No description available.

On a small island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence a distinct Francophone community has persisted for nearly three hundred years despite historical traumas and the pressures exerted by a majority Anglophone environment. The factors that have contributed to the persistence of this community are a matter of some debate, yet the cultural identity of the Acadians of Prince Edward Island in the twenty-first century appears to have remained intact. Contrary to a popular discourse of identity "revival," this distinct culture is neither a recent phenomenon nor is it something that is homogeneously pan-Acadian. While much popular and scholarly discourse on the Acadians centres on their tragic past and nationalist perspectives of Acadian identity construction, this dissertation focuses on how identity is created, perceived and expressed in a local context. Music plays a key role in articulating this local identity; it helps to create and maintain social relationships both within the community and with other cultural groups. The emergence of a distinct musical tradition has contributed substantially to the production and maintenance of cultural identity amongst these Island Acadians. Through case studies of specific performance contexts, individual musicians and professional groups, I examine current and ongoing processes of Acadian cultural definition and how musicians negotiate the dichotomy of traditional and modern performance contexts and forms of expression. I consider the musical alliances and exchanges that inform the experiences of these Islanders and how these intercultural encounters have influenced local musical practices and discourses about Acadian identity. My research demonstrates that contemporary cultural markers, and particularly music, are primary tools through which members of this invisible minority cultural group define and present their ethno-cultural identity both locally and to cultural outsiders.

On a small island in the Gulf of Saint Lawrence a distinct Francophone community has persisted for nearly three hundred years despite historical traumas and the pressures exerted by a majority Anglophone environment. The factors that have contributed to the persistence of this community are a matter of some debate, yet the cultural identity of the Acadians of Prince Edward Island in the twenty-first century appears to have remained intact. Contrary to a popular discourse of identity "revival," this distinct culture is neither a recent phenomenon nor is it something that is homogeneously pan-Acadian. While much popular and scholarly discourse on the Acadians centres on their tragic past and nationalist perspectives of Acadian identity construction, this dissertation focuses on how identity is created, perceived and expressed in a local context. Music plays a key role in articulating this local identity; it helps to create and maintain social relationships both within the community and with other cultural groups. The emergence of a distinct musical tradition has contributed substantially to the production and maintenance of cultural identity amongst these Island Acadians. Through case studies of specific performance contexts, individual musicians and professional groups, I examine current and ongoing processes of Acadian cultural definition and how musicians negotiate the dichotomy of traditional and modern performance contexts and forms of expression. I consider the musical alliances and exchanges that inform the experiences of these Islanders and how these intercultural encounters have influenced local musical practices and discourses about Acadian identity. My research demonstrates that contemporary cultural markers, and particularly music, are primary tools through which members of this invisible minority cultural group define and present their ethno-cultural identity both locally and to cultural outsiders.

The school library resource centre and the collection of trade books that classroom teachers gather in their classrooms were the focus of an exploratory, descriptive study designed around the first stages of an action research model. Little research had been done on how effective classroom teachers have been at acquiring trade books for their classroom collections, and on how teacher-librarians, working in partially or fully integrated school library resource centre programs, helped make trade books accessible to elementary teachers and students. One instrument, The Survey of Elementary Classroom Collections. was designed to examine four descriptive areas: the contents and size of classroom collections, the source of trade books for these collection, the organization and management of classroom collections, and the use classroom teachers make of these trade books. The 205 elementary English language classroom teachers in one school district were sent a Survey and 80% responded. The series of interviews that followed were conducted with a stratified random sample of 30 classroom teachers, nine principals and seven teacher-librarians. The stratification was organized by Phases 1, 2 or 3 of school library program development, which were determined by the score on a second instrument. The Profile of School Library Resource Centre Programs. and from information on staffing, resources and teacher-librarian experience. Results were analyzed under the four areas explored in the Survey, by grade level and by Phase. A detailed description of the classroom collections led to the development of the Independent, Interactive and Integrated models for classroom collections. Each reflected a different concept of the classroom collection, its role in the literacy program and its relationship with the school library resource centre program. Indications were that a collaborative approach to trade book provisioning emerged in schools where the school library resource centre program was more fully integrated into the school curriculum. Details on a school-based/district-wide strategy to build a collaborative approach were given, as well as suggestions for a plan of action for individual schools and for further research to explore questions raised by this study.

