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This dissertation presents Vepsian language revival as a case study for language revival movements. The Vepsian language is classified as seriously endangered by UNESCO and it is spoken by Veps, a Finno-Ugric minority in north western Russia. The discussion on literacy-orality interaction in rural and urban areas lies at the core of the dissertation. Since the beginning of the revival movement, activists have privileged literacy over orality in the promotion of Vepsian. Literacy became an emblem of political action as a way to promote the Vepsian language within a multi-ethnic society. The present ethnographic study aims to bring to the surface aspects of the Vepsian language which have not reached mainstream Vepsian revitalization. It shows Vepsian language ecology more comprehensively. In this dissertation, the phrase language ecology matches contemporary ideas of interaction and socialization with the world. The scope of the dissertation builds upon the work by Blommaert (2005) and Bourdieu (1992) in giving voice to the marginalised. It presents sets of language practices and their social symbolism which have been partially included in the revival of Vepsian. I refer to the oral practices of the Vepsian speech communities in rural areas of the Vepsän ma (V. ‘Vepsian land’) as opposed to the use of Vepsian literacy in the cities, especially Petrozavodsk. The present inquiry of the Vepsian revival movement provides the foundation for a theoretical discussion on the literacy and orality dualism. Not only has this dualism stressed the political importance of literacy in a post-Soviet context, it has also given space to the Vepsian oral mode and its social relevance. By drawing these two traditions together, the oral and the written, the thesis matches Vepsian traditional ontologies, the Vepsian sebr (V. ‘community’) whose unity had been affected by Soviet and contemporary political measures, language and social ideologies.

Why do we care about heritage places? Heritage conservation theory and practice have assumed that these places are intrinsic to the idea of community and that their conservation is of public interest. Yet heritage places, as recognized by governments, do not necessarily have overwhelming support for their conservation, despite better processes to include multiple values. Some elicit a strong sense of connection, others are a ‘foreign country’ to be visited. Finally, some are forgotten though remain officially recognized as part of a ‘national heritage’. The relevance of these places is a deciding factor in their fate. In parallel, the concept of lieux de mémoire (place of memory) highlights the nature of those places that do not require official recognition to exist and to engage communities in their conservation. Their significance often clash with the purpose of legislation and government agencies because these tend to focus on processes based on facts and consensus. The relevance of these places to a community may not be captured and conserved by official means. This thesis explores the expressions of relevance of recognized (official) and unrecognized (unofficial) heritage places by studying the case of Grand Pré in Nova Scotia (Canada), a community with more than a century of official and unofficial heritage status. The case study reveals the various roles and responsibilities emerging from state and community initiatives to highlight differences in the nature of heritage places. By contrasting the roots of the mainstream heritage conservation movement and of the community-driven assignment of value to certain places, this thesis establishes characteristics that distinguish ‘historic places’ from lieux de mémoire. That distinction creates a path towards improved definition, conservation, and relevance of heritage places. This thesis concludes by proposing an approach to conserving heritage places based on their function as an evolution from current values-based conservation.

Although numerous studies have been done on language ideologies, bilingualism and effects of second language socialization on bilinguals' conceptualization in both languages, these three areas of research are almost never brought together in one study. This study is an attempt to investigate language views of adult Russian-English bilinguals and whether there are patterned differences in conceptualization of these views depending on the language chosen for discussion. The study also inspects whether the articulated language views are accurate predictors of actual literacy practices in Russian-English bilingual families and parental choices of maintaining/not-maintaining Russian in their children. Since the frames of reference are so different in Russia/Ukraine (where the participants came from) and the United States, the language views articulated by bilingual participants are compared to those expressed by Russian/ Ukrainians and Americans to see how the participants' views are influenced by the process of second language socialization.

This dissertation examines the negotiation of language ideologies and identity construction amongst university intermediate level Spanish Heritage Language (SHL) learners in the U.S. Southwest. Combining sociolinguistic and ethnographic methods with discourse analysis, this study seeks to provide deeper insight into the linguistic practices and the negotiation of language ideologies that takes place amongst SHL learners. Data from participant observation of interaction in the SHL classroom throughout the semester, questionnaires, interviews with students and instructor, and student focus group discussions were used to analyze discourses about language and the multiple values placed on English and Spanish in general, and on standard and local varieties of Spanish in particular. More specifically, this study analyzes, through the application of Bourdieu's (1991) notions of linguistic capital and symbolic power, how SHL learners negotiate these values and discourses as they study their heritage language. In addition, this study examines performances of identity observed during interactions within this group of SHL learners, recognizing the construction of multiple social identities, including bilingual, heritage learner and ethnic identities, as a dynamic and complex process that is recurrently shaped by interaction and the negotiation of competing language ideologies.

