The Affective Basis of Judgements and Narratives Surrounding Sexual Commerce in Western Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries

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dc.contributor.advisorMcPherson, Kathryn M.
dc.contributor.authorYork-Bertram, Sarah Elizabeth
dc.date.accessioned2024-10-28T13:36:57Z
dc.date.available2024-10-28T13:36:57Z
dc.date.copyright2024-02-28
dc.date.issued2024-10-28
dc.date.updated2024-10-28T13:36:56Z
dc.degree.disciplineGender, Feminist and Women's Studies
dc.degree.levelDoctoral
dc.degree.namePhD - Doctor of Philosophy
dc.description.abstractThis dissertation undertakes an affective reading of late-nineteenth and early-twentieth century Canadian primary sources through which to analyze the affective basis of judgments and narratives surrounding sexual commerce. Situated in the interdisciplinary subfield of the history of emotions, this dissertation centres sexual commerce as a site of colonial worldmaking in what are currently the southern regions of the provinces of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, and Alberta, and traces emotional through-lines across fields in social space. Beginning with a self-reflexive prologue drawing from a method feminist theorist Clare Hemmings (2011) terms “situated horror,” this dissertation then turns to the Dominion of Canada’s post-1867 westward expansion, its legal mechanisms, and affective mobilizations. Across the empire, Britain tied legislative powers to feelings that reflected its goals, ideal social order, and habitus of its peoples. Like a mathematical equation, peace in the colonies would emerge through order and good government and law-abiding citizens would be its beneficiaries. That equation was integral to the shift from a fur trade economy to a settler colonial one oriented toward a British imperial and Canadian economic disposition. The corollary effect of the equation was the normalization of British and Canadian views on what constituted peace, their conceptions of capital, and the conceptual transplant of disorderly figures, such as the “rebel,” the “vagrant,” and the “prostitute” – or, broadly, people defined as “outlaws.” Three main sites of colonial worldmaking are examined in this work: that of the journalistic field in chapter four, that of the political field in chapter five, and that of the juridical field in chapter six. By tracing emotion in oft-cited, and not-so-oft-cited, primary sources that discuss concerns about and responses to sexual commerce, the emotions underpinning narratives and judgments surrounding sexual commerce become evident. This method offers an emotions history of western Canadian colonial expansion, revealing how sex workers, histories of sex work, and feelings about sexual commerce were integral to Canadian worldmaking. Responses to sexual commerce were informed by the Dominion of Canada’s worldmaking mission, concerns over human unfreedom, and dynamic social positionings in emergent settler colonial society. British imperial and Canadian whiteness were produced through gendered-racialized processes of differentiation at the local, municipal, provincial, federal, and imperial levels. White men’s feelings of satisfaction dominated in this history, as they intensified their gendered monopoly on resources, space, and authority in a region that had been known as Indigenous peoples’ territories. This analysis of masculinized emotions contributes to the feminist theorization of colonialism and sexuality.
dc.identifier.urihttps://hdl.handle.net/10315/42381
dc.languageen
dc.rightsAuthor owns copyright, except where explicitly noted. Please contact the author directly with licensing requests.
dc.subjectCanadian history
dc.subjectGender studies
dc.subjectWomen's studies
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian history
dc.subject.keywordsPrairie history
dc.subject.keywordsWestern Canada
dc.subject.keywordsSex work
dc.subject.keywordsSexual commerce
dc.subject.keywordsSaskatchewan
dc.subject.keywordsAlberta
dc.subject.keywordsManitoba
