(Re)defining the "eh" : reading a colonial narrative in the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles

• Main Author: Lo, Katrina
• Language: English
• Published: University of British Columbia 2012
• Online Access: http://hdl.handle.net/2429/43057

Traditionally, the Dictionary of Canadianisms on Historical Principles (DCHP-1) has been understood as a repository of Canadian national identity. My project, by contrast, sees the DCHP-1 as a narrative of European colonialization and dominance, which bears an assumption of white privilege in inhabiting, understanding, and articulating the physical, social, and cultural Canadian landscape. Thus, I read the DCHP-1, not as a straightforward documentation of Canadian history, but as a historical document in itself, where its contents represent the editors’ attempts to define Canada at a particular point in time. My thesis highlights the selective, often subjective, and even biased editorial process that underlies dictionary publications, and the problem that arises from an uncritical reliance on dictionaries as comprehensive and objective sources of authority. Furthermore, I situate the creation of the DCHP-1 in its sociohistorical context, exploring the ways in which texts such as the DCHP-1 were implicated in the growing popularity and urgency to define Canadian identity through the course of the twentieth century. A nationalist “skew” in the citations and sources of the DCHP-1, then, may be a direct result of the need to appeal to both a national funding organization and a nationalist readership. In addition, I consider how a DCHP revision might deal with the inclusion/exclusion and definition of offensive or problematic terms. I then engage in two case studies of half-breed and Iron Chink, investigating the full usage of these derogatory terms over history in order to illustrate what is lacking in current scholarship and the ways in which these entries need to be updated. Finally, I relate this research to the current project of revising DCHP-1 and make recommendations for the revised edition, pointing to the ways in which attention still needs to be focused towards addressing the heretofore unproblematized editorial choices of the original DCHP-1 and towards creating a Canadian narrative that is more culturally sensitive and inclusive.