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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