Beer Across the Border: Hull Coming to Terms with its History and Geography
Three times over the last century the border situation of Hull between Ontario and Quebec has led to an abnormally large concentration of bars in some areas of the town and hence a shift in social trends (festive and “criminal” or at least underground) which local officials consider intolerable. This paper provides an historical and geographical interpretation of these three cycles of urban order and disorder. Acquainted with recent theoretical projections regarding the location, the author interprets Hull’s festive locations as the result of a series of converging processes, as a mediator of social relations and as the focus of representations that played a role in the dynamics of this energetic location. By aligning his analysis within the framework of a border geography, he highlights the unique features of this border town that brings together French-speaking Quebecers and English-speaking Ontarians, who historically have had distinct cultural attitudes towards drinking in bars.