scholarly journals Constructing ‘Canadians’: a discourse analysis of political constructions in the Discover Canada Citizenship Guide

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangeetha Nagendran
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
National History ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Canadian Identity ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
History Of ◽  
Specific Construction

Under Stephen Harper’s leadership, the Conservative government took active steps to maintain a particular Canadian identity. This notion is grounded in changes made to immigration policies and in Discover Canada, “where nation-specific definitions of citizenship” (Winter, 2014, p. 1) are outlined extensively. Discover Canada provides immigrants access to a specific construction of national history, while also highlighting Canada’s pride in its multiculturalism. Thus, when considering Discover Canada as a representation of Canada’s national identity, this MRP will interrogate the underlying discourses on which it is based by critically examining the guidebook. While the guidebook attempts to be inclusive—by including sections on ‘Aboriginal Peoples’ and ‘Diversity in Canada’— it paradoxically provides a romanticized vision of history that fails to recognize persisting social inequalities resulting from a deeply rooted history of colonialism and systemic racism. This problematic portrayal of Canadian history, identity and multiculturalism may significantly disservice immigrants who seek meaningful inclusion and representation in Canada. Key words: Political constructions and representations; national identity; citizenship; racialized immigrants and minorities; multiculturalism.

scholarly journals Constructing ‘Canadians’: a discourse analysis of political constructions in the Discover Canada Citizenship Guide

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sangeetha Nagendran
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
National History ◽  
Systemic Racism ◽  
Canadian Identity ◽  
Conservative Government ◽  
History Of ◽  
Specific Construction

Under Stephen Harper’s leadership, the Conservative government took active steps to maintain a particular Canadian identity. This notion is grounded in changes made to immigration policies and in Discover Canada, “where nation-specific definitions of citizenship” (Winter, 2014, p. 1) are outlined extensively. Discover Canada provides immigrants access to a specific construction of national history, while also highlighting Canada’s pride in its multiculturalism. Thus, when considering Discover Canada as a representation of Canada’s national identity, this MRP will interrogate the underlying discourses on which it is based by critically examining the guidebook. While the guidebook attempts to be inclusive—by including sections on ‘Aboriginal Peoples’ and ‘Diversity in Canada’— it paradoxically provides a romanticized vision of history that fails to recognize persisting social inequalities resulting from a deeply rooted history of colonialism and systemic racism. This problematic portrayal of Canadian history, identity and multiculturalism may significantly disservice immigrants who seek meaningful inclusion and representation in Canada. Key words: Political constructions and representations; national identity; citizenship; racialized immigrants and minorities; multiculturalism.

Is there a non-socialist Swedish feminism?

2020 ◽  
Vol 27 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-309 ◽  
Author(s):  
Irene Molina
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Gender Equality ◽  
Social Inequalities ◽  
The Political ◽  
Postcolonial Feminism ◽  
Academic World ◽  
Structural Class ◽  
State Institutions ◽  
Gender Research ◽  
History Of

Based on a narrative of the recent history of postcolonial feminism within and outside the Swedish academic world, this article discusses the controversial relationship between feminism and politics. Installing a socialist inspired perspective on intersectionality in Swedish feminist debates and in gender research has been a hard task for postcolonial feminists in a society whose self-imagination excludes the recognition of racism as a fundamental component of the national identity. Moreover, as the country moves rapidly towards a neoliberalization of the former Keynesian Swedish welfare state, racism and homo-nationalism spreads out and permeates the political sphere and state institutions. The author emphasizes the importance for postcolonial feminists to continuously highlight the chasm that exists between neoliberal understandings of gender equality, which are not meant to eradicate structural class, gender, racial or other social inequalities, and those emanating from socialist and anti-racist feministic ontologies.

scholarly journals Aboriginal Identity: A Perspective on Hegemony and the Implications for Canadian Citizenship

in education ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 17 (3) ◽  
Author(s):  
Frank Deer
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Identity Development ◽  
Aboriginal People ◽  
Racial Groups ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Canadian Identity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Citizenship Development ◽  
Aboriginal Identity ◽  
Canadian Citizenship

