implications. There has also been an
intensification of interest in provincial and municipal politics and political
behaviour as well as the maintenance of the traditional interest in the
Canadian-American relationship, an interest considerably influenced by
the current focus on what might be called the “political-economy” of that
206
relationship. U.S. scholarship on Canadian literatures appears solid, well
in tune with many current thematic concerns but not yet reconstructed to
the point of unintelligibility that on Quebec literature seems especially
voluminous, with few signs of its diminishing during the coming decade.
Other fields seem to be taking cognizance of Canada – the arts, and especially the area of communications boast more converts each year. But it
must be admitted that the once central discipline of history is surprisingly
little practiced among Canadianists in the U.S. This is true, despite the fact
that both the International Council for Canadian Studies (ICCS) and
ACSUS list history as an interest, if not a research field, of large numbers
of their current members, and that the American Review of Canadian
Studies managed to publish fourteen history articles during the past seven
years.
Looking beyond the pages of ARCS, one finds that the programs of the
ACSUS biennial conferences have also seen increases in the numbers of
papers, panel discussions and special events dealing with Free Trade and
other business aspects of the Canadian-American relationship, environmental issues, literary themes, women’s studies in a variety of disciplinary
contexts, subsets of sociology and Quebec topics in general, Quebec literature, in particular. Indeed, when one looks for general published evidence
of all this scholarship, one is struck by the fact that the past decade has
witnessed an explosion in the production of monographs and edited collec4
tions of articles on just such topics. Moreover, it is undeniably true that
much of what has been produced has been of good quality and truly lasting
value. We must admit, however, that research following readily discernible
trends and readily available funding may not immediately appear to have
much more than transient interest and/or application. It is also gratifying
that work has begun to appear in many new areas of scholarly investigation.
The writer of this essay has been specifically enjoined not to produce a
bibliography the remaining pages offer, instead, a rapid survey of some of
the more interesting books produced recently by American scholars of
note. A much more detailed volume studying U.S. research on Canada is
planned by ACSUS to celebrate its 20th anniversary in the Fall of 1991. Its
bibliographies will prove invaluable to all who work in the field.
The 1980s offer ample evidence that American contributions to our understanding of Canadian and Québécois literature have been considerable.
One thinks immediately of books by Judith McCombs on Atwood; by
Arnold (Ted) Davidson on Atwood and on Richler; by Lee Thompson on
Dorothy Livesay: by Robert Thacker on western Canadian fiction; and by
Lorna Irvine on writing by Canadian women. 5All these scholars have
contributed to journals emanating from both sides of the border, and all
have projects for further books afoot (a critical edition of The Handmaid’s
Tale from Thompson, a volume comparing the fiction of several very
notable American and Canadian women from Thacker, etc.). On the
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Quebec side, one has only to open the pages of Québec Studies or the
American Review of Canadian Studies to be aware of the ongoing work of
many U.S.-based scholars on Quebec literature. Some of those whose work
is readily accessible in book form are Ellen Babby and Paula Gilbert Lewis
on Gabrielle Roy: Jonathan Weiss on French-Canadian theater as well as
a general overview of French-Canadian literature, Janet Paterson on Anne
Hébert, and Karen Gould, whose excellent Writing in the Feminine . . . has
just been published this year.6Indeed American-based, solidly academic
criticism of Quebec literature is asking important questions which are not
yet taken seriously enough in other quarters. American literary critics,
whether of Canadian or Québécois literature, seem to share a genuine love
of, and admiration for, the texts. These attitudes are usually fully informed
by recent scholarship and emerge from a perspective which is often especially well-grounded in the American part of the North American experience as well as in metropolitan French or other overseas literatures.
Comparative analyses come naturally to them, and this is one of their
strengths. We can look with confidence for more insightful criticism and
analysis in these areas during the coming decade.
Certainly the negotiating of the FTA and the concomitant official
Canadian, American and Quebec interest in all aspects of the economic
relationship between the U.S. and Canada heightened American
academics’ interest in studying that relationship. To the early work of the
pioneers, therefore, the past decade added a great deal of work directed
towards enlightening (in the best sense of the word) fellow academics,
policy-makers and the interested business public alike about what might be
called the “political-economy” of this international phenomenon. In the
process, some political scientists began to look more like political
economists, and some classically trained economists like professors of
business. Disciplinary lines quickly became somewhat blurred in the published results of all this research, The Brookings Institution, the National
Planning Association and the Council on Foreign Relations all included
Canadian or Canadian-American monographs in their admirable series.
So, too, did the David M. Kennedy Center for International Relations at
Brigham Young University, while the Canadian-American Center of the
University of Maine recently began a series of monographs or “occasional
papers” dedicated to U.S.-Canadian relations.7While not all this material
was written by scholars residing in the U.S., much of it was, and while some
of it was as evanescent as most political reputations, much will remain of
importance to serious students for some years to come. Among the major
players in this game, from the American side, were economists Peter Morici
and Peter Kresl;spolitical scientists Earl Fry, Edward Fried, Frank Stone
and Philip Trezise who edited volumes for Brookings; William Diebold, Jr.
(recently honoured with the award of a Dormer Medal from ACSUS) and
William Averyt.9Pioneers such as Paul Wonnacott, John Carroll and
Mildred A. Schwartz weighed in with significant contributions. 10I n
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general, these several series offer a truly impressive measure of the value
of transborder scholarly intercourse and cooperative scholarship, precisely
what one would hope to see more of if U.S. interest in studying Canada
deepens (as it should) during the 1990s.
The spirit of transborder scholarly cooperation, coupled with a genuine
interest in actually looking at the deeper meaning of a “border” in this
specific North American context, seem exemplified in two otherwise disparate series of works which come, respectively, from ACSUS and the
University of Maine, the ACSUS Papers (1989) and the Borderlands
Monographs series. The former consist (so far) often short distillations of
the essence of such topics as Canadian history, Canada in world affairs, the
Canadian economy, etc., designed for use in introductory Canadian studies
courses taught in the U.S. at the undergraduate level. Taken together, they
constitute an admirable introductory text, produced by eight U.S.-based
and two Canada-based scholars: Annette Baker Fox Malcolm Knight,
Rudy Fenwick, Robert Thacker, Colin Campbell, Louis Balthazar,
Jonathan Weiss, Victor Konrad, Robert Bothwell and Gordon Stewart.11
The Borderlands series, just now beginning to appear, was the brain-child
of the extraordinarily enterprising Lauren McKinsey who, with Victor
Konrad and a few others, conceived of putting teams of American and
Canadian scholars to work, analyzing the effects of that border which has
conditioned so much of our several ways of thinking, and has affected our
sense of self (selves?), our way of writing fiction and creating art, our values,
institutions and sustaining myths. Contributors to this provocative and
important series will include McKinsey and Konrad themselves, Seymour
Martin Lipset, Martin Lubin and Mildred A. Schwartz to name only a few
of the American contingent. 12
Other aspects of the Canadian-American interface have been studied by
U.S. scholars not yet mentioned. Each contributes special perspectives,
often challenging Canadian scholars to question some of their habitual
analyses, and the assumptions behind them of the psychological and more
concrete forces at work in the relationship. Charles Doran’s book on the
Forgotten Partnership made a major contribution to the study of the realities
of foreign policy in both countries, and is but a part of his valuable
contribution to the field of international relations.13 Joseph Jockel, much
in demand as an editor (of the ACSUS Papers and the projected ACSUS
volume on research in the U.S.), has written provocatively and brilliantly
on Canadian-American defense policy. He has recently turned, for the
University of Maine’s Canadian-American Public Policy series, to more
general issues of Canada-U.S. relations in the “Bush era” (a seemingly
premature concept, but the monograph is a fascinating exercise in wellinformed speculation about an uncertain future). Thomas Waggener will
produce, for the same series, a volume on forestry issues under the FTA,
while John Carroll will contribute a monograph on air pollution (which
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knows no borders). The aforementioned William Diebold, Jr. will add
lustre to this collection by a volume considering the future of CanadianAmerican business relations. Alfred Hero, together with Louis Balthazar,
has cast much light on the very under-studied relationship between modern
Quebec and the U.S. (a relationship we shall all have to study in more detail
in the near future).14
More extensive consideration of the subject is truly beyond the intended
scope of this essay. The writer is painfully aware of having left much out,
especially in the area of scholarship appearing in the myriads of disciplineoriented or otherwise specialized journals. For these, only specialized
bibliographies, some to be found in the books cited here, can provide
rational coverage. It would be utterly remiss not to cite with admiration the
work of Robert Gill and Andre Senécal on the thorny question of language
policies in many Canadian provinces, the longstanding activity of Allan
Kornberg, Joel Smith and Harold Clarke on Canadian political behaviour
and the bibliographical studies of Senécal and Greg Mahler.15 Lee
Rathbone-McCuan has charted pioneering paths in the comparative study
of aging. The law faculty of Case Western and of the School of Law at
Detroit have made contributions in the field of conflict resolution. Tom
Barnes, Nelson Graburn, Philip Tetlock and Victor Jones at Berkeley
continue to work in areas of local government, the Inuit, and perceptions
of civil rights. Pace University has produced avaluable series of case studies
for use in business schools. SUNY Buffalo’s geography department is active
in comparative urban studies and FTA research. Michigan State University
Press will begin a series of monographs on Canadian subjects (led by works
by the very productive Gordon Stewart and Arnold Davidson). The many
scholars affiliated with the Pacific Northwest National Resource Center are
active in transborder research in many fields. We have not had space
enough to deal with American work in progress on native peoples and the
north, ethnic groups and multiculturalism, communications, or the status
of women. Labour historians like Robert Babcock and Jacques Ferland,
and geographers like Stephen Hornsby, have important manuscripts
finished or nearing completion. Studies are in progress at Duke on perceptions of Canadian-vs-regional identity. Several U.S. scholars are at work on
Montreal’s urban planning and its ethnic communities. And Steve
Berkowitz continues to enliven the sociological debate on Models and
Myths in Canadian Sociology.16 Soon, U.S.-based scholars will be considering the implications of Mexico-U.S.-Canada trade relationships, of the
post-Meech and post-1992 worlds as they impinge upon Canadian and
American attitudes, politics and daily economic realities. Many of these
research efforts will be collaborative work shared between Canada- and
U.S.-based scholars (networking of this kind is especially notable in the
social sciences, since so many Canada-based scholars have been at least
partly trained in the U.S.). In this tale, what is past is in truth merely
prologue.
210
Despite these many encouraging aspects of the state of research on Canada
now being undertaken in the U.S., all is not uniformly rosy. One example
of a discipline which has not made the progress so admired in others over
the past decade is that of history. More than a decade ago, it was possible
to identify U.S.-based scholars who had made, or were making, very
substantial contributions to the field of Canadian history: A. L. Burt,
J. B. Brebner, Mason Wade, Robin Winks, Victor Howard and Richard
Preston come quickly to mind. These notables, together with other colleagues, might in some ways be called pioneers in this country. Unfortunately, many of them have retired, expired or turned to other endeavours, in
general without having trained their replacements at the highest, most
productive and/or significant level of Canadian historical scholarship. Indeed, their Canadian history teaching positions (at Minnesota, Columbia,
Rochester or Duke, for example) have on the whole remained unfilled, as
their own professional colleagues have been disinclined to hire
Canadianists (Duke University waited a decade before hiring Preston’s
replacement; one hopes that this institution will soon resume the production of Canadian history PhDs, even on a limited basis, which it began
before that lamentable interruption in the succession). Thus, positions once
imagined as Canadian, or at least partly so, were quickly given over to other
disciplinary subfields, to newer, richer or trendier branches of history. Even
worse, during the evil years in which history in this country was regarded
as at best irrelevant and at worst useless (paradoxically the very years in
which Canadian historians were increasingly helping to defme the centre
of Canadian self-awareness), some of those history positions were rapidly
shifted to other departments entirely. U.S. Labor Department restrictions,
departmental proclivities and a “frozen” market in the discipline generally,
all combined to make the 1980s a ghastly decade for a prospective historian
of Canada seeking employment in the U.S. There were very few jobs going
at all and even fewer at those rare U.S. institutions best known for training
highly employable PhDs in history- institutions which once trained more
than a few famous native Canadian historians, as well as their American
colleagues.
Given these conditions, it is small wonder that one can point to few
U.S.-based historians contributing highly significant work to the body of
Canadian history these days. Professors Babcock and Stewart have been
noted above, and it must be said that there are younger persons of much
promise whose work, so far available mostly in specialized Canadian journals, is reaching the “must be consulted” level, both in quantity and quality.
But we are here talking about numbers which seem minute, given the grand
total of professional historians at work in the American college and university establishment. Perhaps, a case can bc made that those active in the field
of Franco-American studies will, in time, interact significantly with their
colleagues (increasing in number) from Quebec, but it is also arguable that
much, perhaps most, of what is done in that field is in fact not really
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“Canadian” studies at all, rather, “American social history”. One suspects,
and certainly hopes, that future U.S.-based labour historians, women’s
history specialists, comparativists (does history really lend itself to the
comparative approach?) and diplomatic and military historians will make
major contributions in a field which is much more central to an understanding of Canada that its current low profile in the U.S. would lead one
to believe. But this development will depend upon the opening of entrylevel and more senior jobs, the willingness of American universities to
tolerate slow and steady (as opposed to rapid and opportunistic) patterns
of scholarship, and the willingness of the system’s major graduate institutions to begin training young Americans in Canadian history. Another
possibility, of course, is that more Americans going to Canadian schools for
doctoral work will return to gratifying jobs in the U.S. But this brings us full
circle, back to the absolute need for more Canadian history jobs to open
before we can anticipate any significant increase in historical scholarship
on Canada in this country.
“Modified rapture!”, then, is what one feels upon surveying the present
state of research on Canada in the U.S. There is much to survey, much to
praise, much promise already realized and much potential for the 1990s.
We should hope to see impressive work in many areas: comparative studies
of all kinds, literary criticism, women’s studies, labour history, collaborative
works in political behaviour, economics and trade patterns, legal studies
and urban and other geographies. Yet, for these things to be achieved,
American jobs must remain available to Canadianists, older faculty in these
areas must be replaced and more young Americans must earn doctorates
in Canadian specialties. Further, one suspects that we shall need still more
real dialogue between Canada- and U.S.-based scholars, more travel
money to attend conferences on both sides of the border and more awareness of, and tolerance for, differing points of view, backgrounds and
scholarly agendas. Given these things, it is to be hoped that, while Canada
will always produce more of the best scholarship on things Canadian, more
and more first rate work on these topics will emerge from institutions
outside Canada. The perspectives of such work should be different from
Canadian ones, its conclusions not always the same. If its methodology is
sound and its perspectives informed by a deep knowledge of Canadian
realities, it will raise important issues, offer important challenges to
received orthodoxy and illuminate important but badly-lit corridors of
knowledge. It might be worth remembering that truly great scholarship is
in very short supply in all countries. The present mode of grant-driven,
tenure-driven, hasty (hence half- baked) and perhaps overly trend-inspired
scholarship produces, wherever it occurs, much of little consequence, and
more than its share of rubbish. No matter: cream rises, and tastes wonderful in small amounts. The U.S. is already producing a useful bit of the cream
of scholarship on Canada, and looks forward to sharing in what is certain
to be a gratifying, productive decade of such scholarship in Canada, in the
212
U.S. and in all other parts of the world where colleagues share the joy of
studying Canada seriously and professionally.
Notes
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Data supplied by the head office of ACSUS, courtesy of Dr. Ellen
Reisman Babby, Executive Director.
Programs from ACSUS conferences are available from the Association for Canadian Studies in the United States, One Dupont Circle,
Suite 620, Washington, DC, 20036. Also available are other ACSUS
publications, including the invaluable Index volume of ARCS which
contains many articles by book authors or editors named herein
(American Review of Canadian Studies, Indexes, Volumes I-XVIII,
1971-1988, ed. Mary Jo Sanger, 1989). This index, plus the pages of
Québec Studies, will serve as a beginning guide to the names and fields
of many of the active U.S.-based researchers in Canadian and Quebec
studies; some, of course, publish only elsewhere and must be searched
out by more laborious methods.
The writer is much indebted to Dr. Norman London, Academic Relations Officer, Canadian Embassy, Washington, whose generous sharing of his vast knowledge of Canadian studies program activities in the
U.S. was extremely helpful in the preparation of this survey.
Linda M. Jones, Canadian Studies/Etudes Canadiennes. Foreign Publications and Theses/publications et thèses étrangères (Ottawa: International Council for Canadian Studies, 1989) is immensely helpful despite
the fact that its worldwide coverage makes it necessarily incomplete.
Judith McCombs, cd., Critical Essays on Margaret Atwood (Boston:
G.K. Hall, 1988). Arnold E. Davidson, Cathy N. Davidson (eds.), The
Art of Margaret Atwood: Essays in Criticism (Toronto: Anansi, 1981).
Arnold E. Davidson, Mordecai Richler (New York: F. Ungar, 1983).
Lee Briscoe Thompson, Dorothy Livesay (Boston: Twayne, 1987).
Robert Thacker, The Great Prartie Fact and Literary Imagination
(Albuquerque: U. New Mexico, 1989), and his English-Canadian
Literature (Washington: ACSUS, 1989). Lorna Irvine, Subversion
(Toronto: ECW, 1986). As is true of all the book authors mentioned,
these have written many articles in both Canadian and American
journals appropriate to their discipline and/or special themes.
Ellen Reisman Babby, The Play of Language and Spectacle: a Structural Reading of Selected Texts by Gabrielle Roy (Toronto: ECW,
1985). Paula Gilbert Lewis, The Literary Vision of Gabrielle Roy: an
Analysis of her Work (Birmingham: Summa, 1984). Jonathan M. Weiss,
French-Canadian Theater (Boston, Twayne, 1986), and his ACSUS
monograph French-Canadian Literature (Washington: ACSUS, 1989).
Janet M. Paterson, Anne Hébert: architexture Romanesque (Ottawa: U.
213
IJCS I RIÉC
d’Ottawa, 1985). Karen Gould, Writing in the Feminine: Feminism and
Experimental Writing in Quebec (Carbondale: Southern Illinois U.,
1990). Mary Jean Green, Professor Gould’s predecessor as Editor of
Québec Studies, is the author of many articles on the subject of Quebec
women writers, and has a book on that subject in process.
7. Details of these series may be had by applying to: The Brookings
Institution, Washington, DC, the National Planning Association,
Washington, DC (its series co-sponsored by the C. D. Howe Research
Institute of Montreal), the Council on Foreign Relations in New York,
the David M. Kennedy Center for International Relations at Brigham
Young University, Provo, Utah, and the Canadian-American Center
of the University of Maine in Orono.
8. Peter Morici, sometimes aided by colleagues such as Arthur Smith,
Sperry Lea and John Mutti, edited several collections of papers on the
Canada-U.S. trade relationship, Canadian industrial policy and patterns of U.S. comparative advantage for the National Planning
Association in the early 1980s. One might take particular note, however, of his The Global Competitive Struggle: Challenges to the United
States and Canada (Washington: NPA, 1984), Meeting the Competitive
Challenge: Canada and the United States in the Global Economy
(Washington: Canadian-American Committee, 1988), and the very
recent Making Free Trade Work: The Canada- U.S. Agreement (New
York: Council on Foreign Relations, 1990). For this last, Morici serves
as editor, but also contributes three provocative essays. Peter Karl
Kresl (ed.), Seen from the South (Provo: BYU, 1989), a volume to which
Kresl contributes an interesting article on cultural interactions, does
not suggest adequately the scope of his many articles on the economic
relationship as well as on comparisons of Canadian with Scandinavian
oil development.
9. Earl H. Fry has been prodigiously productive in the 1980s, editing,
together with Lee H. Radebaugh, several volumes of Conference
Proceedings emanating from the David M. Kennedy Center for International Relations at Brigham Young University, usually contributing
one or more essays to each volume. He has also produced a second
edition of his important Canadian Government and Politics in Comparative Perspective (Washington: University Press of America, 1978;
Langham, MD: U.P.A., 1984), and The Politics of International Investment (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1983). He has recently interested
himself in a theme which also engages Morici and Kresl at the moment
(together with Canadian and international colleagues), that of the
coming era of “new international cities”. William Averyt writes on
Quebec-New England energy developments, and has edited
Canadian-U.S. Telecommunications in a Global Context (Burlington:
U. of Vermont, 1987) and with Anne C. Averyt, Managing Global
Telecommunications: North American Perspectives (Burlington: U. of
Vermont, 1989).
214
10. Paul Wonnacott’s early work is well known, as is that of John Carroll
and Mildred A. Schwartz. Worth citing here: Wonnacott’s more recent
U.S. and Canadian Auto Policies in a Changing World Environment
(Washington: Canadian-American Committee, 1987), Paul and
Ronald J. Wonnacott, U.S.-Canadian Free Trade: the Potential Impact
on the Canadian Economy (Washington: Canadian-American Committee) 1986, and Paul Wonnacott, The United States and Canada: the
Quest for Freer Trade: an Examination of Selected Issues (Washington:
Institute for International Economics, 1987). Carroll might best be
approached through his Environmental Diplomacy: an Examination
and a Prospective of Canadian- U.S. Transboundary Environmental
Relations (Ann Arbor: U. of Michigan, 1983) and his recently-edited
International Environmental Diplomacy: the Management and Resolution of Transfrontier Environmental Problems (New York: Cambridge
U.P., 1988). Mildred A. Schwartz’s return to a focus on Canada can be
celebrated in the knowledge that a monograph by her on Third Party
Protest in the Western Borderland has been announced by the University of Maine’s Borderlands Monographs series.
11. The complete list of titles and authors, together with all order information, are available from the David. M. Kennedy Center for International Studies, 280 Herald Clark Building Brigham Young University,
Provo, Utah, 84502. Gordon T. Stewart, author of the ACSUS
monograph entitled History of Canada before 1867, has also recently
pubtished The Origins of Canadian Politics: a Comparative Approach
(Vancouver: U.B.C., 1986); his earlier studies are well known.
12. For information on the Borderlands and Canadian Public Policy series,
apply to Canadian-American Center, Canada House, 154 College
Ave., University of Maine, Orono, ME, 04469. Seymour Martin
Lipset’s early work on Canada is legendary he has returned to the fold
with the recent Continental Divide the Values and Institutions of the
United States and Canada (Washington: Canadian-American Committee, 1989), soon destined for commercial publication by Routledge,
and his North American Cultures: Values and Institutions in Canada
and the United States (Orono, ME: Borderlands/U. of Maine, 1990).
13. Charles F. Doran, Forgotten Partnership: U.S.-Canada Relations
Today (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins, 1984); see also Doran and Joel J.
Sokolsky, eds., Canada and Congress: Lobbying in Washington
(Halifax Dalhousie U., 1985), and Doran and John H. Sigler, eds.,
Canada and the United States: Enduring Friendship, Persistent Stress
(Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1985).
14. Joseph T, Jockel, No Boundaries Upstairs: Canada, the United States,
and the Origins of North American Air Defence (Vancouver: U. B.C.,
1987). Annette Baker Fox is most recently the author of the ACSUS
monograph, Canada in World Affairs (Washington: ACSUS, 1989).
Alfred O. Hero, Jr., Marcel Daveau, eds., Problems and Opportunities
in U.S.-Quebec Relations (Boulder: Westview, 1984); see also Hero and
215
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Louis Balthazar, Contemporary Quebec and the United States, 19601985 (Langham, MD: Center for International Affairs, Harvard U. and
University Press of America, 1988). William Diebold Jr., cd.,
Bilateralism, Multilateralism and Canada in U.S. Trade Policy
(Cambridge: Ballinger, 1988); his forthcoming volume will treat the
future of U.S.-Canada business relations.
15, Both Gill’s and Senécal’s pronouncements on this question are well
represented in the pages of ARCS and Québec Studies. Allan
Kornberg, Harold D. Clarke, eds., Political Support in Canada: the
Crisis Years: Essays in Honor of Richard A. Preston (Durham: Duke
U. P., 1983); Kornberg, Clarke and William Mishler, Representative
Democracy in the Canadian Provinces (Scarborough: Prentice-Hall
Canada, 1982); Clarke, Marianne C. Stewart, Gary Zuk, eds.,
Economic Decline and Political Change: Canada, Great Britain, the
United States (Pittsburgh: U. Pittsburgh, 1989). These three represent
additions to extensive earlier publications by Kornberg, Clarke et al.
André Senécal and Nancy Crane, Québec Studies: a Selected, Annotated Bibliography (Burlington: U. of Vermont, 1982) and André
Senécal, A Reader’s Guide to Québec Studies (Québec: Ministère des
Affaires internationales, 1988 edition). Senécal’s A Reader’s Guide to
Canadian Studies is forthcoming from ICCS before the end of the year.
Gregory S. Mahler, Contemporary Canadian Politics: an Annotated
Bibliography, 1970-1987 (New York: Greenwood, 1988).
16. Eloise Rathbone-McCuan, Betty Havens, eds., North American Elders:
United States and Canadian Perspectives (New York: Greenwood,
1988). Peter Waite, Sandra Oxner, Thomas Barnes, eds., Law in a
Colonial Society: the Nova Scotia Experience (Toronto: Carswell,
1984). Marc V. Levine’s The Reconquest of Montreal: Language Policy
and Social Change in a Bilingual City (Philadelphia: Temple University 1990), is a sophisticated, useful synthesis of much research on this
crucial topic. Robert Babcock, Gompers in Canada: a Study in
American Continentalism before the First World War (Toronto: U. of
Toronto, 1974) was an important, groundbreaking book, both in its use
of American sources and in its basic transborder perspective. While
awaiting the publication of Babcock’s second book, we may applaud
his articles in the field of comparative labour history (especially in the
journal Labour/Le travail) as well as the fact that his institution, the
University of Maine, is producing PhDs in Canadian or CanadianAmerican history. S. D. Berkowitz, ed., Models & Myths in Canadian
Sociology (Toronto; Butterworth, 1984) and Berkowitz and Barry
Wellman, eds., Social Structures: A Network Approach (Cambridge:
Cambridge U.P., 1988). Some manuscripts already accepted by
Canadian publishers languish for want of government subsidies available to Canadian residents only, without which little proceeds these
days. This seems altogether deplorable.
216
Luca Codignola
The View from the
Other Side of the Atlantic
Abstract
This article focuses on some distinctive aspects of European literature on
Canada: regionalism, comparative approach, multidisciplinarity. It argues
that many of the most significant studies of Canada by European scholars
are regional in scope, whether they deal with Atlantic Canada, the North or
Quebec and French-Canada. The paper also documents the importance of
the comparative approach, especially in Sweden and Israel, and offers some
insights on multidisciplinarity -or the lack thereof - in European research
on Canada. Finally, the author reviews the original contribution made by
European scholars to the study of Canada.
Résumé
Cet article examine quelques-uns des caractères distinctifs de la recherche
européenne sur le Canada, en particulier le régionalisme, l’approche
comparative et la multidisciplinarité. L ‘auteur démontre qu‘une bonne partie
des études les plus significatives sur le Canada sont, en fait, des études
régionales, qu‘elles traitent des provinces de l‘Atlantique, du Nord ou du
Québec et du Canada français. L ‘article illustre également l‘importance de
l’approche comparative, surtout en Suède et en Israël, et propose quelques
hypothèses sur la multidisciplinarité - mythe ou réalité - dans la recherche
européenne sur le Canada. Enfin, l’auteur souligne l’originalité et la signification de la contribution des chercheurs européens à l‘étude du Canada.
This article must start with a prolonged caveat. 1This is not a survey of
recent publications on Canada, nor is it a review essay or an updated
bibliography seasoned by this writer’s own personal comments. As an
historian of early North America, I would not and should not presume to
give my opinion on the state of research on Canada in such diverse disciplines as literature, linguistics, ethnology, sociology, political science,
international relations, law, geography, etc. Furthermore, while I am somewhat informed of events in my own country (Italy) and in my own discipline
(history), I could not possibly have first, or even second-hand knowledge,
of all that is published in the eleven languages of the fifteen countries
considered in this article (Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, the
Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Ireland, the Federal Republic of Germany, Austria, Switzerland, France, Belgium, Israel and Italy). Once again,
I cannot list authors or titles in fields whose sophisticated methodologies I
IJCS / RIÉC
am not trained to differentiate. Yet, the sheer number of publications
written by Europeans on Canada in the past twenty years came as a surprise,
and with it the certainty that this article will undoubtedly overlook important publications and innovative authors, among them colleagues and
friends.
This article is, therefore, a commentary on recent trends in Canadian
studies. It is neither organized by discipline nor by country. Instead, it
focuses on some distinctive issues found in the European literature on
Canada which was examined. One of these issues is regionalism, a very
common theme in European scholarship on Canada. A fairly recent poll
(December 1989) showed that a sizeable number of Canadians feel more
loyalty to their province than to Canada.2Similarly, many publications by
Europeans reflect a piecemeal Canada. Other themes examined here are
the balance between the humanities and the social sciences, the visible
trend toward comparative studies in countries that joined the international
community of canadianists in the 1980s, and the notion that Canadian
studies has become a full-fledged “discipline” with its own methodology
and new writing practice. Still, the more significant, overall theme —
Europe’s original contribution to the study of Canada – shall not be ignored. Canadianists are all too aware that the concept and practice of
Canadian studies has met with criticism from within Canada itself.3For
some time, they could only answer such criticism by listing ongoing projects,
foreseeable developments, consciousness-raising programs and work in
progress. That time is now past. Most European associations (in the United
Kingdom, France, Italy and the German-speaking countries) have ten or
more years of activity behind them. Younger associations, too, have had
time to show where they are heading . Some hard facts are already available
and can be discussed and assessed.4
Regionalism, a Notable Canadianist Attitude
Canada is and has always been a country based on regional differences, and
the subdivision of Canadian territory into the Atlantic provinces, Quebec,
Ontario, the Prairies, British Columbia and the North is common. Yet,
Canada is not exceptional in this respect. Most countries in the western
world are regionally-oriented. What is notable, however, is that the regions
of Canada are often perceived from outside the country as individual and
distinct entities. In fact, a number of European canadianists essentially deal
with a specific region, and few move beyond this regional perspective to
treat Canada as a whole.