dc.subject.keywordsSex work history
dc.subject.keywordsCanada
dc.subject.keywordsWinnipeg
dc.subject.keywordsSaskatoon
dc.subject.keywordsEdmonton
dc.subject.keywordsCalgary
dc.subject.keywordsRegina
dc.subject.keywordsBlackfoot Confederacy
dc.subject.keywordsMacleod
dc.subject.keywordsMedicine Hat
dc.subject.keywordsLethbridge
dc.subject.keywordsTreaty 1
dc.subject.keywordsTreaty 4
dc.subject.keywordsTreaty 6
dc.subject.keywordsTreaty 7
dc.subject.keywordsIndigenous histories
dc.subject.keywordsWestward expansion
dc.subject.keywordsNineteenth century
dc.subject.keywordsTwentieth century
dc.subject.keywordsNorthwest Territories
dc.subject.keywordsNorth-west
dc.subject.keywordsNorth-west Territories
dc.subject.keywordsHistory of emotions
dc.subject.keywordsEmotions history
dc.subject.keywordsEmotions research
dc.subject.keywordsWomen's and gender studies
dc.subject.keywordsWomen's studies
dc.subject.keywordsGender studies
dc.subject.keywordsMasculinities
dc.subject.keywordsBritish imperialism
dc.subject.keywordsWestern imperialism
dc.subject.keywordsWestern feminism
dc.subject.keywordsFeminist studies
dc.subject.keywordsIndigenous studies
dc.subject.keywordsIndigenous-settler relations
dc.subject.keywordsHistory of feminism
dc.subject.keywordsRace relations
dc.subject.keywordsRace
dc.subject.keywordsRacism
dc.subject.keywordsSettler colonialism
dc.subject.keywordsSatisfaction
dc.subject.keywordsLegal history
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian Law
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian policy
dc.subject.keywordsSex work studies
dc.subject.keywordsCriminal law
dc.subject.keywordsThe Indian Act
dc.subject.keywordsProstitution
dc.subject.keywordsWhite slavery
dc.subject.keywordsHuman trafficking
dc.subject.keywordsWhite women's labour
dc.subject.keywordsLaw
dc.subject.keywordsHistory of marriage
dc.subject.keywordsHistory of divorce
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian judges
dc.subject.keywordsNorth West Mounted Police
dc.subject.keywordsRoyal Canadian Mounted Police
dc.subject.keywords(Royal) North West Mounted Police
dc.subject.keywordsDepartment of Indian Affairs
dc.subject.keywordsIndigenous marriage
dc.subject.keywordsMarriage
dc.subject.keywordsWhite men
dc.subject.keywordsWhite women
dc.subject.keywordsWhiteness
dc.subject.keywordsIndigenous women
dc.subject.keywordsIndigenous feminism
dc.subject.keywordsMissing and murdered Indigenous women
dc.subject.keywordsIndigenous men
dc.subject.keywordsBlack men
dc.subject.keywordsBlack women
dc.subject.keywordsAsian men
dc.subject.keywordsChinese-Canadian
dc.subject.keywordsAnti-black sentiment
dc.subject.keywordsAnti-Asian sentiment
dc.subject.keywordsAnti-Indigenous sentiment
dc.subject.keywordsPolicy
dc.subject.keywordsEmotions
dc.subject.keywordsFeelings
dc.subject.keywordsAffect
dc.subject.keywordsEmotion
dc.subject.keywordsChristianity
dc.subject.keywordsProtestant
dc.subject.keywordsCatholic
dc.subject.keywordsEvangelical
dc.subject.keywordsMoral reform
dc.subject.keywordsFear
dc.subject.keywordsHorror
dc.subject.keywordsShock
dc.subject.keywordsDisgust
dc.subject.keywordsFeminist theory
dc.subject.keywordsPierre Bourdieu
dc.subject.keywordsBourdieu
dc.subject.keywordsBourdieusian methods
dc.subject.keywordsFeminist methods
dc.subject.keywordsClare Hemmings
dc.subject.keywordsSituated horror
dc.subject.keywordsSituated knowledge
dc.subject.keywordsSocial order
dc.subject.keywordsProstitute
dc.subject.keywordsSegregation
dc.subject.keywordsInfrastructure
dc.subject.keywordsEconomy
dc.subject.keywordsPolitical economy
dc.subject.keywordsAffective economies
dc.subject.keywordsSara Ahmed
dc.subject.keywordsDominion of Canada
dc.subject.keywordsHabitus
dc.subject.keywordsEmotional habitus
dc.subject.keywordsDeborah B. Gould
dc.subject.keywordsRebel
dc.subject.keywordsVagrant
dc.subject.keywordsOutlaws
dc.subject.keywordsRailroad
dc.subject.keywordsCanadian Pacific Railway Company
dc.subject.keywordsJournalism
dc.subject.keywordsJournalistic field
dc.subject.keywordsNewspapers
dc.subject.keywordsPrimary sources
