The Force of Culture: Vincent Massey and Canadian SovereigntyA misunderstood and sometimes maligned figure, Vincent Massey was one of Canada's most influential cultural policy-makers and art patrons. Best known as Canada's first native-born Governor General, he chaired the landmark Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters, and Sciences that led to the creation of the Canada Council. The Force of Culture examines Massey's notion of culture, its conflicted roots in late nineteenth-century and early twentieth-century Canadian Protestant thought, and Massey's transformation into a champion of culture as a bastion of Canadian sovereignty. Karen Finlay's study goes beyond existing literature by examining the role of Massey's Methodist upbringing in instilling an education gospel as the bedrock of culture and the foundation of a national citizenry. The study also reassesses Massey's reputation as a supporter of the fine arts. Steeped in Methodism, his attitudes towards the arts were ambiguous. He never adopted a purely art-for-art's sake doctrine, but came to understand that the arts, without being moralizing, could serve a moral and cultural purpose: the expression and affirmation of national character and sovereignty. As well as charting Massey's evolving attitudes towards culture and the arts, Finlay attempts to redress the common charges of sexism, elitism, and anglophonism levelled against him. Finlay stresses Massey's contradictory views on issues relating to gender, race, and class, outweighed by the ongoing legacy of his belief in Canadian cultural diversity. Above all, Massey valorized the principles of excellence and diversity as twin antidotes to the anathema of conformity and cultural homogenization. The tenet Massey sought to honour, pertaining deeply to the collective and moral nature of humanism in Canada, Finlay argues, was community without uniformity. The Force of Culture shows that Massey was, in certain respects, a democratizer and even a populist, who believed that difference need not divide. Electronic Format Disclaimer: Images removed at the request of the rights holder. |
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... sense of 'culture' had to do with the opposite: with growth, as in agriculture or pisciculture – with creating, raising, nourishing. And it's in that radical sense that 'culture' is used in what has come to be known as 'The Massey ...
... sense of our capacities at home and abroad. This self-image, and the image that we present to the world, are in turn prime factors in our politics, commerce, and defence. Some people today see this not as foresight but as a blind alley ...
... sense of growth, requiring substantial and immediate government financial support. One can gauge its surprise by the six years it took to adopt the recommendation for a Canada Council. Whatever the royal commissioners were ignorant of ...
... sense of ethics, generous spirit, and abiding love. To the rest of my family, especially my mother, Margaret Lilian Harper Phibbs, for her tireless faith and loving determination, and my father, Dr Murray Kenneth Phibbs, for his ...
... sense distinguishable and independent from economics, politics, or military security was novel and continues of course to be deeply contested. To those who might ask whether Massey was a reactionary or a progressive, I would say that he ...
Other editions - View all
The Force of Culture: Vincent Massey and Canadian Sovereignty Karen Finlay No preview available - 1999 |
The Force of Culture: Vincent Massey and Canadian Sovereignty Karen Finlay No preview available - 2004 |