Selves and Subjectivities: Reflections on Canadian Arts and Culture

276 Pages·2013·1.993 MB·English

by  Manijeh Mannani, Veronica Thompson

Selves and Subjectivities
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Selves
and

Subjectivities
REFLECTIONS ON CANADIAN
ARTS AND CULTURE
Edited by
Manijeh Mannani and Veronica Thompson
Copyright © 2012 Manijeh Mannani and Veronica Thompson
Published by AU Press, Athabasca University
1200, 10011 – 109 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 3S8
ISBN 978-1-926836-49-2 (print) 978-1-926836-50-8 (PDF) 978-1-926836-51-5
(epub)
Cover and interior design by Natalie Olsen, Kisscut Design.
Printed and bound in Canada by Marquis Book Printers.
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Selves and subjectivities : reflections on Canadian arts and culture /
edited by Manijeh Mannani and Veronica Thompson.
Issued also in electronic format.
ISBN 978-1-926836-49-2
1. National characteristics, Canadian, in art. 2. Identity (Psychology) — Canada.
3. Identity (Psychology) in art. 4. Culture in art. 5. Arts, Canadian.
I. Mannani, Manijeh, 1964– II. Thompson, Veronica, 1963–
FC95.5.S45 2012 700.971 C2011-905793-X
We acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through
the Canada Book Fund (CBF) for our publishing activities.
Assistance provided by the Government of Alberta, Alberta Multimedia De-
velopment Fund.
Please contact AU Press, Athabasca University at [email protected] for
permissions and copyright information.
contents
selves and subjectivities 1
Manijeh Mannani and Veronica Thompson
A semiotic Reading of Hédi Bouraoui’s
The Woman Between the Lines 13
Elizabeth Dahab
Mourning Lost “others” in Ronnie
Burkett’s Happy 39
Janne Cleveland
Putting an end to Recycled Violence
in colleen Wagner’s The Monument 69
Gilbert McInnis
Representations of the self and the other
in canadian Intercultural theatre 95
Anne Nothof
Pulling Her self together: Daphne Marlatt’s
Ana Historic 115
Veronica Thompson
“New, Angular Possibilities”:
Redefining Ethnicity Through
Transcultural Exchanges in Marusya
Bociurkiw’s The Children of Mary 151
Dana Patrascu-Kingsley
The Elegiac Loss of the English-
Canadian Self and the End of
the Romantic Identification with
the Aboriginal Other in Leonard
Cohen’s Beautiful Losers 175
Jesse Rae Archibald-Barber
Playing the Role of the Tribe:
The Aesthetics of Appropriation
in Canadian Aboriginal Hip Hop 207
Thor Polukoshko
Toward a Theory of the Dubject:
Doubling and Spacing the Self
in Canadian Media Culture 235
Mark A. McCutcheon
List of Contributors 265

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1
Selves and Subjectivities
Manijeh Mannani
and Veronica Thompson
Canadian identity and its manifestations in the arts are the cen­
tral themes in Selves and Subjectivities, a collection of essays that
explores emerging concepts about the representation of the Self
and the Other in contemporary Canadian arts and culture. The
essays touch upon a variety of issues, most notably gender and
sexuality, displacement, trauma, performativity, and linguistic
diversity on at least two levels: the individual and the collec­
tive. The original call for papers for this collection was broadly
conceived to address emerging concepts of identity formation.
To our delight, the majority of the submissions had a Canadian
focus, which is reflected in these selections. The response made
apparent the continuing problematics of identity and the cen­
trality of this debate within the Canadian imagination.