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'Psychology and the Construction of the 'Normal' Family in Postwar Canada, 1945-1960,' investigates the manner in which psychological discourse constructed notions of the normal postwar family in Canada. Despite their pronouncements to the contrary, I argue that the psychologists' discussions of what constituted the normal family were shaped by and reflected their social values, and not so-called objective, scientific concerns. In psychological discourse, normal families were those that conformed to the idealized expectations constructed by the psychologists themselves. These expectations reflected the hegemony of the Anglo-Saxon middle-class point of view that dominated postwar Canadian society. Through its specialized discourse, psychology compared, differentiated, hierarchized, homogenized and excluded families and individuals. Together these techniques constituted its 'normalizing power. ' The study seeks to understand the role of professional social sciences in shaping the private experience of ordinary Canadians and the political uses to which the concepts of social scientific rhetoric are put. It suggests that social scientists endowed with the power to influence social convention determined acceptable ideas about the family and family life. This raises important questions about the political motivation of this expert intervention into the private lives of Canadians.

This study offers a contribution to the fields of Canadian cultural studies, media studies and surveillance studies, introducing the concept of “screen stories” as a framework for thinking about representations of Vancouver’s contested inner city neighbourhood, the Downtown Eastside, in the contemporary era of heightened visibility as a result of media coverage and widespread state, corporate and self-surveillance. Analysing diverse media forms through the lens of screen stories enables a critique of the complexities of representation and its intersections with surveillance in a neighbourhood that might be regarded as overexposed. Through examination of a unique combination of novels, television drama, documentary and digital media, I show that representation is often complicit in facilitating the scrutiny of the Downtown Eastside and its residents: negative representations are frequently used to justify calls for increased surveillance and security rather than cultivating a better understanding of the neighbourhood. At the same time, I identify strategies of resistance and stories that encourage a multitude of perspectives on the Downtown Eastside, challenging stereotypes and limited assumptions. My development of the concept of “screen stories” emphasises the potential of storytelling through, and about, screen media as a means of balancing or countering surveillant, simulacral or voyeuristic images of the neighbourhood with meaningful, embodied narratives. Situated screen stories provide a means of starting conversations and fostering community, in contrast to the often-divisive effects of surveillance and scrutiny.

Bringing Memory Forward: Teachers' Engagements with Constructions of "Difference" in Teacher Literature Circles" explores ways in which teachers can recognize and address their constructions of "difference" individually and collectively. The study invited practicing teachers to discuss multicultural children's and young adult literature in monthly book clubs, write a literacy autobiography and engage in monthly interviews. Four literature circles were formed from the eighteen elementary and secondary teachers who elected to join; one circle was composed entirely of Aboriginal teachers. In all, twenty-one circles and seventy-two interviews occurred between January and June 2003. Departing from related studies, the dissertation combined and gave equal weight to the literature circle, literacy autobiography and the interviews instead of focusing solely on the literature discussion. This equal weighting was necessary because the primary purpose of the research was to find ways to involve teachers in reflecting on their constructions of "difference" such that the teachers would engage in that reflection for themselves. All three elements of the study worked together to "bring memory forward." In the literature circle, teachers discussed children's and young literature. The selections for the literature circle arose out of the teachers' writing and discussion of their literacy autobiographies such that literature familiar to teachers was juxtaposed with literature that was less familiar. In the interviews, teachers reflected on the relationship between the literature discussion and their literacy autobiographies, with the researcher "reflecting back" to teachers' their own words, prompting to elicit thinking and probing to encourage reflection on connections between literary response and lived experience. The title of the dissertation, "Bringing Memory Forward," draws attention to the role of teachers' memories and histories in multicultural literacy teacher education. The study begins from the hypothesis that memory, imagination and action are connected. Memory is explored through teachers' literacy history. Imagination is investigated through teachers' constructions of "difference" embedded in literary response. Action is what can follow for teachers from an awareness and recognition of the significance of memory and imagination to individual and cultural formation. Memory, imagination and action are admittedly broad concepts. In the study, they are made concrete through two related conceptualizations of the teacher: the teacher as learner and the teacher as "storied intellectual." As learners, teachers can become aware of their own "landscapes of learning" (Greene, 1978a) by asking questions such as: Where do my assumptions come from? Where can I go and who can I listen to in order to find out about perspectives other than my own? While teachers learn against the background of their own "landscapes," that landscape includes the teacher's broader role in society, which is to "transmit, critique and interpret" cultural knowledge (Mellouki & Gauthier, 2001, p. 1). The cultural knowledge most closely concerned with literacy is knowing which stories are important to tell. As the mediators of cultural knowledge, inservice teachers need to be in the forefront of societal changes. This conclusion challenges the current focus on preservice education. Moreover, initiatives at the school level are more likely to come from practicing teachers. However, if teachers feel as if they are being told what needs to be done or how to interact with one another or with texts, they will be less than forthcoming in their commitment. This study represents a departure from other studies and approaches in the area of multicultural literacy education by specifying which learning strategies and approaches teachers drew on in identifying their constructions of "difference," which settings supported their learning and why, and the role of the researcher in furthering teachers' learning processes. The study has implications for professional teacher development as well as preservice teacher education. It also contributes to scholarly literature in education on the role of memory in learning.

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The study's main purpose is to explore the problem of managerial obsolescence in Canada. The purpose is accomplished through establishing the importance of management techniques and concepts and through determining the managerial level of the understanding of these techniques and concepts. On the basis of the importance and understanding of management techniques and concepts, the study aims to develop an approach which would provide an approximation of the extent of management obsolescence.