The process of nation-building in nineteenth century Canada involved the production of
national symbols which could transcend sub-national loyalties, such as class, gender, ethnic, and
religious identities, and unite the residents of the Canadian nation. While the symbols were many
and varied, in this study I analyse the manner in which the Canadian state and civil society used
royal ceremonies and representations to define and unify the Canadian nation between 1860 and
1911. The study focusses on the Canadian observances of Queen Victoria's Golden and
Diamond Jubilees, her Memorial Services, the Coronation and Memorial Services of Edward
VII, the Coronation of George V, and the royal visits of the Prince of Wales (Edward VII) in
1860 and the Duke of Cornwall and York (George V) in 1901.
Regarding society and social relations as neither static nor fixed, but multiple and
contradictory, I use the concept of cultural hegemony combined with elements from the "new"
cultural history to examine the complex nature of power, identity, and royal representation in the
nation-building process. Specifically, I argue that male members of the middle class articulated
representations of themselves, women, the upper and lower classes, and the monarchy in order
to legitimise their social authority and consolidate themselves as a cultural hegemony in the new
national society. In turn, women and the upper and working classes resisted these
representations with images of their own designed to empower themselves. The traditional elite
claimed public and royal affirmation of their leadership; women and the working class sought an
equal place in the nation. Complicating matters, however, were ethnic and religious identities
which impinged upon class and gender loyalties and further altered the nature of royal representation and the formation and negotiation of a cultural hegemony. French Canadians,
Irish Catholics, Jews, African and Asian Canadians, and the Peoples of the First Nations added
their voices—and imagery—to the process of nation-building as each articulated representations
of the monarchy in order to counter the dominant interpretations emanating from Protestants and
whites. By doing so, they sought to either negotiate themselves a place within a wider hegemony
or demand that their rights—and their place within the Canadian nation—be respected. Royal
ceremonies and representations, then, were not trivial events in Canadian history. They
comprised a fundamental feature in national imagery and played a vital part in the building of the
Canadian nation.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:BVAU.2429/14615 |
| Date | 11 1900 |
| Creators | Henry, Wade Andrew |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Relation | UBC Retrospective Theses Digitization Project [http://www.library.ubc.ca/archives/retro_theses/] |
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