“French-” and “English-Canada” are by no means “regions”, unless considered strictly in linguistic terms. Yet, in the early days of Canadian studies,
they were often perceived in Europe as uniform portions of larger
frameworks. Many placed English-Canada within the old British Empire/
218
Commonwealth framework, and considered it a successful partner within
a larger community including Australia, New Zealand, South Africa and
the West Indies. Others viewed Canada within the North American continent, as an alternative to the United States, an offspring of Europe, that
developed in the same spatial and historical surroundings, but produced
different results. Still, others focused on French-speaking Canada, mainly
Quebec, but discovered Quebec via France and the larger framework of la
francophonie, a concept that had stimulated intellectual investigation long
before its recent political use. In fact, in the writings of a good number of
European canadianists, one is likely to find publications on France, Great
Britain, the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Maghreb and the West
Indies/Antilles. Only in the 1970s, with the growing importance of Canada
on the international political scene and the development of Canadian
studies in Europe, did a younger generation approach Canada for its own
sake.
British Empire/Commonwealth Framework
As one may expect, the British have used the Empire/Commonwealth
framework. The names of the late historian Philip G.E. Wigley and of
international relations specialist Peter H. Lyon are the first to come to mind
when dealing with the history of imperial relations between the wars, and
Canada’s role in the Commonwealth and the European Economic Community after World War II. Italian historian Fabrizio Ghilardi proves,
however, that their perspective is not solely a British one. Ghilardi’s investigation proceeded from nineteenth-century British and European
diplomatic history, through the Commonwealth, and to Canada’s international role after World War II. Nor is the Empire/Commonwealth approach
5
a prerogative of historians and specialists in international relations. T h e
inclusion of English-Canadian language literature within the larger context
of other English-language literatures is current practice among literary
critics in almost every country of Europe.6French cultural historian JeanMichel Lacroix studied eighteenth-century British journalism before
broadening his range of interests and publications in to such diverse fields
of enquiry as Canadian literature (in both languages), ethnicity, multiculturalism and electoral behaviour.7
North American Context
The North American context is used less frequently by the British than by
other Europeans, although Wigley’s studies of Canadian-American relations, still viewed in his familiar Commonwealth framework, must be noted.
French literary critic Régis Durand used one North American context, as
did a number of his colleagues in German-speaking Europe: Dieter Meindl,
compared the Canadian and American experiences as viewed through their
literatures and the winning of the West, and Waldemar Zacharasiewicz and
219
IJCS / RIÉC
Horst Immel placed writers from both countries within the larger context.
Other Europeans who approach Canadian studies from a North American
angle include Norwegian Per Seyersted and Italian Alfredo Rizzardi.8The
North American context seems to have special appeal to French historian
Claude Fohlen and Italian colleagues Raimondo Luraghi (a comparative
analysis of the seigneurial regime) and this writer, who was led by the study
of Francis Parkman to investigate the events so forcefully narrated by the
American historian and to employ the same continental framework for his
more recent publications on North American Catholicism. The intellectual
history of the Italian image of North America (Canada and the British
colonies to the end of the eighteenth century) is the subject of historian
Piero Del Negro’s investigation, a model of scholarship rarely enc o u n t e r e d .9 On a later period, of special mention because of their
originality and the novelty of the North American framework are French
historian François Weil’s study of France-Americans since the midnineteenth century, and Italian historian Massimo Rubboli’s work on the
Canadian West, a region selected because most of the religious denominations in which he is interested lived there. 10
Very few social scientists have studied Canada within the North American
framework. From the recent (1987-88) political debate over free trade, in
which the opening of Canada-United States border seems to have been
predominantly opposed by pro-Canadian-identity humanists, one would
have expected otherwise. But, then, the debate was viewed in Europe with
more emotional detachment. Or, more simply, the data available on publications are too sparse and irregular to be fully trusted as representative
samples. French businessman and author Jean Vinant seems to be the one
11
conspicuous exception. There is, however, an original and stimulating
research project dealing with Israel and Canada as two uneasy political
allies of the United States, conducted by a team led by G. Shefer
(Jerusalem) and D. Munton (Toronto). There is also, in Italy, a selected
group of jurists (especially Sara Volterra and Fabio Ziccardi) who became
interested in Canada via the United States (and more generally the Englishspeaking world), mainly after the constitutional debate of 1980-1982.12
Atlantic Canada and Other Regions
Neither the Empire/Commonwealth approach nor the North American
perspective, however, explain the disproportionate number of European
publications on two regions of Canada: the English-speaking Atlantic
provinces and the North. These publications have attracted the interest of
European scholars without necessarily leading them towards the larger
Canadian context. Ireland and the United Kingdom show a special interest
in the Atlantic region. In Ireland, this trend is undoubtedly linked to the
great Irish migrations of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, studied
both from the departure and the arrival points. In this field the work of
220
Irish human geographer William J. (Seamus) Smyth is exemplary. In scientific partnership with Canadian Cecil J. Houston, they published, in Ireland
and in Canada, a number of high-quality studies on the legacy of Orangism
in Canada. These studies include the recent synthesis of Irish emigration
to Canada in the nineteenth century – a rare example of successful crosscultural fertilization from which the scholarly communities of the two
countries profit in equal measure.13 In a similar vein, Irish literary critic
Padraig O. Gormghaile examined the Irish within the Francophone community of Quebec, and this writer, the ethnic conflicts between the Irish
and their French-speaking co-religionists in Atlantic Canada and the
United States. 14 Similarly, Scottish emigration to Canada and the permanence of a Scottish tradition have been studied by a group of scholars,
mainly historians, many of whom are associated with the Centre of
Canadian Studies at the University of Edinburgh. 15
However, this interest in Canada’s Atlantic provinces extends beyond
migration studies or cultural transfers — areas appropriate enough given
the sheer volume of immigration to Canada from Ireland and Scotland.
Indeed, most of the studies cited above are part of a major debate over the
Irish and Scottish communities on both sides of the Atlantic ocean, of which
W. Gordon Handcock’s Soe longe as there comes noe women 16is the latest
product, involving several prominent members of the Canadian and
American scholarly communities. Several other fields have also interested
Europeans studying Atlantic Canada albeit less consistently. There is, for
example, the concept of the North Atlantic area, including both shores, as
a centre of activities (the fishery, the navy) or of contact (among Europeans
and between Europeans and Native peoples). The best research results on
the early North Atlantic fishery were achieved by French historian JeanFrançois Briére, who now teaches at SUNY Albany. In the same field, the
work of Canadian historian Laurier G. Turgeon should be mentioned
because he did most of his primary research in France and his partnership
with French historians continues. 17Interest in the early North Atlantic area
also induced this writer to work on George Calvert, Baron Baltimore’s
(1580-1632) Avalon colony in Newfoundland. 18 And Norwegian historian
Helge W. Nordvik, alone and in partnership with Canadian historian Lewis
R. Fischer, published a number of studies on the social economy of the
Canadian and Norwegian navy, among the most advanced results of
19
European scholarship. In England, Frederick Jones is very much a
“regional” historian in that he very consistently worked on religion in
Newfoundland, producing a full-length biography of Church of England
Bishop Edward Feild of Newfoundland (1801-1876), but never, to my
knowledge, did he venture into a broader Canadian context. 20 In closing
this review of European research on the English-speaking Atlantic provinces, one is obliged to mention the Norwegian traveller, lawyer and scholar,
Helge Ingstad, and his wife, archaeologist Anne Stine Ingstad, though their
work is so special, it defies classification. Their discovery of the L’Anse221
IJCS / RIÉC
aux-Meadows Norse site in 1960 was such a turning point in our knowledge
of Canada’s history that it cannot be neatly labeled “northern studies”,
“contact”, or even “Atlantic studies”. They were the first to find evidence
of Norse landings in North America, a matter of much previous speculation,
and their contribution to research on Canada is immense.21
While Atlantic Canada has attracted more attention than other regions
within the English-speaking framework, the central importance of Toronto
and Ontario in today’s Canada has not escaped Europeans, although in
most cases they have not limited their interest to this province. Two
geographers, Canadian-born Alfred Hecht (who works in Germany) and
Smyth (the latter again in co-operation with Houston), have produced the
best in-depth analysis to date. Hecht has mainly studied the problem of the
spatial society of Ontario ethnic groups (Francophones, Anglophones,
Natives), whereas Smyth has broadened his initial inquiry on the Ulster
legacy to the development of Orangism in Ontario and in Canada, and, in
fact, he did so prior to his later interest in the Atlantic region discussed
above.22 There are fewer publications on the Prairies and British Columbia;
once more, the authors seem not to focus their attention on these regions
alone. For example, German literary critic Wolfgang Klooß, within the
general framework of historical and documentary fiction, shows a special
interest in the Prairies and the myth of the West because of his fascination
with Louis Riel and the Métis rebellions of the 1870s and 1880s.23 Danish
literary critic Jorn Carlsen also writes on western literature within a more
general, Commonwealth framework, while his Italian colleague Andrea
Mariani works on British Columbia because of his general interest in the
24
relationship between the visual arts (Emily Carr) and literary expression.
In general, English-speaking canadianists of Europe frequently turn their
attention to the Atlantic provinces, with little or no interest in Canada as a
whole. The contrary is true for the other regions, with the exception of the
North and Quebec.
The North
The North is another region that has attracted the attention of a great
number of European scholars and, once more, the link with Canada as a
whole is not always evident. As one may guess, the social sciences
(anthopology and geography in particular) are far better represented than
the humanities. Although they can by no means be lumped under a single
heading, the German-speaking geographers have brought the traditional
excellence of the German school to the study of Canada. Contrary to other
European experiences, their studies on the North seem to result from a
number of concerted efforts rather than individual curiosities. In the field
of physical geography, the names of Lorenz King and Dietrich Barsch come
to mind,25 and in the field of social geography and the relationship between
space and human presence, one should at least mention Eckart Ehlers,
222
26
Erhard Treude, Ludger Muller-Wille, Alfred Pletsch and Hecht. In Italy,
apart from some good research notes derived from a 1972 expedition to
Baffin Island led by geographer B. Barabino, and some short, occasional
publications, the most stimulating work comes from the late poet, explorer
and geographer Silvio Zavatti. Between 1958 and1969, Zavatti organized
several field expeditions to Antarctica, Lapland and Greenland, and to
Rankin Inlet and Repulse Bay in the Canadian North. He was an outspoken
critic both of Ottawa’s policies towards the Inuit and the Italian geographical establishment, writing perhaps too much and almost exclusively in
Italian. His first-hand experience of Inuit life is, however, a treasure.27 Like
Zavatti, Cornelius H.W. Remie, from the Netherlands, is exceptional. His
fieldwork in Rankin Inlet, Hall Beach and Pelly Bay (1972-76), and his
archival research in Copenhagen and Ottawa produced an impressive list
of high-quality publications. 28 The Nordic countries, as one may expect,
were interested in the Arctic zone well before the inception of Canadian
studies. Northern geography, mining and forestry are important fields of
research among Scandinavian scholars, although much research, especially
in the sciences, is conducted outside the circle of Scandinavian
canadianists. A recent (1985) comparative book on forestry in Quebec and
Finland, with contributions by Quebec scholars and members of the
University of Helsinki and the Tapio Forest Board, is a good case in point.
The work of social anthropologist Tom G. Svensson is also of special
relevance. 29
Quebec and French-Canada
The case of Quebec is the most obvious example of a regional approach on
the part of European scholars, particularly literary critics and linguists,
whose earlier training in French literature and language and their curiosity
for the larger Francophone world prompted their interest in the North
American communities. The books of Frenchman Auguste Viatte and
Italian Franca Marcato Falzoni, with their focus on the Francophone world,
are good examples of this interest. Together with the Italian journal
Francofonia, founded (1981) and edited by Italian Liano Petroni, 30 they
represent a common European trend. Distinctiveness of language is, of
course, at the core of the matter, yet, to approach the francophonie or the
Quebec case only from the language perspective would be misleading. It
would imply, frost, an interest stemming only from literary motivations and,
secondly, a leadership of France that the Hexagone does not provide. As
for literature, Europeans, like their Quebec and Canadian counterparts,
have in the post-Quiet Revolution era replaced the concept of FrenchCanadian literature with that of Quebec literature. The only variable is the
interest for the literature of New France and pre-Conquest Canada. To
date, this interest has produced an array of short articles, mainly by historians, of local or antiquarian interest only, and a very limited number of
works of value, namely Michel Bideaux’s edition of the Relations of
223
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Jacques Cartier, a monument to scholarship that far supersedes any previous work by Canadians or Europeans alike; British historical geographer
Alan F. Williams’s documentary history of the campaigns of Pierre Le
Moyne d’Iberville (1661-1706) in Acadia and Newfoundland, based upon
Sulpician Jean Baudoin’s journals (c.1662-1698); the chapters on Marc
Lescarbot in Italian literary critic Paolo Carile’s Los guardo impedito; and
the Italian-French collection of articles on seventeenth-century New
France, Scritti sulla Nuova Francia, with its special interest in textual
analysis and narratology.31
Quebec literature is an important field of enquiry inmost countries, except
(with some notable exceptions) Scandinavia and Finland, the Netherlands
and France. 32 Quebec has also been studied from the unique viewpoint of
the spatial placement of its national language. 33 Rather than a region of
Canada, Europeans often consider Quebec a full, national entity, and have
little interest in placing it in a broader Canadian framework. By and large,
the “English factor” in the francophonie approach is regarded as a foreign
element, though inevitable in the North American context. (One should add
that, conversely, for both the Empire/Commonwealth and the North
American approaches discussed above, the “French factor” in Canada is
often regarded as a nuisance or, at best, as a variable providing local
colour.)
As in English-speaking North America, regional variations also exist within
the smaller French-speaking world. In both literature and linguistics, inquiry has extended to other French-speaking communities of Canada.
Acadia has certainly profited from the limelight, thanks to writer Antonine
Maillet and her 1979 Prix Goncourt fame (the first time the prize had been
34
awarded to an author not of French origin). Among the literary critics
and socio-linguists, Acadia has been examined by Jean-Claude Vernex
(who studied in France and now teaches in Switzerland), Belgian Marcel
Voisin and Paule-Marie Penigault-Duhet of France. 35Yet, they are excep-tions. There is little else in terms of substantive and consistent scholar36
ship. As for the other Francophone communities, while there is very little
on Newfoundland and Manitoba, Ontario fares better, especially thanks to
the solid work of historians Sylvie Guillaume and Pierre Guillaume.
Quebec’s Estrie/Eastern Townships region is regarded as an ethnic
microcosm and is the subject of excellent studies by German human
geographers, such as Pletsch and Martin Schulte.37
Regionalism, then, is a very important factor in the European approach to
Canada, and many Europeans discover Canada through an interest in a
specific region. This geographically-limited interest, while not always extending to the larger Canadian framework, does not negatively affect the
quality of scholarship. In fact, some of the best work produced in Europe
on Canada is regional in scope.
224
Is There Anything Wrong with the Comparative Approach?
Another notable feature of the research undertaken by some Europeans is
their comparative approach to matters Canadian. That is, topics are studied
and their development traced in different environments, one of which is
Canada. Whether comparative studies are a good thing for Canadian
studies is a matter of debate among international canadianists. The argument against comparative studies is that the overall results of such
enterprises improve our knowledge of Canada only partially, and Canada
must outgrow its inferiority complex and prove that it is a worthy topic by
its own right. In 1988, Australian political scientist Brian Galligan and
Israeli geographer Arie Shachar, both proponents of the comparative
method, approached the question from two different angles. Galligan
stated quite bluntly that comparative studies were a necessity in his country
because most Australians were “neither motivated nor equipped to concentrate their research and teaching on Canada”. Shachar’s opinion was
more nuanced, and he maintained that the choice of a comparative method
is a conscious improvement in that “the study of Canadian topics by foreign
scholars can be enriched and deepened, with Canadian studies becoming
a major international field of cultural and social research”.38From the
perspective of this article, the point is not whether the comparative method
is good in itself, but whether research on Canada has been or would be
improved by the use of a comparative method.
Among the countries reviewed in this article, Israelis the one in which the
comparative method has been exploited to the fullest extent within a
general framework that might be generally defined as that of the social
sciences. Teams of Israeli researchers systematically joined forces with
teams of Canadian colleagues. Their efforts improved, both in Canada and
in Israel, knowledge of such topics as the electoral and the judicial systems,
the relationship between polities and personalities, health and security
systems (with special regard for the elderly), the role of women in acadenia
and in the sciences, terrorism, communication and national integration.39
Since 1985, there have been a number of other team projects sponsored by
the Hebrew University of Jerusalem in co-operation with the Program of
Canadian studies, ranging from mass transit systems to lentil farming from
medical insurance policy to entrepreneurship among ethnic groups in
metropolitan areas, from the influence of inflation on the capital market to
bilingualism and language consciousness, the results of which are not yet
available in print. These projects are certainly unique in the panorama of
Canadian studies in Europe.
A pattern similar to that of Israel exists in Sweden, a country whose climate
and proximity to the North makes it a natural target of comparative studies.
Yet, whereas in Israel comparative analyses of Israeli and Canadian topics
seem to have been fostered by the concept and the leadership of Canadian
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studies, in Sweden, these comparisons predate the inception of Canadian
studies. Swedish researchers do not necessarily regard themselves as
canadianists. As Swedish intellectual historian Sverker Sorlin well shows,
Sweden and Canada are reputed to be very similar and to have “carried the
image of future countries, both internally and to the world”. Comparative
research is under way in the areas of economic development, the social
system, welfare, immigration and the North. To date, however, Canadian
publications on Sweden surpass Swedish publications on Canada. 40
If such diverse countries as Sweden and Israel have found many common
features to which fruitful or promising comparisons can be applied, the
binational and bilingual status of Belgium makes it a most obvious target of
comparative studies. While the relationship between language, literature
and institutions has been studied, other opportunities for comparison are
more numerous than one would expect, and many were seized by the school
of the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Economic historian Ginette Kurganvan Hentenryk edited a book on the experiences of Belgium and Canada
in living too close to France and the United States, another on social issues
in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries that proves the importance of the
Belgian model for Quebec Catholicism, and (with Manitoba historian Julie
Laureyssens) a monograph on Belgian investments in Canada in the twentieth century. Yet, another example of partnership between a Canadian and
a European scholar is that of Belgian social historian Eliane Gubin and
Quebec intellectual historian YvaII Lamonde, who wrote on the influence
of social essayist and activist Louis-Antoine Dessaulles (1818-1885). 41
Historian Serge Jaumain and literary critic Madeleine Frédéric provide the
most innovative example of the fruitfulness of the comparative method
applied to Belgium. In 1983, in Brussels, and in 1985, in Ottawa, Jaumain
wrote two pioneering dissertations on nineteenth-century peddlers in Francophone Belgium and in Quebec, studied other aspects of the cultural
relationship between the two nations and, with Italian historian Matteo
Sanfilippo, created an interesting example of European cross-national
co-operation in which Canada is the common target, and historiography
and the seigneurial régime the two common fields of enquiry. Frédéric
works both in the field of comparative literature (Gabrielle Roy and Keetje
de Neel Doff) and on the novel in Quebec and Acadia.42In the case of both
Jaumain and Frédéric, it should be pointed out that their work is very much
linked to the development and growth of Canadian studies in Europe and
to their frequent and stimulating exposure to the international scholarly
debate both in Europe and in Canada.
The fact that Great Britain, France, Ireland and the German-speaking
countries do not over-emphasize a comparative approach to the study of
Canada does not mean that they have little to offer in this field. For example,
the innovative articles published by educationist Margaret Bird, health
sociologist Erio Ziglio and business specialist Alan Hankinson (although
226
the latter is somewhat limited in scope) are the result of joint and comparative ventures in the social sciences.43 In France, the country’s traditional
emphasis on thematic and interdisciplinary studies is reflected within the
canadianist community. For example, conferences on public law (1978),
state and minorities (1986), forest resources (1986) or water (1988), whose
proceedings were later edited for Etudes canadiennes, certainly provided
opportunities for comparisons, although there were not as many individual
comparative studies as one would have expected.44 France’s direct and
traditional links with Quebec, links between individual researchers, and the
transatlantic flow and transfer of methodologies have, however, produced
a number of comparative studies involving co-operation between
canadianists and non-canadianists. In the field of social and economic
history, for example, the partnership between French and Canadian rural
historians Joseph Goy, Jean-Pierre Wallot, François Lebrun and Normand
Séguin must be noted. In the field of social and religious history, a discussion on the comparative method must include the publication of the correspondence (1887-1899) of two parish priests, one in France and the other
in Normandy, published by Nadine-Josette Chaline, René Hardy and Jean
Roy, as well as the bibliographical collection on popular piety compiled by
Bernard Plongeron and Paule Lerou.45 In the case of the German-speaking
world, in 1983, Ehlers clearly pointed out the opportunities that a comparative approach offers to canadianist geographers. In Ehlers’ area, comparative studies are numerous, but a glimpse at other areas of research reveals
such diverse contributions as Swiss historian Urs Bitterli’s on early cultural
encounters between European and Native cultures, German socio-linguist
Peter H. Nelde’s on plurilingualism in Europe and in Canada, or Pletsch’s
on ethnicity.46
Comparative research has two advantages. From the point of view of the
research undertaken, it shows how much a certain Canadian element is
unique or, conversely, similar to other experiences. From the point of view
of the participants, it allows canadianists to profit from the input of other
scholars who are not and never will become specialists of Canada. By
contributing to a better understanding of both countries involved, the
comparative approach in no way belittles the Canadian experience and
should be encouraged.
Multidisciplinarity and the Social Sciences: Are They Really a Goal?
Whereas the European community of canadianists has long debated the
opportunity for and the feasibility of a comparative approach to Canadian
studies, there seems to have been a longstanding consensus that a multidisciplinary approach (to any topic) is always preferable. The implicit corollary to this statement, often whispered though never proclaimed, is that the
social sciences are more useful in understanding Canada than the
humanities. The questions are has the disciplinary approach been too
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narrow to encompass the whole potentiality of the Canadian experience,
past and present? Conversely, has the multidisciplinary approach
prevented in-depth research in any given field?
Israel and Italy do represent extreme examples in this regard. The Directory
of Canadianists, published in 1988 by the International Council for
Canadian Studies, lists only two Israeli representatives in the humanities
(in the general literature and philosophy/religious studies categories).
Conversely, Italy has only one representative in the business, trade and
commerce category, two in ethnic studies, three in law and five in geography, compared to 137 in the combined language, linguistics and literature
47
categories. Yet a new trend is readily apparent. Whereas the twelve
volumes (to 1988; containing the proceedings of the Italian official conferences and the recent Italian Rivista di studi canadesi could boast, as a
whole, only geographer Luigi Pedreschi’s short survey of the state of his
discipline, the three volumes of the proceedings of the 1988 conference
(published in 1990) contain two Italian contributions in international relations, two in law and four in geography. 48 There is no doubt, however, thatt
in the case of Italy, the absence of economists, political scientists and
sociologists has prevented a fuller knowledge of the current trends,
problems and options of Canadian society to date. In the case of Israel, it
is a matter of common sense to say that societies present a rather truncated
image of themselves when their histories, their literatures and their creative
imaginations are not part of the picture.
In Belgium and Ireland, humanities prevail over the social sciences. Literature in both languages, social and economic history and human geography
are far ahead of any other fields of enquiry. 49 In the Nordic countries and
in the Netherlands, the general picture is more varied, but the history of
literature, geography and northern studies, cultural history, political
science anthropology, and, once again, literature in English are all represented.50 It is, however, my general impression that the future plans of
associations in the Nordic countries and the Netherlands point to an
emphasis on the social sciences and a departure from a more traditional
outlook. 51
In France and in the United Kingdom, the itinerary of Canadian studies
can be followed closely through their periodical publications, Etudes
canadiennes (from 1975) and the British Journal of Canadian Studies (from
1986), an outgrowth of the former Bulletin of Canadian Studies (19771985). 52 Both are now well-established scholarly journals that publish
articles by canadianists of all nationalities, with an emphasis on local
production. (Since 1984, the United Kingdom also has the London Journal
of Canadian Studies, a sound yearly publication, edited by human geographer Margaret Storrie, that stresses the social sciences and seems to
publish more articles by Canadians than the BJCS.) As for quality, the
228
improvements of BJCS over BCS are a model for any scholarly publication:
long articles, properly footnoted, fully refereed, followed by a massive book
review section edited by Geoffrey Mercer (somewhat confusing in its
appearance, but certainly full of substance). Both the humanities and the
social sciences are well represented. Among the best articles published
lately are three pieces that combine the high quality of disciplinary
specialization with the broadness of their interpretive framework, namely
Edward M. Spiers on Canada’s current defence policy (1988), Keith
Chapman on the petrochemical industry, and Richard Collins on broadcasting and its effects on Canadian cultural identity (1989). The special
issue dedicated to literary critic Cedric R.P. May (1988) carried six good
articles on Quebec literature, all by scholars active in British universities —
the best evidence of growth in a very “traditional” field of inquiry, although
no special methodological trend is immediately recognizable. 53 The praise
of BJCS should not sound as an overall critique to its predecessor. There
are weak pieces in BJCS as there were good pieces in BCS. Yet, the
traditional apparatus proper to a scholarly publication was sometimes
lacking. Similarly, in its early days, Etudes canadiennes paid a high toll to
multidisciplinarity and the drive to recruit new blood. Quality and French
participation, however, did improve notably. The 1989 issue, publishing
nine articles from the proceedings of the 1988 conference “L’homme et
l’eau”, contains seven papers written by French scholars and is the best
thematic issue to date.54
The Association for Canadian studies in the German-Speaking Countries
clearly shows the many facets of the multidisciplinary conundrum. In fact,
the German-speaking association is the most multidisciplinary of the
European associations today, as shown by its formal sections (literatures,
history, political science, geography, economics and women’s studies), by
the variety of disciplines represented by individual members (ranging from
biology to psychology, and from sociology to folklore), by its journal
Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft fur Kanada-Studien, and by the high quality of
its members’ publications in most of the above-mentioned fields. And yet
the impressive growth in membership over the past ten years has had almost
no effect on disciplinary percentages. 55 If one lesson can be learned fromm
the experience of the German-speaking association, it is that in Europe, a
better knowledge of Canada still passes via a constituency of canadianists
largely comprised of humanists.
The explanation for the disciplinary trends recognizable in each European
association, with their emphasis or oversight of the social sciences, probably
lies with the founding fathers of Canadian studies in each of the associations. They represented a range of disciplinary options that provided, and
in most cases still provide, the “moral” leadership and the foundation on
which Canadian studies were built. In some cases, humanists were convinced that multidisciplinarity was a necessity, and tried to act as catalyst
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for the social sciences. (To date, the trend from the social sciences to the
humanities is extant only in Israel.) In general, however, the younger the
association, the more visible the dangers of an approach that favours
“promotion” over “research”, and allows the token social scientist to
smuggle in general remarks meant for ill-informed audiences that should
not find their way into the publications of any association. Yet, one is left
to wonder whether, had the specialists kept to their narrow disciplinary
inquiries, a community of canadianists would eventually have been created
in which scholarly cross-fertilization is possible.
Does Canada Need European Canadianists?
Studying a country where one lives or works presents some practical
advantages, such as the possibility of keeping up to date with current issues
and of being part of the process itself. Yet, to study a country from abroad
in an age of relatively easy communication helps selectiveness and allows
larger perspectives. Nowadays, it is possible to choose most Canadian
topics at random in any discipline and work on them while physically
56
residing outside Canada. A good number of individual studies conducted
in Europe before the concept of Canadian studies existed were produced
in a vacuum, motivated only by the researcher’s intellectual curiosity. To
name but a few, historians Fohlen and Luraghi; geographers F. Bartz,
Pierre George, H. Hottenroth, Carl Schott, with Ehlers, Treude, J. Wreford
Watson and Zavatti; historical linguists H. Christoph Wolfhart and HeinzJurgen Pinnow and anthropologist Remie; archaeologists Ingstad and Stine
Ingstad; political scientists Harry S. Ferns, P. Guillaume and Rainer-Olaf
Schultze; literary critics Bideaux, Carlsen, R. Durand, Paul Gotsch and
Pierre Spriet; and language studies specialist Hans-Josef Niederehe are
among this number.57 Undoubtedly, individual scholars such as the above
did not and do not need the structured framework of Canadian studies to
give their unique and original contribution to science. The more general
question is how and how much has European research on Canada contributed to the knowledge of Canada itself? Or, more simply put, what do
European canadianists offer to Canadians that is not already available in
the country itself?
In history and human geography, a restrictive interpretation of the concept
of original contribution, in the literal sense of what Canadians have more
difficulty doing alone, would reduce the possible areas of enquiry and
research to three: 1) the so-called “patriation” of Canadian sources; 2)
relations between Canada and another country 3) the origins of immigration, the transfer of cultures to Canadian soil, multiculturalism and ethnicity.
Europeans are well aware of the unique program (started in 1873) of the
National Archives of Canada to “patriate” documents that belong to the
230
history of Canada but are preserved abroad due to historical vicissitudes.
Researchers and office facilities are maintained in Paris and in London,
solely for the purpose of finding, calendaring and copying documents of
interest to Canadian history and preserved in the local archives. In recent
years, this meritory enterprise was extended to the Vatican and to Spain,
where research projects are sponsored on a regular basis, often in cooperation with the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of
Canada. Copies of the documents thus made available b the National
Archives of Canada are then routinely used by researchers.58 Undoubtedly,
documents found under the patriation program added much to the
documentary evidence on which all serious research on Canada is based.
The patriation program, however, was not devised for canadianists abroad,
but for any scholar whose interest is Canada. The question is, did it also
provoke a special interest among European scholars in France, Great
Britain, Italy and Spain, did it stimulate new publications on Canada? The
answer is a negative one, with one important exception – Rome and the
Vatican. In France, Great Britain and Spain, except for the work of Turgeon
on the sixteenth-century fishery, the patriation program seems to have had
no effect among canadianists. In Italy, things went differently, possibly
because for along time, Rome was Canada’s third capital “abroad”, ranking
only behind Paris and London. Since 1975, a number of Italian and
Canadian researchers59 have used Vatican documentation to study
Canadian history. Their innovative, international perspective had previously been used in a very narrow, ecclesiastical and agiographical fashion,
with recent few and notable exceptions (Cyril J. Byrne, Raymond J. Lahey,
Terrence Murphy, Hans Rollmann, Lucien Campeau, Nive Voisine). There
is no reason why this should not happen elsewhere. It is true that assistance
to local researchers is not part of the main mandate of the Paris and London
offices of the National Archives of Canada. Still, the fact that only 5 percent
of a sample of approximately 1,000 canadianists (polled in 1989 by ICCS)
employ their facilities, as opposed to 95 percent using the main office in
Ottawa, is certainly striking. Following Rome’s experience, it is most likely
that were their services better known and their offices better staffed, the
Paris and London offices of the National Archives of Canada could also
stimulate new research opportunities for European canadianists.
