Syrup, Hockey and Canoes

In considering a suitable title for my blog, I finally settled on ‘The Canadian Frontier’, a title borrowed from the late and influential historian, W.J. Eccles. The frontier Eccles was studying was the classic and fluid term referring to the geo-politico-socio boundary of contact and settlement in the ‘New World’. As an undergraduate, my course selections and research interests were dominated by this world. Now as a Public History Masters student, I’m learning to understand Canadian history in a new way and on a new frontier – hence my title. The theme of Canada’s origins and frontier will continue to rest on the back burner of my thoughts and resurface in many of my posts.
Public history as a sub-specialty is a relatively recent frontier in its own right. Public historians often present our past in a nostalgic form to elicit the interest of the general public (see Leffler and Brent, History and Its Audiences). In a sense, the public historian is acting as a promoter of popular culture through heritage (is not a sense of culture in part derived from heritage and history?). There are two fantastic coffee table books written by Canadian author Douglas Coupland, called Souvenir of Canada, (written in two parts). Coupland has arranged photographs, still life presentations, and numerous other images, accompanied by personal anecdotes, informal essays, and descriptions in order to describe a culture that is only Canadian. The images and words immediately elicit familiarity, contentedness and in the end, pride and maybe, if Coupland has accomplished what he intended, a warm fuzzy feeling deep down that only Canadians can feel (no toque is necessary, although when warn, one can include the head in this fuzzy feeling). And this is Coupland’s intention, to push Canadiana on his readers. Now, maybe that’s what makes him a little different from a public historian, in that we’re a little less explicit in our intentions when, say, we mount a plaque describing the awe inspiring statue of an anonymous soldier in Any City Park, Any Province, Canada. (This thought will be drawn out further in a future post).
When Coupland sets up a still life that contains a plastic orange container of Bee Hive spilling onto a table hockey set and in another still life, a photo of a birchbark canoe hanging on the wall, he is saying a lot more than what we may initially think. The only prerequisite needed in order to smile to yourself is to be Canadian. Syrup, hockey, canoes, the cultural significance hits us harder than a slapshot from Rocket Richard. Yet, it is the cultural heritage and history that these items represent which elicit a greater appreciation in, say, a public historian. Afterall, is not Canadian culture one great amalgamation of various co-existing cultures? It just so happens that in this example, canoes, syrup, and hockey are all gifts from our aboriginal friends, adopted and turned into national iconography with its own vast history.
Culture can be a very difficult concept to define and in Canada one might often describe being Canadian as simply not being American. But I say, and I think Mr. Coupland would back me up on this: there’s a lot more to Canadian culture laying just below the ice, if only we embrace and exploit (so to speak) our heritage. And I know many would disagree with me when I put it like that. The upstanding and objective historian that Richard Evans describes in In Defense of History would avoid pursuing a history that corresponds to present intentions, be they political, personal, etc. However, I don’t suggest we start manipulating or deconstructing the past to promote a Canadian culture. I’m merely proposing that history can be used objectively to present a past that can be embraced as culture. Personally, the idea of developing and promoting Canadian culture as a public historian is an exciting notion and I intend to further explore this particular frontier.

References:
Douglas Coupland. Souvenir of Canada, One and Two. Vancouver: Douglas and McIntyre, 2002, 2004.
Evans, Richard J. In Defense of History. London: Granta, 2000.
Eccles, W.J. The Canadian Frontier: 1534-1760. New York: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston, 1969.
Leffler, Phyllis K. and Joseph Brent. "History and Its Audiences," Public and Academic History: A Philosophy and Paradigm. Malabar, Fl.: Krieger, 1990.
Image from Souvenir of Canada