Speakers of the Dead: Black Canadians' Ancestry and Migration

In this course, we are examining the Geographies of Canada through the lens of nationalism and nation-building. This means different things to different people – and engaging with as many different narratives of what ‘the nation’ is and how it is experienced is crucial to one’s understanding of how ‘Canada’ functions both as an idea and as a process with material effects. For this reason, you will be asked to write a critical review of a film related to specific experiences and narratives of Canada.
Instructions for this assignment will be divided into four parts:
Choosing a film
Instructions for writing a review
Formatting your review
Rubric
Note: Given that this assignment is designed to support the course learning outcomes, I recommend you keep them in mind as you think about your approach to this assignment:
Use the concept of ‘nation-building’ to examine how processes of inclusion and exclusion shape the geographies of Canada.
Employ core geographic concepts such as place, scale, boundaries, and geographic imaginaries to examine understandings and experiences of Canada.
Apply knowledge of the historical geographies of Canada to contextualize contemporary debates
Express an informed opinion on controversial topics using geographic insights
Examine your own role in shaping the geographies of Canada
Develop research and communication skills applicable beyond this course, including critical reading, effective writing, and interpersonal communication
Choosing A Film
You can choose which film you would like to review from the following list:
Finding Dawn
Acclaimed Métis filmmaker Christine Welsh brings us a compelling documentary that puts a human face on a national tragedy – the epidemic of missing or murdered Indigenous women in Canada. The film takes a journey into the heart of Indigenous women's experience, from Vancouver's skid row, down the Highway of Tears in northern BC, and on to Saskatoon, where the murders and disappearances of these women remain unsolved. (2006)
nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up
On August 9, 2016, a young Cree man named Colten Boushie died from a gunshot to the back of his head after entering Gerald Stanley’s rural property with his friends. The jury’s subsequent acquittal of Stanley captured international attention, raising questions about racism embedded within Canada’s legal system and propelling Colten’s family to national and international stages in their pursuit of justice. Sensitively directed by Tasha Hubbard, nîpawistamâsowin: We Will Stand Up weaves a profound narrative encompassing the filmmaker’s own adoption, the stark history of colonialism on the Prairies, and a vision of a future where Indigenous children can live safely on their homelands. (2019)
Speakers for the Dead
This documentary reveals some of the hidden history of Blacks in Canada. In the 1930s in rural Ontario, a farmer buried the tombstones of a Black cemetery to make way for a potato patch. In the 1980s, descendants of the original settlers, Black and White, came together to restore the cemetery, but there were hidden truths no one wanted to discuss. Deep racial wounds were opened. Scenes of the cemetery excavation, interviews with residents and re-enactments—including one of a baseball game where a broken headstone is used for home plate—add to the film's emotional intensity. (2000)
Becoming Labrador
In the stark Labrador interior, a growing number of Filipino workers have recently landed in Happy Valley-Goose Bay, travelling halfway around the world for jobs they hope will offer their families new opportunities and a better life. Becoming Labrador follows a handful of those women and men as they make a place for themselves in Labrador while dealing with the unexpected costs of living far from their family. (2018)
Where the Land Ends
Against the backdrop of the camera’s meditative wandering through the places that created Quebec, Where the Land Ends explores and questions the historical narrative, as a group of young people who were not old enough to vote in the 1995 referendum express their views. They seem to have decided, on their own, to create a new “Terre des Hommes” (Man and His World). (2019)
Last Chance
This feature documentary tells the stories of 5 asylum seekers who flee their native countries to escape homophobic violence. They face hurdles integrating into Canada, fear deportation and anxiously await a decision that will change their lives forever. (2012)
Canadian Steel, Chinese Grit*
This documentary delves into the history of the Chinese workers without whom Canada’s national railway could never have been realized. In a climate of racial tension, 17,000 Chinese workers were hired so the railway could be completed on time. Assigned the dirtiest, most dangerous tasks, they received half the wages of white labourers, and were denied the food and lodging provided to their white counterparts. Hundreds of Chinese labourers lost their lives as construction pushed through the treacherous mountains of British Columbia. For those who survived, prospects did not improve after the railroad’s completion in 1885 due to poverty and the introduction of the head tax which kept families apart. This film includes interviews with Chinese-Canadians whose parents and grandparents built the railroad - and indeed the nation - give life to this poignant documentary that retells and rethinks a vital chapter in Canada’s history.
All of the above, except for the last, are available on the National Film Board (NFB) website: https://www(dot)nfb(dot)ca/films/
*not available from NFB; but recommended if you can access it
If you are aware of another film that you would like to review, please contact Dr. Laliberte for permission.