As for relations between Canada and other countries, France and Great
Britain are special cases because of their intimate historical links with
Canada. Until very recently, the international history of Canada (and of
Quebec) simply could not be written without constant reference to the
transatlantic connection with the two former “mother countries”. This
probably accounts for the paucity of special studies on bilateral relations
with France and Great Britain done by French and British scholars (Vinant,
Jacques Portes, Bernard Penisson and Tim J.T. Rooth are exceptions).
German geographers Dietrich Soyez and Hartmut Volkmann have placed
the relations between the Nordic countries and Canada in a bilateral
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perspective, and Kurgan-van Hentenryk, with Laureyssens, has produced
a full-sized monograph on Belgian investments in Canada in the twentieth
60
century. In Italy, Luigi Bruti Liberati and Ghilardi have extensively
studied the relations between Italy and Canada, the former with regard to
61
fascist Italy, and the latter to the period after World War II. By using new
sources and a perspective from their own country, all the above-mentioned
authors enriched the debate on Canadian history and culture with valuable
and original contributions.
In most instances, however, bilateral relations cannot be studied without
considering the role of the Canadian community of European origin. This
framework leads naturally to studies of cultural transfers, ethnicity and
immigration in the political context of multiculturalism. On these topics,
however, not much of a general nature has been written by Europeans,
except for an interesting collective work edited in the Netherlands by
August J. Fry and Charles Forceville, and a number of essays written in
France, most notably Lacroix’s guide to the ethnic press in Canada. In the
German-speaking world, and in France, literary critics have also shown a
special interest in minorities and ethnicity in Canadian writing, and the
impact of multiculturalism on literature. 62 Studies on specific ethnic communities abound (although quality varies), and there again, Italy and the
Italian-Canadian community seem to have been studied more than any
other to date, and not only by Italians.63Others have dealt with t he
Scandinavians, the Welsh, the Germans, the Slovaks, the Czechs and the
Dutch.64 We thus have a plethora of generally shorter studies on traditional
themes such as “Canada viewed by [add country]” or “[add country] viewed
by Canada”, with its innumerable variables (“Canada in the [add
newspaper]”, “the image of Canada in [add traveller or writer]”, “the image
of [add country] in [add Canadian traveller or writer]”). Although most of
these are scholastic exercises that are usually by-products to larger inquiries
or first steps in an academic career, they sometimes add new perspectives
to the never-ending debate on the Canadian identity. 65European contributions in the very broad field of immigration, ethnicity and multiculturalism
must not be regarded as limited to the opportunities provided by a better
language expertise and an extended availability of sources. (The notion that
only blacks, women and Natives can do respectively black studies, women’s
studies and Native studies has long been surpassed – why should it be
applied to ethnic communities?) Crossfertilization between European
canadianists and Canadians can be very fruitful for both parties. In fact, no
matter what Canadians and Quebecers think of it, the sum of the various
and often conflicting federal and provincial approaches to ethnicity and
internal diversity is viewed as the model for their future by most Europeans,
who have yet to find their solutions to major ethnic tensions. The fury over
the language of commercial affichage in Quebec, blacks’ protests against
police brutality in Toronto, Anglophone revenge in Sault Ste. Marie,
Newfoundlanders’ superiority complex towards CFAs (“Come-From232
Aways”) pale by comparison to the outburst of racial tensions in most
European countries.66
Europeans, however, did not confine themselves to a restrictive interpretation of original contributions to the knowledge of Canada - and rightly so.
Language expertise, the availability of special sources and bilateral or
multilateral perspectives should broaden the scope of research, not limit it.
We, lastly, enter the reahn of original contributions unrelated to the
geographical location of the contributor, and that any “disciplinary” survey
would probably place at its beginning. They are the products of intellectual
curiosity, motivated only by the author’s own history and personal experience. As Canadian medievalists need not prove their Florentine ancestry to study Florence in the Middle Ages, so Swiss literary critics need
not be related to painter Peter Rindisbacher to read and comment on Rudy
Wiebe’s novels. In opening the door to multidisciplinary, original European
contributions, one is flooded by their sheer number, especially in literature,
history and geography. Only examples can be given, with a call for more
specialized, state-of-the-art methodological essays.
The case of British historians is somewhat exemplary. The political history
of the path to Confederation, today a seemingly secondary topic among
Canadian historians,67 has been re-examined by Ged Martin and by other
British and Scottish colleagues using new sources, a new perspective and
the active participation of a number of Canadian historians. Thanks to
Martin, Canadian-born James Sturgis, John B. Ingham, Judy Collingwood,
Michael Burgess and Muriel E. Chamberlain, the political history of
nineteenth-century Canada has a lot to show for its present and future, even
in the more general context of what is being done in Canada itself. Martin’s
recent anthology, The Causes of Confederation, is a good case in point.68
Still, in history, one must recall Fohlen, Sanfilippo and Stewart D. Gill and
their interest in historiography, and Philippe Jacquin’s scholarly endeavours in historical ethnology and in all that is “exotic” in the history of
Canada. 69 West Germany has the only consistent European group of
political scientists and historians whose main interest is Canadian politics
and Canadian foreign policy.70 Jean-Claude Lasserre’s publications on the
St. Lawrence have not been mentioned yet, although they provide a good
example of the long tradition of French interest in the geography of Canada,
recently stimulated by projects of vast proportions such as the St. Lawrence
Seaway or James Bay.71
The field of literature, both in English and in French, is one where the
European contribution to the study of Canada would require an effort of
synthetization beyond this writer’s possibilities. The fact that I dealt with
Canadian literature in French within the context of regionalism, but did not
give the same treatment to Canadian literature in English should not be
construed as a judgement on the “local” or “universal” value of either. In
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fact, European Anglophone canadianists are as much “regional” or
“universal” in their approach as their Francophone colleagues. However,
I noted a certain unity in the European approach to Quebec literature
(of which Acadian literature is viewed as an interesting but limited
appendage), whereas I found it difficult to find the same unity among
Anglophone canadianists, except for the language they use. While this
undoubtedly relates to the various methodologies employed (which is also
true of Francophones), it also concerns the number of Anglophone
canadianists and the variety of Canadian regions with which they deal.
Although I can only refer the reader to the many review essays and
bibliographies mentioned in the references at the end of this article, I wish
to acknowledge some contributions that are of special significance for their
consistency and innovative approach, namely Jan Ulrich Dyrkjoeb’s and
Agostino Lombardo’s on Northrop Frye, Rizzardi’s and Caterina
Ricciardi’s on Canadian poetry, Reingard M. Nischik’s and Helmut
Bonheim’s on the Canadian short story, Michel Fabre’s on Margaret
Laurence, and Walter Pache’s critical introduction to Canadian literature.72
Conclusion
Europeans have contributed extensively to the knowledge of Canada and
a good number of their publications are of considerable scholarly value. In
several disciplines, Europeans are full participants in the scholarly debate
that is taking place internationally and within Canada itself. For most of
them, to live “elsewhere” is a fact (a handicap or an advantage) that has not
substantially altered the level of their publications.
The danger inherent in Canadian studies (one shared with all area studies,
from black studies to Native studies, from American studies to women’s
studies) is to emphasize enthusiasm and “promotion” overlong-established
and well-proven disciplinary methods. Undeniably, some early (and a few
recent) publications were devised as promotional vehicles rather than
works of scholarship, and the international community has profited little
from articles and books published not because they were good, but because
they dealt with Canada. In some instances, the author’s physical distance
from Canada was construed as an excuse for poor quality. (These shortcomings, however, are by no means limited to the study of Canada.)
There is no universal recipe for quality. The only way to ensure the
recognition of good scholarship is to submit all publications to the judgement of the international scholarly community. Canadianists, like all
scholars, should avoid hiding their work by using little-known, non-refereed
periodicals, unknown publishing houses that cater only to a local audience
of commandeered students, and languages that are not used internationally. Still, there should be exceptions to the above rules. For example, not
234
publishing in one’s own language usually impedes stimulating connections
with non-canadianist scholars of the same language. Students would likely
be cut off by the unavailability of pertinent literature appropriate to their
level of education.
There is no reason to believe that to study Canada within a North American
framework, or as part of the Commonwealth or of francophonie, or in a
comparative fashion, depletes resources that could be used more productively otherwise. On the contrary, these approaches have produced important scholarly achievements unavailable from within Canada. Furthermore,
the urge for more investigations of the social sciences rather than the
humanities is partly due to the preponderance of the latter and the necessity
to broaden the scope of a multidisciplinary approach to Canadian studies.
Where the social sciences dominate, the opposite is true. Although the full
participation of all disciplines in the community of Canadian studies would
be welcome, there is not and must not be any scholarly reason for fostering
the social sciences over the humanities or vice versa. Those who entertain
the notion that the more “practical” the approach, the more useful the
research, fail to distinguish between scholarship and politics.
To date, the best results have been achieved by publications that were
strictly disciplinary in method and scope. Although it has often been
suggested that Canadian studies is a discipline in itself, available publications provide no evidence of a new methodology or a new writing practice
derived from Canadian studies. Yet, its environment did provide an opportunity for multidisciplinary exchange among specialists in different fields.
The existence of a community of scholars under the banner of Canadian
studies certainly improved knowledge of Canada among Europeans, and
has helped Canadians understand their country somewhat better. This does
not preclude, however, the importance of publications produced before the
inception of Canadian studies, or imply that publications were not
produced outside the community or would not have been written anyway.
Yet, only a selected group of European scholars were interested in Canada
before the 1970s. They pursued their research individually, and the diffusion of their achievements and influence were very limited. The institutionalization of Canadian studies provided a frame of reference for
many of them, and made sharing easier. The number of scholars interested
in Canada grew considerably, and their common endeavors made Canada
better known to Canadians and to the world.
A Note on Sources
For this article, I have used a number of directories, review essays,
reports, assessments, etc. to which the reader is referred for further
and more detailed information about authors and publications that
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could only be fully referenced in the article and its footnotes. For
international Canadian studies, Luca Codignola, “The Life and Times
of International Canadian studies,” ICCS Newsletter, 6 (1987): 1-12;
Gaëtan Vallières and Linda M. Jones, Directory of Canadianists
(Ottawa: ICCS, 1989); L.M. Jones, Canadian Studies. Foreign Publications and Theses (Ottawa: ICCS for External Affairs Canada, 1989).
For France, Régis Durand, “Les études canadiennes dans les
universités françaises,” Etudes canadiennes, 1 (1975): 123-128; JeanMichel Lacroix, Bilan des études canadiennes en France 1975-1981
(Talence: AFEC, 1981); Lacroix, Répertoire des études canadiennes en
France (Talence: AFEC, 1988). For West Germany, Ingwer E.
Momsen, “Kanada-Sarmmlungen in deutschen Bibliotheken,” ZGKS,
4 (1984): 140-144; Wilhelm Buhr and Hans-Jürgen Scholz eds.,
Kanada in Marburg (Marburg: Universitätsbibliothek, 1986); Hermann Günzel, Verzeichnis der Kanada-Bestände in der Bundesrepublik
Deutschland und West-Berlin (Marburg: Universitätsbibliothek, 1986);
Günzel, “Kanada-Sammlungen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland,”
Ahornblätter, 2 (1989): 37-58; Walter Pache, ed., Trierer kanadistische
Studien. Zehn Jahre Kanada-Studien an der Universität Trier 1976-1986
(Trier: Trierer Beiträge, 1986); Günther Grünsteudel, Canadiana—
Bibliographie. Veröffentlichungen deutsch-sprachiger Kanadisten 19801987 (Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1989); Karl Lenz, “Die Gesellschaft für
Kanada-Studien im Spiegel ihrer Statistik,” Gesellschaft für KanadaStudien, Mitteilungen, 2 (1989): 3-6. For Italy, Codignola, “Gli studi
canadesi in Italian in Atti del I Congresso Internazionale di Storia
Americana. Italia e Stati Uniti dall’indipendenza ad oggi (1 776-1976)
(Geneva: Tilgher, 1978): 225-233; Alessandro Gebbia and Maria
Dosolina Gebbia, Repertorio dei materiali sulla cultura canadese conservati presso il Centro Studi Americani di Roma (Rome: Canadian
Embassy, 1981); Codignola, “Canadian Studies in Italy– A Personal
View, ” ICCS Newsletter, 3 (1984): 34-38; Liano Petroni,
“L’Associazione Italiana di Studi Canadesi. Cronistoria, programmi,
prospettive,” Il Veltro, 39 (1985): 547-556; Flora Prestileo, Rosemary
Raciti and Adriana Trozzi, Repertorio degli studi canadesi in Italtia
(Fasano: Schena, 1986); Mirko Herberg and Trozzi, Canadiana.
Studio bibliografico (Fasano: Schena, 1989); Algerina Neri and
Giovanni Pizzorusso, Catalogo dei libri e dei periodici di interesse
canadese presso l'Università degli Studi di Piss (Pisa: Servizio
Editorial Universitario, 1987); Matteo Sanffilippo, ed., Italy Canada
Research (Rome: CACI, 1990), articles by Raimondo Cagiano de
Azevedo (demography), Franca Farnocchia Petri (geography) and
Fabio Ziccardi (law). For the Netherlands, Cornelius H.W. Remie,
“Canadian Studies in the Netherlands – Profile of an Association,”
ICCS Contact (1989): 10-13.
For Canadian literature in English, Robert Kroetsch and Reingard
M. Nischik, eds., Gaining Ground European Critics on Canadian
236
Literature (Edmonton: NeWest Press, 1985): 247-296; in West Germany, Hellmut Schroeder-Lanz, “Kanadische Studien in Deutschland.
Deutsche Studien in Kanada. Ein Überblick,” Trierer Beiträge, 3
(1977): 11-17; Walter E. Riedel, Das literarische Kimadabild Eine
Studie zur Rezeption kanadischer Literatur in deutscher Übersetzung
(Bonn: Herbert Grundmann, 1980); Pache, “Kanadistik in
Deutschland” in Pache, Einführung in die Kanadistik (Darmstadt:
Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft, 1981): 112-118; Pache, “Zur
Situation der deutschsprachigen Kanadistik,” ZGKS, 1 (1981): 9-18;
Konrad Groß, “Literary Criticism in German of English-Canadian
Literature. Commentary and Bibliography,” German-Canadian Yearbook, 6 (1981): 305-310 [on 1925-1980]; GroB, “English-Canadian
Literature in German Perspective. Commentary and Bibliography,
continued and supplemented,” German-Canadian Yearbook, 7 (1983):
234-238 [on 1980-1982]; in Italy, Richard A. Cavell, “Canadian Literature in Italy,” Canadian Literature, 87 (1980): 153-156; A. Gebbia,
“Canadian Studies in Italy. A Literary Approach,” Italian Canadiana,
1 (1985): 51-66; A. Gebbia, “La fortuna in Italia dells letteratura
canadese di lingua inglese,” Annali Accademici Canadesi, 3-4 (1988):
87-105.
For Quebec literature and Canadian literature in French, Lectures
européennes de la littérature québécoise (Montréal: Leméac, 1982),
articles by David M. Hayne (France), Franca Marcato Falzoni (Italy),
Renate Moisan (German-speaking countries), Pierre-Louis Péclat
(Francophone Switzerland), Maurice Piron (Belgium) and Michel
Vaïs (theatre). Also, Jean Marmier, “L’enseignement de la littérature
canadienne-française à l’Université de Haute-Bretagne,” EC, 1 (1975):
129-130; Carla Fratta, “Traduzioni italiane di testi letterari quebecchesi,” Il Veltro, 39 (1985): 303-312; Hanspeter Plocher, “Français,
franco-canadien, québécois, joual? Zur Rezeption der frankokanadischen Literatur in Deutschland,” ZGKS, 9 (1989): 61-72.
For history, Claude Fohlen, “Mutations de l’historiographie
canadienne,” Revue française d'histoire d'outre-mer, forthcoming (on
France). For geography, in Italy, Luigi Pedreschi, “Italian Publications
on Canada, 1965-1982: A Bibliography,” Canadian Geographer, 27
(1983): 279-284; Pedreschi, “Gli studi geografici sul Canada in Italia:
Consuntivo e ipotesi di lavoro,” in Codignola and Raimondo Luraghi,
eds., Canada ieri e oggi, III: Sezione storica (Fasano: Schena, 1986):
261-264; in West Germany, Lenz “German Language Geographic
Literature on Canada, with Emphasis on the More Recent Publications,” Geoforum, 10 (1972): 90-98; Lenz, “Bibliography of Geographic
Literature on Canada and its Regions in the German Language,”
German-Canadian Yearbook, 3 (1976): 291-302; Lenz, Entwicklung
und Stand der geographischen Kanada Forschung anhand
deutschsprachiger Literatur (Trier: Trierer Geogr. Studien, 1979): 1127; Eckart Ehlers, “Deutsche Beiträge zur geographischen Kanada237
IJCS / RIÉC
Forschung. Möglichkeiten und Grenzen komparativer Forschung,”
ZGKS, 3 (1983): 35-47.
Footnotes
1. Given their number, only selected publications could be mentioned in
the footnotes, and usually only once. Where an author had published
extensively in the area of Canadian studies, I retained only one or two
publications, which I considered to be the most representative or the
most recent. For more complete coverage, the reader is invited to make
good use of the list of reference works attached to this article (“A Note
on Sources”) to find more publications by a particular author or on a
special topic, discipline or country. The following abbreviations are
used throughout the article: BCS (Bulletin of Canadian Studies), EC
(Etudes canadiennes), ICCS (International Council for Canadian
Studies), RSC (Rivista di Studi Canadesi), ZGKS (Zeitschrift der
Gesellschaft für Kanada-Studien).
2. The Maclean’s/Decima poll (conducted November 1 to 9, 1989) asked
Canadians: “Do you think of yourself as a Canadian first or as a citizen
of your province?” Whereas the overall result, 73 to 26 percent in
favour of Canada, not only Quebecers are in favour of their province
(55 vs. 44%), but also Newfoundlanders (53 vs. 47%). Results for the
other provinces are as follows: Prince Edward Island (43 vs. 57%),
Nova Scotia (37 vs. 63%), Alberta (24 vs. 74%) and New Brunswick
(25 vs. 75%). Ontario is at the bottom of the list (9 vs. 90%), but
Ontarians traditionally believe that their province is Canada
(Maclean's, 1 [1 Jan. 1990]: 12-13). The so-called Meech Lake crisis
reached its climax when this article was being written and it made my
point dramatically apparent.
3. Criticism by historians is well documented by David J. Bercuson,
Robert Bothwell and J.L. Granatstein, The Great Brain Robbery.
Canada’s Universities on the Road to Ruin (Toronto: McClelland and
Stewart, 1984): 130-146 (the chapter entitled “Canadian and Other
Useless Studies”); Granatstein and Douglas McCalla, “Too Much of
a Good Thing? Canadian Studies in the 1980s,” Canadian Historical
Review, 65 (1984): 1-3.
4. British Association for Canadian Studies (1975), French Association
for Canadian Studies (1976), Italian Association for Canadian Studies
(1979), Association for Canadian Studies in German-Speaking
Countries (1980), Association for Canadian Studies in Ireland (1982),
Nordic Association for Canadian Studies (1984), Association for
Canadian Studies in The Netherlands (1985), Israel Association for
Canadian Studies (1985). The Centre d’études canadiennes of the
Université Libre de Bruxelles, the only Belgian organization represented in the International Council, was founded in 1982.
238
5. See Philip George Edward Wigley, Canada and the Transition to
Commonwealth. British-Canadian Relations, 1917-l 926 (Cambridge:
Cambridge University Press, 1977); Wigley and Norman Hillmer,
“Defining the First British Commonwealth. The Hankey Memoranda
on the 1926 Imperial Conference,” Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History, 8 (1979): 105-116; Peter H. Lyon, ed., Britain and
Canada. Survey of a Changing Relationship (London: Frank Cass,
1976); Lyon, “Canada, Britain and the European Community: Roles
and Realism in the 1980s” in Proceedings of the Colloquium Canada,
Britain and the Atlantic Communities. Bilateral Links in a Multilateral
World, Held at Dalhousie University, May 14-15, 1984 (Halifax: Centre
for Foreign Policy Studies, 1984) (Lyon is the current editor of The
Round Table, the authoritative Commonwealth affairs journal);
Fabrizio Ghilardi, L‘Europa degli equilibri 1815-1890 (Milan: Angeli,
1987). See also the articles that appeared in BCS and BJCS between
1979 and 1987 by Peter Boehm, Michael Cottrell, Harry S. Ferns,
William Gilmore, Nicholas Mansergh and Tim J.T. Rooth.
6. In Great Britain, Colin Nicholson and Peter Easingwood, eds.,
Canadian Story and History 1885-1985 (Edinburgh: University of
Edinburgh, 1985); Coral Ann Howells, Private and Fictional Words.
Canadian Women Novelists of the 1970s and 80s (London: Methuen,
1987). In Belgium and France, Hana Maes-Jelinek, ed., Commonwealth Literature and the Modem World (Brussels: Marcel Didier,
1975); Simone Vauthier, éd., Espaces de la nouvelle canadienneanglophone, special issue of RANAM: Recherches anglaises et
américaines, 20 (1987); Xavier Pons and Marcienne Rocard, éds.,
Colonisations. Rencontres Australie-Canada (Toulouse: Université de
Toulouse-Le Mirail, 1985); Jacqueline Bardolph, ed., Short Fiction in
the New Literatures in English. Proceedings of the Nice Conference of
the European Association for Commonwealth Literature & Language
Studies (Nice: Imprimé à la Faculté des Lettres et Sciences Humaines
de Nice, 1989).
In the Federal Republic of Germany, Jürgen Schäfer, ed., Commonwealth-Literatur (Düsseldorf: Bagel, 1981); Reingard M. Nischik,
Einsträngigkeit und Mehrsträngigkeit der Handlungsführung in literarischen Texten. Dargestellt insbesondere an englischen, amerikanischen
und kanadischen Romanen des 20. Jahrhunderts (Tübingen: Narr,
1981); Nischik, ed., Hilfsmittel im Studium der englischen Philologie
(Anglistik, Amerikanistik und Kanadistik). Literaturwissenschaft,
Sprachwissenschaft und Fachdidaktik (Köln: Universität Köln, 1984);
Konrad Groß and Wolfgang Klooß, eds., English Literature of the
Dominions. Writings on Australia, Canada, and New Zealand
(Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1981); Groß and Klooß, eds.,
Voices from Distant Lands. Poetry in the Commonwealth (Würzburg:
Königshausen & Neumann, 1983); Paul Götsch, “Der gefällte Baum in
der englischen, amerikanischen und anglokanadischen Literatur” in
239
IJCS / RIÉC
7.
8.
240
Jürgen Schläger, ed., Anglistentag 1983 Konstanz (Giessen: Hoffmann
Verlag, 1984): 309-344; Peter O. Stummer, ed., The Story Must be Told.
Short Narrative Prose in the New English Literatures (Würzburg:
Königshausen & Neumann, 1986); Albert-Rainer Glaap, ed.,
Literature in English. New Territories (Heidelberg: Winter, 1987);
Dieter Riemenschneider, ed., Critical Approaches to the New English
Literatures. A Selection of Papers of the 10th Annual Conference on
“Commonwealth” Literature and Language Studies (Essen: Die Blaue
Eule, 1989).
In Denmark, Sweden and the Netherlands, Jørn Carlsen (see below for
his publications); Anna Rutherford, ed., Common Wealth (Arhus:
Akademisk Boghandel, 1971); Rutherford and Donald Hannah, eds.,
Commonwealth Short Stories (London: Macmillan, 1971); Britta
Olinder, ed., A Sense of Place: Essays in Post-Colonial Literatures
(Göteborg: Göteborg University, 1984); Th.L. D’haen and August J.
Fry, eds., Commonwealth Literature. Mostly Canadian (Amsterdam:
Free University Press, 1986); Charles Forceville, Fry and Peter J. de
Voogd, eds., External and Detached Dutch Essays on Contemporary
Canadian Literature (Amsterdam: Free University Press, 1988). In
Spain and Italy, Doireann MacDermott, ed., Autobiographical &
Biographical Writing in the Commonwealth (Barcelona: AUSA, 1985);
Claudio Gorlier, “Il nostro laboratorio canadese,” Il Veltro, 39 (1985):
267-274; Giovanna Capone, Canada il villaggio della terra. Letteratura
canadese di lingua inglese (Bologna: Patron, 1978); Capone, “A Bird
in the House. Margaret Laurence on Order and the Artist” in Kroetsch
and Nischik, eds., Gaining Ground: 161-170. Rutherford and Luigi
Sampietro are the editors of the literary journals Kunapipi a n d
Caribana respectively.
Jean-Michel Lacroix, “La quête d’identité dans les romans de Hugh
MacLennan,” Annales du Centre de Recherches sur l‘Amérique
Anglophone, 3 (1974): 5-20; Lacroix, “Images du Canada atlantique
dans la presse anglaise pendant la Guerre de Sept Ans,” EC, 13 (1982):
85-93; Lacroix, “Les mythes fondateurs de la littérature canadienne,”
EC, 8 (1980): 21-32; Lacroix, “Le déplacement des voix au Toronto
métropolitain entre les élections fédérales de 1979 et de 1980,” Annales
du Centre de Recherche sur l’Amérique Anglophone, 8 (1983): 93-119.
Régis Durand, “La littérature canadienne de langue anglaise dans la
modernité nord-américaine,” EC, 2 (1976): 63-70; Dieter Meindl, ed.,
Zur Literatur und Kultur Kanadas. Eine Erlanger Ringvorlesung (Erlangen: Palm & Enke, 1984); Meindl, “Winning the West. The
American and Canadian Experience” in Wolfgang Binder, ed.,
Westward Expansion in America (1803-1860) (Erlangen: Palm &
Enke, 1987): 267-281; Horst Immel, Literarische Gestaltungsvarianten
des Einwandererromans in der amerikanischen und angle-kanadischen
Literatur. Grove, Cahan, Rölvaag, Henry Roth (Frankfurt am Main:
Lang, 1987); Franz Karl Stanzel and Waldemar Zacharasiewicz, eds.,
Encounters and Explorations. Canadian Writers and European Critics
(Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1986); Zacharasiewicz, “The
Rise of Cultural Nationalism in the New World: The Scottish Element
and Example” in Horst W. Drescher and Hermann Volkel, eds.,
Nationalism in Literature. Literature, Language, and National Identity
(Frankfurt am Main: Lang, 1989): 315-334 (on the Scottish influence
on Canada and the United States in the nineteenth Century); Per
Seyersted, “Canadisk Literatur,” Verdens Litteraturhistorie, XII (Oslo:
Bokklubben Nye Bker, 1982): 435-448; Alfredo Rizzardi, “Identità e
tradizione nella letteratura canadese” in Rizzardi, ed., C a n a d a .
L ‘immaginazione letteraria (Abano Terme: Piovan, 1981): 9-22.
9. Claude Fohlen, Les Indiens de l’Amérique du Nord (Paris: Presses
Universitaires de France, 1985); Raimondo Luraghi, Gli Stati Uniti
(Turin: UTET, 1974) (the only history of North America in Italian
describing the history of Canada); Luraghi, The Rise and Fall of the
Plantation South (New York: New Viewpoints, 1978); Luca Codignola,
ed., Francis Parkman. Scritti scelti (Bari: Adriatica, 1976); Codignola,
Guerra e guerriglia nell’Ametica coloniale. Robert Rogers e la Guerra
dei Sette Anni, 17.54-l 760 (Venice: Marsilio, 1988); Codignola, “Conflict or Consensus? Catholics in Canada and in the United States,
1780-1820,” Canadian Catholic Historical Association, Historical
Papers, 55 (1988): 43-60; Piero Del Negro, Il mito americano nella
Venezia del ‘700 (Padua: Liviana, 1986; 1st ed., 1975); Del Negro, “Le
relazioni storiche tra l’Italia e il Canada nell’età moderna,” Il Veltro,
39 (1985): 53-72.
10. François Weil, Les Franco-Américains, 1860-l 980 (Paris: Belin, 1989).
On the same topic, and within the same continental framework, Matteo
Sanfilippo, “La question canadienne-française dans les diocèses de la
Nouvelle-Angleterre (1895-1922)” in Massimo Rubboli and Franca
Farnocchia Petri, eds., Canada ieri e oggi 2, II: Sezione storica e
geografica (Fasano: Schena, 1990): 55-76; Rubboli, “Le chiese e la
prima guerra mondiale nel Canada inglese: Il dovere di combattere
l’opposizione pacifista” in Luigi Bruti Liberati, ed., Il Canada e la
guerra dei trent’anni L'esperienza bellica di un popolo multietnico
(Milan: Guerini, 1989): 83-108; Rubboli, “The Doukhobors from
Transcaucasia to Western Canada. Private Property vs. Communal
Ownership of the Land” in Rubboli and Farnocchia Petri, eds., Canada
ieri e oggi 2, II: Sezione storica e geografica: 155-182. Incidentally,
studies on these communities, and particularly on the Hutterites, have
also attracted a good number of German scholars, such as ethnologists
Rolf Wilhelm Brednich (The Bible and the Plough. The Lives of a
Hutterite Minister and a Mennonite Farmer (Ottawa: National Museum
of Man, 1981) and Jürgen Dittmar; the late journalist Michael Holzach
Das Vergessene Volk. Ein Jahr bei der dt. Hutterern in Kanada
(Hamburg: Hoffman & Campe, 1980); geographer Karl Lenz; and
sociologist Gisela Demharter. In Italy, Valeria Gennaro Lerda’s and
241
IJCS / RIÉC
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
242
Piero Treu’s investigation into United States populism suggested to
them that the 49th parallel could be crossed in order to establish a
model for the social protest movement in North America. See Valeria
Gennaro Lerda, “La Grain Growers’ Guide portavoce del movimento
cooperativistico nelle grandi praterie canadesi (1908-1913),” RSC, 1
(1988): 115-130; Piero Treu, “Advertise & Organize. La nuova via di
colonizzazione delle prairies canadesi attraverso la grafica pubblicitaria di inizio secolo (Grain Growers’ Guide 1908-1913),” RSC, 2
(1989): 129- 148.
