Cultural Democracy Relived

Memories.

Here is my thesis listing at the National Library of Canada. I still think it's relevant. In fact, I think it's more relevant than ever.

STUDENT ABSTRACT: In this thesis, elements of cultural studies, subcultural theory, media and consumer studies are applied to the cultural lives of young Canadians. Culture is defined as the product of the interactions of cultural artifacts with the material existence of their "consumers." The process of cultural production is, thus, divided into a primary phase, consisting of the creation of artifacts by "legitimate creators," and a secondary phase, in which these artifacts are re-worked. Through this process, young Canadians create their cultural location and give symbolic expression to it. Applying this analysis to the models of cultural development currently practised by governments operating in Ottawa reveals that intervention privileges the primary phase and, thus, under-utilizes the one model which stresses the secondary phase: the community development/animation model. The thesis proposes a return to this model as a framework within which new alternatives for intervention may be identified.

Since I wrote this, we have seen the development of the internet, blogs, cheap digital cameras and "flogs", music and playlist sharing, and song edits and "mashing" as a new "consumer artform." Could I have been...been...visionary???

Thanks to a certain lawyer at Justice Canada for getting me to think about it again.