dc.subject.keywordsPrivy Council
dc.subject.keywordsSurveys
dc.subject.keywordsCity council
dc.subject.keywordsTown council
dc.subject.keywordsMunicipal council
dc.subject.keywordsMunicipalities
dc.subject.keywordsRegulation
dc.subject.keywordsRegulation of prostitution
dc.subject.keywordsRegulation of sex work
dc.subject.keywordsRegulation of sexual commerce
dc.subject.keywordsProcesses of differentiation
dc.subject.keywordsDifferentiation
dc.subject.keywordsWorldmaking
dc.subject.keywordsColonial
dc.subject.keywordsColonial worldmaking
dc.subject.keywordsGendered social order
dc.subject.keywordsFemininity
dc.subject.keywordsAgency
dc.subject.keywordsSocial space
dc.subject.keywordsReason
dc.subject.keywordsGendered-racialization
dc.subject.keywordsMethods
dc.subject.keywordsMethodologies
dc.subject.keywordsNarratives
dc.subject.keywordsTypical prostitute
dc.subject.keywordsSexual exploitation
dc.subject.keywordsSexual danger
dc.subject.keywordsSuffering
dc.subject.keywordsSlavery
dc.subject.keywordsOutrage
dc.subject.keywordsAnxiety
dc.subject.keywordsCounter-narrative
dc.subject.keywordsPolicing
dc.subject.keywordsUndesirables
dc.subject.keywordsUndesirable
dc.subject.keywordsShame
dc.subject.keywordsSuspicion
dc.subject.keywordsPity
dc.subject.keywordsRegret
dc.subject.keywordsEmotional expression
dc.subject.keywordsEmbodiment
dc.subject.keywordsCognitive justice
dc.subject.keywordsJudith Walkowitz
dc.subject.keywordsPall Mall Gazette
dc.subject.keywordsW. T. Stead
dc.subject.keywordsMaiden Tribute of Modern Babylon
dc.subject.keywordsIndigenous territory
dc.subject.keywordsIndigenous territories
dc.subject.keywordsPiegan
dc.subject.keywordsChief Crowfoot
dc.subject.keywordsFather Constantine Scollen
dc.subject.keywordsR. B. Deane
dc.subject.keywords1885 Northwest Resistance Uprising
dc.subject.keywordsFirst Nations
dc.subject.keywordsMétis
dc.subject.keywordsPiapot First Nation
dc.subject.keywordsStarvation policy
dc.subject.keywordsKáínawa Reserve
dc.subject.keywordsHouse of Commons debate
dc.subject.keywordsIndian agent
dc.subject.keywordsFarm instructor
dc.subject.keywordsSection 238 of Canada's Criminal Code
dc.subject.keywordsCanada's Criminal Code
dc.subject.keywordsCriminal Code
dc.subject.keywordsProstitution law
dc.subject.keywordsIntersectional
dc.subject.keywordsIntersectionality
dc.subject.keywordsIntersectional research
dc.subject.keywordsIntersectional research methods
dc.subject.keywordsBiopolitics
dc.subject.keywordsNecropolitics
dc.subject.keywordsProtective legislation
dc.subject.keywordsSexism
dc.subject.keywordsSexist
dc.subject.keywordsThe Globe
dc.subject.keywordsNews
dc.subject.keywordsEdmonton Bulletin
dc.subject.keywordsRegina Leader
dc.subject.keywordsEvangelical Churchman
dc.subject.keywordsMoose Jaw News
dc.subject.keywordsToronto Mail
dc.subject.keywordsMacleod Gazette
dc.subject.keywordsManitoba Sun
dc.subject.keywordsCalgary Herald
dc.subject.keywordsCalgary Tribune
dc.subject.keywordsSaskatchewan Labour Realm
dc.subject.keywordsLethbridge Herald
dc.subject.keywordsThe Albertan
dc.subject.keywordsRed Deer News
dc.subject.keywordsSaskatoon Star
dc.subject.keywordsRaymond Leader
dc.subject.keywordsR. v Ford (1889)
dc.subject.keywordsRe. Effie Brady (1913)
dc.subject.keywordsR. v. Knowles (1913)
dc.subject.keywordsQuong Wing v. The King (1914)
dc.subject.keywordsR. v. Cardell (1914)
dc.subject.keywordsR. V. Sands (1915)
dc.subject.keywordsR. v. Davidson (1917)
dc.subject.keywordsR. v. Cyr (1917)
dc.subject.keywordsR. v. Bobyck (1919)
dc.subject.keywordsR. v. Jones (1921)
dc.subject.keywordsSamail v. Samil (1922)
dc.subject.keywordsR. v. Flannery (1923)
dc.subject.keywordsJones v. Jones (1925)
dc.subject.keywordsSessional Papers
dc.subject.keywordsVice
dc.subject.keywordsVice Commission
dc.titleThe Affective Basis of Judgements and Narratives Surrounding Sexual Commerce in Western Canada in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries
dc.typeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation

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