Jean Vinant, Accord de libre échange entre le Canada et les États-Unis
(Rouen: Université de Rouen, 1988).
Sara Volterra, “La nuova costituzione canadese e il problema delle
minoranze” in Francesco Lentini, ed., Individuo, collettività e stato.
Momenti critici e processi evolutivi (Palermo: Acquario, 1983): 315-354;
Volterra, “The Role of the Canadian Supreme Court in Recent Years”
in Rubboli and Farnocchia Petri, eds., Canada ieri e oggi 2, II: Sezione
storica e geografica: 257-281; Ziccardi, “La condizione attuale delle
tribù indiane in Canada” in ibid.: 283-300; Ziccardi, ed., La costituzione
canadese (Milan: Guerini, 1990). See also the publications by Ettore
G. Albertoni, Alberto Forni, F. Ciullini, Fulco Lanchester, F. Onida,
Fausto Pocar, V. Parlato, Antonio Reposo and Gabriella Venturini.
William J. Smyth and Cecil J. Houston, Irish Emigration and Canadian
Settlement. Patterns, Links, and Letters (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990) is the synthesis of their research to date.
Padraig O’Gormghaile, “L’Irlande et l’imaginaire québécois” in
Nicholson and Easingwood, eds., Canadian Story and History: 77-91;
Codignola, “The Rome-Paris-Québec Connection in an Age of
Revolutions, 1760-1784” in Pierre H. Boulle and Richard A. Lebrun,
eds., Le Canada et la Révolution française (Montréal: CIEE, 1989):
115-132.
Urban historian Ian H. Adams dealt with emigration to Canada mainly
from the Scottish perspective at the end of the eighteenth Century;
Barbara C. Murison used an imperial and political perspective; Donald
H. Meek, the framework of religious studies; Margaret A. Mackay, the
opportunities offered by oral history; and Margaret Bennett discussed
the permanence of Gaelic in Newfoundland. A discussion of research
dealing with Scottish emigration to and settlement in Canada must also
mention Italian human geographer Farnocchia Petri’s study of the
spatial and human settlement in the Maritime area, and historian
Marjory Harper’s work on Scottish emigration in general. See Ian H.
Adams, “The Changing Face of Scotland and the Role of Emigration,
1760-90” in B.S. Osborne, ed., The Settlement of Canada. Origins and
Transfer (Belfast: Queen’s University Press, 1976); Barbara C.
Murison, “Poverty, Philanthropy and Emigration. Changing Attitudes
in Scotland in the Early Nineteenth Century,” BJCS, 2 (1987): 263-288;
Donald E. Meek, “Evangelicalism and Emigration. Aspects of the Rule
of Dissenting Evangelicalism in Highland Emigration to Canada” in
Gordon MacLennan, ed., Proceedings of the First North American
Congress of Celtic Studies (Ottawa: Chair of Celtic Studies, 1988):
15-35; Margaret A. Mackay, “Oral Sources for Emigration History. A
Case Study,” BCS, 6 (1982): 7-17; Margaret Bennett, The Last Stronghold Scottish Gaelic Traditions in Newfoundland (St. John’s: Breakwater Books, 1989). Also, Farnocchia Petri, La Nuova Scozia.
Caratteristiche economico-antropiche di una regione dell‘hinterland
canadese (Pisa: ETS, 1985); Marjory Harper, Emigration from NorthEast Scotland (Aberdeen: Aberdeen University Press, 1988).
16. W. Gordon Handcock, Soe longe as there comes noe women. Origins
of English Settlement in Newfoundland (St. John’s: Breakwater Books,
1989). See also the publications by Donald H. Akenson, Bruce S.
Elliott, John J. Mannion, Kerby A. Miller, Terrence Murphy, Peter M.
Toner, Thomas M. Truxes and David A. Wilson.
17. François Brière, “Le commerce triangulaire entre les ports TerreNeuviens français, les pêcheries d’Amérique du Nord et Marseille au
18 e siècle. Nouvelles perspectives,” Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique
française, 40 (1986): 193-214; Laurier G. Turgeon, “Pour redécouvrir
notre 16 e siècle : Les pêches à Terre-Neuve d’après les archives
notariales de Bordeaux,” Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique française, 39
(1986): 523-549; Turgeon, “Le temps des pêches lointaines (vers 1500vers 1850): Permanence et transformations” in Michel Mollat du Jourdain, éd., Histoire des pêches maritimes en France (Toulouse: Privat,
1987): 130-181. For more contemporary problems, see Peter R.
Sinclair, State Intervention and the Newfoundland Fisheries. Essays on
Fisheries Policy and Social Structure (Aldershot: Avebury, 1987).
18. Codignola, The Coldest Harbour of the Land Simon Stock and Lord
Baltimore's Colony in Newfoundland, 1621-1649 (Montreal: McGillQueen’s University Press, 1988).
19. Lewis R. Fischer and Helge W. Nordvik, “Floating Capital. Investment
in the Canadian and Norwegian Merchant Marines in Comparative
Perspective, 1850-1914,” Scandinavian Canadian Studies, 3 (1988):
17-42; L.R. Fischer and Nordvik, eds., Across the Broad Atlantic.
Essays in Comparative Canadian-Norwegian Maritime History, 18501914 (St. John’s: Breakwater Books, 1990). Fischer and Nordvik,
together with Canadian historian Valerie C. Burton, are the editors of
the new International Journal of Maritime History (1989- ).
20. Frederick Jones, Edward Feild, Bishop of Newfoundland, 1844-1876
(St. John’s: Newfoundland Historical Society, 1976); Jones, “The
Great Fire of 1846 and the Coming of Responsible Government in
Newfoundland,” BCS, 6 (1983): 61-70.
21. Anne Stine Ingstad and Helge Ingstad, The Norse Discovery of America
(Oslo: Norwegian University Press, 1985); H. Ingstad, “The Norse
Discovery of America” in Carlsen and Bengt Streijffert, eds., Canada
and the Nordic Countries (Lund: Lund University Press, 1988):
243
IJCS / RIÉC
22.
23.
24.
25.
244
149-155. Also, Seyersted, “Helge Ingstad’s 60 Years of Arctic Exploration,” The Norway-American Association Yearbook 1986: 11-16; David
B. Quinn, “Norse America: Reports and Reassessments,” Journal of
American Studies, 22 (1988): 269-273.
Alfred Hecht and J.B. Lander, Regional Development in Ontario.
Federal and Provincial Involvement (Marburg: Geograph Institut,
1980); Hecht, Robert G. Sharpe and Amy C.Y. Wong, eds., Ethnicity
and Well-Being in Central Canada. The Case of Ontario and Toronto
(Marburg: Universität Marburg, 1983); Smyth and Houston, The Sash
Canada Wore. An Historical Geography of the Orange Order in Canada
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1980). See also Philomena
O’Flynn, “Old Problems in a New Environment: The Reactions of Irish
Catholic Editors to Orangeism in Canada,” BCS, 8 (1984): 206-215.
The publications of Klooß are well placed in the context of a special
German-speaking interest (Groß, Meindl, Zacharasiewicz, with
Hartwig Isernhagen and Hartmut Lutz) in the historical forms of
Canadian writing. See Klooß, Geschichte and Mythos in der Literatur
Kanadas. Die englischsprachige Métis- und Riel-Rezeption (Heidelberg: Winter, 1989); Groß, “Kanada entdeckt Seine Entdecker: Die
Reiseberichte der Fur Traders und Explorers und die Problematik der
anglo-kanadischen Gründungsliteratur,” ZGKS, 2 (1982): 5-17; Groß
and Pache, eds., Canada (München: Wilhelm Fink, 1987); Lutz, Indianer und Native Americans. Zur sozial- und literarhistorischen Vermittlung e. Stereotyps (Hildesheim: Olms, 1985); Lutz, ed., Native
Literatures in Canada. A Collection of Writings by Indian, Inuit, and
Métis Authors (Osnabrück: Universität Osnabrück, 1988);
Zacharasiewicz, “The Invention of a Region: The Art of Fiction in Jack
Hodgins’s Stories” in Nischik and Kroetsch, eds., Gaining Ground:
186-191; Isernhagen, “Anthropological Narrative and the Structure of
North American Indian (Auto)Biography” in Udo Fries, ed., The
Structure of Texts (Tübingen: Narr, 1987): 221-233.
Carlsen, “Canadian Prairie Fiction. Towards a New Past (Margaret
Laurence, Robert Kroetsch, Rudy Wiebe)” in Olinder, ed., Sense of
Place: 91-97; Carlsen, “Canada in Aksel Sandemose’s Journalism” in
Carlsen and Streijffert, eds., Canada and the Nordic Countries: 75-82;
Carlsen and Streijffert, eds., Essays in Canadian Literature (Lund: The
Nordic Association for Canadian Studies, 1989); Andrea Mariani,
“Emily Carr: Il potere dell’albero filosofico,” RSC, 1(1988): 69-80. See
also the publications by Judith P. Wiesinger and Herbert Zircker (on
Manitoba), Janet Henshall Momsen (on Alberta), John Sweeney (on
the Prairies), Maryvonne Nedeljkovic, John Douglas Belshaw and
Briony Penn (on British Columbia).
Lorenz King, “Contribution to the Glacial History of the Borup Fiord
Area, Northern Ellesmere Island, NWT, Canada” in Hellmut
Schroeder-Lanz, ed., Late- and Postglacial Oscillations of Glaciers
(Rotterdam: Balkema, 1983): 305-323; Dietrich Barsch and King,
Ergebnisse der Heidelberg-Ellesmere-Island-Expedition (Heidelberg:
Geograph Institute, 1981); Barsch, “Periglaziale Hangformen im
Oobloyah Valley, N-Ellesmere Island, NWT, Kanada” in Hans Poser,
ed., Mesoformen des Reliefs im heutigen Periglazialraum (Göttingen:
Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, 1983): 171-181.
26. Eckart Ehlers, “Recent Trends and Problems in Agricultural
Colonization in Boreal Forest Lands” in R.G. Ironside et al., eds.,
Frontier Settlement (Edmonton: University of Alberta Press, 1974):
60-78; Erhard Treude, Nordlabrador. Entwicklung und Struktur von
Siedlung und Wirtschaft in einem polaren Grenzraum der Ökumene
(Münster: Westfälische Geogr. Studien, 1974); Ludger Müller-Wille,
ed., Beiträge zum Entwicklungskonjlikt in Nouveau-Québec (Marburg:
Marburger Geogr. Schriften, 1983); Hecht and Alfred Pletsch, “The
Canadian North. A Socio-Economic Invasion of the Native Milieu,”
Ahornblätter, 2 (1989): 7-36.
27. Silvio Zavatti’s list of publications, updated to September 1975, included 1,578 items (he died in 1985). His last book was Il Corvo bianco.
Miti e leggende degli eschimesi (Ivrea: Herodote, 1982). See his obituary
by B. Barabino in Rivista Mensile del Club Alpino Italiano, 107 (1986):
76; also, Francesco Surdich, “Le spedizioni di Silvio Zavatti in Groenlandia e nell’Artide canadese,” Miscellanea di storia delle esplorazioni,
11(1986): 301-326 (containing an extensive bibliography). On the 1972
Italian expedition, see the publications by A.C. Ambesi, Barabino, G.C.
Cortemiglia, M. Del Prete Pacetti, Francesco Fibbi, A. Gogna, C.
Marchetto, P. Massajoli, G. Rosato and M.A. Sironi. Also, to be noted
is geographer Simonetta Ballo Alagna’s work on Oblate missionary
Émile Petitot, who travelled extensively in the Arctic between 1862 and
1883 Emile Petitot. Un capitolo di storia delle esplorazioni canadesi
(Genoa: Bozzi, 1983), and Surdich, “I territori e le popolazioni delle
zone polari negli articoli del Teatro Universale (1834-1838),” Il Polo,
39(1983):44-50.
28. Cornelius H.W. Remie, Eskimos Mensen van het Canadese Hoge
Noorden (Gent: Museum Michel Thiery, 1981); Remie, Culture
Change and the Persistence of Traditional Religious Beliefs and Practices. Notes on the Impact of the Oblate Mission on a Community of
Hunters and Gatherers, 1935-1963 (Nijmegen: Sociaal Antropologische Cahiers, 1982); Remie, “The Struggle for Land among the Inuit of
the Canadian Arctic” in G. Peperkamp and Remie, eds., The Struggle
for Land Worldwide (Saarbrücken and Fort Lauderdale: Breitenbach,
1989): 19-30.
29. Jean Désy, éd., Le développement agro-forestier au Québec et en Finlande (Montréal and Chicoutimi: ACFAS and Université du Québec
à Chicoutimi, 1985); Tom G. Svensson, “The Transformation of Traditional Crafts Work into Ethnic Art. A Common Feature among Native
Peoples in the North” in Carlsen and Streijffert, eds., Canada and the
Nordic Countries: 321-332. The Arctic environment of the indigenous
245
IJCS / RIÉC
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
246
population is also the concern of British geographers K. Atkinson and
A.T. MacDonald, eds., Arctic Canada. Development in a Hostile Environment (Leeds: University of Leeds, 1988) and of their Irish
colleague, Colm Regan, “The Impact of Development on Indigenous
Populations: The Case of the Canadian North,” Maynooth Review, 6,
1980: 49-65.
Auguste Viatte, Histoire comparée des littératures francophones (Paris:
Nathan, 1980); Franca Marcato Falzoni, ed., La deriva delle francofonie. L’altérité dans la littérature québécoise (Bologna: CLUEB,
1987).
Jacques Cartier, Relations, ed. by Michel Bideaux (Montréal: Les
Presses de l’Université de Montréal, 1986); Alan F. Williams, Father
Baudoin’s War. D‘Iberville Campaigns in Acadia and Newfoundland
1696-1697 (St. John’s: Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1987);
Paolo Carile, Lo sguardo impedito. Studi sulle relazioni di viaggio in
Nouvelle-France e sulla letteratura popolare (Fasano: Schena, 1987);
Carile, Giovanni Dotoli, Pasquale Aniel Jannini, eds., Scritti sulla
Nouvelle-France del Seicento (Bari: Adriatica, 1984), containing good
articles by Dotoli, Marie-Thérèse Jacquet, Frank Lestringant and
Novella Novelli. On New France, see also the publications by Giulia
Bogliolo Bruna, Francesca Cantu’, André Dommergues, Rosalba
Guerini, Jean Marmier, Surdich and Étienne Vaucheret.
See the publications by O’Gormghaile and David Parris in Ireland; Leif
Tufte in Norway; Jacques Caron (himself a native Quebecer) and Knud
Larsen in Denmark; the late Jarmini and Sergio Zoppi (on Gaston
Miron), Carla Fratta, Anne-Marie Jaton, Marcato Falzoni (on Réjean
Ducharme), Anna Paola Mossetto Campra (on Paul-Marie Lapointe),
Liana Nissim (on Gilles Hénault), Novelli (on Roland Giguère) and
Liano Petroni in Italy; Cedric R.P. May in England; Uta Chaudhury,
Jörg-Peter Schleser, Hanspeter Piocher (on Michel Tremblay) and
J.-E. Rogers-Bischof in Germany; Gilles Dorion and Marcel Voisin in
Belgium.
Gabriele Zanetto, Il Québec. Geografia di una lingua (Venice: Libreria
Universitaria Editrice, 1989), Helmut J. Vollmer, Mehrsprachigkeit
und interkulturelle Konflikte in Québec: Eine soziolinguistische Studie
(Osnabrück: Universität Osnabrück, 1987); Lothar Wolf, Französische
Sprache in Kanada (München: Ernst Vögel, 1987). See also publications by geographer Pletsch and language studies specialist Hans-Josef
Niederehe.
Zoppi, “Nel labirinto della memoria: La Gribouille di A. Maillet,” Il
Veltro, 39 (1985): 313-329; Petroni and Antonine Maillet, “Histoire,
fiction et vie : langue, forme, mémoire. Un entretien sur Pélagie-laCharrette,” Francofonia, 2 (1982): 3-17; Robert Marre, “La mer, la vie,
la perpétuelle re-mort recommencée dans Pélagie-la-Charrette,” EC,
13 (1982): 219-228; Robin Howells, “Pélagie-la-Char&te and the Carnivalesque,” BICS, 2 (1987): 48-60; Albert Mingelgrün, “Formes et
moyens de la littérature dans quelques œuvres d’Antonine Maillet” in
Madeleine Frédéric and Jacques Allard, éds., M o d e r n i t é /
Postmodernité du roman contemporain (Montréal: UQAM, 1987):
131-136; Catriona Dinwoddie, “Tentative Orality. The Role of Pointeaux-coques and On a mangé la dune in Antonine Maillet’s Search for
a Narrative Strategy,” BJCS, 3 (1988): 234-243; Frédéric, “Pélagie-laSagouine ou les tribulations d’une Acadienne en Belgique” in L a
réception des œuvres d’Antonine Maillet (Moncton: Chaire d’Études
Acadiennes, 1989): 123-147; Voisin, “Antonine Maillet à l’Université
Libre de Bruxelles” in ibid.: 149-159.
35. Jean-Claude Vernex, Les francophones du Nouveau-Brunswick (Paris:
Honoré Champion, 1978); Vernex, Les Acadiens (Paris: Entente,
1979); Voisin, “L’Acadie entre tradition et modernité. Germaine
Comeau : L’été aux puits secs” in Frédéric and Allard, éds.,
Modernité/Postmodernité: 137-146; Paule-Marie Penigault-Duhet,
“Les problèmes linguistiques au Nouveau-Brunswick d’après les Rapports du Commissaire aux langues officielles” EC, 13 (1982): 165-172
(part of a larger analysis of Francophone communities).
36. For example, the French journal Études canadiennes published several
articles on various facets of Acadian history, literature and political
science that seem more the result of occasional curiosities rather than
a major interest in a specific region.
37. Sylvie Guillaume and Pierre Guillaume, Aspects de la francophonie
torontoise (Bordeaux: MSHA, 1981); P. Guillaume and Lacroix, éds.,
Aspects de l’Ontario (Talence: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux,
1985); S. Guillaume, “Politique provinciale et identité francoontarienne,” EC, 25 (1988): 67-74; Pletsch, “French and English Settlement in the Eastern Townships (Québec): Conflict or Coexistence”
in Pletsch, ed., Ethnicity in Canada. International Examples and
Perspectives (Marburg: Universität Marburg, 1985): 164-183; Martin
Schulte, Ethnospezifische Sozialräume in Québec/Kanada. Eine
vergleichende Untersuchung ländlicher Gemeinden in den Cantons de
l’Est (Prov. Québec) (Marburg: Marburger Geographische
Gesellschaft, 1988). See also publications by Voisin, Pierre Biays (on
Newfoundland), Penigault-Duhet (on Manitoba and Ontario),
Françoise Perrotin (on Ontario) and Hecht (on Ontario).
38. Brian Galligan, “The Future of Canadian Studies,” document
prepared for the annual meeting of the Executive Council of ICCS
(Acireale, 16-18 May 1988), dated May 1988; Arie Shachar and Galligan, “The Comparative Method in Canadian Studies,” document
prepared for the annual meeting of the Executive Council of ICCS
(Acireale, 16-18 May 1988), dated Jerusalem, May 1988. Although this
second document is co-signed by Galligan, in my text, I mention it as
expressing Shachar’s viewpoint.
39. Abraham Doron, Income Maintenance Provisions for the Elderly in
Canada & Israel. A Cross-Country Comparison (Jerusalem: Hebrew
247
IJCS / RIÉC
40.
41.
42.
43.
248
University of Jerusalem, 1987). See also articles by Abraham Diskin,
Hanna Diskin, Doron, Emanuel Gutmann and Shimon Shetreet in
Shachar, ed., Canada-Israel. Comparative Perspectives (Jerusalem:
Academon, 1988); and articles by Elihu Katz, Nina Toren and Gabriel
Weinmann in Yael Wyant, ed., Canadian-Israeli Perspectives on
Culture, Women and Media (Jerusalem: Academon, 1989).
Sverker Sörlin, “Nordic Identity. Sweden and Canada in a Comparative
Perspective” in Carlsen and Streijffert, eds., Canada and the Nordic
Countries: 333-341 (the citation is at p. 340). Also, Sörlin, Framtidslandet. Norrland och naturresuserna under det industriella genombrottet
(Stockholm: Carlssons, 1988).
Ginette Kurgan-van Hentenryk, éd., Les grands voisins. Colloque
belgo-canadien (Bruxelles: Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1984);
Kurgan-van Hentenryk, éd., La question sociale en Belgique et au
Canada XIXe-XXe siècles (Bruxelles: Éditions de l’Université Libre de
Bruxelles, 1988) (especially the articles by Jean-Jacques Heirweigh,
Michèle Champagne and Eliane Gubin); Kurgan-van Hentenryk and
Julie Laureyssens, Un siècle d’investissements belges au Canada
(Bruxelles: Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1986); Gubin, “Minorité
francophone dominante et majorité néerlandophone. Naissance d’une
identité nationale flamande en Belgique (1830-1914),” EC, 21,2 (1986):
191-200; Gubin and Yvan Lamonde, Louis Dessaulles en Belgique
(Bruxelles: Commission royale d’histoire, and Montréal: Boréal,
1990); also, Lise Gauvin and Jean-Marie Klinkenberg, éds., Trajectoires. Littérature et institutions au Québec et en Belgique francophone
(Bruxelles: Labor, 1985).
Serge Jaumain, “Paris devant l’opinion canadienne-française. Les
récits de voyage entre 1820 et 1914,” Revue d’histoire de l’Amérique
francaise, 38 (1985): 549-568; Jaumain, “Contribution à l’histoire
comparée. Les colporteurs belges et québécois au XIXe siècle,” Histoire sociale-Social History, Vol. XX,39 (1987): 49-77; Jaumain and
Sanfilippo, “Le régime seigneurial en Nouvelle-France vu par les
manuels scolaires du Canada,” Cultures du Canada français, 4 (1987):
14-25; Frédéric and Allard, éds., Modernité/Postmodernité; Frédéric,
“Comparaison entre Bonheur d’occasion et Keetje de Neel Doff. Essai
d’analyse bakhtinienne,” Romaniac, 35 (1989): 24-32; Frédéric, “Une
belle journée d’avance de Robert Lalonde ou Quand le roman se fait
poésie,” Voix et images. Littérature québécoise, 43 (1989): 83-92;
Frédéric, “Pélagie-la-Sagouine;” Frédéric, “Il romanzo quebecchese e
la seconda guerra mondiale. Saint-Henri nella tormenta” in Bruti
Liberati, ed., Canada e guerra dei trent’anni: 301-312.
Margaret Bird, “Continuing Education. An Examination of the Trends
in Western Canada and Britain,” BJCS, 1(1986): 132-148; Erio Ziglio,
“Uncertainty in Health Promotion. Nutrition Policy in Two
Countries,” Health Promotion. An International Journal, 1 (1986):
257-268 (an interesting study by an Italian working in Scotland on the
44.
45.
46.
47.
northern countries of Canada and Norway); David W. Ghillingham,
Alan Hankinson and J.T. Zinger, “Forecasting Corporate
Performance. A Canadian/UK Joint Project,” ROCS, 2 (1987): 41-47
(Gillingham and Zinger teach at Laurentian University).
EC, 6 (1979): 5-74; EC, 21,1 and 21,2 (1986); EC, 23 (1987): 7-201; EC,
26 (1989): 7-97 (especially the articles by Jean-Pierre Augustin, F.J.
Gay, P. Guillaume, Nedeljkovic and Pierre Sadran).
Joseph Goy and Jean-Pierre Wallot, éds., Evolution et éclatement du
monde rural. Structures, fonctionnement et évolution différentielle des
sociétés rurales francaises et québécoises, XVIIe-XXe siècles (Paris:
Éditions de l’École des Hautes-Etudes, and Montréal: Presses de
l’Université de Montréal, 1986); François Lebrun and Normand
Séguin, éds., Sociétés villageoises et rapports villes-campagnes au
Québec et dans la France de l’Ouest, XVIIe-XXe siècles (Trois-Rivières:
UQTR, in co-operation with Presses de l’Université de Rennes 2,
1987); Nadine-Josette Chaline, René Hardy and Jean Roy, éds., L a
Normandie et le Québec vus du presbytère (Mont-Saint-Aignan:
Université de Rouen, and Montréal: Boréal, 1987); Bernard Plongeron
and Paule Lerou, éds., La piété populaire en France. Répertoire bibliographique, 6 vols. (Tournhout: Brepols, and Montréal: Bellarmin,
198490); the volume dealing with Québec is Benoît Lacroix and
Madeleine Grammond, Le Québec (1989).
Ehlers, “Deutsche Beiträge zur geographischen Kanada-Forschung.
Möglichkeiten und Grenzen komparativer Forschung,” ZGKS, 3
(1983): 35-47. Also Urs Bitterli, Cultures in Conflict. Encounters between European and Non-European Cultures, 1492-1800 (Stanford:
Stanford University Press, 1989, 1st ed. Munich: C.H. Beck’sche,
1986); Peter H. Nelde, “Zur Systematik der Abweichungen des
Deutschen als Minderheitensprache” in Karin R. Gürttler, ed., Kontakte, Konflikte, Konzepte (Montréal: Les Presses de l’Université de
Montréal, 1981): 135-147; Jean-Denis Gendron and Nelde, eds.,
Mehrsprachigkeit in Europa und Kanada. Perspektiven der Forschung
(Bonn: Dummler, 1986); Pletsch, ed., Ethnicity in Canada. On Bitterli’s
area of interest, see also the publications of Italian historians Naila
Clerici and Daniele Fiorentino. Ireland, too, is developing an interest
in regionalism as a feature both of Ireland and Canada, and this is being
studied by economists Michael Keane and Micheal O’Cinneide and by
sociologist John Jackson, while Smyth’s research on the Irish cultural
transfer from Ireland and Canada was already discussed.
As for Israel in the humanities, Shlomo Elbaz was in general literature
and Gideon Shimoni in philosophy/religious studies. As for Italy,
Antonia Orsi Sabatelli was in the business, trade and commerce
category, Mirko Herberg and Mario Monteleone in ethnic studies,
Albertoni, Pocar and Ziccardi in law, Ballo Alagna, Farnocchia Petri,
Barbara Gaibisso, Marina Marengo and Zanetto in geography. Gaëtan
Vallières and Linda M. Jones, Directory of Canadianists (Ottawa:
249
IJCS / RIÉC
ICCS, 1989), is the best reference tool for locating international
canadianists by name and areas of research. It shows the range of fields
and disciplines touched upon by Canadian studies worldwide. A finding aid such as this must, however, be updated very often. I have used
the Directory as a statistical tool for this discussion of Israel and Italy,
but I am aware that, for example, since the data were collected (19868), the social sciences are better represented in the Italian association.
Similarly, the humanities might be more present in the Israeli association.
48. Codignola, ed., Canadiana. Aspetti della storia e della letteratura
canadese (Venice: Marsilio, 1978); Codignola, ed., Canadiana. Storia
e storiografia canadese (Venice: Marsilio, 1979); Rizzardi, ed.,
Canada. L‘immaginazione letteraria (Abano Terme: Piovan, 1981);
Codignola, ed., Canadiana. Problemi di storia canadese (Venice: Marsilio, 1983); Rizzardi, ed., Canada. Testi e contesti (Abano Terme:
Piovan, 1983); Petroni, ed., Letteratura francofona del Canada
(Bologna: CLUEB, 1982); Gennaro Lerda, ed., Canadiana. Canada e
Stati Uniti (Venice: Marsilio, 1984); Rizzardi, ed., Canada. The Verbal
Creation (Abano Terme: Piovan, 1985); Petroni, Marcato Falzoni and
Fratta, eds., Letteratura francofona del Canada (1985); Codignola and
Luraghi, eds., Canada ieri e oggi, II: Sezione storica (Fasano: Schena,
1986); Giovanni Bonanno, ed., Canada ieri e oggi, III: Sezione
anglofona (Fasano: Schena, 1986); Dotoli and Zoppi, eds., Canada ieri
e oggi, I: Sezione francofona (Fasano: Schena, 1986); Rubboli and
Farnocchia Petri, eds., Canada ieri e oggi 2, II: Sezione storica e
geografica; Bonanno, Canada ieri e oggi 2, III: Sezione anglofona
(Fasano: Schena, 1990); Dotoli and Zoppi, eds., Canada ieri e oggi 2,
I: Sezione francofona (Fasano: Schena, 1990). See also Rivista di studi
canadesi (RSC), edited by Dotoli, no. 1(1988), no. 2 (1989).
49. Voisin, “Laïcisation et littérature québécoise” in Littérature québécoise
(Bruxelles: Université Libre de Bruxelles, 1985): 179-204; David L.
Parris, “Cats in the Literature of Quebec,” BJCS, 3 (1988): 259-266;
Jeanne Delbaere-Garant, “Surfacing. Retracing the Boundaries,”
Commonwealth, 11(1989): l-10; Riana O’Dwyer, “Having Your Voice
Heard. Susan Musgrave’s Kiskatinaw Songs and Other Poetry,” BCS,
9 (1985): 114-121.
50. Orm Verland, ed., Johan Schroeder’s Travels in Canada, 1863
(Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1989); B.J.S. Hoetjes,
Canada (Bussum: Romen, 1982); Jean-Bernard Racine and Ola
Söderström, “Approches du territoire canadien. Quelques clés de
lecture” in Rubboli and Farnocchia Petri, eds., Canada ieri e oggi 2, II:
Sezione storica e geografica: 343-388. Also Mari Peepre- Bordessa (on
Hugh MacLennan), Lars Hartveit (on Margaret Laurence), Hans
Hauge (on George Grant and Northrop Frye), Arnt Lykke Johansen
(on Malcolm Lowry) and Finn Vergmann (on Margaret Atwood).
250
51. Both the 1987 (Lund) and the 1990 (Oslo) conferences were centered
upon a multidisciplinary approach to northern studies, whereas the
European conference on “Canada on the Threshold of the 21st
Century” (The Hague, 1990) almost excluded whatever was not social
sciences.