This research explored whether Statistics Canada’s religiosity index is an adequate measurement tool to capture the degree of young adults’ (aged 15-29) religious engagement in contemporary Canada. The impact of the agency’s four religiosity dimensions (affiliation, attendance, importance and private practice) on the index by age group was analyzed using Cycle 25 of the General Social Survey. Next, quantitative data was collected using a cross-sectional web-based survey of young adults (aged 18-29) in Halifax, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island (N=634). This survey examined the differences in representation of religious engagement based on either traditional or personalized dimensions. In conclusion, my findings suggest that Statistics Canada’s religiosity index does not measure religiosity consistently across age groups, nor does it assess important personalized dimensions of young adults’ religiosities. Consequently, the current religiosity index provides only a partial understanding of young adults’ degree of religious engagement and should be considered for revision.

The introduction of the Internet and the World Wide Web has been one the most significant developments of the last decade. Many historians have approached the Web with reluctance, hesitant to use it to conduct their traditional scholarly tasks of researching, publishing, and teaching history. Communication theorists such as Harold Innis and Marshall McLuhan foretold many aspects of the Web’s impact in their analyses of past communication media. Applied to the Web, their ideas provide a deeper understanding of what a new medium of communication might mean for scholars in humanities disciplines. Indeed, in the last decade the term “Humanities Computing” has been coined to describe efforts to apply computer methods to humanities data. This thesis explores some of the processes and potential of Humanities Computing as it pertains to the presentation of primary documents on the Web. It takes the form of a case study using the correspondence of eighteenth-century Prince Edward Island land proprietor John MacDonald (1742-1810), a central figure in the conflict between the Island government and the land proprietors. MacDonald took an active interest in his land on the Island and became the voice of landowners making their case to the British crown. Digitized letters drawn from his correspondence will be featured on the Web as part of the Atlantic Canada Virtual Archives, making use of the Web as an alternative to print in presenting, analyzing, and interpreting history. The digitization of the MacDonald letters is an exercise in Humanities Computing through the application of current Web and digital technology to primary source material, which, in turn, demonstrates the benefits of doing research on the Web.

The school library resource centre and the collection of trade books that classroom teachers gather in their classrooms were the focus of an exploratory, descriptive study designed around the first stages of an action research model. Little research had been done on how effective classroom teachers have been at acquiring trade books for their classroom collections, and on how teacher-librarians, working in partially or fully integrated school library resource centre programs, helped make trade books accessible to elementary teachers and students. One instrument, The Survey of Elementary Classroom Collections. was designed to examine four descriptive areas: the contents and size of classroom collections, the source of trade books for these collection, the organization and management of classroom collections, and the use classroom teachers make of these trade books. The 205 elementary English language classroom teachers in one school district were sent a Survey and 80% responded. The series of interviews that followed were conducted with a stratified random sample of 30 classroom teachers, nine principals and seven teacher-librarians. The stratification was organized by Phases 1, 2 or 3 of school library program development, which were determined by the score on a second instrument. The Profile of School Library Resource Centre Programs. and from information on staffing, resources and teacher-librarian experience. Results were analyzed under the four areas explored in the Survey, by grade level and by Phase. A detailed description of the classroom collections led to the development of the Independent, Interactive and Integrated models for classroom collections. Each reflected a different concept of the classroom collection, its role in the literacy program and its relationship with the school library resource centre program. Indications were that a collaborative approach to trade book provisioning emerged in schools where the school library resource centre program was more fully integrated into the school curriculum. Details on a school-based/district-wide strategy to build a collaborative approach were given, as well as suggestions for a plan of action for individual schools and for further research to explore questions raised by this study. / Education, Faculty of / Language and Literacy Education (LLED), Department of / Graduate

No description available.

