GROWTH AND TRENDS IN GÉOGRAPHY IN CANADIAN UNIVERSITIES

Summary. The development of academic géography in Canada was somewhat similar to that in the United States. At the turn of the century géography was probably stronger in the schools in most provinces than it was in most states, but in both countries it seemed to be mainly an uninspired collection of facts about particular places in the world. There was no leadership from Canadian universities to improve the quality of géography nor to change its content or philosophy. As in the United States, but on a smaller scale, géography was known in a few Canadian universities prior to World War I. Its real beginnings, however, were in the latter part of the 1930s.     

CENTRALIZATION AND URBAN SERVICES: THE AUSTRALIAN EXPERIENCE

The effect on the distribution of urban services of the “geographical fragmentation” of American metropolitan areas into many local government jurisdictions, each with important service responsibilities, is often overlooked. Comparison with Australia, where services are generally administered and financed at the State level, is instructive. Australian centralism tends to have an equalizing effect, largely due to bureaucratic patterns of service delivery, but has also produced both an insensitivity to specialized local factors and an “organizational fragmentation.” Developments in the 1970s suggest improvements in these areas of deficiency.     

LANGUAGE POLICY AND THE POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF TERRITORY: A CANADIAN DILEMMA

Within the Official Languages Act of Canada, 1969, a territorial concept was incorporated to facilitate the extension of federal services in English and French and attend the spirit and purpose of the act. This was to be accomplished through the designation of bilingual districts. In spite of the recommendations of two commissions, however, no districts have been designated in Canada. Elements that have tended to prevent the application of this concept are therefore analysed, and an alternative form of application to accommodate the act is suggested.
Lorsque l'Acte des Langues officielles du Canada fut formulé (1969), il y avait considérablement de confiance dans le concept du territoire bilingue, ce qui devait faciliter l'accroissement de service fédéral en anglais et en français. II était anticipé que l'essence ou l'esprit de l'acte serait réalisé par la désignation des districts bilingues. En dépit des recommendations de deux commissions aucun district n'a été designé. L'objet de la présente communication est d'analiser les éléments qui ont eu tendance à empêcher l'application du concept de tels districts et de suggérer une autre forme d'application de l'acte.     

LANGUAGE POLICY AND THE POLITICAL ORGANIZATION OF TERRITORY: A CANADIAN DILEMMA

Within the Official Languages Act of Canada, 1969, a territorial concept was incorporated to facilitate the extension of federal services in English and French and attend the spirit and purpose of the act. This was to be accomplished through the designation of bilingual districts. In spite of the recommendations of two commissions, however, no districts have been designated in Canada. Elements that have tended to prevent the application of this concept are therefore analysed, and an alternative form of application to accommodate the act is suggested. Lorsque l'Acte des Langues officielles du Canada fut formulé (1969), il y avait considérablement de confiance dans le concept du territoire bilingue, ce qui devait faciliter l'accroissement de service fédéral en anglais et en français. II était anticipé que l'essence ou l'esprit de l'acte serait réalisé par la désignation des districts bilingues. En dépit des recommendations de deux commissions aucun district n'a été designé. L'objet de la présente communication est d'analiser les éléments qui ont eu tendance à empêcher l'application du concept de tels districts et de suggérer une autre forme d'application de l'acte.     

INSCAPE: LANDSCAPES OF THE MIND IN THE CANADIAN AND MEXICAN NOVELS OF MALCOLM LOWRY

Positive 'sense of place' in the regional novel is a frequent geographical theme, but the multivalent nature of the novelist's inscape, or landscape of the mind, has been neglected. Malcolm Lowry's positive evaluation of British Columbia and negative view of Mexico generate a polarity that inform all his later works. His portrayal of basic landscape elements such as seacoast, interior, house, garden, forest, mountain, and cavern is explored in terms of this eutopia.dystopia antinomy. The valency attached to these landscape elements is directly related to locale: for Lowry British Columbia is home, a Dantesque Paradise, while Mexico is away, an Inferno.     

EXPERIENCE AND HISTORY: THE REACH AND LIMITS OF PHENOMENOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO HISTORY

Experience and History: Phenomenological Perspectives on the Historical World presents the summa of David Carr's phenomenological approach to history. I acknowledge the value of this perspective, but I find it doubtful that a phenomenological account can replace the paradigms of memory and representation against which Carr pits it. The concept of historicity is, rather, complementary in that it alerts us to the prethematic presence of history. Phenomenologically, Carr's attempt to tie history closely to experience runs into problems as it is based on a questionable use of Husserl's notion of retention and risks blurring the distinct temporality of history. At the same time, the central concepts of Carr's approach, both experience and narrative, could be deployed in further ways. As literary scholars have come to emphasize, narrative triggers experiences in its readers. Thus, even if it is impossible to recreate the experiences of historical protagonists, narrative lends itself to giving readers a sense of the experiential dimension of the past. In this sense, narrative is not only a medium of representation, but also a means of presence.