52. The Bulletin of Canadian Studies (BCS) published 17 issues from 1977
to 1985. The British Journal of Canadian Studies (BJCS) has published
two issues a year since 1986. Etudes canadiennes (EC), founded in 1975
prior to officia1 establishment of the Association française d’études
canadiennes, published 27 issues to date.
53. Edward M. Spiers, “Refurbishing Canada’s Defences,“BJCS, 3 (1988):
29-46; Keith Chapman, “Public Policy and the Development of the
Canadian Petrochemical Industry,” BJCS, 4 (1989): 12-34; Richard
Collins, “Broadcasting and National Culture in Canada,” BJCS, 4
(1989): 35-57. As for the Cedric May 1988 Feistschrift, see the articles
by Joanne Collie, Dinwoddie, Veronica Lee, Nicholson, Christopher
Rolfe and Mike Winterburn.
54. Articles are by Dominique Chambaron, Armande de Raulin, Gay, M.
Goy, P. Guillaume, André-Louis Sanguin and Chantal Sayaret. The
“Revue des Revues” section in EC, compiled by Lacroix, should also
be mentioned, a rewarding finding aid in the maze of periodical
publications on Canada in all disciplines.
55. Membership grew from 68 in 1980 to 452 in 1989, but literature in
English went from 31.7 to 31.3%, literature in French from 9.9 to 10.0%
(meaning that literature still represents 41.3% of the whole membership), geography from 16.8 to 16.4%, history from 10.9 to 7.5%, political science from 12.9 to 11.1%. The only discipline showing real
progress is economics (from 1.0 to 4.2%), but in real numbers members
grew from 1 (1980) to 19 out of a total of 452 (1989). As an example,
the German association (in 1989) can be compared with the French
association (in 1988), counting 113 individual members from France in
1988, of whom 47.8% in literature, 16.0% in history and archives, 12.4%
in geography, 5.3% in economics, 3.5% in political science, although
data are not very precise because members were allowed to indicate
more than one category. Statistics are taken from Lenz, “Die
Gesellschaft für Kanada-Studien im Spiegel ihrer Statistik,”
Gesellschaft fur Kanada-Studien, Mitteilungen, 2 (1989): 3-6; Lacroix,
Répertoire des études canadiennes en France (Talence: AFEC, 1988):
13-47.
56. Proximity to sources is often advantageous, but limited access to
Canadian sources in Canada on the part of Europeans must not be
construed as an excuse for poor publications. While students are
certainly at a disadvantage for lack of appropriate research fundings,
a professor of early Canadian history at the University of British
Columbia is certainly no closer to the Séminaire de Québec than his or
her colleague at the Sorbonne in Paris or at the Università di Roma.
251
IJCS / RIÉC
57. F. Bartz, “Französische Einflüsse im Bilde der Kulturlandschaft Nordamerikas. Hufensiedlungen und Marschpolder in Kanada und
Louisiana,” Erdkunde, 9 (1955): 286-305; Pierre George, Le Québec
(Paris: Presses Universitaires de France, 1979); George, éd., L a
géographie du Canada (Talence: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux,
1986); H. Hottenroth, The Great Clay Belts in Ontario and Québec.
Struktur und Genese eines Pionetraumes an der nördlichen Siedlungsgrenze Ost-Kanadas (Marburg: Marburger Geogr. Schriften,
1968); Lenz, Die Prärieprovinzen Kanadas. Der Wandel der kulturlandschaft von der Kolonisation bis zur Gegenwart unter den Einfluss
der Industrie (Marburg: Universität Marburg, 1965); Lenz, Kanada.
Eine Geographische Landeskunde (Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche
Buchgesellschaft, 1988); Carl Schott, “Kanadische Biberwiesen. Ein
Beitrag zur Frage der Wiesenbildung, Zeitschrift der Gesellschaft für
Erdkunde zu Berlin (1934): 370-374; Schott, “Strukturwandel der
kanadischen Landwirtschaft seit dem zweiten Weltkrieg,” ZGKS, 4
(1984): 5-17; J. Wreford Watson, North America. Its Countries and
Regions (London: Longmans, 1964); Watson, “The Development of
Canadian Geography: The First Twenty-Five Volumes of the Canadian
Geographer,” The Canadian Geographer, 25 (1981): 391-398; David H.
Pentland and H. Christoph Wolfhart, Bibliography of Algonquian Linguistics (Winnipeg: University of Manitoba Press, 1982); Heinz-Jürgen
Pinnow, Die Zahlwörter des Haida in Sprach-vergleichender Sicht (Nortorf: Völkerkundliche Arbeitsgemeinschaft, 1986); Ferns and Bernard
Ostry, The Ages of Mackenzie King (London: Heinemann, 1976, 1st ed.
1955); Ferns, Reading from Left to Right. One Man's Political History
(Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1983); P. Guillaume, ed.,
Sensibilités canadiennes (Bordeaux: MSHA, 1983); P. Guillaume,
Lacroix and Pierre Spriet, éds., Canada et Canadiens (Talence:
Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 1984); P. Guillaume,, Lacroix,
Réjean Pelletier and Georges Zylverberg, éds., Minorités et Etat (Bordeaux: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, and Québec: Presses de
l’Université Laval, 1986); S. Guillaume and P. Guillaume, Paris,
Québec, Ottawa. Un ménage à trois (Paris: Entente, 1987); Rainer-Olaf
Schultze, Politik und Gesellschaft in Kanada (Meisenheim am Glan:
Anton Hain, 1977); Schultze, Das Politische System Kanadas im Strukturvergleich. Studien zu politischer Repräsentation, Föderalismus und
Gewerkschaftsbewegung (Bochum: Brockmeyer, 1985); Niederehe and
Schroeder-Lanz, eds., Beiträge zur landeskundlich-linguistischen
Kenntnis von Québec (Trier: Universität Trier, 1977); Niederehe and
Wolf, éds., Français du Canada, Français de France (Tübingen: Max
Niemeyer, 1987); Carlsen and Larsen, eds., Canadiana. Studies in
Canadian Literature/Études de littérature canadienne (Århus:
Canadian Studies Conference/Conférence d’Études canadiennes,
1984); Carlsen, “Canadian Literature and the Spanish Civil War” in
Something to Believe In. Writer Responses to the Spanish Civil War,
252
special issue of The Dolphin, 16 (1988): 41-53; R. Durand, “L’individuel
et la politique : Notes sur les romans de Margaret Atwood et Leonard
Cohen,” EC, 1 (1975): 63-72; Paul Götsch, Das Romanwerk Hugh
MacLennans. Eine Studie zum literarischen Nationalismus in Kanada
(Hamburg: de Gruyter, 1961); Spriet, “Structure and Meaning in Rudy
Wiebe’s My Lovely Enemy” in Nischik and Kroetsch, eds., Gaining
Ground: 53-63.
58. Statistics in this paragraph come from the recent (1989-90) survey
sponsored by ICCS and the National Archives of Canada. The survey
was prepared by a committee chaired by Codignola, co-ordinated by
Nicole Chamberland, and consisting of Gabrielle Blais, Merle Fabian,
Roberto Perin, Christian Pouyez and Robert Schwartzwald. Incidentally, 90% of surveyed canadianists work on the period after 1950. Of
all researchers, 32% are historians, 26% literary critics, 29% specialists
in “other humanities”, and 13% belong in other fields. See Nicole
Chamberland, Les services d’archives canadiens à l‘étranger. Enquête
sur les besoins des chercheurs (Ottawa: ICCS, 1990): 5-6.
59. The following publications are only a sample of those directly related
to patriation projects (calendars or inventories appearing as
“typescript” are officia1 finding aids of the National Archives of
Canada and awaiting publication). See Victorin Chabot, “Les trésors
de la ville éternelle,” L’archiviste, 12 (1985): 10; Codignola, Guide to
the Documents Relating to French and British North America in the
Archives of the Sacred Congregation “de Propaganda Fide” in Rome,
1622-1799,6 vols. (Ottawa: National Archives of Canada, 1990); Monique Benoit and Gabriele Scardellato, A Calendar of Documents of
North American Interest in the Series Francia, Archives of the
Secretariate of State of the Holy See (Rome: typescript, 1984); Benoit
and Scardellato, A Calendar of Documents of North American Interest
from Various Series and Sub-Series of the Archivio Segreto Vaticano
(Rome: typescript, 1984); Benoit, Inventaire des principales séries de
documents intéressant le Canada, sous le pontificat de Léon XIII (18781903), dans les archives de la Sacrée Congrégation de Propaganda Fide,
à Rome (Rome: typescript, 1986); Nicoletta Serio and Bruti Liberati,
Inventaire des documents d’intérêt canadien dans les Archives du
Vatican (Rome: typescript, 1987); Pierre Hurtubise, “Il Canada negli
archivi della Congregazione de Propaganda Fide,” Il Veltro, 39 (1985):
107-113; Perin, Rome in Canada. The Vatican and Canadian Affairs in
the Late Victorian Age, 1870-1903 (Toronto: University of Toronto
Press, 1990); Giovanni Pizzorusso, “Archives of the Sacred Congregation de Propaganda Fide. Calendar of volume I (1634-1760) of the
series Congressi America Antille,” Storia nordamericana, 3 (1986):
117-164; Pizzorusso, Inventaire des documents d’intérêt canadien dans
les Archives de la Congrégation “de Propaganda Fide “sous le pontificat
de Pie X, 1904-1914 (Rome: typescript, 1989); Sanfilippo, Inventaire
des documents d‘interêt canadien dans l‘Archivio Segreto Vaticano sous
253
IJCS / RIÉC
le pontificat de Léon XIII (1878-1903). Délégation Apostolique du
Canada, Délégation Apostolique des États-Unis, Epistolae ad Principes
et Epistolae Latinae, et autres séries mineures (Rome: typescript, 1987).
60. Vinant, De Jacques Cartier à Péchiney. Histoire de la coopération
économique franco-canadienne (Paris: Chotard, 1985); Jacques
Portes, “L’établissement du réseau d’agences consulaires françaises au
Canada (1850-1970),” EC, 3 (1977): 59-72; Bernard Penisson, “Les
commissaires du Canada en France (1882-1928),” EC, 9 (1980): 3-22;
Rooth, “Britain and Canada between Two Wars. The Economic
Dimension” in C.C. Eldridge, ed., From Rebellion to Patriation.
Canada and Britain in the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
(Aberswyth: Canadian Studies in Wales Group, 1989): 91-108; Dietrich
Soyez, “The Internationalization of Environmental Conflict. The Herbicide Issue in Nova Scotia’s Forests and its Links with Sweden” in
Carlsen and Streijffert, eds., Canada and the Nordic Countries: 309320; Hartmut Volkmann, “Canadian and Swedish Iron Mining Industries as Competitors on the Iron Market. Reasons and
Consequences” in ibid.: 377-393; Kurgan-van Hentenryk and
Laureyssens, Siècle d’investissements.
61. Bruti Liberati, Il Canada, l’Italia e il fascismo (1919-1945) (Rome:
Bonacci, 1984); Bruti Liberati, ed., Canada e guerra dei trent’anni;
Ghilardi, “Il Canada e la difesa dell’Europa nella percezione del
Rappresentante italiano ad Ottawa (1948)” in Rubboli and Farnocchia
Petri, eds., Canada ieri e oggi 2, II: Sezione storica e geografica: 229-238.
Also, Serio, “Le relazioni tra Italia e Canada durante l’età di Laurier
(1896-1911),” Storia contemporanea, 20 (1989): 199-210.
62. Fry and Forceville, eds., Canadian Mosaic. Essays on Multiculturalism
(Amsterdam: Free University Press, 1988); Lacroix, Anatomie de la
presse ethnique au Canada (Bordeaux: Presses Universitaires de Bordeaux, 1988). See also Bonanno (on Hugh MacLennan and Joy
Kogawa), Madeleine Ducrocq-Poirier Le roman canadien de langue
française de 1840 à 1958. Recherche d’un esprit romanesque, Paris:
Nizet, 1978), Franz Peter Kirsch, Klooß, L.-A. Laponce, Jacques
Leclaire, with Stanley Atherton, éds., Aspects de l’identité canadienne,
Mont-Saint-Aignan: Université de Rouen, 1988), Daphné-Laure
Masliah, Nedeljkovic, Bernd Peyer, ed., The Elders Wrote. An Anthology of Early Prose by North American Indians (Berlin: D. Reimer,
1982); Danièle Pitavy-Souques and Vauthier; Jean Tournon, “Le
Québec, plaque tournante des ethnies et nations au Canada français,”
EC, 25 (1988): 55-67, is one of the few articles on Quebec’s ethnic
dimension.
63. S. Baldi, “Aspetti e problemi della collettività italiana in Canada,”
Affari sociali internazionali, 16 (1988): 71-89; Carla Bianco and
Emanuela Angiuli, Emigrazione. Una ricerca antropologica di Carla
Bianco sui processi di acculturazione relativi all‘emigrazione italiana
negli Stati Uniti, in Canada e in Italia (Bari: Dedalo, 1980); Bonanno,
254
“An Analysis of Frank Paci’s Novels” in Rizzardi., ed., Canada. The
Verbal Creation: 167-182; Florence Briozzo, “Intervention de l’État en
matière linguistique : Le cas des Italiens à Toronto,” EC, 21,2 (1986):
83-92; Bruti Liberati, “L’internamento degli italo-canadesi durante la
seconda guerra mondiale” in Bruti Liberati, ed., Canada e guerra dei
trent’anni (1989): 199-228; Luigi Di Comite and A. Orasi,
“Problematiche e quantificazione dell’emigrazione italiana verso il
Canada,” Annali della Facoltà di Economia e Commercio
dell’Università di Bari, 27 (1988): 377-398; Farnocchia Petri, “Italiani
in Canada: Il caso di Montréal,” Bollettino della Società Geografica
Italiana, 10 (1981): 543-573; Teresa Gianna, “L’antifascismo
italocanadese attraverso le fonti italiane: Il casellario politico centrale”
in Bruti Liberati, ed., Canada e guerra dei trent’anni: 241-266; Lacroix,
“L’aventure transculturelle de Vice Versa ou les métamorphoses des
Italo-Québécois de Montréal,” Annales du Centre de Recherche sur
l’Amérique Anglophone, 13 (1988): 163-178; Cesare Pitto, Al di là
dell‘emigrazione. Elementi per un‘antropologia dei processi migratori
(Cassano all’Jonio: Jonica, 1988); Sanfilippo, “Ethnicity is an Elusive
Concept. Nuovi studi sulle comunità italiane in Canada,” Studi
Emigrazione, 26 (1989): 417-442; Serio, “L’emigrato va alla guerra: I
soldati italiani nel corpo di spedizione canadese (1914-1918)” in Bruti
Liberati, ed., Canada e guerra dei trent’anni: 109-138; Jean-Claude
Walter, “Famille et conflits culturels dans les romans de Paci,” EC,
21,1(1986): 285-292.
64. Lars Ljungmark, “Canada’s Campaign for Scandinavian Immigrants
1880-1895” in Carlsen and Streijffert, eds., Canada and the Nordic
Countries: 215-225; Muriel E. Chamberlain, The Welsh in Canada
(Aberystwyth: Canadian Studies in Wales Group, 1986); Hartmut
Froschle, ed., Nachrichten aus Ontario. Deutschsprachige Literatur in
Kanada (Hildesheim: Olms Presse, 1981); Lacroix and S. Kirschbaum,
“Les Slovaques à Toronto pendant l’ère Trudeau” in P. Guillaume,
Lacroix, Pelletier and Zylverberg, éds., Minorités et État (1986): 189212; Nelde, “Zur Systematik der Abweichungen;” Walter E. Riedel,
The Old World and the New. Literary Perspectives of the Germanspeaking Canadians (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1984); Ad
Wijdeven, Oogsten op vreemde velden. Nederlandse emigranten hebben
goed geboerd in Canada (Zutphen: Terra, 1983).
65. Some of these are of special value, such as Eldridge on the British
Colonial Office in the mid-nineteenth Century, Verland on Schroeder’s
travels in Canada, Sanfilippo and Novelli (Napoléon Bourassa) on
Canadian travellers in Italy, Algerina Neri on British travelers to
Canada (Anna B. Jameson), Bruti Liberati on Canada and Italian
Fascism, O Gormghaile on Ireland and the “imaginaire québécois,” or
James Sturgis on the British press of the 1960s and 1970s. See also
publications by Ballo Alagna, Capone, Emilien Carassus, Bernard
Emont, Ferns, Frédéric, Maurice P. Gauthier, Stewart D. Gill, Jannini,
255
IJCS / RIÉC
66.
67.
68.
69.
70.
256
Jaumain, O’Flynn, Portes, Caterina Ricciardi, Donald Simpson,
Surdich and Zavatti.
For one, Yasser Arafat, Chairman of the Palestinian Liberation
Organization, in 1987, declared that his own mode1 for Palestinian and
Israeli co-existence was the Canadian model. Arafat’s remark was
made at the Palestinian National Council meeting in Algiers on 25
April 1987, and is reported in Richard Ambrosini, “From Archetypes
to National Specificity” in Agostino Lombardo, ed., Ritratto di
Northrop Frye (Rome: Bulzoni, 1989): 331-339.
Of 2,171 MA or PhD theses listed by the Canadian Historical Association as completed, abandoned or in progress in the 1989 issue of its
Register of Post-Graduate Dissertations in Progress in History and
Related Subjects (Ottawa: CHA, 1989), only two vaguely touch upon
general political topics and both were assigned in Britain (P.G. Brass,
Great Britain and North American Border Problems, 1837-46 (London
School of Economics, assigned in 1977 by K. Bourne); John B. Ingham,
The Role of British North America in Anglo-American Relations, 18481854 (Durham, assigned in 1981 by D.J. Radcliffe).
Ged Martin, ed., The Causes of Confederation (Fredericton:
Acadiensis Press, 1990); Sturgis, “Whiskey Detectives in Town. The
Enforcement of the Liquor Laws in Hamilton, Ontario, ca. 1870-1900”
in David Anderson and David Killingray, eds., Policing the Empire
(Manchester: University of Manchester Press, 1990), forthcoming;
Ingham, “Power to the Powerless. British North America and the
Pursuit of Reciprocity, 1846-1854,” BCS, 8 (1984): 123-134; Judy Collingwood, “Lord Aylmer and the Policy of Conciliation in Lower
Canada, 1830-1835,” BCS, 8 (1984): 135-161; Michael Burgess, “Sir
Charles Tupper and the Dissolution of the Imperial Federation League
of Great Britain. The Politics of Unintended Consequences,” BCS, 9
(1985): 148-169; Chamberlain, “Canada’s International Status, 18671919” in Eldridge, ed., From Rebellion to Patriation: 82-90. O n
nineteenth-century economic history, see publications by John Othick
and John Benson. On nineteenth-century Canadian history, with special reference to Nova Scotia, see also Clelia Pighetti Bonati, Scienza e
colonialismo nel Canada ottocentesco (Florence: Olschki, 1984).
Sanfilippo, “Il marxismo e la storiografia canadese. Il dibattito sulle
strutture economiche della Nuova Francia” in Codignola and Luraghi,
eds., Canada ieri e oggi, II: Sezione storica: 251-260; Gill, “A Coat of
Many Colours. Some Thoughts on Canadian Religious Historiography,” BCS, 9 (1985): 182-191; Philippe Jacquin, Les Indiens blancs.
Français et Indiens en Amérique du Nord (XVIe-XVIIIe siècles) (Paris:
Payot, 1987); Jacquin, La terre des Peaux-Rouges (Paris: Gallimard,
1987). See also articles by Portes, Penigault-Duhet and Rubboli.
Josef Becker and Schultze, eds., Im Spannungsfeld des Atlantischen
Dreiecks. Kanadas Außenpolitik nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg
(Bochum: N. Brockmeyer, 1989); Theo Schiller, “Innenpolitische
Kontroversen in Kanada im Wandel der Parteienkonstellation der 80er
Jahre,” Ahornblätter, 2 (1989): 67-88; Gustav Schmitt, “Vom
Nordatlantischen Dreieck: Großbritannien- USA- Kanada zum
Trilateralism: EG- USA- Japan,” Geschichte und Gegenwart, 1(1988):
3-37; Schmitt, “Kanada, Großbritannien und die Gründung der
Europäischen Wirtschaftsgemeinschaft 1955-1958” in Becker and
Schultze, eds., Im Spannungsfeld: 167-196; Ursula Lehmkuhl, “Kanada
und Asien nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg” in ibid.: 39-58; Heinz-Werner
Wurzler, “Kanada und die NATO 1948/49- 1957/58: Die
Neuformuherung der kanadischen Außen- und Verteidigungspolitik
nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg” in ibid.: 75-99; H. Naßmacher and H.
Uppendahl, eds., Kanada. Wirtschaft, Gesellschaft, Politik in den
Provinzen (Opladen: Leske & Budrich, 1989). See also the recent
British contributions by Burgess, Kathleen M. McManus, J. Carty and
J.N. Wolfe.
71. Jean-Claude Lasserre, Le Saint-Laurent, grande porte de l‘Amérique
(Montréal: Hurtubise HMH, 1980); Lasserre, “La forêt canadienne et
le Saint-Laurent. Essai de synthèse,” EC, 23 (1987): 11-22. See also Will
Hamley, “Some Aspects and Consequences of the Development of the
James Bay Hydro-Electric Complex,” BJCS, 2 (1987): 250-262.
72. Jan Ulrick Dyrkjb, Northrop Fryes litteraturteori (Copenhagen:
Berlingske, 1979); Lombardo, ed., Ritratto di Northrop Frye; Michel
Fabre, ed., The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence. A Collection of
Critical Essays, special issue of EC, 11 (1981); Rizzardi, ed., Irving
Layton. Tutto sommato: Poesie 1945-l 989 (Abano Terme: Piovan,
1989); Rizzardi, ed., Joe Rosenblatt. Gridi nel buio (Abano Terme:
Piovan, 1990); Ricciardi, Poesia canadese del Novecento (Naples:
Liguori, 1986); Helmut Bonheim, The Narrative Modes. Techniques of
the Short Stories (Cambridge: Brewer, 1982); Nischik, ed., Short Short
Stories. Analyses and Additional Material (Paderborn: Ferdinand
Schöningh, 1985); Pache, Einführung in die Kanadistik (Darmstadt:
Wissenschafthche Buchgesellschaft, 1981). Also, Lynette Hunter and
Howells, eds., Narrative Strategies in Recent Canadian Fiction (Hemel
Hempstead: Open University Press, 1990); Stanzel, “The Canadianness of Canadian Literature” in Stanzel and Zacharasiewicz, eds.,
Encounters and Explorations. Canadian Writers and European Critics
(Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, 1986): 139-152; Bonanno,
Humour and Social Criticism in A Selection of the Works of Stephen
Leacock (Villa San Giovanni: Grafica Meridionale, 1981); Adriana
Trozzi, Il ruolo della donna nei romanzi di Frederick Philip Grove
(Messina: EDAS, 1982); Valerio Bruni, La danza sulla fune (Abano
Terme: Piovan, 1990) (on Irving Layton); William John Keith,
Canadian Literature in English (London: Longman, 1985); A.M. Klein,
Poesie, ed. by Maria Antonietta Di Stefano (Rome: Bulzoni, 1985);
Biancamaria Rizzardi, Magia, mito e poesia ne I diari di Susanna
257
IJCS / RIÉC
Moodie (Abano Terme: Piovan, 1986); Margaret Atwood, Lady
Oracolo, ed. by Grazia Trabattoni (Florence: Giunti, 1986); William
Fenton, Re-Writing the Past. History and Origin in Howard O’Hagan,
Jack Hodgins, George Bowering, and Chris Scott (Rome: Bulzoni,
1988).
258
Alan F. J. Artibise
Pacific Views of Canada:
Canadian Studies Research in Asia-Oceania*
Abstract
Canada's position as a Pacific Rim nation is reflected in the development of
Canadian studies in this vast and diverse region. Not surprisingly, it is a
relatively recent development and Canadian studies programs and research
are well established in only a few countries, although interest in Canada
within the region is almost certain to grow in the 1990 s. This article analyzes
Canadian studies research in the following countries: Japan, Australia, New
Zealand, India, China and Korea. The analysis is necessarily a brief overview
since it is virtually impossible to chronicle all the activities and assess all the
research that well over 700 canadianists, in six countries, working in five
languages and over fifty universities and centres, have underway. It concludes
that the international Canadian studies community has a strong and vigorous
component in Asia-Oceania, and that the 1990's will almost certainly be a
decade where canadianists in America and Europe will be challenged by the
“Pacific Perspective “.
Résumé
L ‘évolution de la position du Canada en tant que pays riverain du Pacifique
se reflète dans le cheminement des études canadiennes dans cette région. Il
n ‘est pas surprenan que l‘intérêt envers le Canada soit relativement récent,
et que seuls quelques pays possèdent des programmes d’études et de recherche
bien structurés. Il est presque certain, toutefois, que l’intérêt des pays du
Pacifique envers le Canada augmentera dans les années 1990. L ‘articlepasse
en revue la recherche en études canadiennes effectuée dans les pays suivants : le
Japon, l‘Australie, la Nouvelle-Zélande, l’Inde, la Chine et la Corée. Il ne
s’agit évidemment que d'une analyse sommaire, étant donné qu‘il estpresque
impossible de dresser un tableau d’ensemble de la recherche en cours par
quelque 700 canadianistes, répartis dans six pays, travaillant en cinq langues
et œuvrant dans plus de 50 universités et centres. L’article conclut que
l’Asie-Océanie est un élément solide et vigoureux dans l’ensemble de la
communauté internationale en études canadiennes, et que les années 1990
seront fort probablement une décennie où les canadianistes d’Amérique et
d’Europe seront mis au défi par la “perspective du Pacifique ».
Canada’s position as a Pacific Rim nation is reflected in the development
of Canadian studies in this vast and diverse region. Not surprisingly, it is a
relatively recent development, and Canadian studies programs and
IJCS / RIÉC
research are well established in only a few countries, although interest in
Canada within the region is almost certain to grow in the 1990s.
The oldest association in the region is in Japan, where the Japanese
Association for Canadian Studies (JACS) was established in Tokyo, in
1977, on the centenary of the frost Japanese immigration to Canada. JACS
now has over 270 members, holds an annual conference and publishes a
newsletter and the Annual Review of Canadian Studies. Although smaller
in terms of membership, the Association for Canadian Studies in Australia
and New Zealand (ACSANZ) is the most active association in the region.
It was officially formed in 1982, following the creation, some two years
earlier, of the Australian Association for Canadian Studies. ACSANZ
organizes a biennial conference and publishes a newsletter and a journal —
Australian-Canadian Studies. The Association for Canadian Studies in
China (ACSC) was formed in 1984 and is growing rapidly with the establishment of centres throughout the country. ACSC publishes a newsletter,
organizes biennial conferences and supports the Maple Leaf Series of
Canadian works translated into Chinese. In India, the Indian Association
for Canadian Studies (IACS) was launched in 1985. The Association now
has close to 200 members and publishes a regular newsletter as well as the
proceedings of annual conferences. To date, there is no formal Canadian
studies organization in Korea, but there is a Canadian studies program at
the Institute of East and West Studies of Yonsei University in Seoul. This
program has formally affiliated with the International Council for Canadian
Studies (ICCS) and is working to develop a broader-based association in
Korea. In other countries in the region, such as Thailand, there are a few
scholars with research interests that focus on Canada, but clearly the main
developments are concentrated in the countries listed.l
It must be stressed, however, that it is extremely difficult to even attempt
to capture the essence of research on Canada in a region such as AsiaOceania in a short article. Problems of language, a rapidly evolving situation, and an immense and extremely diverse region, among other factors,
make this review very much an overview of trends with a clear focus on six
countries: Japan, Australia, New Zealand, China, India and Korea. It is to
be hoped that in subsequent years, a more comprehensive analysis will be
undertaken, covering all the countries of the region.
Japan
Canadian studies did not become a subject of substantial scholarly research
in Japan until the 1970s. Prior to that date, Japanese academic interest
regarding Canada had been generally limited to the life of Japanese immigrants to Canada. Even non-academic books were scarce with a focus
on guidebooks and reports relating to tourism and industry.2 There were
a few studies of Japanese-Canadians dating as far back as 1909,3 but a
260
Pacific Views of Canada: Canadian Studies Research in Asia-Oceania
substantial flow of work did not begin until the 1970s. The initial step in the
development of research on Canada involved the translation of more than
a dozen scholarly volumes throughout the decade and this form of
4
Canadian studies in Japan has continued to grow. It is, thus, fair to
characterize the main product of Canadian studies in Japan during the past
two decades as an “imported’ product consisting of works of translation
and/or adaptations of Canadian books and articles. By the mid-1980s,
however, original Japanese research on Canada was beginning to appear.
The growing interest in research on Canada by Japanese scholars can be
attributed to a wide variety of factors, ranging from the reputations of such
well-known Canadians as E. Herbert Norman, Lester B. Pearson and
Pierre E. Trudeau to Expo ’67 and Anne of Green Gables. But if the interest
of the Japanese was piqued by these people and events, it was nurtured and
supported by a variety of practical programs developed by Canada’s
Department of External Affairs that allowed Japanese scholars to visit and
study in Canada.s As well, the establishment of JACS in 1977 was a pivotal
event – it created a community of scholars and the basic tools (bibliographies, newsletters and a journal) required to develop afield of research.6
Initially, the research undertaken focused on a few obvious topics (such as
Japanese-Canadians and Canada-Japan relations), but increasingly, it includes diverse topics within most of the fields in the social sciences and
humanities.
