Creating popular histories: re-interpreting "second wave" Canadian feminism

Using popular feminist journalism as a source, this article explores the historical consciousness of "second wave" French- and English-Canadian feminism. Eighteen newspapers from across the country are examined, from their first appearance in 1969 to the mid-1980s; their coverage of historical people and issues, their understanding of what is historically significant, and their efforts to reconstruct a feminist history are all interrogated. While this cohort of feminists is often characterized as white, middle class, and liberal in political orientation, feminist journalism suggested a more complex picture, in which class relations and imperialism figured prominently. The article suggests that we need to rethink taken-for-granted paradigms, including the tendency to collapse identity and politics into a unitary category.