About us

Marianne

Hello! My name is Marianne and I am taking this course as part of a Diploma of Education in Literacy. I completed my Bachelor of Education a few years ago, and have been working as a middle school teacher ever since. I’ve taught almost every subject out there, but my area of specialization and passion has always been English Language Arts. I love nothing more than introducing a great story to my students and seeing how engaged they can be as we explore the characters and the themes together. I started this diploma program because I wanted to continue my own professional development, and since the curriculum is always evolving, I thought it would be a wonderful opportunity to stay up to date, especially as more and more Aboriginal content is introduced in schools. The exploration of “place” has always been fascinating to me. Even as a little kid, I could spend hours looking at maps, fantasizing about far-off locations and the people who lived there. (Did anyone else play that game in elementary school, where you would spin a globe and wherever your finger landed would determine where you would live as a grown-up?) In retrospect, my love of maps probably resulted in me romanticizing many of these places, but nonetheless it was a starting point for me. As I grew up, I had the opportunity to do some travelling overseas, and made long bucket lists of all the “exotic” places I wanted to visit. However, in the past few years, my focus has shifted. I’ve come to appreciate the land of Canada more. And I’ve come to realize what a vast, beautiful, and often-unexplored land it is. Rather than travelling to other parts of the world, I have started to spend more time exploring our land, and I hope to continue to do so in the future. As our group explores the role of “place” in Canadian literature, I would like to particularly examine “the city”, and what role the Canadian city plays in our national identity and literature. For anyone who knows me, this might seem like an odd choice, for when given the option, I will easily choose “country” living over “city” living. However, I think it will be an interesting study, as Canada is so often linked to nature and ruralism, we sometimes forget about the identities of our city. I look forward to the challenge!

Alex

Hi everyone! I am a third year Sociology Major at the University of British Columbia at the Vancouver campus. I entered university rather confused about what I wanted to study, but after participating in the Coordinated Arts Global Citizens Program in my first year at UBC I found a love for Sociology. I have always been interested in human interaction and connecting the study of people with why the world works the way that it does – economically, socially, and politically. Sociology has the power to expand our knowledge of the world which is vital to live a rich life and experience all cultures and societies. It has been beneficial for me to analyze the sociological aspects of this course, as the process of storytelling is such an integral part of human interaction and sociological processes.

Our group’s area of interest focuses on regionalism and how certain stories are affected by regions and specific locations and spaces. More specifically, I am interested in  diverse kinds of storytelling and how the process of storytelling has the power to bring people together. 

Sandra

Hi Folks! My name is Sandra Gans and I am about to finish my Bachelor of Environmental Design at the UBC Vancouver Campus. UBC’s Bachelor of Environmental Design is an interdisciplinary degree that focuses on architecture, landscape architecture and urban design. Additionally, I spend the majority of my summers either canoe tripping or tree planting in Northern Ontario. Since I my years either meticulously designing buildings and landscapes, or living in the natural woods, I get to spend a lot of thinking about the relationship that I, as well as the people around me have to certain places. I find it fascinating how such a similar place can greatly effect ones mood and attitude — the contrast between the same person living in a high-rise, mid rise, or single family home dwelling is shocking, or how a place that is so incredibly different — living in the city or living in the words, cannot.

Since our group’s area of interest is looking at regionalism in Canadian Literature, and the relationship between a place and a story, I will focus on the contrast between Canadian Literature set in a city context, versus in rural/nature context. What I find so unique and compelling about Canada is the incredibly dense cities spread very wide in the vast nature of the land, that driving as little as two hours out of a major city can lead you to a place that has been so rarely traveled.