Among canadianists in Japan, there are several pioneers. The late Nobuya
Bamba’s work is especially noteworthy. In addition to translating and
editing several books and articles on Canada, he wrote or edited such
important studies as a General Survey of Canadian History (1984) and
Canada: A Country of the 21st Century (1989), and analyzed Quebec in his
book, International Politics of Identity (1980). I n these and other writings,
Bamba portrayed Canada as a peace-loving country characterized by
domestic harmony and tolerance, and a “functional” diplomacy which
Japan, and other countries, should seek to emulate.7 Another major force
in the field is Yuko Ohara who is a leading authority on Canadian history
in Japan. In addition to being responsible for the translation of several
Canadian books, she has written a number of important articles and, in
1981, published the first history of Canada written by a Japanese.8Another
early canadianist is Katsumi Ito whose 1973 Ph.D. dissertation focused on
Quebec and who has si nce produced several papers dealing with that
province as well as a variety of other issues.9
Beyond these major contributions, there is a variety of other noteworthy
studies covering such diverse fields as law, geography, economic history,
education, economics and sociology. This work has appeared both in book
form and in various academic journals, including JACS Annual Review of
Canadian Studies. 10 There have also been several special issues of well261
IJCS / RIÉC
known journals devoted to Canada. 11In characterizing this outpouring of
work in a variety of fields, it is fair to say that, with the exception of a few
scholars, most researchers tend to remain descriptive and most are
infatuated with the country, providing only rare critical insights. In terms
of developing new concepts or presenting a Japanese perspective on
Canada, most canadianists have yet to demonstrate their originality. Although some studies such as those dealing with multiculturalism, education,
ethnic studies, foreign policy and economic relations attempt to compare
the two countries and draw lessons for Japan from the Canadian experience, they rarely succeed. Obviously, this is in part a result of the
fundamental differences between the two countries. But it is also a result
of the fact that Canadian studies in Japan is still very young, and Japanese
scholars’ exposure to and understanding of Canada is elementary or based
on second-hand accounts. Occasionally, Canadian federalism attracts
some attention as a possible alternative to Japan’s centralized, unitary
system of government, but this is still rare.
In contrast, there are some excellent surveys about Japanese-Canadians
and native Canadians. This tradition was established in 1962 when a group
of social scientists published A Japanese Village That Has Moved Overseas,
a pioneering socio-cultural field study of Japanese-Canadians in Steveston,
British Columbia. This volume was followed by several others in the 1960s,
1970s and 1980s, both on Japanese-Canadians and Canadian natives, including the 1983 study by Takashi Senmoto, From the World of Canadian
Indians. 12 While there is still no definitive study of Canada-Japan relations,
the subject has received a good deal of attention, including a special May
1985 issue of International Relations that contained eight articles on the
subject. It is also notable that E.H. Norman’s personality, beliefs, activities
and writings have been the subject of a special issue of the monthly
intellectual magazine Shiso (1977) and of several other studies.13 CanadaJapan economic relations have been discussed mainly in commercial publications and government journals such as those of the Japan Export Trade
Association. Canada-U.S. economic relations and especially the Free
Trade Agreement have also received some attention.
There is, as well, significant interest in Canadian literature in Japan, with
attention to such diverse authors as Lucy M. Montgomery, Farley Mowat,
Mordecai Richler and Margaret Atwood. In 1982, a group of researchers
organized the Canadian Literary Society of Japan and, since 1986, has
published Annual Studies in Canadian Literature. Notably, this interest has
resulted in several important publications including surveys, anthologies
and comparative studies. These works tend to identify Canadian literary
themes and so far, at least, have not broken much new ground. 14 One study,
however, is an interesting departure from the norm. Akira Asai and Kinya
Tsuruta’s edited volume, Cherry Blossoms and Maple Leafs: A Comparative
Study of Japanese and Canadian Literature (1985), attempts to compare
262
seemingly incomparable world views, literary styles and themes of novelists
in both countries.
This important collection is a solid indication of trends and prospects in
research on Canada in Japan. Japanese canadianists were an oddity before
the 1970s; they are now both numerous and increasingly sophisticated. No
longer is the field of Canadian studies confined to Japanese-Canadian
issues or dominated by books translated into Japanese from English or
French, although this aspect of the field is still very important. While
Canadian studies is a distant second to the study of the U.S. in Japan, it is
developing at a steady pace. Courses are now taught on Canada in a wide
variety of universities, and the venues for publishing include several journals.
Old problems, however, persist. The demand for Canadian specialists in
Japan remains limited, as is the market for Canadian books other than those
focusing on tourism. Research materials are difficult to obtain and
Japanese bookstores rarely carry Canadiana. No library in Japan has more
than 10,000 Canadian titles. It is clear that accessibility to Canadiana is
critical if the volume and quality of research is to improve.
In this context, it is significant that Canadian government support of
research — particularly grants to allow Japanese scholars to work in
Canada – have played an especially important role. There are now a number of young scholars in Japan who have either received post-graduate
degrees from Canadian universities or who are devoting their careers to
teaching, research and writing on Canadian topics. This new generation of
canadianists, representing a growing diversity of fields, can be expected to
take the study of Canada to new levels in the coming decade. Building on
a solid framework of research and knowledge developed over several
decades and spurred on by the growing relationships between Canada and
Japan, the quantity and quality of research on Canada has great promise.
Australia and New Zealand
It is often asserted that Australia, New Zealand and Canada have much to
learn from one another. Their common historical experience as Britishcontrolled areas of white settlement established a common framework of
political and judicial institutions and similar legal and social traditions. In
areas as diverse as immigration and financial deregulation, or mining
regulation and education, policy-making in each country evolves with an
acute awareness of developments in the other. Scholars in both countries
also find comparisons easy and fruitful because of the common starting
points in most areas.
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IJCS / RIÉC
The vitality of Canadian studies in Australia and New Zealand is attested
to by the work of the Association for Canadian Studies in Australia and
New Zealand (ACSANZ). The collected papers from its inaugural conferences give a clear indication of the breadth and depth of Canadian
studies in these two countries.15 Since 1986, the Association has produced
the journal Australian-Canadian Studies, which appears twice a year and
is now in its eighth year. In addition, there have been specialist conferences
in a number of discipline areas.
The commonality which springs from nineteenth-century origins is often
assumed to have been swept away by twentieth-century geopolitical
realities. Canadians argue that Australia has never had to deal with the
pressures and dilemmas which the overwhelming presence of the United
States forces on them. Similarly, the challenges and uncertainties generated
for national security in Canada by the twentieth-century re-assertion of
French-Canadian nationalism are seen as uniquely Canadian phenomena.
While the form of these geopolitical challenges to liberal democracy in
Canada is specific to the Canadian situation, Australians and New
Zealanders can respond that the fundamental issues they raise are common
to all three countries. The loss of British markets after the 1950s has meant
that all three countries are seeking to establish new geopolitical and trading
structures. For Australia and New Zealand, the principal focus is on the
Pacific region, but relations with the United States are a critical aspect of
this. In Canada, it is only the weight of central Canadian concerns that
pushes the Pacific perspective into a subsidiary position. Shorn of the
geographic peculiarities, therefore, questions of geopolitical adaptation
are common to all three countries and, indeed, they share a common
interest in Pacific Rim affairs. In a similar fashion, the questions raised by
Quebec demands have forced Canadians to extend institutional arrangements for cultural diversity and to think about the practical limits of
structural pluralism in a liberal democracy based on parliamentary traditions and British Common Law. Less painfully, but just as validly,
Australians have confronted similar issues in seeking to organize a multicultural and multiracial immigrant receiving society while in New Zealand,
the resurgence of Maori nationalism and recognition of New Zealand’s
multiracial basis have highlighted these same issues.
Canadians, Australians and New Zealanders continue to face a set of
common concerns. None of them can seethe future in the easy terms which
late nineteenth-century theories of racial similarity and national identity
provided. All are seeking to redefine their geopolitical, trading, economic
and social institutions in the changed conditions of the late twentieth
century. For all three countries, however, this rethinking is developed from
a similar political and judicial tradition grounded, but not limited, by the
common imperial legacies of the nineteenth century.
.-
Canadian studies in Australia and New Zealand have drawn their major
impetus from comparative study. This is particularly true for its two major
areas of scholarly work: political science and comparative literature. Political scientists have found much to discuss in comparing political systems
(e.g., federalism, voting systems, parliamentary procedures) while comparative literature studies have explored the tensions between nationalist
and post-colonial tendencies in both countries. Comparison and the exchange of strategic information are evident in many areas of policy-making
and public debate, and nowhere more dramatically than in the area of
Aboriginal and indigenous peoples’ rights. The successes, and failures, of
each movement provide models for the other.16
Is there an “Oceanic” view of Canada? The answer is yes. But it is neither
a simple outsider’s view of Canada, nor is it an unthinking interest in things
Canadian. Rather, it is a reflexive view of Canada which uses Canadian
studies as a mirror to examine concerns and issues common to all three
countries. In turn, this collective enterprise provides a mirror for Canadian
studies to see itself.
The major disciplinary foci of Australian and New Zealand work on
Canada have been political studies and literary studies. Within the former,
attention has focused both on studies of the law and political institutions,
and studies of political processes. 17A political focus is also evident in the
two excellent historical volumes put together by Bruce Hodgins and several
collaborators, while historical dimensions of political attitudes and institutions are covered by Eddy and Schreuder. 18In literary studies, the development of post-colonial literary criticism and comparative analysis with world
literatures in English has lifted the study of Australian and Canadian
literature into a new context, providing insights into their exploration of
marginality, distance and colonialism. 19Within the social sciences, there is
work on comparative political-economy and welfare systems as well as
studies of immigration and multiculturalism.20 Crossing all these concerns
has been the Australian interest in the whole endeavour of Canadian studies
as evidenced in the Report of the Committee to Review Australian Studies
in Tertiary Education (CRASTE 1987).
Australian and New Zealand studies of Canadian politics have been largely
comparative because of the substantive issues that have informed them. The
study of parliaments implies the analysis of different systems of parliamentary accountability, and checks and balances. 21 There is the issue off
bicameralism and unicameralism at both state/provincial and national
levels, with only New Zealand having a unitary and unicameral system, and
the impact of institutions on political careers. 22 There is also exploration
of the enormous disparity between Australian and Canadian attitudes to
electoral systems; Canadians tolerate a greater level of diversity in electoral
systems while electoral fairness is almost a passion with Australians. 23
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Finally, the question of executive power is a major theme of political studies
in both countries; this involves questions of how executive power is organized and centralized, and the checks and balances on executive power
created by federalism and parliaments.24
Another area in the study of political institutions involves the study of
judicial institutions, in particular the role of the courts in interpreting and
influencing constitutional and legal traditions. The characteristics of the
legal review process in both countries have been examined, as have the
processes and procedures of constitutional reform.25 Australian scholars
are watching with great interest the development of Canadian institutions
in the wake of the repatriation of the Constitution and the establishment of
the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.
Federalism and the dynamics of centralization (in Australia) and
decentralization (in Canada) are a second substantive theme. Canadian
comparisons have had a substantial impact on this debate providing a
corrective to the dominant Australian view of federalism being a brake on
welfare development. 26A third “school” of comparative study comes
directly from the sub-discipline of comparative politics itself. The concerns
of this field have shifted as the discipline of political science has moved from
behaviorism back to a “new institutionalism”, but the latter perspective
suits the longstanding concerns of Canadian and Australian social scientists. There is also a wide range of policy areas where Australian and New
27
Zealand scholars have a sustained interest in Canadian affairs. Immigration policy is one such area where the extensive comparative work of Fred
Hawkins and Anthony Birch provides a basis for discussion. 28 Immigration
policy is necessarily linked to agendas of multiculturalism which involve
decisions about the reception of migrants and the provision of special
services for them and, beyond the post-arrival stage, the possible use of the
public education system to maintain the linguistic skills and cultural
heritage of the ethnic communities. 29Other important areas of policy
treated comparatively by canadianists in Australia are: Aboriginal affairs;
resource management; energy management; education; resources and
trade; financial deregulation; tariff policy; crime and policing. The most
sustained area of policy comparison has been in the areas of welfare
policy. 30
A number of comparative studies have been generated from politicaleconomy perspectives with researchers focusing on such issues as class
structure, industrialism, trade, regionalism and resources. 31 There is also
a growing number of publications by historians and sociologists. Comparisons of political institutions and movements often have a historical
dimension, and studies have been completed which place the countries in
the framework of imperial and Commonwealth history. Other studies are
comparative works on Australia and Canada within the gambit of settler
266
societies. Social and labour history is beginning to appear as a strong area
of interest as well.322In sociology, public policy and welfare issues are in the
forefront of research, with some attention to gender studies and sociologically informed studies of literature.33
In literature, the tradition of Australian and Canadian exchanges of literary
criticism stretches back to the nineteenth century. In the post-war period,
however, it developed as a direct dialogue rather than a minor exchange
within the discourse of English literary criticism. Furthermore, just as
literary criticism itself has broadened into cultural studies, so, too, have
comparative literary studies of Canada and Australia developed and
produced a new array of areas of common interest. Many, however, continue to make use of comparisons of texts, writers or genres and, together,
these two streams of literary analysis form a rich tapestry for CanadianAustralian studies.34 The nature of cultural studies and its importance for
cultural policy are recognized and explored in a special double edition of
Australian/Canadian Studies.35
The areas which are developed by Canadian and Australian studies form
an interesting commentary on the historical experiences of both countries.
The clash of settler and Aboriginal civilizations is a major area. The themes
and problems of exploration, the drama and symbols of the frontier as well
as the explorers’ and settlers encounters with new lands constitute a second
major area. The reflections of the dilemmas of Canada and Australia as
modern urban but strangely formless societies are also developed, while
the experience of marginal groups in these “marginal” lands is examined in
the contemporary writings of women and ethnic writers.36 Literary
criticism’s wider concerns also permit it to reflect on larger questions of the
Canadian and Australian experience. Brydon’s work relating literary to
political traditions makes a distinctive contribution. The broader debate,
however, is posed in terms of post-colonial criticism and its international
setting and distinctive methods.37
China
The rapid maturation of research on Canada in Japan and the obvious
sophistication of canadianists’ research in Australia and New Zealand are
not yet evident in China. Here, Canadian studies research is only just
beginning to move out of a stage characterized by translations and adaptations of Canadian material. Nonetheless, given the immense human resources of China, the rapid growth in the number of Canadian studies centres
in Chinese universities and the generally positive disposition among the
Chinese toward Canada, it can be expected that critical research will soon
begin to appear. At present, however, a review of published material is
necessarily brief, but the promise of considerable new activity is strong. This
latter view is supported by the large number of Chinese canadianists who
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have visited Canada in recent years and by the number and variety of
projects now underway.38
In Beijing, members of the Association for Canadian Studies in China
(ACSC) plan to publish two collections in 1990: one will deal with “Canada
and the Canadian People”; the other with the experiences of the Chinese
in Canada. Canadianists at the Centre for Canadian Studies at Wuhan
University also have ambitious projects underway. A volume of “Studies on
Canadian Economic Issues”, edited by Professor Zhao Deyan, is planned
for 1990. It will examine such topics as foreign trade and investment, fiscal
issues and policies, and natural resource production. As well, there are
plans to publish a volume on Canadian economic history. Another
Canadian studies centre at Sichuan University in Chengdu has a volume on
Sine-Canadian trade in press. Edited by Zhang Chongding, the Director of
the Centre, it examines such topics as economics, finance, investment,
business organizations and commercial ties. Other projects include the
publication of a collection of papers by Chinese canadianists at East China
Normal University, Shanghai, edited by Professor Zhang Minlun; a compilation of articles on Canadian literature by the Hunan Chapter of ACSC;
and plans to develop a journal at the Guangzhou Institute of Foreign
Languages. The Inner Mongolia Centre also has several projects in process,
including translations of Canadian books, short stories and novels. The
university’s journal, Higher Education Research, published an article, in
1988, by Xu Binxun on “Colleges and Universities in Canada”.
In most respects, all these projects indicate that in-depth research is only
just getting underway, and that Chinese canadianists have a long way to go
to reach the levels achieved in either Japan or Australia. Nonetheless, two
projects do reveal that much can be expected. At the Canadian Studies
Centre at Shandong University, Professor Song Jia-Heng has published a
volume entitled An Introduction to the Maple Leaf Country Canada's Past
aand Present. 39 This study, the first comprehensive history of Canada by aa
Chinese, covers the entire sweep of Canadian history and is certain to be
an important element in furthering Canadian studies research across
China. Also significant are the efforts of the Centre for Quebec Studies at
Sichuan International Studies University in Chongqing. Active since 1984,
this centre has published an anthology of Quebec writers, articles on
Quebec literature and studies as well as translations of Gabrielle Roy and
Anne Hébert. Scholars from the Centre have also visited Quebec and on
their return, developed new courses and research projects.40
While it is difficult to summarize, it is probably fair to note that research
on Canada in China tends to focus on literature, history and economics,
and that in virtually all instances, it is still in its infancy. Undoubtedly,
however, the continued support by Canada of Canadian studies in China,
.-
coupled with the July 1990 meeting of the International Council for
Canadian Studies in Beijing, will ensure rapid progress.
India
Canadian studies in India has been developing for well over two decades,
but it was only in the 1980s that original research began to appear. The
origins of Canadian studies can be traced to the establishment, in 1968, of
the Shastri Indo-Canadian Institute. 41 This organization arranged a number of seminars throughout the 1970s and early 1980s, culminating in the
foundation, in 1985, of the Indian Association for Canadian Studies at the
M.S. University of Baroda. Since then, annual conferences have been held
at several universities (Baroda, Delhi, Poona) and formal centres established throughout the country.42
In terms of research, Canadian studies in India experiences many of the
problems already noted in China. Canada is relatively unknown in India,
the demand for Canadian specialists is low and problems of language and
resources are common. To date, the majority of publications on Canada
have been confined to Canadian literature;43 work in the social sciences
and in French are still rare. It is encouraging to note, however, that a
growing number of graduate students are preparing theses on Canadian
subjects.44
Equally encouraging was the publication of a major volume in 1989: John
H. Hill and Uttam Bhoite, eds., The Tropical Maple Leaf: Indian Perspectives in Canadian Studies.45
This volume (which includes an excellent t
introduction outlining the development of Canadian studies in India) contains nine essays which clearly demonstrate the range of serious academic
interest in Canada that has developed in recent years. Interestingly, five of
the nine essays are on social science rather than literary topics, suggesting
that the move toward a more multidisciplinary approach to Canadian
studies is well underway. A similarly impressive volume was also published
in 1989 and devoted to topics relating to imperialism, nationalism and
regionalism – themes where parallels can be drawn between the Indian and
Canadian experiences. 46 Both these volumes contain several articles that
are comparative in nature, suggesting that in coming years, an important
theme in research maybe the exploration of obvious parallels in the Indian
and Canadian experiences.
It is possible, therefore, to be quite encouraged about the development of
Canadian studies in India. Certainly, the decade of the 1990s will see several
more comprehensive collections of essays published and, perhaps, the
appearance of two or three monographs. The growing number of graduate
students is a sure sign that the field is well and truly established and despite
lingering problems of resources, Indian canadianists have already
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demonstrated an impressive level of activity. It is no great surprise, then,
that in 1990, the first issue of the Indian Journal of Canadian Studies will
appear.
Korea
Canadian studies in Korea is a development of the 1980s; prior to this time,
there were virtually no works on Canada published in this country. Progress,
however, has been extremely rapid. It is also quite focused in terms of
themes (economic relations) and sources (Yonsei University). The
Canadian Studies Program of the Institute of East and West Studies at
Yonsei has published two collections to date: Dalchoong Kim and
Myungsoon Kim, eds., Korea-Canada in the Emerging Asia-Pacijic Community, and Dalchoong Kim and Brian L. Evans, eds., Korea and Canada:
New Frontiers in the Asia-Pacific Era. 47 These two volumes includee
twenty-eight articles on Canada, Korea or on Korea-Canada relations. Of
these articles, ten were prepared by Korean canadianists and the balance
by Canadians. While the vast majority of the articles are on economics or
Korea-Canada relations, there are several articles on education and culture.
In 1989, this promising beginning resulted in the publication of Canada
Yen-IQ (The Korean Journal of Canadian Studies) by Yonsei University.
The first volume contains fourteen papers – work originally presented at
four previous Korea-Canada conferences. Especially notable is that the
journal is published in Korean, thus creating an important venue for
scholars. The journal is also an attempt to broaden interest beyond Yonsei
University and this, too, is well underway. 48 Thus although few in number,
Korean canadianists have developed a solid foundation and their energy,
coupled with growing links with Canada, will certainly lead to a steady flow
of research work in the 1990s.
Conclusion
It is obviously difficult to draw penetrating conclusions about the state of
Canadian studies in Asia-Oceania from a brief overview of such a vast and
complex region. In fact, it is virtually impossible to chronicle all the activities
and assess all the research that well over 700 canadianists, in six countries,
working in five languages at over fifty universities and centres, have underway. It is possible to claim, however, that the international Canadian studies
community does have a strong and vigorous component in Asia-Oceania,
and that the 1990s will certainly be a decade where their counterparts in
Europe and North America will be challenged by the “Pacific perspective”.
270
At a time when Canada’s view of itself is undergoing dramatic and rapid
change, the wisdom that can come from afar is not only welcome, it is
essential.
Notes
*
This article has been prepared from material provided by scholars in
the region and their direct and invaluable assistance is acknowledged
with gratitude. Professor Malcolm Alexander of Griffith University
provided an excellent summary of research on Canada in AustraliaNew Zealand, while Professor Kensei Yoshida of Obirin University
provided a similar summary for Japan. Background material on
Canadian studies in China was provided by Dr. Ruth Hayhoe of the
Canadian Embassy in Beijing, Brian Long of the Academic Relations
Division of External Affairs in Ottawa, and by Professors Lei Xue,
Zang Chongding, Zhao Deyan, Song Jia-Heng and Minlum Zhang.
Professor Myungsoon Shin of Yonsei University provided material on
Korea. For information on Canadian studies in India, I relied on
material supplied by Linda Jones, International Council for Canadian
Studies, Ottawa, and Professor Chandra Mohan of the Indian Association for Canadian Studies.
1. For a concise review of these developments, see the International
Directory to Canadian Studies (Ottawa: International Council for
Canadian Studies, 1988).
2. See, for example, Keikoku Kashiwamura, North America: A Field Study
(1913); Tamiji Naito, Canada (1916); Kei Ito, The Canadian Federation (1941); Institute of World Economy, The Study of Canada (1963);
Nobuo Horie, Ichiro Nakayama, and Seiichi Tohata (eds.), Today’s
World—Area Studies Series I: North America, Australia, New Zealand
(1970).
3. See, for example, the History of the Development of Our Compatriots
in Canada (1909) and its sequels edited by the Continental Times;
Jinshiro Nakayama, An Overview of the Development of Our Com patriots in Canada (1921); Tsutae Sate, History of the Educational
Council of Japanese Language Schools in Canada (1942); Suguru
Fukutake (ed.), America-Mura:A Study of an Emigrant Village (1953);
and the highly praised field work edited by Masao Game, A Japanese
Village That Has Moved Overseas (1962).
4. These works ranged from Seymour M. Lipset’s Revolution and
Counterrevolution (published in Japan in 1972); Northrop Frye’s The
Educated Imagination (1969), The Modern Century (1971) and The
Critical Path: Essays on the Social Context of Literary Criticism (1974);
and George Woodcock’s Anarchism (1968) to Ted Allan and Sidney
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5.
6.
7.
8.
272
Gordon, The Scalpel, The Sword: The Story of Dr. Norman Bethune
(1974); and several books by Herbert Norman. While these translations
had a modest impact on Canadian studies per se, they did serve to
introduce Canada to the Japanese intellectual community. These initial
translations were followed by an explosion of such works, too
numerous to list here. They included: Kenneth McNaught, The Pelican
History of Canada (1977); J.M.S. Careless, Canada: A Story of Challenge (1978); Paul Blanchard, Le Canada français (1978); W.L. White,
R. H. Wagenberg and R.C. Nelson, Introduction to Canadian Politics
and Government (1981); several books by Marshall McLuhan (such as
The Extensions of Man and The Gutenberg Galaxy); John O’Neill,
Sociology as a Skin Trade: Essays Toward a Reflexive Sociology (1984);
several books on Glenn Gould; John Holmes, Life With Uncle: The
Canadian-American Relationship (1987); and Pierre E. Trudeau,
Federalism and the French-Canadians (1980). What is interesting to
note is that while all these translations were not of scholarly works, they
did indicate a general trend in Japan – an emphasis on Canadian
history and politics, with occasional digressions into McLuhan, Frye,
Bethune and Gould.
Through the Canadian Embassy in Tokyo, the Department of External
Affairs, in 1976, organized the establishment of a Canadian studies
course at Tsukuba University and began a program of funding translations, donating books, and funding visits to Canada by Japanese
canadianists. In Japan, as elsewhere throughout the world, the efforts
of the Canadian government were notable. Indeed, the system
developed by the Academic Relations Division of External Affairs for
supporting Canadian studies has earned an enviable reputation in
embassies around the world.
JACS inaugurated its Annual Review of Canadian Studies in 1979. It
also published, with Canadian government assistance, a three-volume
Bibliography of Japanese Publications on Canada. JACS has also published a collection of papers entitled Various Issues in Canadian
Studies (1987) and will soon publish an Introduction to Canadian
Studies. Moreover, JACS has established an award for research on
Canada or Canada-Japan relations by young Japanese canadianists.
Bamba, a sociologist who died in 1989, developed an interest in Canada
while teaching at McGill University in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Upon his return to Japan, he introduced, at Tsuda College in Tokyo,
one of the first Canadian content courses. He was also one of the
founders of JACS (and its first President) and an energetic editor and
translator of several Canadian books.
In addition to translating Ramsey Cook’s The Maple Leaf Forever and
co-translating The Pelican History of Canada, she has written a number
of important analytical papers and a book, Modem History of Canada
(1981), the first such book by a Japanese scholar.
9.
Study of the French Canadian Question: Minority Problems and Their
Challenge to the Canadian Federation (1973).
10. See, for example, Masahiro Kuwahara, Operating Standards of Sexual
Employment Equality Laws in Canada, the United States and Japan
(1985); Teruhisa Kunitake, Canada's Labour Relations and Law
(1989); Kazuo Kimura, The Birth of the Dominion of Canada: A Colony
Under the British and American Empires (1989); Jiro Toyohara, Introduction to Canadian Commercial History (1981); Kensei Yoshida, Jolin
Saywell and Suzanne Firth, All About Canada (1985); Reiko Sekiguchi
et al., Canada’s Multicultural Education (1985); Satoru Kojima, Ecology in Canadian Forests (1986); S. Osabe, K. Nishimoto, Y. Higuchi et
al., Contemporary Quebec: French Culture in North America; Tsuneo
Ayabe, More About Canada (1989); Ayabe (ed.), A Study of Canada’s
Ethnic Cultures (1989); and Mitsuru Shimpo, Development and Structure of Canadian Society (1989).
11. In addition to the JACS journal, The Kokusai Mondai: International
Relations (the journal of the Japan Association of International Rela-
tions) and NIRA magazine (the National Institute for Research Advancement) have all published one or more special issues on Canada.
12. Other notable studies include Hiroko Sue, Indians in the Far North
(1965); Mitsuru Shimpo, Canadian lndians: A Dying Minority People
(1968); and Katsuichi Honda, The Canadian Eskimos (1972).
13. Although, strictly analyzed, Norman’s work does not fall under the
Canadian studies heading, he is probably the most famous Canadian
among Japanese canadianists. A Japanese novelist has even written a
“faction” of Norman’s activities during the occupation of Japan, and
the intellectual Sekai magazine has been running a long serial by
Miyoko Kudo about Norman.
14. A pioneer in the field is Keiichi Hirano, a Canadian-born professor of
literature who started teaching Canadian literature at the University
of Tokyo in the 1950s. He was one of the first Japanese canadianists —
along with Shoichi Saeki, Koji Nishimoto and Tadashi Iijima – to discuss Canadian literature in journals. Professor Hirano inspired other
researchers such as Akira Asai, Toshiko Tsutsumi and Ryosei Minami
to study Canadian literature. Tsutsumi has, for example, written about
Margaret Laurence, Alice Munro, Joy Kogawa and W.O. Mitchell.
Asai has published An Introduction to Canadian Literature (1982) and
Modem Canadian Literature: An Overview of Writers and Their Works
(1985). Hirano also published an anthology of Canadian Short Stories
(1986).
15. Peter Crabb (ed.), Theory and Practice in Comparative Studies: Papers
from the First Conference of the Australian and New Zealand Associa tion for Canadian Studies (Sydney: Australian and New Zealand
Association for Canadian Studies, 1983), and Reginald Berry and
James Acheson (eds.), Regionalism and National Identity: Multi-
Disciplinary Essays on Canada, Australia and New Zealand
273
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IJCS / RIÉC
(Christchurch: Association for Canadian Studies in Australia and New
Zealand, 1985).
16. Bruce Hodgins, “Canada and Australia: Some Future Directions from
Historical Perspectives”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 4 (1986),
pp. 29-50 and Hodgins, Aboriginal Rights in Canada: Historical
Perspectives on Recent Developments and the Implications for Australia
(Sydney Macquarie University, 1985).
17. See, for example, Malcolm Alexander and Brian Galligan (eds.), Comparative Political Studies: Australia and Canada (Melbourne:
Longman Chesire, forthcoming); Alexander Brady, Democracy in the
Dominions: A Comparative Study in Institutions (Toronto: University
of Toronto Press, 1948); Freda Hawkins, Critical Years in Immigration: Canada and Australia Compared (Montreal: McGill-Queen’s
University Press, 1989); Henry S. Albinski, Canadian and Australian
Politics in Comparative Perspective (New York: Oxford University
Press, 1973); and Anthony Birch, Nationalism and National Integration (London: Unwin Hyman, 1989).
18. Bruce W. Hodgins, Dan Wright and Wilf H. Heick (eds.), Federalism
in Canada and Australia: The Early Years (Canberra: Australia National University Press, 1978); Bruce W. Hodgins, John J. Eddy,
Shelagh D. Grant and James Struthers (eds.), Federalism in Canada
and Australia: Historical Perspectives, 1920-1988 (Peterborough: Frost
Centre for Canadian Heritage and Development Studies, 1989); and
John J. Eddy and Deryck Schreuder (eds.), The Rise of Colonial
Nationalism: Australia, New Zealand Canada and South Africa First
Assert Their Nationalities, 1890-1914 (Sydney: Allen and Unwin,
1988).
19. Russell McDougall and Gillian Whitlock, Australian/Canadian Literatures in Comparative Perspective (Sydney Methuen, 1987).
20. Robert Watts, “The Origins of Canadian Family Allowances: Reflections on the History and Theory of Welfare States, 1940-1945”,
Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 3 (1985), pp. 28-43; Freda Hawkins,
Critical Years in Immigration: Canada and Australia Compared
(Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 1989); and David
Stockley, “The Politics of Multiculturalism: Australian and Canadian
Comparisons”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 2 (1984), pp. 21-35.
