Wandering identities in energy transition discourses: Political leaders’ use of the “we” pronoun in Ontario, 2009–2019

This paper explores the use of universalizing language as a discursive strategy to promote shifts in energy policy. Building on scholarship that seeks to understand the political nature of energy transitions, including resistance to transitions, the role of the state, and implications for justice, we examine three phases of energy transition in Ontario in the period 2009–2019, focusing on the ways that three successive ruling coalitions used the first plural pronoun “we” to promote contrasting energy policy orientations. Our analysis of policy documents and government news releases confirms that all three coalitions used the “we” form as a strategic device to define priorities, prescribe courses of action, and broadcast achievements. However, they also used the ambiguity of the “we” form to obscure alternative perspectives, claim credit for rivals’ accomplishments, and gloss over harmful and differentiated impacts of policy choices. The paper concludes by reflecting on broader questions about power and justice relevant to energy transition scholars.     

La Psychologie des Peuples et Ses Applications Durant L’Entre-Deux-Guerres

Résumé  La psychologie des peuples a connu un grand succès dans les années 1930 dans les milieux les plus divers: sur les bancs de l’Université, tant des facultés de lettres que de celles de médecine, comme dans le monde colonial. Elle demeure imprégnée des postulats raciologiques du siècle précédent: hérédité raciale, influence du milieu géographique et du climat dans la formation des caractères nationaux, représentation inégalitaire de la différence et ses usages politiques ont été manifestes dans le domaine de la politique coloniale. Les enseignements de la psychologie ethnique ont, en effet, eu des applications directes dans la politique scolaire à travers la mise en place d’un enseignement rudimentaire et à tendance ségrégationniste qui a réduit considérablement les ambitions de la mission civilisatrice. Carole Reynaud Paligot, née en 1966, est actuellement boursière de la Fondation pour la mémoire de la Shoah. Ses recherches portent sur l’histoire des pensées raciales et l’histoire des intellectuels aux xix ^e et xx ^e siècles. Elle a notamment publié Parcours politiques des surréalistes 1919–1969 (Paris, CNRS éditions, 1995), La République raciale 1860–1930. Paradigme racial et idéologie républicaine, préfacé par Christophe Charle (Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2006) et Races, racisme et antiracisme dans les années 1930 (Paris, Presses universitaires de France, 2007).     

Health geography in Canada: where are we headed?

This paper overviews the emergence of medical/health geography in Canada. The paper discusses the key questions that Canadian health geographers have explored in the past two decades, how these enquiries have featured in the field and how they contribute to the wider discourse of human geography. It also addresses questions on emerging themes and where Canadian health geography will go in the years ahead. With shifting health landscapes in terms of changes in social, political and physical environments, and changes in health care restructuring, Canadian health geographers are entering a new phase of research, teaching and policy. The complexity of the questions that health geographers seek to address means it is necessary to continue to highlight the policy implications of their findings. Health geographers need to emphasize the public agenda through interdisciplinary research and by continuing to work with geographers in other subfields.