Marginal/minority popular music : the concept of the "third space" and the case for "hybridities" of cultures/identities /

The topic of this thesis is marginaVminority popular music and the question of identity; the term "marginaVminority" specifically refers to members of racial and cultural minorities who are socially and politically marginalized. The thesis argument is that popular music produced by members of cultural and racial minorities establishes cultural identity and resists racist discourse. Three marginaVminority popular music artists and their songs have been chosen for analysis in support of the argument: Gil Scott-Heron's "Gun," Tracy Chapman's "Fast Car" and Robbie Robertson's "Sacrifice." The thesis will draw from two fields of study; popular music and postcolonialism. Within the area of popular music, Theodor Adorno's "Standardization" theory is the focus. Within the area of postcolonialism, this thesis concentrates on two specific topics; 1) Stuart Hall's and Homi Bhabha's overlapping perspectives that identity is a process of cultural signification, and 2) Homi Bhabha's concept of the "Third Space." For Bhabha (1995a), the Third Space defines cultures in the moment of their use, at the moment of their exchange. The idea of identities arising out of cultural struggle suggests that identity is a process as opposed to a fixed center, an enclosed totality. Cultures arise from historical memory and memory has no center. Historical memory is de-centered and thus cultures are also de-centered, they are not enclosed totalities. This is what Bhabha means by "hybridity" of culture - that cultures are not unitary totalities, they are ways of knowing and speaking about a reality that is in constant flux. In this regard, the language of "Otherness" depends on suppressing or marginalizing the productive capacity of culture in the act of enunciation. The Third Space represents a strategy of enunciation that disrupts, interrupts and dislocates the dominant discursive construction of US and THEM, (a construction explained by Hall's concept of binary oppositions, detailed in Chapter 2). Bhabha uses the term "enunciation" as a linguistic metaphor for how cultural differences are articulated through discourse and thus how differences are discursively produced. Like Hall, Bhabha views culture as a process of understanding and of signification because Bhabha sees traditional cultures' struggle against colonizing cultures as transforming them. Adorno's theory of Standardization will be understood as a theoretical position of Western authority. The thesis will argue that Adorno's theory rests on the assumption that there is an "essence" to music, an essence that Adorno rationalizes as structure/form. The thesis will demonstrate that constructing music as possessing an essence is connected to ideology and power and in this regard, Adorno's Standardization theory is a discourse of White Western power. It will be argued that "essentialism" is at the root of Western "rationalization" of music, and that the definition of what constitutes music is an extension of Western racist "discourses" of the Other. The methodological framework of the thesis entails a) applying semiotics to each of the three songs examined and b) also applying Bhabha's model of the Third Space to each of the songs. In this thesis, semiotics specifically refers to Stuart Hall's retheorized semiotics, which recognizes the dual function of semiotics in the analysis of marginal racial/cultural identities, i.e., simultaneously represent embedded racial/cultural stereotypes, and the marginal raciaVcultural first person voice that disavows and thus reinscribes stereotyped identities. (Here, and throughout this thesis, "first person voice" is used not to denote the voice of the songwriter, but rather the collective voice of a marginal racial/cultural group). This dual function fits with Hall's and Bhabha's idea that cultural identity emerges out of cultural antagonism, cultural struggle. Bhabha's Third Space is also applied to each of the songs to show that cultural "struggle" between colonizers and colonized produces cultural hybridities, musically expressed as fusions of styles/sounds. The purpose of combining semiotics and postcolonialism in the three songs to be analyzed is to show that marginal popular music, produced by members of cultural and racial minorities, establishes cultural identity and resists racist discourse by overwriting identities of racial/cultural stereotypes with identities shaped by the first person voice enunciated in the Third Space, to produce identities of cultural hybridities. Semiotic codes of embedded "Black" and "Indian" stereotypes in each song's musical and lyrical text will be read and shown to be overwritten by the semiotic codes of the first person voice, which are decoded with the aid of postcolonial concepts such as "ambivalence," "hybridity" and "enunciation."