21. Brian
Galligan, “An Elected Senate for Canada? The Australian
Model”, Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol. 29, No. 4 (Winter 1985-86),
pp. 77-98; John Uhr, “The Canadian and American Senates: Comparing Federal Political Institutions” in Hodgins et al., Federalism in
Canada and Australia.
22. Keith Jackson, “Bicameralism and Unicameralism in Australia,
Canada and New Zealand”; and R.K. Carty and Campbell Sharman,
“Premiers Political Institutions and Leadership Careers” in Alexander
and Galligan (eds.), Comparative Political Systems.
274
.-
23. John C. Courtney, “Parliamentary Representation: Electoral Distributions” and David Elkins, “Electoral Reform and Political Change in
Australia and Canada” in ibid.
24. Colin Campbell and John Halligan, “Central Agencies”, ibid; Patrick
Weller, “Federalism and the Office of the Prime Minister” in Hodgins
(cd.), Federalism in Canada and Australia; Kenneth Wiltshire,
“Canada’s Native People and Human Rights: An Outsider’s View”, in
Alexander and Galligan (eds.), Federalism in Canada and Australia;
and Aynsley Kellow, “Australian Federalism: The Need for New
Zealand (as well as Canadian) Comparisons”, Australian-Canadian
Studies, Vol. 6 (1988), pp. 59-72.
25. See Brian Galligan, Politics of the High Court (St. Lucia: University of
Queensland Press, 1987); Christopher Gilbert, Australian and
Canadian Federalism, 1867-1984: A Study of Judicial Techniques (Melbourne: Melbourne University Press, 1986); Leslie Zincs, “Judicial
Review in Canada and Australia” in Hodgins (ed.), Federalism in
Canada and Australia; and Peter Russell, “The Politics of Frustration:
The Pursuit of Formal Constitutional Changes in Australia and
Canada”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 6 (1988), pp. 3-32.
26. Gwen Gray, “Health Policy in Two Federations: Questioning Theories
of Federalism’’, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 6 (1988), pp. 33-58.
27. Robert R. Jackson, “Canadian Government and Politics in Comparative Perspective: An Overview”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 6
(1989), pp. 75-92; Jackson, “Canadian and Comparative Political Research” in Alexander and Galligan (eds.), Comparative Political
Studies; Russell Mathews (ed.), Public Policies in Two Federal
Countries: Canada and Australia (Canberra: Australian National
University Press, 1982).
28. Hawkins, Immigration; Birch, Nationalism; and John Atchison, “Immigration in Two Federations” in Hodgins, Federalism in Canada and
Australia.
29. Lois Foster, “Language Policy” in Alexander and Galligan, Comparative Political Studies.
30. See, for example. H. Fourmile, “Aboriginal Heritage Legislation and
Self-determination”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 7 (1989), pp.
45-62; B. Morse, Aboriginal Self-Govemment in Australia and Canada
(Kingston: Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, 1984); John Dargavel, “Conceding to Capital: Resource Regimes in the Forests of
British Columbia and Tazmania”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol.
6 (1989); Brian Galligan, “National Energy Policy in Canada and
Australia”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 1 (1983), pp. 14-29;
W.B. Hamilton, “Educational Policy and Federalism: Australia and
Canada, 1920-1980”, in Hodgins, Federalism in Canada and Australia;
David L. Anderson, Foreign Investment Control in the Mining Sector:
Comparisons of the Australian and Canadian Experience (Canberra:
Centre for Resource and Environmental Studies, Australian National
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University, 1983) and Anderson, An Analysis of Japanese Coking Coal
Procurement Policies: The Canadian and Australian Experience
(Kingston: Centre for Resource Studies, Queen’s University, 1987);
Louis Pauly, Opening Financial Markets: Banking Policies on the
Pacific Rim (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 1988); Robert M.
Conion, Distance and Duties: Determinants of Manufacturing in
Australia and Canada (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1985);
Duncan Chappell, “Violence: Current Trends and Preventive
Strategies” in Alexander and Galligan, Comparative Political Studies;
James Struthers and R.E. Mendelssohn, “Federalism and the Evolution
of Social Policy and the Welfare State” in Hodgins, Federalism in
Canada and Australia; and Gwen Gray, “Legal Aid: Differences in
Policy Formulation” in Alexander and Galligan, Comparative Political
Studies.
31. See, for example, Warwick Armstrong and John Bradbury, “Industrialization and Class Structure in Australia, Canada and Argentina, 1870-1980” in E.L. Wheelwright and Ken Buckley (eds.), Essays
in the Political Economy of Australian Capitalism (Sydney ANZ
Books, 1983); Wallace Clement, “A Political Economy of Resources:
Debates and Directions in Canada”, Australian-Canadian Studies,
Vol. 4 (1986), pp. 51-64; Garth Stevenson, Mineral Resources and
Australian Federalism (Canberra: Centre for Research on Federal
Financial Relations, 1977); Richard Higgott and Andrew Cooper,
“Trade Policy and the Global Political Economy” in Alexander and
Galligan, Comparative Political Studies; Malcolm Alexander,
“State/Provincial Governments and Federal Power: The Politics of
National Development” in Hodgins, Federalism in Canada and
Australia; P. Resnick, “Neo-Conservatism on the Periphery The Lessons from British Columbia”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 5
(1987), pp. 5-24; Patrick Mullins, “The Polities of Development: Right
Radicalism in Queensland and British Columbia”, ibid, pp. 25-38; and
Henry Hiller, “Western Separatism in Australia and Canada: The
Regional Ideology Thesis”, ibid, pp. 39-54.
32. Eddy and Schreuder (eds.), The Rise of Colonial Nationalism; Warwick Armstrong, “Thinking About ‘Prime Movers’: The Nature of
Early Industrialization in Australia, Canada and Argentina, 18701930”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 1 (1983), pp. 57-69; D.C.M.
Platt and Guido di Tells (eds.), Argentina, Australia and Canada:
Studies in Comparative Development, 1870-1965 (London: MacMillan, 1985); and Greg Kealey and Greg Patemore, Canadian and
Australian Labour History Toward a Comparative Perspective, Supplementary issue of Australian-Canadian Studies (forthcoming).
33. See Watts, “The Origins of Canadian Family Allowances”; Grey,
“Legal Aid”; and Beryl Donaldson Longer, “Class and Gender in
Margaret Atwood’s Fiction”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 6
(1988), pp. 73-102.
276
34. See, for example, Adrian Mitchell, “’The Western Art of Makeshift':
A.B. Facey and M. Allerdale Granger” in Russell McDougall and
Gillian Whitlock (eds.), Australian/Canadian Literatures in English:
Comparative Perspectives (Sydney Methuen, 1987); Diana Brydon,
“Discovering Ethnicity Joy Kogawa’s Obasan and Mena Abdullah’s
Time of the Peacock”, ibid.; Brian Edwards, “Textual Eratus: The
Mets-Perspective and Reading Instruction in Robert Kroetsch’s Later
Fiction”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 5 (1987), pp. 69-80; and
Douglas Barbour, “Extended Forms: One Book and Then Another:
The Canadian Long Poem”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 5
(1987), pp. 81-90.
35. See Vol. 7, 1989. A bibliography of Australian/Canadian literary
studies is also available. See Alan Lawson, “Comparative Australian/
Canadian Literary Studies: A Bibliography” in McDougall and Whitlock, Australian/Canadian Literatures in English.
36. J.J. Healey, Literature and the Aborigine in Australia (St. Lucia:
University of Queensland Press, 1988); Richard Davis, “Vision and
Revision: John Franklin’s Arctic Landscapes”, Australian-Canadian
Studies, Vol. 6 (1989), pp. 23-34; Jack Warwick, “Re-reading the
Origins in Quebec”, ibid, Vol. 6 (1989), pp. 15-22; Dorothy Seaton,
“Colonizing Discourses: The Land in Australian and Western
Canadian Exploration Narratives” ibid, pp. 3-14; Russell McDougall,
“The Sprawl and the Vertical”, in McDougall and Whitlock,
Australian/Canadian Literatures in English; and Brydon, “Discovering
Ethnicity.”
37. Diana Brydon, “The Dream of Tory Origins: Inventing Canadian
Beginnings”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 6 (1989), pp. 35-46;
and Helen Tiffin, “Not Wanted on the Voyage: Textual Imperialism
and Post-Colonial Resistance”, Australian-Canadian Studies, Vol. 6
(1989), pp. 47-56.
38. This survey of work was necessarily limited by the responses I received
to requests for information from Chinese canadianists. In most cases,
I received copies of ambitious plans rather than citations for published
works. A detailed but time-consuming review of Canadian studies in
China is necessary in the near future if we are to better understand the
state of research in the P.R.C. There is, however, a useful overview
written in 1987 and available in the Ottawa office of ICCS. It is
“Developments and Trends in Canadian Studies in China: Origin,
Current States and Future Prospects [sic]” by Zhao Deyan, Lan
Renzhe and Song Jiaheng. See also Wang Tai Lai and Claude-Yves
Charron, “Ten Years of Canadian Studies in the People’s Republic of
China”, ICCS Contact, Vol. 9, No. 1 (Spring 1990), pp. 14-17.
39. Shandong: Shandong University Press, 1989.
40. This information is based on material provided by Professor Lei Xue.
41. The SICI was founded in 1968 by an agreement between the governments of India and Canada to promote mutual understanding. The four
277
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42.
43.
44.
45.
46.
47.
48.
278
founding members were the universities of British Columbia, McGill,
Toronto and the National Library of Canada. There are now over
twenty member institutions. In addition to support from members,
SICI receives support from the governments of India and Canada. See
G.N. Ramu, “Canadian Studies in India: The Role of the Shastri
Indo-Canadian Institute”, paper presented at ICCS conference,
McMaster University, June 1987.
The development of Canadian studies in India can be tracked in the
pages of the IACS Newsletter.
See, for example, Om. P. Juneja and Chandra Mohan (eds.), Ambivalence: Studies in Canadian Literature (New Delhi: Allied Publishers Private Ltd., 1968).
See, for example, IACS Newsletter, October 1988, p. 4.
New Delhi: Monohar, 1989.
Aparna Basu (cd.), Imperialism, Nationalism and Regionalism in
Canadian and Modern Indian History (New Dehli Manohar, 1989).
Both are published by the Institute at Yonsei as part of the East and
West Series. They were published, respectively, in 1988 and 1989.
The journal contains an excellent summary of the development of
Canadian studies from 1984. There are Canadian studies specialists at
several other Korean universities, notably Sookmyung Women’s
University in Seoul.
Review Essays
Essais critiques
Roberto Perin
Quelques synthèses récentes
sur l’évolution du Canada
Craig Brown, ed., The Illustrated History of Canada, Toronto, Lester and
Orpen Dennys, 1987, 573 p.
Robert Bothwell, Ian Drummond, John English, Canada 1900-1945,
Toronto, University of Toronto Press, 1987, 427 p.
Gerald Friesen, The Canadian Prairies: A History, Toronto, University of
Toronto Press, 1987,534 p.
Bryan Palmer, Working-Class Experience: The Rise and Reconstitution of
Canadian Labour, 1800-1980, Toronto, Butterworth, 1983, 347 p.
L’historiographie récente du Canada est un bel exemple de ce que
l’historien E.H. Carr écrivait il y a quelques années à propos de sa discipline. Le présent, affirmait-il, influence fatalement l’approche du passé.
Comment pourrait-il en être autrement ? Car à moins de devenir un être
désincarné, coupé de son milieu physique et temporel, l’historien formule
ses questions à la lumière des problématiques de son époque. C’est ainsi
que dans le sillage de la Révolution tranquille au Québec, du mouvement
de contestation des années 1960, des revendications féministes, autochtones et régionalistes et de la formulation de la politique du multiculturalisme, la perspective qui sous-tend de nos jours l’histoire du Canada
est bien différente de celle qui prévalait il y a un quart de siècle.
Comme c’est généralement le cas en histoire, le renouvellement des
interprétations se fait d’abord à la pièce, à travers un grand nombre
d’études spécialisées, pour ensuite se frayer une voie dans les ouvrages de
synthèse. Au cours des années 1980, plusieurs nouvelles synthèses
historiques, globales ou sectorielles, ont été publiées. Pour les fins de cet
essai critique, nous avons retenu quatre ouvrages qui représentent chacun
un type particulier d’oeuvre de synthèse. Le premier est une histoire
générale du Canada, des origines jusqu’à nos jours; le deuxième fait le bilan
d’une tranche chronologique donnée, la première moitié du vingtième
siècle; le troisième trace l’histoire générale d’une région du pays, les
provinces de la Prairie, alors que le quatrième offre une vue d’ensemble de
l’évolution d’un secteur particulier, la classe ouvrière.
En général, les synthèses devraient avoir comme objectif primordial de
rendre intelligibles les faits du passé en tentant de déceler une structure de
l’histoire. À cet égard, l’Histoire du Québec contemporain1, dont le premier
tome a été publié il y a plus de dix ans, constitue un modèle que l’on pourrait
International Journal of Canadian Studies /Revue internationale d’études canadiennes
l-2, Spring-Fall/Printemps-automne 1990
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imiter avec profit. Plutôt que de laisser le fil narratif déterminer leur
approche du passé, les auteurs privilégient l’analyse de thèmes fondamentaux tels que la démographie, l’économie, la société, les institutions
politiques, scolaires et ecclésiastiques, l’idéologie et la culture dans le but
de dévoiler les mécanismes de continuité et de transformation dans
l’histoire du Québec.
Des études dont il est ici question, celle de Palmer s’en rapproche peut-être
le plus. Working-Class Experience: The Rise and Reconstitution of Canadian
Labour, 1800-1980 trace l’évolution et les transformations de la classe
ouvrière canadienne depuis les débuts de l’industrialisation, en passant par
les avatars successifs du capitalisme, jusqu’à la « contre-offensive
thatcherienne » de notre époque. Allant au-delà d’une approche purement
institutionnelle-conflictuelle centrée sur les syndicats et les grèves, cet
ouvrage examine les ouvriers en tant que classe en soi, avec sa culture et
ses traditions propres, dont le mot « experience » utilisé dans le titre signale
l’importance. Palmer y définit un cadre d’analyse, établit une périodisation
propre à l’histoire des ouvriers et cherche à distinguer entre les
phénomènes structurels et les effets de la conjoncture. Bien que Palmer
dise s’intéresser davantage à la vie collective des travailleurs qu’à leurs
organisations syndicales ou politiques, la dernière partie du volume porte
cependant plus sur celles-ci que sur celle-là.
Ce qui fait l’originalité de Working-Class Experience, du moins pour
l’histoire du Canada, c’est l’utilisation de concepts tels que « moment
historique » et « théâtre » pour éclairer l’expérience des ouvriers. Le
premier désigne des phénomènes tels que le mouvement de grève des
années 1853-1854 et la montée vertigineuse des Chevaliers du Travail en
1883-1886 qui, bien qu’ils se soient résorbés dans les années subséquentes,
marquèrent toutefois une volonté d’action collective et une étape importante de prise de conscience chez les ouvriers. Ces « moments » n’eurent
pas de lendemains réels (et puisque les historiens ont tendance à n’insister
que sur les effets tangibles des choses, ils risquent d’en ignorer la portée),
mais ils n’en furent pas moins importants pour la collectivité ouvrière.
La notion de théâtre, pour sa part, met en valeur les rites, symboles et
coutumes qui constituèrent autant de signes de fierté et de valorisation chez
les travailleurs du siècle dernier. Elle est intimement liée au concept de
culture ouvrière que Palmer tente de cerner. L’auteur met l’accent sur des
organisations ou des pratiques laïques (bien que certaines aient une nette
inspiration protestante) et minimise la religion comme facteur constitutif
de cette culture. La religion ne serait, aux yeux de Palmer, qu’un
épiphénomène. En dépit des silences, de certaines contradictions et d’un
manque de cohérence occasionnel dans le cadre analytique, Working-Class
Experience constitue un jalon important dans l’historiographie de la classe
ouvrière et du Canada en général.
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Quelques synthèses récentes sur l’évolution du Canada
À travers un examen poussé de l’État central et de ses politiques, Canada
1900-1945, pour sa part, trace l’évolution du pays à un moment important
de son histoire, car c’est l’époque de l’urbanisation, de l’arrivée massive
d’immigrants non britanniques, de la participation canadienne aux deux
grandes guerres et de la crise économique. Fruit d’une collaboration entre
trois historiens qui ne cachent pas leurs points de vue, le texte est harmonieux et bien intégré. Cependant, Bothwell et ses collaborateurs
s’intéressent peu aux aspects structurels de l’époque qu’ils analysent. Ce
qu’ils nomment histoire sociale n’est en réalité que de l’histoire culturelle,
qui se limite à une description de la culture de consommation de masse en
voie d’émergence dans les années 1920, ainsi que des mouvements politiques en faveur du vote féminin, de la tempérance et de la réforme urbaine.
Le concept de classe y est largement ignoré, le mot s’appliquant presque
exclusivement aux travailleurs.
C’est l’aspect narratif qui prime, surtout dans les chapitres consacrés à la
politique et à la guerre, chapitres qui se terminent par une apothéose du
premier ministre Mackenzie King. Le livre est truffé de faits et les opinions
des auteurs tiennent souvent lieu de contexte historique. Par exemple, à
l’instar de Creighton, ils défendent une conception très centralisatrice de
la Constitution. « If the provinces wanted to spend more », affirment-ils à
propos du tournant du siècle, « let them invent their own taxes and collect
them. The Dominion had left them plenty of room to do so » (35). Cette
dernière phrase en dit long sur leur perspective des rapports entre le
fédéral et les provinces, mais elle ne peut prétendre expliquer les tensions
qui marquèrent ces relations. Faute d’un cadre explicatif, leurs opinions
restent ce qu’elles sont, des opinions.
Synthèse impressionnante des nombreuses recherches effectuées ces
dernières années sur divers aspects de l’histoire de la Prairie, le livre de
Gerald Friesen, The Canadian Prairies: A History, brosse une grande
fresque de cette région, depuis la pénétration des Européens au dixseptième siècle jusqu’à nos jours. L’auteur rompt avec une longue tradition
historiographique qui tendait à privilégier les acteurs appartenant à l’élite
anglo-saxonne. Friesen atteint largement l’objectif qu’il s’est fixé de
contester l’image monolithique de la Prairie. Soucieux de révéler les structures qui sous-tendent l’histoire de la région, il se montre sensible aux
catégories de race, de classe, d’ethnie et, à un degré moindre, de sexe ainsi
qu’aux principales interprétations historiographiques. Ces catégories
analytiques s’estompent, cependant, à la faveur d’un cadre d’analyse
carrément régionaliste dans la dernière partie du livre qui traite de l’époque
du deuxième après-guerre. Comme si après 1945, les concepts d’ethnie, de
sexe et de classe ne s’avéraient plus pertinents. Friesen n’explique pas de
façon satisfaisante ce revirement. Il y a donc un manque de cohérence dans
la structure analytique du livre. Par ailleurs, l’auteur intègre habilement
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certains romans de la Prairie pour enrichir son récit et étayer quelques-uns
de ses propos.
Quoique son analyse suive un développement largement chronologique,
Friesen emploie une périodisation différente selon qu’il traite des
Amérindiens, des Métis ou des Européens. Nous regrettons, cependant,
que la religion en soit largement absente. Certes, nous convenons que ce
thème accapara la part du lion dans les monographies et les synthèses sur
l’Ouest canadien pendant la période de la colonisation européenne. Il n’en
reste pas moins que l’influence de la religion transcende les crises raciales,
ethniques et confessionnelles qui secouèrent cette société et qui furent
l’objet de tant d’études. Aussi, Friesen passe trop rapidement sur la question complexe des écoles du Nord-Ouest, ratant ainsi l’occasion d’instruire
ses lecteurs sur les droits des minorités, thème qui demeure d’une grande
actualité. Nous aurions aimé, enfin, qu’il accorde une plus grande importance aux francophones qui jouirent, à l’époque de la colonisation
européenne, d’une influence bien plus considérable que ne le laissent
supposer leurs effectifs restreints. À cet égard, les thèses de Painchaud et
de Pénisson2auraient dû être citées. The Canadian Prairies se distingue
néanmoins des synthèses précédentes : l’image monolithique de la Prairie
fait place à celle d’une société moderne, pluraliste et dynamique.
The Illustrated History of Canada 3est sans doute destiné à un public plus
large que les trois autres ouvrages présentés ici. Pour cette raison, les
aspects structurels et historiographiques, sans être négligés, ne sont
toutefois pas mis en évidence. Reconnaissant le caractère complexe et
diversifié de la société canadienne, les auteurs nous offrent un panorama
très nuancé qui contraste avec la vision centralisatrice longtemps défendue
dans les synthèses générales de l’histoire du Canada. Ils intègrent, à des
degrés divers, les résultats de recherches des deux dernières décennies, ce
qui les amène à faire une large place aux phénomènes économiques,
sociaux et culturels.
Comme l’indique le titre, les illustrations sont abondantes dans ce livre.
Elles ne servent pas uniquement à agrémenter le texte, mais le prolongent
et le complètent. La reproduction d’œuvres d’art permet d’intégrer une
partie de l’histoire de l’art à l’histoire générale; en ce sens, l’ouvrage innove
par rapport aux synthèses historiques traditionnelles. Dans l’ensemble, le
choix des illustrations est judicieux et présente une valeur pédagogique
certaine. On n’y a pas non plus négligé les cartes; par contre, les tableaux,
totalement absents, auraient été utiles sur le plan didactique.
Rédigé par un auteur différent, chaque chapitre est de grande qualité.
Avouons cependant que ceux dus à la plume de Waite et de Morton laissent
à désirer. Ces auteurs négligent l’histoire économique de leur époque. Bien
que ce reproche s’adresse plus particulièrement à Waite, Morton se
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Quelques synthèses récentes sur l‘évolution du Canada
contente, pour sa part, de décrire les politiques économiques qui ont été
adoptées après la guerre de 1939-1945. Il en est de même pour leur
traitement de l’histoire sociale dont la conception ressemble étrangement
à celle de Bothwell et de ses collaborateurs. D’ailleurs, Waite fait preuve
d’une naïveté étonnante lorsqu’il écrit : « Child labour was not the creation
of wicked captalists alone: it was a conspiracy of parents and employers.
The child needed training, the parents needed the money the child brought
home, and the employers needed labour » (344). Le mot wicked est utilisé
ici à l’intention des critiques du capitalisme auxquels on attribue tout à fait
gratuitement un ton moralisateur. Par ailleurs, en parlant d’une « conspiration » supposément tramée entre partenaires, Waite semble suggérer que
le besoin des parents pour un salaire familial vital et le besoin des capitalistes pour des ouvriers étaient égaux, alors que ce n’était pas du tout le cas.
Pour sa part, Morton offre une description de la société de consommation
qui laissera le lecteur dans l’obscurité quant à la nature et à la portée de ce
phénomène crucial de l’après-guerre. Quoiqu’il en soit, les autres chapitres
intègrent très habilement l’histoire économique, sociale et culturelle. Les
auteurs prefèrent une approche thématique plutôt que strictement
chronologique, ce qui facilite l’appréciation des différentes étapes qui y
sont étudiées. Grâce à un style et à un ton abordables (il faut reconnaître
que le chapitre signé par Waite est très bien écrit), ce volume représente
une des meilleures synthèses de l’histoire du Canada.
***
Après avoir présenté les caractéristiques principales de ces quatre
synthèses, examinons maintenant la place qu’elles accordent à quatre
groupes qui sont au cœur de nombreuses analyses récentes de l’histoire
canadienne : les Canadiens français, les femmes, les autochtones et les
immigrants.
Voyons d’abord l’influence que l’historiographie récente du Québec pourrait avoir exercé sur l’histoire du Canada. Il ne fait pas de doute que la
Révolution tranquille a bouleversé notre conception de l’histoire du
Québec. La vieille image d’une folk society monolithique et figée dans le
temps a cédé le pas à une approche qui privilégie l’étude des transformations structurelles et de la diversité sociale et idéologique. L’image qui s’en
dégage est celle d’une société distincte (pour reprendre une expression à
la mode) dans l’ensemble canadien.
Or, on cherche en vain des échos de cette approche dans la plupart des
ouvrages de synthèse examinés ici. Les Canadiens français ne figurent dans
Canada 1900-1945 que comme élément perturbateur de la scène politique
« nationale » (à vrai dire, ce mot n’est presque pas utilisé; on y préfère le
vocable vieillot de « Dominion », cher à Creighton. Le sens n’en demeure
pas moins le même). Il ne faut donc pas être surpris si les exemples que l’on
y cite renvoient presque exclusivement au Canada anglais. Ainsi apprend285
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on que les exploits impérialistes britanniques faisaient vibrer la jeunesse
canadienne au tournant du siècle. Pourtant, les jeunes Canadiens français
entendaient un autre son de cloche. Les auteurs s’attardent aussi longuement sur le mouvement réformiste d’inspiration protestante appelé
Évangile social (Social Gospel), mais ne disent pas un mot du catholicisme
social, phénomène contemporain particulièrement bien représenté au
Québec.
Ce qui fait problème dans ce livre, c’est l’approche. Car dans la préface,
les auteurs se défendent des tentations de la « nouvelle histoire sociale »
arguant qu’il faut transcender le quotidien et réaliser que l’histoire est mue
avant tout par l’État et les développements concrets de l’État, de
l’économie et de la société. On ne doute pas de l’importance de l’État dans
la vie d’une société si ce concept désigne plus que l’histoire politique
« nationale » dont il est largement question dans ce livre. Mais l’État n’est
pas une abstraction. Même dans les régimes les plus répressifs, le pouvoir
est le fruit du dialogue entre ceux qui le détiennent et ceux qui le subissent
quotidiennement. L’État détermine sans conteste beaucoup de choses;
mais il arrive parfois qu’il soit lui-même mu par « le quotidien ». L’eussentils compris, les auteurs auraient peut-être façonné une histoire qui serait
moins le fait de quelques individus - hommes politiques, fonctionnaires,
entrepreneurs - dont l’action est coupée du milieu.
Working-Class Experience est un autre ouvrage où les Canadiens français
apparaissent seulement comme figurants. Malgré ses grands mérites,
l’étude est essentiellement axée sur les ouvriers anglo-saxons de l’Ontario.
Comment ne pas sursauter, par exemple, lorsque Palmer affirme qu’à la fin
du siècle dernier, « the working class was no longer overwhelmingly AngloAmerican in origin » (137). L’auteur se montre plutôt indifférent à la
spécificité de la classe ouvrière canadienne-française. La surreprésentation
de celle-ci dans les secteurs faisant appel à une main-d’oeuvre abondante
et à bon marché n’est pas reconnue comme fait et encore moins comme
facteur explicatif. Les disparités économiques sont perçues davantage
comme phénomène régional qu’ethnique. Et alors que Palmer fait allusion
aux lacunes du syndicalisme catholique canadien-français, il passe sous
silence les carences non moins réelles des syndicats affiliés à la Fédération
américaine du travail à l’égard de la spécificité culturelle des ouvriers
canadiens-français. Enfin, son interprétation de certains événements,
comme les grèves de l’amiante et de Dupuis et Frères, repose sur une
lecture dépassée de l’histoire du Québec.
À cet égard, seule The Illustrated History of Canada fait exception. Soulignons surtout le chapitre de Graeme Wynn sur la période allant de la
Conquête à l’Union et celui de Ramsay Cook sur la première moitié du
vingtième siècle qui se montrent à la fois attentifs à la présence des
Canadiens français et aux dernières recherches à leur égard.
286
Dans la foulée du mouvement féministe, on a assisté au cours des quinze
dernières années à la publication d’un grand nombre d’articles, de revues,
de livres et, tout dernièrement, de synthèses4portant sur l’histoire de la
femme au Canada. On a examiné des questions de méthodologie historique
et on a notamment remis en question la pertinence de la périodisation de
l’histoire « nationale » pour les femmes canadiennes et québécoises. On a
étudié, aussi bien au Québec qu’au Canada anglais, leur rôle sur le marché
du travail dans les trois grands secteurs économiques, leur contribution
essentielle à l’économie familiale des indigènes, des immigrants et de la
classe ouvrière ainsi que leur participation à la politique, aux mouvements
de réforme, au syndicalisme, à la vie professionnelle et religieuse. On a fait
état des obstacles freinant leur conscience féministe, syndicale et professionnelle. Ceci ne constitue cependant qu’un début.
Ces thèmes trouvent un certain écho dans les études examinées ici.
D’ailleurs, il serait inconcevable de nos jours qu’un ouvrage de synthèse ne
fasse pas place aux femmes. Soulignons néanmoins que parmi les six
collaborateurs de The Illustrated History of Canada, Morton ne dédie aux
femmes que quelques lignes. Cette omission est d’autant plus surprenante
que l’époque étudiée est celle qui vit la plus grande percée des femmes sur
le marché du travail et la renaissance du mouvement féministe. Pour sa part,
Friesen aurait pu accorder plus de place aux femmes dans son étude sur la
Prairie. Il est étonnant que l’auteur soit si peu loquace à propos du suffrage
féminin, alors que c’est justement dans cette région que les femmes
connurent leurs premiers succès dans ce domaine.
Quoiqu’il en soit, la femme a dorénavant droit de cité en histoire du
Canada. Mais il est facile pour l’historien de reconnaître sa présence dans
les mouvements pour le droit de vote féminin, pour les réformes industrielles, juridiques et sanitaires. On peut aussi aisément déceler son apport
économique, surtout dans les modes primitifs de production. Tout cela
donne bonne conscience et trahit une conception whig de la condition de
la femme à travers le temps. Pourtant, son émancipation est un processus
très lent et ses acquis reposent sur une base fragile. Le seul auteur à vouloir
le reconnaître est Bryan Palmer qui, à cause de sa sensibilité aux rapports
de force, arrive à mieux cerner la position fragile de la femme.
Un phénomène tout à fait nouveau dans l’historiographie canadienne est
la place que commencent à y occuper les autochtones. Sauf quelques rares
exceptions, les auteurs de synthèses se satisfaisaient jusqu’ici de mentions
passagères à leur égard. L’œuvre classique de l’ethnologue Diamond
Jenness 5restait largement ignorée. On reconnaissait surtout la présence
des Amérindiens dans le récit des débuts de la colonisation; mais ils étaient
vite évincés par les Européens qui accaparaient ensuite toute la scène
historique. Cependant, au cours des vingt dernières années, les travaux de
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l’anthropologue Bruce Trigger et des géographes Conrad Heidenreich et
Arthur Ray vinrent perturber la bonne conscience des historiens.
