Abstracts
Abstract
This case study provides an important socio-historical snapshot of the same-sex marriage debate in a small city in central Alberta between December 2004 and August 2005. We explore the relationship between professors and small-town newspapers in fostering democratic dialogues on key social issues through an analysis of faculty columns and the responding Letters to the Editor in a local paper. In so doing, this research focuses on two social groups located in a particular social environment, each representing a particular frame: the professors working in the local university who maintained an op-ed column in the local paper and supported a equality frame; and the general public living in Camrose and the surrounding rural area who supported a morality frame. This article contributes to our understanding of scholarly engagement in the town-gown context, the democratic role of the press, and how a particularly contentious social and political issue—same-sex marriage—was experienced and framed by concerned citizens in a small conservative rural city that is also the home to a liberal arts and sciences university campus.
Keywords:
- community engagement,
- same-sex marriage,
- frame analysis,
- media,
- democracy
Appendices
Bibliography
- Archer, K. (1992). Voting behaviour and political dominance in Alberta, 1971–1991. In A. Tupper & R. Gibbins (Eds.), Government and politics in Alberta (pp. 109-136). University of Alberta Press.
- Bannerman, S. (2012). Same-sex marriage, social cohesion, and Canadian values: A media analysis. Canadian Journal of Communication, 36(4), 599-619.
- Bonner, K. (1997). A great place to raise kids: Interpretation, science, and the urban-rural debate. McGill-Queen’s University Press.
- Bowal, P., & Campbell, C. (2007). The legalization of same-sex marriage in Canada. American Journal of Family Law, 21(2), 37-41.
- Dahlgren P., & Sparks, C. (1995). Communication and citizenship. Routledge.
- Glass, C., & Kubasek, N. (2008). The evolution of same-sex marriage in Canada: Lessons the U.S. can learn from their Northern neighbor regarding same-sex marriage rights. Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, 15(1), 143-204.
- Gomm, R., Hammersley, M., & Foster, P. (2000). Case study and generalization. In R. Gomm, M. Hammersley & P. Foster (Eds.), Case study and method: Key issues, key texts (pp. 98-115). SAGE Publications, Inc.
- Habermas, J. (1989). The structural transformation of the public sphere: An inquiry into a category of bourgeois society. (T. Burger & F. Lawrence, Trans.). The MIT Press.
- Harde, R. (2017, October 31). Outing Dumbledore. Camrose Booster, p. 21.
- Hogg, P. (2006). Canada: The Constitution and same-sex marriage. International Journal of Constitutional Law, 4(3), 712-721.
- Johansen, J. (n.d.) How Augustana began. http://www.augustana.ualberta.ca/files/group/81/How%20Augustana%20Began%20-%20John%20Johansen.pdf
- Johnson, T. (2012). Equality, morality, and the impact of media framing: Explaining opposition to same-sex marriage and civil unions. Politics & Policy, 40(6), 1053-1080.
- Lahey, K., & Alderson, K. (2004). Same-sex marriage: The personal and the political. Insomniac Press.
- Larocque, S. (2006). Gay marriage: The story of a Canadian social revolution. James Lorimer & Co.
- Lee, T. T., & Hicks, G. (2011). An analysis of factors affecting attitudes toward same-sex marriage: Do the media matter? Journal of Homosexuality, 58(10), 1391-1408.
- Li, X., & Xudong, L. (2010). Framing and coverage of same-sex marriage in U.S. newspapers. The Howard Journal of Communications, 21(1), 72-91.
- Lloyd, J., & Bonnett, L. (2005). The arrested development of queer rights in Alberta. In T. Harrison (Ed.), The return of the trojan horse: Alberta and the new world (dis)order (pp. 328-341). Black Rose Books.
- McLaughlin, N., & Townsley, E. (2011). Contexts of cultural diffusion: A case study of “Public Intellectual” debates in English Canada. Canadian Review of Sociology/Revue Canadienne de Sociologie, 48(4), 341-368.
- MacIntosh, H., Andruff, H., & Reissing, E. (2010). Same-sex marriage in Canada: The impact of legal marriage on the first gay and lesbians to wed. The Canadian Journal of Human Sexuality, 19(3), 79-90.
- Mahoney, J. (2003, August 9). Gay weddings get mixed reception in Camrose. The Globe and Mail, p. A6.
- Matthews, J. S. (2005). The political foundations of support for same-sex marriage in Canada. Canadian Journal of Political Science, 38(4), 841-866.
- Norrie, K., Owram, D., & Emery, J. C. H. (2002). A history of the Canadian economy (3rd ed.). Thomson-Nelson.
- Osborne, G., & Wilton, S. (2017). Professing in the local press: Professors and public responsibilities. Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship, 10(1), 67-80.
- Osborne, H. (2005, February 22). The nature of sex. Camrose Booster, p. 11.
- Overby, L. M., Raymond, C., & Taydas, Z. (2011). Free votes, MPs, and constituents: The case of same-sex marriage in Canada. American Review of Canadian Studies, 41(4), 465-478.
- Parliament of Canada. (n.d.). History of federal ridings since 1867. http://www.parl.gc.ca/About/Parliament/FederalRidingsHistory/HFER.asp
- Pahl. R. (1968). The rural-urban continuum. In R.E. Pahl (Ed.), Readings in urban sociology (pp. 263-305). Pergamon Press.
- Pettinicchio, D. (2010). Public and elite policy preferences: Gay marriage in Canada. International Journal of Canadian Studies, 42, 125-153.
- Pierceson, J. (2005). Courts, liberalism and rights: Gay law and politics in the United States and Canada. Temple University Press.
- Rayside, D. (2008). Queer inclusions, continental divisions: Public recognition of sexual diversity in Canada and the United States. University of Toronto Press.
- Said, E. (1994). Representations of the intellectual. Vintage.
- Sen. A. (1999). Development as freedom. Anchor Books.
- Seigel, A. (1996) Politics and the media in Canada. McGraw-Hill Ryerson.
- Smith, M. (2007). Framing same-sex marriage in Canada and the United States: Goodridge, Halpern and the national boundaries of political discourse. Social & Legal Studies, 16(1), 5-26.
- Smith, M. (2005). The politics of same-sex marriage in Canada and the United States. PS: Political Science & Politics, 38(2), 225-228.
- Statistics Canada. (n.d.). Religions in Canada: Highlight tables, 2001 census. https://www12.statcan.gc.ca/english/census01/products/highlight/SAC/Page.cfm?Lang=E&Geo=PR&Code=01&Table=1a&StartRec=1&Sort=2&B1=Age&B2=Counts
- van der Toorn, J., Jost, J. T., Packer, D. J., Noorbaloochi, S., & Van Bavel, J. J. (2017). In defense of tradition: Religiosity, conservatism, and opposition to same-sex marriage in North America. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin, 43(10), 1455-1468.
- Wesley, J. (2011). Code politics: Campaigns and cultures on the Canadian prairies. University of British Columbia Press.
- White, L. (2014). Federalism and equality rights implementation in Canada. The Journal of Federalism, 44(1), 157-182.
- Wilton, S. (2005a, January 11). Respect, equality, and same-sex marriages. Camrose Booster.
- Wilton, S. (2005b, March 22). Free speech vs. hate speech. Camrose Booster.
- Yin, R. K. (2003a). Applications of case study research (2nd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc..
- Yin, R. K. (2003b). Case study research: Design and methods (3rd ed.). SAGE Publications, Inc.
- Young, K., & Nathanson, P. (2007). Redefining marriage or deconstructing society: A Canadian case study. Journal of Family Studies, 13(2), 133-178.