Benjamin Woodruff Price Papers, 1851, 1853-1860, 1862-1863, 1874, n.d.

The fonds includes sixty two items of correspondence between Benjamin Woodruff Price, aka Woodruff, Ben or Uncle, and various family members, both immediate and distant cousins. Also included is business correspondence related to Price’s activities as a watchmaker and/or jeweler. Benjamin Woodruff Price was born in Thorold Township ca. 1831, the son of Joseph Price and Mary Smith. B.W. Price married Ella or Ellen McGlashan (1851-1906) ca. 1868. Price died between 1891 and 1901, his burial location is unknown at present. A watchmaker and jeweler, Price lived most of his life in Fonthill, Ont. He also included auctioneer, undertaker and photographer as some of his other professional activities. His siblings included David Smith Price (wife Isabella Ann), John Smith Price (wife Elizabeth Jane), and sisters Susan Page (husband Edward Rice Page), Jerusha Price, Mary Price and Martha W. Stone (husband Dudley Ward Stone). John Smith Price died 18 April 1860, leaving no descendents. It is likely that G.W. Stone was a nephew to B.W. Price, the son of his sister Martha W. Stone and her husband Dudley Ward Stone. Susan Page was a sister of Benjamin Woodruff Price. She was married to Edward Rice Page and they had at least two children, Joseph and Clayton. At the time of this correspondence they lived in Suspension Bridge, NY, now part of Niagara Falls, New York. Edward Rice Page’s occupation was listed as saloon keeper. The Price family appears to have had a very large extended family. This information was gleaned from the contents of letters of Maggie Tisdale, daughter of Ephraim and Hannah (Price) Tisdale, P.A. or Ann Morgan, [may also be Phebe Ann] of Newark, NY? and Marietta House of Bayham Township. DeWitt Higgins of Suspension Bridge, NY aka Niagara Falls, NY was an auctioneer, specialized in buying jewellery, watches, clocks, from individuals and reselling his product to others like B.W. Price.

Welland Canal Survey of Lands David Price, 1834

Survey map and description of David Price's land created by The Welland Canal Company. Included is a written description of the land along with a drawing of the land. Noteable features include; Hellem's Creek, road, bridge, Chippewa, Griffith's land, canal. The deed for the land is dated October 14, 1834. The land totals 5 acres, 3 roads and 7 perches. Surveyor notes are seen in pencil and red pen on the map.

The Impact of a Corporate Name Change on Stock Price and Trading Volume of Canadian Companies

This thesis examines the impact of a corporate name change on stock price and trading volume of Canadian companies around the announcement date, the approval date, and the adoption date over the time period from 1997 to 2011. Name changes are classified into six categories: major and minor, structural and pure, diversified and focused, accompanied with a change in ticker symbol and without a change in ticker symbol, “Gold” name addition and deletion, and different reasons for name changes (e.g., merger and acquisition, change of structure, change of strategy, and better image). The thesis uses the standard event study methodology to perform abnormal return and trading volume analyses. In addition, regression analysis is employed to examine which type of a name change has the largest impact on cumulative abnormal returns. Sample stocks exhibit a significant positive abnormal return one-day prior to the approval day and one day after the adoption date. Around the approval date we observe significant abnormal returns for stocks with a structural name change. On the day after the adoption date we document abnormal returns for stocks with major, minor, structural, pure, focused, and ticker symbol name changes. If a merger or acquisition is the reason for a name change, companies tend to experience a significant positive abnormal return one-day before the approval date and on the adoption date. If a change of structure is the reason for a name change, companies exhibit a significant positive abnormal return on the approval date and a significant negative abnormal return on the adoption date. In case of a change of strategy as the reason for a name change, companies show a significant negative abnormal return around the approval date and a significant positive abnormal return around the adoption date.