The IPCC has identified small islands and coastal zones among regions most vulnerable to climate change. The geomorphological characteristics of Prince Edward Island (PEI), such as highly erodible sandstone bedrock and low elevation, contribute to a high degree of physical vulnerability to climate change. The province is highly susceptible to physical impacts of climate change including relative sea-level rise and increased rates of coastline retreat. In order to assess the physical coastal vulnerability of the ParCA study area of the North Shore, PEI, a model employing Geographic Information Systems (GIS), multi-criteria evaluation (MCE), and time step analysis is formulated. The physical vulnerability of the North Shore for the year 2010 was quantified in terms of wind-wave exposure condition, morphological resiliency, and permanent and episodic flood risk. These results are employed as model inputs to predict the shoreline for the subsequent time steps (2050, 2100), which are again analyzed to estimate future physical coastal vulnerability. Such an approach allows for updated predictions in intent to improve accuracy when compared to linear extrapolation. Finally, areas of highest priority for adaptation measures are quantified for each time step. This physical vulnerability analysis together with community-based and socioeconomic coastal vulnerability analyses will portray the comprehensive vulnerability of the North Shore to current and future effects of climate change.

The original intention of this thesis was to study the opinions and activities of the Maritime colonies during the War of 1812, in an attempt to explain the colonies' almost neutral position throughout the hostilities. The Maritime attitude has already been explained in terms of economic ties binding the colonies' interests with those of New England. This thesis was therefore directed by a desire to ascertain whether or not such economic interests constituted the dominating influence in Maritime policy or whether there existed equally important influences of a political and social nature. The conclusion attributes Maritime reaction in 1812 to a combination of economic, political, and social factors shaping the colonies' activities during the preceding twenty years. In the course of defining these factors, however, the emphasis shifted from the war itself to the preceding two decades which emerged as a period of experiment and adjustment—a period of confused adolescent fumbling toward the larger powers and responsibilities of adulthood. Into the midst of these struggles the War of 1812 was projected, to be greeted by the Maritimers as an interruption meriting attention only in so far as it could contribute to their provincial interests. In this thesis, therefore, the War of 1812 is presented as but the epilogue illustrating the trend of Maritime interests and policy during the period 1790-1810. It is not the intention of this thesis to view Maritime history strictly in terms of a cyclical development paralleling the human life cycle. However, the contradictory character of the Maritime scene during this period, as the colonies see-sawed between dependency and self-sufficiency in their claims, resembles the confusion of adolescence and the title of Colonial Adolescence was chosen for lack of a better description of this transitional phase. In the study of the Maritime colonies' transitional struggles, this thesis seeks to illustrate how the social-economic complex of a community moulds and is reflected in its political life. Although the period 1790-1814 was one of isolation and individualism for the colonies, the majority of Maritime communities faced similar problems in their struggles for stability and identity. Geography had rendered them an economic unit; the British administration had endowed them with similar political organizations; and settlement had produced similar social problems. This thesis, therefore, treats its subject in terms of basic economic, political, and social situations as they were faced in the Maritimes, with whatever variations each colony might offer. The three chapters dealing with these situations constitute the core of the thesis. In the first chapter an attempt has been made to set the scene of British politics and administration, for it was in this context that the colonies pursued their objectives influenced at all times by the changing fortunes of British politics. The study throughout tends to concentrate upon the mainland colonies of Nava Scotia and New Brunswick, partly because the developments of this period were centered here, since Prince Edward Island remained a backward variant; and partly because the nature of sources dictated such an approach. Research was concentrated mainly upon the Colonial Office records pertaining to Maritime affairs during this period. These included the official correspondence passing between the Colonial Office and the colonial governors, in which the policy of the British administration and its colonial deputies is outlined and colonial reaction commented upon. Also included were the journals of Assembly and Council, shipping statistics, petitions and memorials from individuals and associations in the colonies reflecting something of colonial opinion, needs and activities. These records were supplemented by secondary sources, drawn upon for an outline of British and North American activities and policies; to a more limited extent colonial newspapers and private papers provided contemporary comment on the Maritime scene—but the Maritimers do not emerge from these researches as an articulate lot. / Arts, Faculty of / History, Department of / Graduate