Studying issues of heritage language (HL) maintenance is gaining more significance than ever as our lives become significantly more complex and dynamic because of frequent migration and the transnational diasporas that such migration creates in its wake. HL maintenance is important in multicultural environments because familial relationships depend heavily on successful communication among family members. Viewing HL maintenance as a social practice, this exploratory qualitative study attempts to understand how participants are involved in their children’s HL maintenance by investigating, comparing, and contrasting the participants’ attitudes and practices. This study recruited eight Korean immigrant families with different lengths of residence in Greater Vancouver, an area that has seen a steady growth in the numbers of Korean immigrants. Combining social practice theory and qualitative research, this study uses discourse analysis to explore the participants’ language ideologies and beliefs about HL maintenance. This study also explored actual parental involvement in their children’s HL acquisition and maintenance. Furthermore, this study examined participants’ technology use as a means of HL acquisition and maintenance. In particular, the participants’ online conversations were examined to explore language use. This study supports the view that the parental role is important, even paramount, in children’s HL maintenance, but goes beyond this to show how technology can play a positive role in HL acquisition and maintenance. There are three central findings. First, a match between parental attitudes and behaviours concerning HL acquisition and maintenance and contributes to their children’s HL maintenance. Second, a mismatch or inconsistency between parental attitudes and behaviours correlates with children’s HL attrition or loss. Third, language revitalization can occur through HL and cultural practices in various online activities such as synchronous and asynchronous online communication, including access to Korean websites and playing games in Korean. To conclude, examining HL maintenance as a social practice offers new insights into the complexity and dynamics of the social practices of HL maintenance in the lives of Korean immigrants in Canada.

The physical traces left behind by the passage of lives constitute a form of collective memory; they are the tell-tale signs that suggest to us how things have come to be the way they are, remind us of they way they used to be, and suggest how they might become in the future. The physical world selects objects for preservation according to a capricious set of rules, choosing not only the extraordinary and the notable, but also the ordinary and the seemingly insignificant. When these traces of our experience are permitted to remain, places of extraordinary richness begin to develop, where heritage is not manufactured, but is allowed to evolve. Taking this process as a starting point, this Graduation Project began as an investigation into the reciprocal relationships that can exist between new architecture and its physical and historical contexts. It explores ways in which a new building can both affect and be affected by the residual traces of circumstances and activities that have occurred in a place over time, excavating and preserving the history of place, and sustaining this history by adding a new layer of meaning and form to an existing site. In the search to determine ways in which these time scales intermesh and layer within a set of spaces, another investigation occurred, into the relationships between form, scale, light, activity and the perception and experience of time. The site chosen for this project is a building lot on Columbia Street in New Westminster, containing the ruins of a commercial building dating from 1898. The programme was for an art college, containing a gallery, a lecture theatre, a library, offices and studios. In the design of a new building for this site, a number of existing elements were identified for their potential to suggest either aspects of the site's history or the design of new spaces: an old brick retaining wall whose bricked-in doorways suggest spaces underneath the adjacent street, a stone door-step recalling an entrance, a fragment of stone from an even older building that once stood on this site. New spaces were then ordered, both in relation to these found elements, and in relation to each other, based particularly on the ways in which they suggest and respond to the passage of time. An play of affinities and contrasts was established, whereby spaces are simultaneously related to, but distinguished from one another. The design of this building was therefore determined not only as a reaction to a given set of circumstances, but as a consideration of the ways in which the passage of time, both historical and daily, might be manipulated as an architectural element.