Alberta Price List No. 3., January 1st, 1925

A price list form for the Alberta Liquor Control Board from 1 January 1925. The price list includes "General Information" in regards to permits for individuals and special permits. The alcohol is then listed by category for pricing: Scotch Whisky, Irish Whisky, Rye Whisky, Bourbon Whisky, Rum, Gin, Brandy, Port, Native Wine, Italian (Type) Wines, Sherry, Claret, Burgundy, White Wine, Sparkling Wine, Vermouth, Cocktails, Liqueurs, Champagne, Bitters, Ale and Stout, Chinese Liquors.

General Price List, Ontario, 1 January 1924

A general price list from the year 1924 for the province of Ontario. The cover of the list reads: "Ontario Government Dispensaries Conducted Under Direction of Board of License Commissioners for Ontario By Authority of The Ontario Temperance Act. General Price List, Dispensaries sell liquor for medicinal, sacramental, scientific and manufacturing purposes only. The sale of liquor for beverage purposes in the Province of Ontario is prohibited by The Ontario Temperance Act. Dispensaries: No.1-154 Wellington Street West, Toronto; No.2-1271 Dundas Street West, Toronto; No.3-29 Charles Street, Hamilton; No.4-425 Talbot Street, London; No.5-30 Sandwich Street West, Windsor; No.6-Golden Lion Block, Kingston; No.7-92 Kent Street, Ottawa; No.8-109 Simpson Street, Fort William."

Newfoundland Price List, 1 June 1928

A price list for Newfoundland by the Board of Liquor Control, St. John's. The list is one page in length and has a few handwritten changes to prices.

Price List - Lawrence A. Wilson Co. Limited, 1916

A price list for Lawrence A. Wilson Co. Limited, 87 James St., Montreal Quebec. It is addressed to The Toronto Hunt, 52 Bay Street, Toronto. There are additional handwritten notes. One of the handwritten notes reads "ck to W. Stephen Haas"

Wiehl & Widmann Price List, August 1903

A price list for Wiehl & Widmann (Wholesale Importers of and Dealers in Wines, Liquors and Mineral Waters). The price list is dated August 1903 and the location of the dealer is New York.

The "Bodega" Company Price List

A price list for The "Bodega" Company Limited. The company has branches throughout the United Kingdom, including: London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Glasgow, Edinburgh, Dundee, Brighton, and Ryde. The final pages of the price list also include a reprinted article from "The Irish Times" concerning a case against the use of the Bodega Company name.

Artists Rendering of Isobel Price

Artist’s rendering in colour of Isobel Price in an oval frame with a hook at the top and a section at the back which contains a lock of hair. This painting was done by Gerald Sinclair Hayward who was a renowned artist whose work was displayed at an exhibition in New York in 1899. He painted Theodore Roosevelt, William K. Vanderbilt and members of the ruling families of Britain, Germany and Russia. The frame is enclosed in a folding case lined with velvet and silk. The silk is quite worn. The outside of the case appears to be leather and has a stand for setting it upright. It closes with a metal latch. This is accompanied by a note by R. Band.

Indenture between Samuel Street and Eunice Price

Indenture (vellum) of bargain and sale between Samuel Street of Stamford and Eunice Price widow of the late David Price of Willoughby regarding a part of Lot no. 15 in the 5th Concession in Humberstone - instrument no. 1141, June 14, 1842.

Letter to Isabel from Phil [Phil Ingram Price]

Letter to Isabel from Phil [Phil Ingram Price] in which he expresses a desire to divide the estate with as little delay as possible. He has divided the books into 4 lots, but he asks if Isabel has some of the books as they are missing, March 28, 1900.

Letter to Isabel from someone whose last name is Price [the first name is illegible]

Letter to Isabel from someone whose last name is Price [the first name is illegible] in which the writer says that the row with Phil regarding the bonds is settled (1 ½ pages). This person does not anticipate any more trouble with Phil. They are sending the personal effects to Isabel as well as a cheque for $3000 as her share of the estate, and more next month, July 15, 1901.

Estimate of road price from Port Robinson to Beaverdams Road

Estimate of road price from Port Robinson to Beaverdams Road, n.d.