Our 'Canada': National Narratives and the Dangers of Bourgeois Mythologies and Hegemonic Canadian Propaganda

Abstract

This thesis argues that Canada, as it is regarded by the Canadian citizenry, exists as a collection of public-facing narratives within a collectively imagined national mythos. This mythos, as it stands in 2022, is an accumulation of layers of narratives built on the foundation of former British imperial myths honed by bourgeois ideologies and ideals into a uniquely 'Canadian' nationalism through the propaganda of the Great War, the Second World War, the Cold War, and the 'War on Terror.' In attempting to deconstruct this collection of narratives, this thesis employs a historical materialist approach and uses the theories of Marx, Lenin, Gramsci, and Althusser to argue for the importance of an internationalist perspective which has been neglected in the insistence on an inward domestic approach to the identity of Canada as a nation.

Author Keywords: Canada, Capitalism, Marxism, Media, Neoimperialism, Propaganda

    Item Description
    Type
    Contributors
    Creator (cre): Hansen, Eli
    Thesis advisor (ths): Steffler, Margaret
    Degree committee member (dgc): Bailey, Suzanne
    Degree committee member (dgc): Winger, Rob
    Degree granting institution (dgg): Trent University
    Date Issued
    2023
    Date (Unspecified)
    2023
    Place Published
    Peterborough, ON
    Language
    Extent
    210 pages
    Rights
    Copyright is held by the author, with all rights reserved, unless otherwise noted.
    Local Identifier
    TC-OPET-11045
    Publisher
    Trent University
    Degree
    Master of Arts (M.A.): English (Public Texts)