This study investigates the relationship between built heritage resources in community improvement projects and social, cultural and economic integrity within their geographical boundaries. These projects are concerned specifically with initiatives that strive to boost the local economy by improving aspects the built environment. These renewal projects often focus on street beautification, individual community-based culture and visually pleasing architecture which draw pedestrians, customers, tourists and businesses. More importantly, these projects are meant to give the community the opportunity to improve their properties and as a result, improve the quality of life. This study focuses on three Business Improvement Areas in the City of Hamilton, Ontario as a case study. Hamilton’s long-standing dependence on the steel industry has created its widely-recognised identity as a blue-collar town. Hamilton’s built landscape reflects this identity with numerous industrial buildings and workers housing which dominates large sections of the inner-city and shoreline. However, the end of the 20th century marked a change from an industrial-based economy, to a knowledge and technology-based economy. This translated into a built landscape in need of renewal and improvement in order to accommodate new use. Some parts of Hamilton are currently feeling the effects of urban decline, where vacancy and poorly maintained urban areas are forming a cyclical relationship between social problems, such as crime and poverty (Milgrim, 2010). Fortunately, Hamilton’s previous success in the steel industry resulted in an urban landscape full of unique old historic buildings. These buildings can be used in creating a renewed urban landscape with an authentic identity that is true to Hamilton’s history and cultural identity. Recognising this, the City of Hamilton initiated several financial incentives and grant programs in order to help the community break the cycle of community degeneration and improve the built landscape. While Hamilton has issued reports outlining its economic contributions, no studies have been conducted in order to understand how these financial incentive programs are affecting communities economically, socially and culturally in relation to the historic built landscape. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between Hamilton’s Business Improvement Areas and the state of economic, social and cultural integrity, paying special attention to its built heritage resources. This study includes both primary and secondary data. Primary data includes a building condition and use survey, business-mail in surveys, key stakeholder interviews, and observational research. Secondary includes (but is not limited to) market evaluations from the City of Hamilton that specifically relate to the three selected Business Improvement Areas. This study ultimately concluded that the International Village Business Improvement Area compared to the Downtown Hamilton Business Improvement Area and the Barton Village Business Improvement Area had the highest scores for economic, social, and cultural integrity. It also concluded that the Barton Village Business Improvement area had the lowest scores for economic, social, and cultural integrity.

This study investigates the relationship between built heritage resources in community improvement projects and social, cultural and economic integrity within their geographical boundaries. These projects are concerned specifically with initiatives that strive to boost the local economy by improving aspects the built environment. These renewal projects often focus on street beautification, individual community-based culture and visually pleasing architecture which draw pedestrians, customers, tourists and businesses. More importantly, these projects are meant to give the community the opportunity to improve their properties and as a result, improve the quality of life. This study focuses on three Business Improvement Areas in the City of Hamilton, Ontario as a case study. Hamilton’s long-standing dependence on the steel industry has created its widely-recognised identity as a blue-collar town. Hamilton’s built landscape reflects this identity with numerous industrial buildings and workers housing which dominates large sections of the inner-city and shoreline. However, the end of the 20th century marked a change from an industrial-based economy, to a knowledge and technology-based economy. This translated into a built landscape in need of renewal and improvement in order to accommodate new use. Some parts of Hamilton are currently feeling the effects of urban decline, where vacancy and poorly maintained urban areas are forming a cyclical relationship between social problems, such as crime and poverty (Milgrim, 2010). Fortunately, Hamilton’s previous success in the steel industry resulted in an urban landscape full of unique old historic buildings. These buildings can be used in creating a renewed urban landscape with an authentic identity that is true to Hamilton’s history and cultural identity. Recognising this, the City of Hamilton initiated several financial incentives and grant programs in order to help the community break the cycle of community degeneration and improve the built landscape. While Hamilton has issued reports outlining its economic contributions, no studies have been conducted in order to understand how these financial incentive programs are affecting communities economically, socially and culturally in relation to the historic built landscape. Therefore, this study investigates the relationship between Hamilton’s Business Improvement Areas and the state of economic, social and cultural integrity, paying special attention to its built heritage resources. This study includes both primary and secondary data. Primary data includes a building condition and use survey, business-mail in surveys, key stakeholder interviews, and observational research. Secondary includes (but is not limited to) market evaluations from the City of Hamilton that specifically relate to the three selected Business Improvement Areas. This study ultimately concluded that the International Village Business Improvement Area compared to the Downtown Hamilton Business Improvement Area and the Barton Village Business Improvement Area had the highest scores for economic, social, and cultural integrity. It also concluded that the Barton Village Business Improvement area had the lowest scores for economic, social, and cultural integrity.

This qualitative study shared the voices of parents, students, and teachers and their perspectives on and experiences at community-based Chinese heritage schools (CHSs) in Southeast Texas. Their voices can be seen as critical inquiries that truly represent the phenomenon of after-school Chinese language education in the United States. With in-depth interviews and content analysis, this dissertation sought to provide greater understanding in: (a) creating a dialogue among the unique perspectives and voices of parents, students, and teachers; (b) documenting how teachers, first-generation parents, and second-generation students negotiate their own unique roles within the CHS system; (c) providing recommendations to school leaders, administrators, and teachers regarding particular methods of working with parents, to make students' heritage language (HL) learning more meaningful; and, (d) underscoring the contention that HL learning is a critical component of a functioning in pluralistic society.