- Title:
- Revolutionising landscapes: hydroelectricity and the heavy industrialisation of society and environment in the Comté de Beauharnois, 1927-1948
- Creator:
- Pelletier, Louis-Raphaël
- Date Created:
- 2005
- Degree Awarded:
- Doctor of Philosophy
- Subjects:
- Capitalism Quebec (Province)Electric utilities Quebec (Province) Land use Environmental aspects Quebec (Province)Economic development Environmental aspects Human ecology
- Geographical Focus:
- Canada Quebec Beauharnois
- Supporting Materials:
- n/a
- Description:
- This dissertation analyses the rapid industrialisation of the rural Comté de Beauharnois and the adjacent stretch of the Fleuve Saint-Laurent owing to the construction, between 1929 and 1948, of a gigantic canal for hydroelectricity production and navigation by an electricity corporation called the Beauharnois Light Heat and Power (BLH&P). Using principally the archives of the BLH&P - especially its complaints files and its rich photographic record -, this thesis argues that this process exemplifies the finance capitalist reorganisation of the society and ecosystems of the Canadian province of Québec from the 19" century to the Great Depression. In keeping with recent work in cenvironmental history, the transformation of rural landscapes and a river for heavy industry is described as an important dimension of a revolution in modes of production. More specifically, 1 argue that, in the case under study, the finance-capitalist reorganisation of Québec revolved around two central and explicit projects, one social and the other environmental: the grouping of most individuals in an industrial working class without control over the means of production and the reorganisation of rural landscapes into reservoirs of modern energy and industrial natural resources.
Source
- Preferred Citation:
- Pelletier, Louis-Rapha‚àö¬¥l. 2005. "Revolutionising landscapes: hydroelectricity and the heavy industrialisation of society and environment in the Comté de Beauharnois, 1927-1948", Department of History, Carleton University
- Link to this page:
- https://cuhistory.github.io/grads/items/hist_146.html
Rights
- Rights:
- Copyright the author, all rights reserved, unless otherwise indicated.