Culture and Social Movements/Mouvements sociaux et culture

Culture and Social Movements/Mouvements sociaux et culture In the months ahead, presaging a limping exit to a century and a millenium, it is important to remember that culture is made by people, not only as individuals but collectively. Those collectivities include not only governments but also the dialectic of government and social movements. Such interactions sometimes result in institutional presences in relation to which other social movements emerge. Tracking and making sense of these conduits of culture requires a lot of patience, discipline and imagination. The following essays are the beginning of an exploration that wishes to establish the grounds on which that work might continue. En effet, la culture, fut-elle savante ou populaire, est aussi produite par Jes collectifs en Jutte pour Ja promotion d'un groupe OU d'une idee, OU a Ja recherche d'une identite, fut-elle "limitee." Les representations de !'existence, qui fondent notre regard et notre action sur le monde, doivent autant al'ethique nouvelle, fondee par les groupes de femmes ou d'ouvriers, aux defis poses par la reproduction de l'espece et de son environnement, aux conflits provoques par la recherche d'une identite politique unique ou plurielle, qu'aux grands courants interpretatifs qui naguere validaient notre engagement social. The institutions that have put together Canadian culture have been established over many years, though there have been crucial events - both internal and external - which have functioned epistemically in determining subsequent cultural development. Some of these events stem from federal or provincial activities, some from changes in technology and modes of communication, some from the realignment of world economies. But in many important ways, the nature of the changes is directly related to the nature of the social and cultural movements within English Canada, Quebec and among the First Nations. Les textes presentes ici offrent un premier regard sur ce phenomene. Ils refletent differents enjeux touchant de multiples domaines de la vie des societes, tels que le feminisme, la religion, !'edition, Jes Amerindiens, la technologie, Jes mouvements environnementaux, la jeunesse, le mouvement ouvrier. Certains textes posent aussi la question des rapports entre culture et politique. Canada/Quebec/the First Nations contain within themselves all of the issues that dominate contemporary politics today. Addressing questions of representation and the relationship with the state, and further reflecting upon a "market" sense of democracy, these papers outline some points of departure for an exploration of changing perceptions of what all our futures will have to take care of, based on our experiences of the past. Ces contributions ont ete presentees au groupe de travail "Culture et mouvements sociaux au Canada (19e-20e siecles)," mis sur pied en preparation pour Journal ofCanadian Studies Vol. 30, No. I (Printemps 1995 Spring) 3 les seances de la Commission internationale d'histoire des mouvements sociaux et des structures sociales, qui se tiendront aMontreal en septembre 1995 dans le cadre du Congres international des Sciences historiques. Les responsables de ce numero tiennent asouligner le role fondamental de Stanley B. Ryerson, professeur emerite al'Universite du Quebec aMontreal et vice-president de la Commission intemationale, sans qui cette initative n'aurait pas ete possible, et a qui nous dections ce numero.1 NOTES I. Les responsables tiennent aussi aremercier Denise Lemieux, de l'INRS Culture et Societe, et Yvan Lamonde, de l'Universite McGill, pour !'aide apportee ala revision des textes. 4 IOAN DAVIES York University JEAN-MARIE FECTEAU Universite du Quebec aMontreal Revue d'etudes canadiennes ...