The Illustrated History of Canada témoigne du chemin parcouru depuis lors
et peut être cité en exemple. Non seulement les autochtones y font-ils l’objet
d’un excellent chapitre rédigé par Arthur Ray, ils sont aussi présents dans
chacun des cinq chapitres subséquents en sorte que l’on peut suivre jusqu’à
nos jours la trame de leur histoire. Tout n’est pas pour autant parfait dans
ce volume. Le chapitre que Morton consacre à la période consécutive à la
guerre de 1939-1945 n’accorde pas assez de place aux Amérindiens.
L’historien admet volontiers que dans les années 1970, les autochtones
vinrent à percevoir la Loi sur les Indiens comme le symbole par excellence
de leur oppression, mais sans en expliquer les raisons ni dire pourquoi ils
s’opposèrent si farouchement à sa simple abolition. Mentionner ces faits
sans en éclairer le contexte tend à accréditer l’idée que l’autochtone est un
être irréfléchi et capricieux. Il n’en demeure pas moins que The Illustrated
History of Canada accorde une place importante aux peuples indigènes.
The Canadian Prairies est un exemple encore plus éclatant du revirement
historiographique des vingt dernières années. Car ici, les autochtones
occupent près du tiers du récit. Friesen insiste, à juste titre, pour que les
Amérindiens soient perçus comme protagonistes et non pas comme
simples victimes qui subirent passivement le cours de l’histoire. Il suit en
cela l’exemple de Ray pour qui les autochtones étaient des commerçants
rusés et exigeants, sachant à la fois retirer la pleine valeur de leurs fourrures
et exploiter la rivalité entre Britanniques et Français à leurs propres fins.
Comme le soulignent si bien ces deux auteurs, la culture amérindienne ne
s’est pas automatiquement écroulée au contact de la technologie
européenne. Certains produits améliorèrent le mode de vie des indigènes,
sans en modifier la structure.
On ne saurait sous-estimer cette œuvre de revalorisation qui permet à
l’Amérindien de se réapproprier l’histoire. Cependant, à vouloir
revaloriser l’acteur en lui, on risque d’occulter les rapports de dépendance
qui l’assujettissent à l’Européen. Car Denys Delâge a brillamment
démontré que ces rapports sont inhérents au processus d’échange inégal
qui s’instaure avec le commerce des fourrures6. L’Amérindien exploite une
ressource non renouvelable (compte tenu du rythme effréné d’exploitation)
en échange de produits finis qu’il ne peut pas lui-même fabriquer. Voilà en
quoi consiste la dépendance. Ce commerce mine les structures
économiques, sociales et culturelles des autochtones tout en préservant
l’apparence de la continuité. À court terme, l’indigène peut tirer profit de
ces échanges, voire même s’enrichir et se sentir pleinement maître de la
situation; mais il ne pourra pas stopper l’effet à long terme de la
désagrégation de sa civilisation. C’est là une réalité que Friesen a du mal à
admettre. Cet exemple, parmi plusieurs autres que l’on retrouve dans The
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Canadian Prairies, démontre qu’à moins de bien manier le concept
d’acteur, on en arrive à voir les Amérindiens comme responsables de leurs
propres malheurs. Il y a des limites à la liberté d’action d’un peuple lorsque
les structures mises en place par le nouveau régime politique les oppriment.
L’ambiguïté de la position de Friesen à l’égard des peuples autochtones
apparaît de nouveau lorsqu’il traite de leur condition actuelle. Ce n’est pas
que l’auteur ignore les ombres au tableau, mais il les minimise au profit des
lumières. Il admet l’existence de la pauvreté, du chômage et de la violence,
mais préfère, dans une perspective méliorative, souligner l’importante
croissance démographique ainsi que le haut degré de cohésion sociale,
politique et culturelle qui distinguent les bandes amérindiennes de la
Prairie. L’image qui s’en dégage est certes plus favorable et optimiste.
Est-elle pour autant plus près de la réalité ?
Les Amérindiens sont très peu présents dans les deux autres études dont
il est question ici. Canada 1900-1945 leur accorde deux paragraphes dans
une section portant sur la Constitution canadienne. Et bien que Palmer
analyse certains modes de production pré-capitalistes, il ignore à toutes fins
pratiques l’existence des Amerindiens, ratant ainsi une belle occasion de
revoir ce que Clare Pentland7écrivait à leur sujet il y a plus de trente ans.
Le multiculturalisme, politique élaborée par le premier ministre Trudeau
en 1971, a permis à d’autres protagonistes, les immigrants cette fois,
d’occuper une place sur la scène historique. Et c’est encore The Illustrated
History of Canada qui traduit le mieux cette tendance. Le chapitre de
Ramsay Cook est remarquable; celui de Peter Waite n’est pas à négliger,
quoiqu’il aurait pu mieux exploiter les recherches de Donald Akenson sur
l’immigration irlandaise. Morton déçoit avec ses deux seuls paragraphes
portant sur l’immigration du deuxième après-guerre. En vingt ans, trois
millions d’immigrants sont venus s’installer au Canada. Ce nombre, soulignons-le, est supérieur à la grande vague d’immigration qui déferla sur le
Canada dans les quinze ans précédant la Première Guerre mondiale.
Pourtant, Morton ne nous dit rien des changements démographiques qu’a
entraîné l’arrivée massive de ces nouveaux venus; rien du marché du travail
dans lequel ils se sont insérés; rien des politiques d’immigration et
d’accueil, surtout des changements effectués en 1967 qui mirent l’accent
sur la qualification professionnelle et technique plutôt que sur l’origine
ethnique et qui transformèrent les villes canadiennes en centres multiraciaux; rien de la hiérarchie ethnique qui s’est perpétuée au cours de ces
années et qui favorisa les Européens du Nord aux dépens de leurs cousins
du Sud.
Gerald Friesen, quant à lui, réserve un chapitre entier à l’immigration,
laquelle constitue un thème important dans l’histoire de l’Ouest canadien.
Ainsi analyse-t-il les facteurs de propulsion et d’attraction qui
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déterminèrent la via dolorosa des immigrants depuis leur pays d’origine
jusqu’à leur terre d’adoption. Il se montre attentif aux conditions de la
traversée trans-océanique, au marché du travail, à la diversité ethnique,
religieuse et même raciale.
Canada 1900-1945, pour sa part, renferme une bonne discussion des
politiques d’immigration et de l’incidence démographique des nouveaux
venus sur la population canadienne. Cependant, la perspective de cet
ouvrage est extérieure à l’expérience vécue des immigrants. Cette tendance
se manifeste crûment lorsqu’est abordée la question de l’évacuation forcée
des citoyens canadiens d’origine japonaise pendant la Seconde Guerre
mondiale. Les auteurs affichent une attitude assez équivoque qui, somme
toute, se montre plus sensible au climat d’hystérie collective et de racisme
qui prévalait à l’époque en Colombie-Britannique qu’aux conditions
désespérées des évacués. Par contre, les auteurs s’émerveillent devant la
capacité d’enracinement du système politique bipartite dans les
communautés immigrantes, sans même s’enquérir du taux de participation
de celles-ci aux élections canadiennes. Lorsqu’on songe à quel point le
patronage politique, avec ses postes, ses faveurs et ses ristournes, était
répandu dans ces communautés (on pourrait peut-être parler d’un exemple
primitif de la politique du multiculturalisme), il n’y a pas lieu de s’étonner
des réalisations des partis politiques. Ce qui fut fait ne s’est pas fait
naturellement, mais grâce à l’activité fébrile des organisateurs politiques.
Un des mérites de Working-Class Experience, même s’il s’agit d’une œuvre
plus ancienne que les autres, est de n’avoir pas négligé l’immigration. En
effet, chaque vague d’immigrants y est identifiée et son influence sur la
classe ouvrière, évaluée. Cependant, lorsque Palmer aborde les immigrants
d’origine non britannique, ses jugements perdent leur acuité. Certes, il
reconnaît que les travailleurs d’origine anglo-saxonne avaient tendance à
mépriser leurs homologues non britanniques. Il n’en reste pas moins, selon
lui, que ces derniers préféraient leur allégeance ethnique à celle de classe
(comme si ces deux catégories étaient mutuellement exclusives). Et si la
classe ouvrière était divisée, si elle se montrait trop molle face à un patronat
et à un gouvernement qui lui étaient hostiles, cette faiblesse est largement
attribuable aux ouvriers non britanniques que Palmer identifie comme
briseurs de grève et comme l’instrument permettant à l’État de miner le
mouvement ouvrier. Il laisse également subsister l’idée que les immigrants
contribuaient à abaisser le niveau salarial des travailleurs du pays. Pourtant,
les travaux récents de Bruno Ramirez8, entre autres, apportent des jugements beaucoup plus nuancés sur cette question. Il est vrai que Palmer n’a
pas pu bénéficier de ces recherches lors de la rédaction de son livre.
Cependant, tous les historiens dont il est ici question auraient avantage à
mieux assimiler les œuvres des spécialistes de l’immigration dont le grand
mérite est de reconstituer l’histoire interne des communautés immigrantes : il
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Quelques synthèses récentes sur 1‘évolution du Canada
y a là un aspect de l’histoire des immigrants qui est complètement absent
de ces synthèses.
***
Au début de cet essai critique, nous citions Carr, pour qui le présent agit
sur l’analyse du passé. L’éminent savant anglais ne voulait pas suggérer par
là que chaque historien était également sensible à tous les courants de son
époque. Il parlait bien sûr de l’histoire dans sa totalité. Comme nous l’avons
vu, l’histoire du Canada est différente aujourd’hui de ce qu’elle était dans
les années 1950. Par ailleurs, les historiens en tant qu’individus reflètent
plus ou moins bien les préoccupations de leur époque. Chose certaine,
cependant, aucun ne songerait à écrire, de nos jours, une synthèse historique sans au moins mentionner un ou plusieurs des groupes cités plus haut.
Certains, comme Bothwell et ses collaborateurs, se contentent d’allusions
passagères; d’autres, comme Friesen, Palmer ou Craig Brown et ses collaborateurs, font à ces groupes une plus large place et réussissent à mieux
les intégrer dans leur synthèse.
Tout comme l’historien peut être plus ou moins attentif aux interrogations
du présent, ainsi en est-il de sa sensibilité aux structures du passé. Palmer,
Friesen et la plupart des collaborateurs de The Illustrated History of
Canada vont au-delà d’une approche purement chronologique et narrative.
Ils se sont efforcés de déceler une périodisation propre à leur matière. Ils
ont tenté de recréer le contexte historique et d’en éclairer les structures
internes. Certes, le recul rend ces tâches non pas plus faciles, mais plus
réalisables. C’est peut-être ce qui exlique que les chapitres contemporains
de Palmer, Friesen et Morton soient les moins réussis.
Ainsi que le soulignait Carr, la tâche des historiens de tout temps est d’être
fidèles à la fois au présent et au passé. Il n’y a donc pas lieu de repousser
la production historique d’une autre époque parce que « non moderne »,
comme le font certains collègues épris d’un whiggisme facile ou d’un
triomphalisme tout laïque. Aussi bien se féliciter de vivre à l’époque dans
laquelle seul le hasard nous a places ! Les œuvres historiques, qu’elles
soient contemporaines ou anciennes, conservent une certaine fraicheur
lorsqu’elles s’approchent de l’idéal de Carr. L’essentiel pour les historiens
est donc de favoriser un dialogue serré entre le présent et le passé.
Notes
1.
Paul-André Linteau, René Durocher, Jean-Claude Robert. Histoire du
Québec contemporain, tome I. De la Confédération à la Crise.
Montréal, Boréal Express, 1979; Paul André-Linteau, René Durocher,
Jean-Claude Robert, François Ricard. Histoire du Québec
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2.
3.
4.
292
contemporain. tome II. Le Québec depuis 1930, Montréal, Boréal
Express, 1986.
Ces thèses furent par la suite publiées. Voir Robert Painchaud. Un rêve
français dans lepeuplement de la Prairie. Saint-Boniface, Éditions des
Plaines, 1987, Bernard Pénisson. Henri D’Hellencourt : un journaliste
français au Manitoba (1898-1905). Saint-Boniface, Les Éditions du
Blé, 1986.
Cet ouvrage a été traduit en français sous le titre Histoire générale du
Canada. Montréal, Boréal Express, 1988.
Collection CLIO, L’histoire des femmes au Québec depuis quatre
siècles. Montréal, Quinze, 1982. Alison Prentice, Paula Bourne, Gail
Cuthbert Brandt, Beth Light, Wendy Mitchinson, Naomi Black.
Canadian Women: A History. Toronto, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich,
1988.
D. Jenness. The Indians of Canada. Ottawa, National Museum of
Canada, 1932.
D. Delâge. Le pays renversé. Amérindiens et Européens en Amérique
du Nord-Est, 1600-1664. Montréal, Boréal Express, 1985.
H.C. Pentland. Labour and Capital in Canada, 1650-1860. Toronto,
Lorimer, 1981.
Voir surtout « Workers Without a Cause: Italian Immigrant Labour in
Montreal, 1880-1930 » dans R. Perin et F. Sturino, eds., Arrangiarsi:
The Italian Immigration Experience in Canada. Montréal, Éditions
Guernica, 1989, p. 119-134.
Konrad Groß
Literary History of Canada
William H. New (general editor), Literary History of Canada. Canadian
Literature in English, vol. IV. (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1990)
492 pages.
When the Literary History of Canada was published in 1965, it was a
remarkable achievement. For the first time, Canadians were given a
detailed, well researched and systematic survey of their literature from the
time of the early explorations to the present. The book surpassed all earlier
literary histories, both in scope and depth. Whereas Desmond Pacey’s
Creative Writing in Canada (1952), for example, had started with poetry in
the late 18th-century Maritimes, the Literary History pushed the literary
frontier much further back to European images from the 16th and 17th
centuries of what was to become “Canada”, and to the explorers’ and fur
traders’ travel reports which were sifted for their contribution towards the
making of a particular Canadian consciousness. The editors’ intention
reached full circle in the “Conclusion” by Northrop Frye, whose famous
formula of the Canadian garrison mentality apparently provided a plausible
metaphor of Canadian culture. Despite its undoubtedly simplistic and
bleak assessment, which seemed out of step with the more optimistic mood
of political Canada in the mid-sixties, Frye’s explanation gave Canadians
an eagerly-coveted, distinct self-image. In addition, the Literary History was
able to give Canadian readers a modest dose of pride, as it did not restrict
itself to belles-lettres, but outlined important segments of Canadian culture
by tracing developments in fields outside literature such as history,
philosophy, theology and the sciences. Although the book could not muster
the same self-confidence as the Literary History of the United States (1946),
with its picture of a chain of succeeding cultural cycles culminating in the
growing universal recognition of American literature, the contributors to
the Canadian Literary History could at least show that Canada had a much
better intellectual and cultural record than many expected.
The publication of a revised and enlarged second edition in 1976 came
almost like a natural law. Had not Frye’s example challenged and encouraged Anglophone critics to probe Canadian literature for central
images such as exile, survival and paradise lost as offshoots of the garrison
mentality? And was not the explosion of Canadian literature in the sixties
proof enough that Canada was experiencing her Elizabethan age, to use
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Ronald Sutherland’s words from his famous feature essay in the Times
Literary Supplement (1973)?
Despite its new red cover, the second edition of the Literary History still
remained the original blue book which now extended the investigation to
the year 1972. Apart from bringing the story of literature and literary
criticism up to date, it introduced readers to recent developments in
disciplines which, like the physical sciences and engineering, or the biological sciences, had not been dealt with before. It also filled a gap in the frost
edition by including a chapter on a textual genre which had been subsumed
under different headings: the art of biography which was traced back to
1817.
The fourth volume, published fourteen years later, has come as a kind of
surprise, although rumour had it that such an expansion was in the making.
In 1976, one felt that the Literary History had fulfilled its task of taking stock
in an impressive way, and that it had arrived at a stage of completion. The
editors of the present volume must have thought differently. For them, 1972
apparently was an artificial divide. Politically speaking, they were right, for
1984, the end of the period covered in Volume IV, marked the end of the
Trudeau years with the repatriation of the Constitution and the repeated
flexing of the Francophone muscle under Lévesque as perhaps the most
striking domestic highlights. Political and literary developments, however,
do not necessarily overlap, and although William New in his stimulating
introduction claims that political-social contexts affect both literary subject
and form, it is not easy to chart direct connections. To be fair, in his mapping
of the political, social, intellectual, cultural and economic climate, New
refrains from pinning literary developments down to casual relationships,
and hardly ever does more than suggest possible interconnections. The
public context within which developments in literary and non-literary fields
are scrutinized comprises the powerful role of the media and communications and, hence, the greater exposure of Canadians to world events, the
loss of economic security as a result of wide-spread unemployment and
limits to the job market, the strains imposed on national unity by Quebec’s
antagonizing linguistic policies, changes in Canada’s ethnic pattern due to
changed immigration policies, regional frictions, native rights activism, the
increased articulation of the women’s movement and developments in the
sector of cultural institutions. It seems that all these and many other factors
have led to the loss of confidence in the existence of commonly shared
values. In both realms, politics and culture, comfortable beliefs have given
way to uncertainties. In the same way in which the notion of a whole society
has lost credibility despite official rhetoric to the contrary, the almost
utopian hope for a unified, steadily progressing Canadian culture with all
its ideological components, such as the search for the great Canadian
masterpiece, has receded into the background. Thus, a conclusion of the
kind written by Frye for the third volume of the 1976 edition, which
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reconfirmed in the main the notion of Canada as he had expounded it in
his first conclusion, would no longer do. The fourth volume marks a break
from the preceding three, which can most certainly be assigned to the fact
that a generation has passed since 1965, and that Canadian literature and
criticism have matured by shifting their focus from the somewhat exhausted
and false ringing Unitarian preoccupations. Against this background, New
speaks of a sense of indeterminacy which has pervaded relevant parts of
Canada’s intellectual life. This is reflected in the enormous variety and
diversity of literary modes which no longer permit the easy subsumption
under the concept of one culture. It is also reflected in the changed
methodologies of literary criticism, which have discarded traditional notions of freed text and centrality of author for a greater awareness of the act
of reading as process, limitations of aesthetic perception and the impossibility of the notion of finality.
The break with the 1976 edition furthermore becomes obvious in the
interdisciplinary scope of Volume IV. New’s predecessor as general editor,
Carl F. Klinck, wanted the Literary History to come close to an intellectual
history of the country which would highlight Canadian achievements in
disciplines other than literature. Klinck’s mission was to provide a relatively
complete picture. Thus, his remark that readers should be familiarized with
the way in which “minds work in various important disciplines” (Vol. III,
p. xii) was an aside rather than a serious commitment of literary criticism
to leave the confines of its own territory. Yet the retreat of traditional,
critical approaches which were shaken by the encroachments of new
aesthetic/linguistic theories from Europe and the United States demanded
altered attitudes towards other subjects. The decline of the concept of
finality and the blurring of the border lines between literary and non-literary
textual types have forced literary critics to roam formerly alien fields. In
this situation, the critic may have to consult other disciplines in order to
acquire a greater cultural competence. New mentions studies in psychology
of “literality, memory, or imagemaking” (Vol. IV, p. xxvi) which could be
tapped for a surer grasp of the conditions of literary perception. The
interdisciplinary relationship could also be one of mutuality in which
literary criticism might help disciplines to question some of their specific
theoretical premises. One such example, Hayden White’s metahistorical
approach, which is made mention of (xxiv), has most certainly placed a
question mark behind the traditional beliefs of historians in the coherence
and objectivity of their reconstructions of history, and exposed the
proximity of history and fiction. New’s interdisciplinary creed explains why
the range of disciplines covered is considerably narrowed down and confined to subjects which seem to have a greater bearing on literature:
anthropology, folklore, political science, history, psychology and lifewriting, the latter comprising a mix of genres which, in the former volumes,
had often been dealt with separately, such as biography, autobiography,
travel writing, etc. Needless to say that for obvious reasons, the inclusion of
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chapters on translation and on radio, television and film does not require
any justification.
The fourth volume has also reversed the arrangements of its forerunners.
It begins with chapters on the truly literary genres of poetry, short fiction
and the novel. This is perhaps a deliberate attempt at decolonizing
Canadian literary history which, like all literary histories of former colonies,
set out from the factual and documented to the less “useful” literary genres.
Even Volume 111 of the 1976 edition placed drama, fiction and poetry at
the end, as if to document that it was better to react to the literary explosion
in the sixties and beginning seventies with prudent restraint, since no one
could know how long this strain of good luck would last. Obviously, it has
not only lasted, but it has surpassed the expectations of even the most
cautious observers. In the face of an abundance of good literary works and
the increased diversity of the literary scene, surveys of literature now had
to be placed first, thus marking the final decline of the inherited cultural
inferiority complex. This newly gained abundance and diversity are simultaneously a burden and an opportunity. A burden, because it requires
selection, if the Literary History is not to exhaust itself in the dropping of
names and titles. A chance, because it no longer requires the mention of
every trite and third-rate work for the lack of something better.
Abundance and diversity necessitate reliable guides. This is particularly
true for the survey on poetry, for poets have been the most prolific among
Canada’s writers and the myriads of books of poetry would have pressed
weaker hearts to proclaim unconditional surrender. Not so Laurie Ricou
who, with a sure grasp and competent judgment, guides us through the
poetic scene which even to a fairly informed reader frequently appears like
a maze. Trying to find common denominators, Ricou assigns the poetic
productions to five trends: prose lyric, neo-surrealism, metaphysical lyrics,
the long poem and finally fringe forms. It might seem doubtful if these
classifications do full justice to the diversity of contemporary poetry, but
Ricou’s definitions, based on aesthetic, not thematic distinctions, sound
convincing. His observations draw our attention not only to influential
individual poets (Al Purdy, Kroetsch, or Atwood, for example), or to the
surprising survival and continuing elaboration of the long poem as Canada’s
most prestigious old poetic genre, but they alert us also to the increased
demand for a highly sophisticated reader well versed in “critical theory...
anthropology, geology, linguistics, and computer science”. The encounter
with, say, process-poems (e.g. by B.P. Nichol or Daphne Marlatt), or
Christopher Dewdney’s attempts at translating the world of science into a
new system of poetic language, demonstrates that a large portion of contemporary Canadian poetry will have to pay the price of aesthetic complexity with a growing exclusion of readers.
296
In contrast to poetry, which was the first genre to open up Canadian
literature to international developments, the short story is a relative latecomer. Not that short fiction did not exist before: a Canadian tradition can
be traced back to the early nineteenth century. Yet, recognition was late in
coming, the short story lagged behind, and Hugh McPherson, in the 1965
edition of the Literary History, could voice only bleak predictions for the
genre. Fortunately, these predictions have proved wrong as David Jackel’s
chapter on short fiction shows. His central concern is the war waged by
some critics against the notion of an indigenous tradition in the name of an
internationalism that he brands as equally ideological as the nationalist
spicing of texts with Canadian content. I agree with his criticism of the
almost dogmatic prescriptiveness behind the enforcement of magic realist
or modernist principles by critics/writers whose attacks on the mimetic
mode and denunciation of stories from the pre-Hugh-Hood-period (i.e.
before 1962) betray a poor sense of history and deny the character of
literature as a process. The vitality of the genre today rests in its plurality,
formal and otherwise, which can be seen in the achievements by single
authors as well as in the numerous short story collections whose strategies
of selection do not go unquestioned.
The novel has probably made the biggest leap forward, although there was
no direct transition from realism to postmodernism, as Linda Hutcheon’s
fine chapter shows. Hutcheon is right to assign a key role to Beautiful
Losers, whose formaI and aesthetic audacity unleashed further daring
novelistic enterprises. Earlier “experimental” works (e.g. by Howard
O’Hagan or Sheila Watson) could not muster the additional boost that
Beautiful Losers gained from its author’s public stature as a pop star. The
invasion of metafictional ventures was also most certainly helped by the
academic base of many Canadian writers. The strong postmodernist contamination, for Hutcheon the biggest development in contemporary fiction,
comes in many shapes, and it has affected many of Canada’s foremost
writers, among them Blaise, Bowering, Findley, Kroetsch, Thomas and
others. Interestingly, Canadian metafiction, despite the great impact of
international literary trends in Canada, rarely shares the American and
French obsession with self-reflexivity. Unfortunately, we are not told why
this is so, although answers to the intentions of Canadian postmodernism
are attempted. Altogether, Hutcheon has to be praised for not playing
down the still dominant realist mode as immature, and for scanning the
wide range of contemporary fiction.
For the first time, the Literary History has one chapter on literary translation
from the pen of Philip Stratford, who himself has repeatedly crossed the
linguistic English- and French-Canadian borderline. After a quick rush
through the history of translation of Canadian works, he uses the inauguration of the Canada Council Translation Grants Program in 1972 as a
starting-point. There can be no doubt that, because of this, a good cross297
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section of Quebec literature (chiefly fiction), available now in English
translation, has widened the Anglophone perception of French-Canadian
culture. With Stratford, one can only hope that this is a mutual process and
that the feeble positive signs from Quebec are not misleading.
Barry Cameron’s chapter on the state of theory and criticism in Canada is
highly revealing as it makes clear that the sophistication of literature and
criticism often have gone hand in hand. Frye’s influence has considerably
weakened, although the ripples of his cultural premises are still visible.
Frank Davey’s Surviving the Paraphrase (1974) is at the beginning of the
anti-thematic stance that has gained ground with the help of formalist,
structuralist and deconstructivist theories reaching Canada’s shores from
abroad. This development has entailed changed attitudes towards text,
reader and meaning yet, with its greater distrust of referentiality, it runs
the risk of leaving the field of public discourse (and influence) to other
disciplines which claim to have access to reality and which have apparently
fewer qualms to satisfy a fundamental human need for meaning and order.
This is obvious in the chapter on writings in political science (Alan C.
Cairns, Douglas Williams), where the chief emphasis has been on current
political questions rather than theoretical concerns. This is also true of
historiography which, according to Carl Berger, has moved away from
interpretations of the national experience to those of region, gender, class,
ethnic group, etc.
The large scope of this volume renders a detailed review of all chapters
impossible. The surveys on theatre and drama (Brian Parker, Cynthia
Zimmerman), radio, television and film (Robert Fothergill) and on
children’s literature (Frances Frazer) are all very informative. In some
instances, one would have liked additional information (for example, on the
impact of international drama on Canadian plays), but this would have
made the book even bigger than it already is. Of great interest is Shirley
Neuman’s article on “Life-Writing” which crosses the frequently thin borderline between literature and non-literary genres such as biography,
autobiography, memoir, travel reports, etc. Francess G. Halpenny’s final
chapter, “From Author to Reader”, makes an apt ending to the book, as it
tries to probe the institutional, economic, political and publishing
framework within which Canadian works were made available to the public.
Because of Canada’s official, multicultural policy, the chapters on folklore
(Edith Fowke) and anthropological writing (Bruce Trigger) are very useful.
Trigger is able to show how anthropologists were forced to redefine the
role of their discipline from a study of natives as distant, exotic objects to
one of humans whose specitic views and immediate problems had to be
made known to the dominant white culture. In this context, it is regrettable
that the concepts of multiculturalism and ethnicity are hardly ever discussed (apart from brief remarks by Jackel and Hutcheon). As Canadian
298
literature (in English) will probably develop a stronger ethnic profile in the
future, one separate chapter could have been devoted to an outline of a
multicultural literary perspective.
Similarly, other chapters could have dealt with regionalism and feminism
as forces shaping contemporary writing. Regionalism and feminism are
mentioned several times, but both would have deserved more explicit
treatment. In addition, post-colonial theories, Commonwealth studies and
comparative approaches as helpful scholarly frameworks for the study of
Canadian literature should have received more attention than they did in
Balachandra Rajan’s survey “Scholarship and Criticism” which covers the
whole range of English studies. But all this would have required a completely different book. As it was, New was compelled to bring the second edition
of the Literary History to completion. Thus, he had to follow largely (though
not exclusively) the pattern of the preceding volumes.
On the whole, the last volume is as ambitious as its predecessors. It is a good
inventory of trends and developments in Canadian writing (not just in
Canadian literature) and as such, it will help interested readers to orient
themselves in their encounter with the amazing wealth (in terms of both
quantity and quality) of literary production in Canada. I doubt, however, if
another Literary History of this kind will ever be written again. The formation of a literary tradition is a continuous process. Therefore, it will be up
to the next generation to rewrite, not re-edit the third edition of the Literary
History of Canada, which will most probably be a completely different book.
--
Authors/Auteurs
Jacques ALLARD, professeur de littérature à l’Université du Québec à
Montréal.
Caroline ANDREW, Professor, Political Science and Women’s Studies,
University of Ottawa; professeure, science politique et études des
femmes, Université d’Ottawa.
Alan F.J. ARTIBISE, urban historian and planner, Director of the School
of Community and Regional Planning at the University of British
Columbia.
André BLAIS, professeur titulaire au Département de science politique et
chercheur associé au Centre de recherche et développement en
économique à l’Université de Montréal.
Joanne BURGESS, Professor, History Department, Université du Québec
à Montréal; professeure, Département d’histoire, Université du
Québec à Montréal.
Luca CODIGNOLA, Associate Professor of Early North American History
at the University of Pisa.
Dennis FORCESE, Professor of Sociology and Anthropology, Vice
President (Academic) at Carleton University, Ottawa.
Konrad GROß, Professor of English at the University of ChristianAlbrechts in Kiel (Federal Republic of Germany).
Mark G. McGOWAN, Professor of history and religion, Ottawa.
William METCALFE, Professor of History, Director of Canadian Studies
at the University of Vermont.
Maureen Appel MOLOT, Professor in the Norman Paterson School of
International Affairs and the Department of Political Science,
Carleton University, Ottawa.
William H. NEW, Professor of English at the University of British Columbia, Editor of Canadian Literature.
Roberto PERIN, professeur au Département d’histoire de l’Université
York, North York (Ontario).
Jean-Claude ROBERT, professeur d’histoire à l’Université du Québec à
Montréal.

Research on Canada/La recherche sur le Canada

Transcription

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