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LE PASSÉ ET NOUS De la conscience historique au XXI e siècle THE PAST AROUND US Historical Consciousness in the XXI st Century Quebec City September 29 – October 1, 2011. THE PAST AS PART OF THE EVERYDAY PRESENT: AN OVERVIEW OF THE CANADIANS AND THEIR PASTS SURVEY. David Northrup - PowerPoint PPT Presentation
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LE PASSÉ ET NOUSDe la conscience historique au XXIe siècle
THE PAST AROUND USHistorical Consciousness in the XXIst Century
Quebec CitySeptember 29 – October 1, 2011
David NorthrupInstitute for Social Research, York University
Toronto, Ontario
September 30, 2011
THE PAST AS PART OF THE EVERYDAY PRESENT:
AN OVERVIEW OF THE CANADIANS AND THEIR PASTS SURVEY
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Four Questions
1 What role does history play in Canadians’ lives?
2 Does the role history plays vary by socio-demographic characteristics such as income, education, gender and age?
3 How much does where you live, be it a big city or a rural area, Quebec or the West, matter in how you engage the past in your everyday life?
4 To what extent do our findings support or differ from the results of similar work in the United States and Australia?
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Interest in Various Pasts/Histories
Type of past/History
very interested
somewhat interested
not interested*
Total
Percent
in general 33 52 15 100
family 52 39 9 100
Canada 32 54 14 100
* The ‘not interested’ percent includes ‘not very interested,’ ‘not at all interested’ and those who did not answer the question
Figures, this and remaining slides are for national sample (3,119 observations), weighted data
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Importance of Various Pasts
Past very important
somewhat important
* not important
Total percent
family 66 33 1 100
religion or spiritual tradition
32 33 35 100
ethno/cultural group 39 42 19 100
province 35 50 15 100
Canada 42 48 10 100
* The ‘not important’ percent includes ‘not very important,’ ‘not at all important’ and those who did not answer the question
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Engagement in Past-related Activities
Family History % yes Public History % yes
photographs 83 movies 78
heirlooms 74 books 53
places (family past) 57 historic sites 49
scrapbook, cookbook, diary, other family history
56 museums 43
family tree 20 Internet 40
computer history games 8 archives 15
other activities 25
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“A Moment of Heritage”
Well, you’re right there, that is where it happened. There’s an aura about that . . . I think a good example is in St. John’s, Newfoundland. They say at this point, the first explorers landed here, and it didn’t mean 100 yards down, it meant right there, right there, that is where the trail was. And I thought, “that’s something!” … That stuff just puts hackles up my back. . . . I’m not sure if everybody feels that, but I did.
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Engagement & Education: I
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
museums* hist sites* internet* books* movies* archives*
less than hs high school post high school university
* significant in regression model
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Engagement & Education: II
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
photos heirlooms* family places scrapbooks,etc.*
family tree* games
less than hs high school post high school university
* significant in regression model
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Past of Province & Canada Rated ‘Very Important’ for Stayers
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Nfld PEI NS NB PQ Ont Man Sask Alb BC
Province Canada
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Past of Province & Canada Rated ‘Very Important’ for Leavers
0%
20%
40%
60%
80%
Nfld PEI NS NB PQ Ont Man Sask Alb BC
Province Canada
Gerald FriesenUniversity of Manitoba, Winnipeg
September 30, 2011
WHAT CANADIANS SAY ABOUT THEIR RELATION
WITH THE PAST
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Connections between individual and collective remembering: I
B2 - Photos Well, I have a collection of photos that I'm just
sorting and organizing still in the last week. [Probe: What are the photos of?] Family members from two and three generations back. [Probe: Looking at them by yourself?] Yes.
B5A – Keeping or preserving
I have furniture from my great-great-grandparents, um, teacups, china, photographs, jewelry.
B5B - Why meaningful
They're meaningful only to the extent that stories that are shared are told, where they came from, why they helped the people in their lives, and then how they were passed down through generations. Sort of traces people's moves … and ties.
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Connections between individual and collective remembering: II
B22B - Traditional cultural activities
Round dance, um, pipe ceremony, pow-wow.
B12B - Last book A Long Way Gone [Ishmael Beah, 2007]
B14B - Last museum The Art Gallery in Regina.
B21 - Other activities/ events
It was informal discussions with my father. We travelled through the area where his great-grandfather homesteaded, and he showed me landmarks and told me stories of family members, and we visited three graveyards to look at family headstones and take care of the graves.
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Connections between individual and collective remembering: III
C5 - Time past meaningful
To me 1885 is very significant because it marks a time in a linear, in linear time, when the Canadian government ordered troops to attack Aboriginal people. It's not so long ago, you know, for some of us, just a few generations, and it was a time when people -- culture was changing rapidly, so, and people had to adapt to changes. So 1885 is as significant to me as 1867, the confederation of Canada.
D8 - Disagree, discover truth
Well, um, I'm thinking of, if … How do I answer this? You must triangulate the information, look at it from multiple sources. [Probe: Time in your life when you tried?] Yes. [Probe] History books, uh, census records, homestead records, family documents, and family members.
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To see the slides:canadiansandtheirpasts.ca/www.isr.yorku.ca/projects/pasts/index.html
For questions:northrup@yorku.cafrieseng@cc.umanitoba.ca
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