Language/truths: Power, disenfranchisement, and politics in northern British Columbian poetics.

Northern British Columbian poetry from communities like Prince George is often marginalized by literary centres of power. The economic realities of resource-based towns are the foreground in Ken Belford's, George Stanley's, and Barry McKinnon's writing. Their poetry enacts resistance in the face of global capitalism and homogenizing economic forces. Ferdinand De Saussure's language theory and Jean Baudrillard's concepts of simulacra and radical thought' show the arbitrary and illusory qualities of writing. Edward Soja's theory of spatiality and Felix Guattari's ecosophy' posit that landscapes are divided into three interdependent and interpenetrating spatial spheres: physical, mental, and social. These theories are used to present landscape cohesively as a venue of contestation and change. As a further means of addressing the disenfranchisement of Northern B.C. writers, I have written a collection of poetry exploring local politics, resistance to globalizing capitalism, and attitudes about Northern B.C. poetics.