{"status":"ok","message-type":"work","message-version":"1.0.0","message":{"indexed":{"date-parts":[[2025,3,2]],"date-time":"2025-03-02T07:40:28Z","timestamp":1740901228102,"version":"3.38.0"},"reference-count":36,"publisher":"SAGE Publications","issue":"1","license":[{"start":{"date-parts":[[2013,11,20]],"date-time":"2013-11-20T00:00:00Z","timestamp":1384905600000},"content-version":"tdm","delay-in-days":0,"URL":"https:\/\/journals.sagepub.com\/page\/policies\/text-and-data-mining-license"}],"content-domain":{"domain":["journals.sagepub.com"],"crossmark-restriction":true},"short-container-title":["The Journal of Commonwealth Literature"],"published-print":{"date-parts":[[2014,3]]},"abstract":"<jats:p> Canada\u2019s official rhetoric situates the nation as one capable of perceiving and arbitrating upon humanitarian need on a global scale. Unofficial discourses confirm this perception of Canada\u2019s humanitarian credentials. One unofficial discourse that tends to question official rhetoric, however, is that of fiction. This article examines the representation of humanitarian concerns in Canadian Maggie Helwig\u2019s novel Where She Was Standing. The novel\u2019s portrayal of the nature of evidence, and of its own status as a type of evidence, are discussed, leading to the proposal of Lauren Berlant\u2019s \u201ccruel optimism\u201d as a potentially appropriate conceptual tool with which to deal with the difficulties in the position of Western observers of humanitarian issues in distant cultures. <\/jats:p>","DOI":"10.1177\/0021989413510520","type":"journal-article","created":{"date-parts":[[2013,11,21]],"date-time":"2013-11-21T03:01:33Z","timestamp":1385002893000},"page":"113-126","update-policy":"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1177\/sage-journals-update-policy","source":"Crossref","is-referenced-by-count":1,"title":["Canada\u2019s humanitarian reach and Maggie Helwig\u2019s <i>Where She Was Standing<\/i>"],"prefix":"10.1177","volume":"49","author":[{"given":"David","family":"Callahan","sequence":"first","affiliation":[{"name":"University of Aveiro, Portugal"}]}],"member":"179","published-online":{"date-parts":[[2013,11,20]]},"reference":[{"volume-title":"Unlikely Utopia: The Surprising Triumph of Canadian Multiculturalism","year":"2008","author":"Adams M","key":"bibr1-0021989413510520"},{"key":"bibr2-0021989413510520","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1017\/CBO9780511557859"},{"key":"bibr3-0021989413510520","unstructured":"Answered by Fire (2006) Dir. Jessica Hobbs. Australia\u2013Canada. Prod. Beyond Simpson le Mesurier, Muse Entertainment Enterprises, Terra Rossa Pictures, Powercorp [TV Miniseries]."},{"key":"bibr4-0021989413510520","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.7551\/mitpress\/6398.001.0001"},{"key":"bibr5-0021989413510520","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1515\/9781503625006"},{"key":"bibr6-0021989413510520","doi-asserted-by":"publisher","DOI":"10.1215\/9780822394716"},{"volume-title":"Forces of Compassion: Humanitarianism between Ethics and Politics","year":"2011","author":"Bornstein E","key":"bibr7-0021989413510520"},{"key":"bibr8-0021989413510520","unstructured":"Curtis D (2001) Politics and Humanitarian Aid: Debates, Dilemmas and Dissension. Humanitarian Policy Group Report 10. 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