Sanctioned Ignorance

The Politics of Knowledge Production and the Teaching of the Literatures of Canada

Paul Martin

• Publisher: University of Alberta Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780888645456
• eBook ISBN: 9780888647320
• Topic: Education
• Subtopic: Higher Education

"There is no such thing as 'the ivory tower.' Rather, there sit side by side numerous windowless towers of knowledge, each seeming to have only a small entrance and no discernable exit." -Paul Martin Multilingual, multicultural, and vast, Canada enjoys a rich diversity of literatures. So, why does "Canadian Literature," as it has been taught, fail to encompass a common geography, history, and government, yet reveal the diverse experiences of its immigrants, long-term residents, and original peoples? Martin's research-interviews with 95 professors in 27 universities-maps the institutional chasms in communication and the nature of their persistence. His own example of venturing out from his "tower" to dialogue with colleagues shows a way toward cultivating a conception of the literatures of Canada that is expansive and inclusive. Canadianists, professors of English, French, Postcolonial and Comparative Literatures, and leaders in education will profit from Martin's frank investigations.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgements
• Introduction
• 1 | The “People’s Literature”
• 2 | “A Prisoner of Its Own Amnesia”
• 3 | Field Notes
• 4 | Mind the Gaps
• 5 | “The Substance of Forgetting”
• Afterword
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Appendix 4
• Appendix 5
• Notes
• Works Cited
• About the Author
• Other Titles from The University of Alberta Press