Thesis (M.A.)--University of Wisconsin--Madison, 1939. / Typescript. eContent provider-neutral record in process. Description based on print version record. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 128-137).

During the early twentieth century, Acadian women dressed up in a costume based on the main character from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s 1847 epic poem Evangeline at nation-building events to symbolize the Acadian people and its past. Acadians came to consider the Evangeline costume to be the national and historic dress of their people. Yet their ancestors never wore this outfit. During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the Acadian settlers to what is today Canada’s Maritime region instead developed a distinct style of dress based on a mix of local and external influences, which differentiated them from their French origins and from the colonists in other North American settlements by the time most of the population was deported from the region during the Seven Years’ War. In the period following the Expulsion, Acadians continued to wear unique styles of dress which contributed to the sense of a distinct identity. Longfellow’s Evangeline drew on the Romantic Movement, however, and its tendency to view rural dwellers as simple and picturesque peasants wearing exotic costumes. Evangeline led to a reimagining of the Acadians as they became widely associated with their description in the poem, in part due to the popularity with Norman peasant costumes evoked in the poem. This is the version of their past that Acadians chose to emphasize during the twentieth century. This thesis traces the process of reimagining the Acadians’ past that occurred during the nineteenth century and the early twentieth century through a study of representations of Acadian dress in popular culture by both outsiders and members of the community. This thesis intends to shed light on why the Evangeline costume has come to symbolize the Acadian people and their past. During the late nineteenth century and the first half of the twentieth century, Acadians used Evangeline as a tool for nation building to bring together disparate communities to create a unified nation based on the values described in the poem. By wearing the costume and including it in nation-building events, Acadians portrayed the version of their history described in the poem. Additionally, it will be shown that even though the Evangeline costume does not reflect the historical record, Acadians preferred it because the costume represents what the community came to believe was a more suitable version of the past.

Thesis (M. A.)--Acadia University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Thesis (M. A.)--Acadia University, 1998. / Includes bibliographical references. Also available on the Internet via the World Wide Web.

Stuttgart, FH, Diplomarb., 2004.

No description available.

In this thesis I endeavor to discover and show the Unitarian and Patristic theological influences on Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's long narrative poem Evangeline, with special focus on the poem's theological teachings concerning deification and descriptions of the spiritual experience of shining with divine light. In chapter one, I explore the theological climate of early nineteenth-century New England, focusing on the Unitarian and Transcendental movements and Longfellow's familiarity with both. In chapter two, I present an overview of the critical literature concerning the religious elements of Evangeline, beginning with reviews by Longfellow's contemporaries and ending with recent scholarship that calls for a new investigation of Unitarian influences on Evangeline. In chapters three and four, I look back to those Church Fathers who articulated the doctrines of deification and divine light in the second through fourth centuries. Through looking at the presence of the Church Fathers in Longfellow's writings, especially in the unexplored “Christian Fathers” manuscript lectures from the early 1830s, I show how the Patristic writers proved interesting and inspiring to Longfellow in the years leading up to the publication of Evangeline. Finally, in chapters five and six, I investigate in depth the religious elements of Evangeline, giving special attention to the keynote passages of 2.1 and 2.5, which include, respectively, theological teaching concerning deification and a description of the spiritual experience of shining with divine light. I conclude that though in 2.1 Longfellow articulates theological teachings that possess strong affinities with Unitarian doctrine, in 2.5 Longfellow concludes the poem with a characteristically Patristic vision of the deified heroine shining with divine light.

Cette thèse analyse le rapport dynamique entre un lieu historique et la construction identitaire d'un peuple. Pour ce faire, nous avons choisi une étude de cas, le Lieu historique national de Grand-Pré en Nouvelle-Ecosse. L'hypothèse de base de ce travail est qu'un lieu historique joue un rôle dans la construction identitaire d'un peuple, en servant notamment de référence dans la création, la présentation, l'affirmation et la validation d'un sentiment d'appartenance au groupe représenté. Un ou plusieurs groupes peuvent sélectionner et s'approprier, en même temps, des lieux historiques pour des raisons complètement différentes. Us les manipulent et les exploitent selon leurs besoins, les uns comme symbole ethnique, les autres comme lieu touristique. Ces lieux culturels peuvent aussi servir d'outil dans une appropriation du pouvoir, symbolique et réelle. Notre étude démontre que l'affirmation d'un peuple et son désir de participer aux prises de décision concernant sa représentation ethnique est un processus dynamique de négociation qui s'articule autour de trois pôles: l'identité, l'altérité, et la réciprocité. Nous mettons en évidence que ce site historique possède trois fonctions principales: lieu touristique, symbole ethnique et agent d'habilitation pour un peuple. Dès les années 1680 jusqu'à 1994, Grand-Pré a subi une série de mutations: d'un village réel, il est devenu un parc commémoratif, pour finalement se transformer en un lieu historique national. À travers ces changements, la question de la «voix» a été centrale. Si la Déportation de 1755 a étouffé les voix acadiennes, le poème de Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, Evangeline : A Tale of Acadie, a précipité leur résurrection. L'apparition de l'héroïne fictive a servi de mythe identitaire en touchant les émotions de milliers de personnes et en donnant une justification sociale à l'existence de plusieurs membres de la collectivité acadienne. A la fin du dix-neuvième et au commencement du vingtième siècle, Évangéline et Grand-Pré ont servi de points de référence dans le cri de ralliement aux Acadiens et aux Acadiennes dispersés à travers les provinces maritimes et aux États-Unis. L'image romantique du «paradis terrestre» qu'Évangéline et sa terre représentent a été utilisée par des entrepreneurs, anglophones pour la plupart, à des fins commerciales dans le développement du tourisme en Nouvelle-Écosse. Le site continue à desservir les aspirations des deux groupes. / Québec Université Laval, Bibliothèque 2013