Civic Discourse and Cultural Politics in Canada: A Cacophony of Voices

by Sherry Devereaux Ferguson, Leslie Regan Shade

Overview

No previous volume has collected as interesting and broad a collection of essays on Canadian discourse and culture. This volume of representative case studies reflects the Canadian experience in terms of discourse, society, and public culture, linking its discussions to larger political and social issues and theories. Topics include:
•Constitutional controversies
•Cultural sovereignty
•Feminist voices
•Globalization
•Internet issues
•Marginalized communities
•Nationalism
•Nativity

Multidisciplinary perspectives from a mix of established and emerging Canadian studies scholars converge in a highly readable, engaging, and unique book that offers a distinctive portrait of a nation not nearly as well understood as its proximity to the United States might suggest.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781567505979
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	08/30/2002
Series:	Civic Discourse for the Third Millennium Series
Pages:	328
Product dimensions:	6.14(w) x 9.21(h) x 0.68(d)

About the Author

Sherry Devereaux Ferguson is a Professor in the Communication Department at the University of Ottawa, Canada. She is the author or editor of six books, including Communication Planning: An Integrated Approach and Researching the Public Opinion Environment: Theories and Method, and is an editorial board member for the Jourbanal of Communication.

Leslie Regan Shade is an Assistant Professor in the Communication Department at the University of Ottawa, Canada. She is the author of Gender and Community in the Social Construction of the Internet, and the co-editor of E-Commerce vs. E-Commons: Communications in the Public Interest and Mediascapes: New Patterns in Canadian Communication.

Table of Contents

Introduction
A Cacophony of Voices: Competing for the Future by Sherry Devereaux Ferguson
Who's Afraid of Canadian Culture? by Leslie Regan Shade
Principles, Politics, Human Rights by Scott Streiner
Quiet Voices, Marginalized and At-Risk Communities
Cleaning up the City: Squeegee Kids and the Social Purification of Urban Canada by Derek Foster
Spatial In(queer)ies: Queer Space as Queer Voice in Calgary by Dawn E. B. Johnston
The Discourse of the Leading Actors in the Fight against Poverty: An Analysis of the Quebec Print Press by Marie-Nicole Cossette
Protecting the Kids? Debates Over Internet Content by Leslie Regan Shade
Strident Voices, Organized Protest, and Virtual Communities
Anarchy Makes a Comeback by Evan Potter
Standoff at Oka: Take Me to Your Leader by Sherry Devereaux Ferguson
Too Far, Too Fast: The Mobilization of Parents Against Neo-Liberal Restructuring in Ontario by Kirsten Kozolanka
The Moccasin Telegraph Goes Digital: First Nations and the Political Usage of the Internet by David Kim Juniper
The Internet as a Space for Civic Discourse: The Case of the Unity Debate in Canada by Chantal Benoit-Barné
Regional Voices, Political Issues, and Civil Society
The Impossibility of Conservatism: The Discourse of the New Right Ideology by Darin Barney
The Center-Periphery Dialectic in Cape Breton: A Discourse Analysis by Carol Corbin and Mike Hunter
Virtually Civil: Studio XX, Feminist Voices, and Digital Technology in Canadian Civil Society by Neil Gerlach and Sheryl N. Hamilton
Law and Constitution in Canadian Civil Culture by Michael Dorland and Maurice Charland
Public Sphere and Public Sphericules: Civic Discourse in Ethnic Media by Karim H. Karim
Major League Sports, Civic Discourse, and the World-Class City: A Case Study of Vancouver by Mark Douglas Lowes
Echoes from a Romanticized Past, Mythological Discourses
A Truly Comic History: Central Canadian Nationalism and the Politics of Memory by Peter Hodgins
Reclaiming "Authenticity": Cape Breton's Magazine and the Commodification of Insularity by Jennifer M. MacLennan and G. John Moffatt
Sacajewea and Her Sisters: Images and Native Women by Gail Valaskakis

Editorial Reviews

Written primarily by scholars from the field of communication studies, 21 chapters, presented by Ferguson and Shade (both of the Department of Communications, U. of Ottawa, Canada), explore regional, marginalized, dissident, and historical discourses from Canadian political and cultural debates. The interaction of those voices with the dominant culture is the major theme of studies of queers in Calgary, anarchist protestors, "squeegee kids" in the cities, new right ideologues, feminist activists working with digital technology, and First Nations (Native American) Internet activists. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

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