Instructions for Writing a Review
For the purposes of this assignment, you will be asked to write a critical review as opposed to a descriptive review. An analytic or critical review of a film is not primarily a summary; rather, it comments on and evaluates the work in the light of specific issues and theoretical concerns in a course. Keep questions like these in mind as you watch, make notes, and write the review:
What is the specific topic of the film? What overall purpose does it seem to have? For what readership is it written? (Don’t overlook facts about the producer and/or director’s background and the circumstances of the film’s creation and distribution.)
Does the producer/director state an explicit thesis? Does he or she noticeably have an axe to grind? What are the theoretical assumptions? Are they discussed explicitly?
What exactly does the work contribute to the overall topic of your course? What general problems and concepts in your discipline and course does it engage with?
What kinds of material does the work present (e.g. primary documents or secondary material, literary analysis, personal observation, quantitative data, biographical or historical accounts)?
How is this material used to demonstrate and argue the thesis? (As well as indicating the overall structure of the work, your review could quote or summarize specific scenes to show the characteristics of the director’s presentation, including cinemagraphic style and tone.)
Are there alternative ways of arguing from the same material? Does the director show awareness of them? In what respects does the director agree or disagree?
What theoretical issues and topics for further discussion does the work raise?
What are your own reactions and considered opinions regarding the work?
Adapted from: http://advice(dot)writing(dot)utoronto(dot)ca/types-of-writing/book-review/
While all of the above are important and can contribute to your film review - #3 is essential for the purposes of this assignment. During the first portion of the course, we will be engaging primarily with definitions of ‘the nation,’ nationalism, nation-building, settler colonialism, sovereignty, geographies of inclusion and exclusion, and secessionism. For this review, you must examine how the film engages with the idea of the ‘nation’ in some way – what are the stories of the nation being supported/challenged. What are the process through which nation-building is happening and/or being challenged by different actors in the film? You are encouraged to draw upon other concepts if they are useful to your review: including bordering and ordering, citizenship, immigration policy, multiculturalism (as ideal, policy, and its critiques) and lived experiences of inclusion and exclusion.
To build your review, you are required to engage with at least TWO other sources. These sources can be from class and/or scholarly journals.
Formatting Your Review
You have two choices for how to present your review. You can do a video review or a written review. If you do a video review, it should be 8-10 minutes in length. You are still expected to include a transcript that includes citations as appropriate (see instructions below for the written option).
If you choose the written option, your review should be a total of 5-6 pages (note – that is 5 FULL pages, not 4 pages with a bit on a fifth page). Text should have 1.5 spacing and 12 pt. font.
Title of your review
Your name
GGR202 2021
Before getting into your review, you must include a bibliographic citation for the film using APA format. The following are meant to provide a framework, but there are other materials online if you need help formatting your citation.
APA format structure:
Producer, A. (Producer), & Director, A. (Director). (Release Year). Title of motion picture [Motion Picture]. Country of Origin: Studio.
APA format example:
Bender, L. (Producer), & Tarantino, Q. (Director). (1994). Pulp fiction [Motion Picture]. United States: Miramax.
The first part of your review (approximately 1-1.5 pages) should be a description of the film. Be as succinct as possible, prioritizing the points that will be most relevant to your subsequent analysis.
The main portion of your review is the critical analysis (approximately 4-5 pages). This section should begin with an introductory paragraph that lays out your thesis – your analysis of how the producer/director discusses and/or portrays processes of nation-building. For the body of this section, draw upon the guiding questions from the previous section for other ideas of things to include in your analysis. Note: you do not have to address every question in the list above – but use them as ideas for the types of issues you could raise in your review depending upon their relevance to your argument. This is where it is most likely that you will engage with at least TWO other sources. These sources can be from class and/or scholarly journals
Citations: As mentioned above, you must draw upon two additional sources for this book review. They can come from class and/or be from a scholarly source (journal or book). Use APA in-text citation and include a APA-style bibliography at the end. Note that you do not need to include the book in this bibliography as it is already cited at the top. If you do quote from the book, however, be sure to use APA in-text citations.
PEER REVIEW PROCESS
You will be uploading your first draft into peerScholar on the course’s Quercus site. Once you have done this, you will be assigned 3 of your peers’ assignments to give feedback on. Details about how to do this will be in peerScholar. You will also be asked to give feedback on your own original draft. The quality of the feedback you give will count towards 3% of your final mark.
After you have had the opportunity to review the feedback from the other students (again, the instructions for this will be detailed in peerScholar), then you can revise your final submission (worth 25% of your final mark). You will also be asked to submit a short reflection on how you engaged with the feedback during your final revision process. This reflection piece is worth 1% of your final mark.