Technologies of remembrance: Literary criticism and Duncan Campbell Scott's 'Indian poems'

This thesis conceptualizes literary criticism as a "technology of remembrance." It works with the theory of "remembrance/pedagogy" which proposes that all remembrance acts are inherently pedagogical. This thesis argues that Canadian literary criticism engages various public remembrance/pedagogies of the history of First Nations-Canadian relations, as those relations have been produced historically through colonial domination. This thesis examines literary criticism, spanning from 1914 to 1996, of Duncan Campbell Scott's canonized "Indian poems." It also examines Scott's role in the department of Indian Affairs, especially from 1913 to 1932. It reads the literary readings of Scott and asks what is being remembered and forgotten about the colonial history of Canada in the remembrances of Scott? The thesis identifies and critiques three evaluative discourses in Scott literary criticism in terms of what they erase. It suggests two alternative evaluative discourses which are grounded in a counter-hegemonic view of the history of First Nations-Canadian relations.