Page 23 of 311
Honouring 'One of the Great Forces of the Dominion': The Canadian Public Mourns McGee
| Type of resource | |
|---|---|
| Author/collaborator |
|
| Title |
Honouring 'One of the Great Forces of the Dominion': The Canadian Public Mourns McGee
|
| Abstract |
Urban publics - the self-conscious interest groups that emerged to characterize much of the social and political climate of city life - claimed attention, contended for influence, and celebrated their values through performances of a wide variety of rituals in urban public space. The author focuses on one dramatic and important episode expressing the nature of public ritual in Confederation-era Canada: the memorialization of the Irish-born (April 13, 1825) Montreal journalist, poet and politician Thomas D'Arcy McGee, assassinated in Ottawa on April 7, 1868, and buried in Montreal. The author argues that in paying homage to McGee, urban publics in Montreal and across the Dominion seized an almost unparalleled opportunity to bear witness to their images of themselves, in the very particular circumstance of an intensely felt moment in time. He contends that the nature of this ritual allows us to explore one significant aspect of a social geography of the city that is otherwise not easily recoverable and often forgotten: the evanescent but powerfully signifying geography of behaviour in public space.
|
| Publication |
The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe canadien
|
| Volume |
Vol. 41
|
| Issue |
no. 4
|
| Pages |
350-362
|
| Date |
December 1997
|
| Language |
en
|
| Citation |
Goheen, Peter G. “Honouring ‘One of the Great Forces of the Dominion’: The Canadian Public Mourns McGee.” The Canadian Geographer / Le Géographe canadien Vol. 41, no. 4 (December 1997): 350–362.
|
| Find in a library | |
| Permalink |
Page 23 of 311
