Visiting Scholar David Monteyne presents his research:

These powerful corporate institutions have exerted unparalleled power over the development of Canadian cultural landscapes. Urban historians have shown that these three corporations have shaped the built environment as providers of goods, capital, and transportation, and because of the breadth of their land ownership, control, and collusion, especially in locations that became Canadian cities. This valuable research has typically evolved from the perspective and historical records related to elite corporate goals, processes, and activities… I propose to read the archives of these corporations ‘against the grain,’ in the hope of tracing the everyday activities of people in the official documents of large business bureaucracies. In addition, I have begun research in the cultural archive, such as memoirs, diaries, and fiction, to help flesh out stories of people in relation to specific Canadian cultural landscapes. Ultimately, I hope to be able to narrate the contingent spatial practices of people in relation to historic and material built environments. This seminar will present the early findings and directions of this project.

David Monteyne completed his Ph.D. in 2005 in the Department of American Studies at the University of Minnesota. He is currently an Assistant professor at the University of Calgary, where he teaches courses on architectural history and urban design theory in the Faculty of Environmental Design. His new research focuses on spatial practice and the history of Canadian cultural landscapes. He has published articles in the Journal of Architectural Education, SSAC Bulletin, BC Studies, and The Philosophical Forum.

David Monteyne was a Visiting Scholar at the CCA in 2009.