National identity can be a difficult concept to define in Canada, a difficulty that may be particularly prevalent for Canada’s Aboriginal people.  Identity, whether national or ethno-cultural, may be problematic to conceptualize for Aboriginal people because of dominant post-colonial influences that are reflected in everyday life.  Identity, an individual's collective understanding of themselves as a unique, separate entity is frequently associated with ethnic and racial affirmations of distinctness.  Consequently, Canada’s national identity may be fragmented by its various ethnic and racial groups.  Canada’s Aboriginal people, who have been impacted by a history of European influence through colonization, have consequently struggled with the notion of Canadian identity, a struggle that is prevalent in the field of education.  The following will be an exploration of the issues associated with Canadian identity, and how Aboriginal identity relates to that conception of citizenship development for Aboriginal students in Canadian schools.  To support this exploration, this article will explore: (a) identity development in a postcolonial and transcultural society, (b) identity negotiation in contemporary Canadian society, and (c) the implications for citizenship development in Canadian education.Keywords: Aboriginal identity; hegemony; postcolonial; transcultural; citizenship

A Different Perspective on Canadian History: The Canadian Wing of the Art Gallery of Ontario’s New Design

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jackie Sevcik
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Art History ◽  
Historical Narrative ◽  
Canadian History ◽  
Art Gallery ◽  
Canadian Identity ◽  
Indigenous Groups ◽  
Canadian Art ◽  
Contemporary Perspective ◽  
Art Gallery Of Ontario

The issue of representation within the grand Canadian historical narrative is a topic that re‐opens previous notions about the accepted version of the Art Historical canon. While there are many aspects of Canadian Art History that are celebrated as true notions of national identity, there are many indigenous groups and ideas that do not meet the criteria to be included in the canon and are thus, not represented. This paper examines the contemporary Canadian Wing at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) and will focus on showing the changes made to the gallery and how this will help Canadians understand what it means to be Canadian. What is interesting about this newly renovated wing is that the curatorial staff has successfully managed to show Canadian history from a contemporary perspective. By choosing to recognize the importance of different aspects of Canadian history to the understanding of Canadian identity, the AGO takes old practices and turns them into new traditions.

History, Commemoration and National Preoccupation

2007 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
Public History ◽  
Cultural Meanings ◽  
History Writing ◽  
National History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Modern Media ◽  
National Memory ◽  
History Of ◽  
Contemporary Britain

This volume explores the commemoration of the Battle of Trafalgar and Admiral Lord Nelson's death over the past two centuries. It includes the celebrations of 2005, which saw hundreds of official, commercial, and popular events celebrating and commemorating the bicentenary of Trafalgar and the death of Nelson. Leading historians of Britain and France reflect critically on complex notions of remembrance, celebration, honouring, and commemoration. Taking historical snapshots of the commemoration of Nelson at his death, a century later in 1905, and in contemporary Britain, the contributors ask: who drives the commemoration of historical anniversaries and to what ends? Which Nelson, or Nelsons, have had a role in national memory over the past two centuries? And who identifies with Nelson today? Focusing on Britain, but looking also at imperial and French contexts, the papers consider how memoirs, history writing, visual and modern media and museums, and official and unofficial interests, contribute to keeping and shaping memory. As the changing manner of memorializing key moments in national history allows historians to study cultural meanings and interpretations of national identity, the contributors to this volume exhort the wider profession to engage critically with ‘public history’. This work is about the history of memory and commemoration and will be of interest those with general interests in naval, maritime, cultural and public history.

Sorbische Seelsorge und Reformation – ein überlieferungsgeschichtliches Problem illustriert am Beispiel der pfarrlichen Seelsorge in Lübben im 15. und 16. Jahrhundert

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 556-571
Author(s):  
Madlena Mahling
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
National History ◽  
Pastoral Work ◽  
Starting Point ◽  
Church Life ◽  
The Reformation ◽  
History Of ◽  
Identity Based ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Main City

Summary In Sorbian historiography the Lutheran reformation of the early 16th century is seen as a starting point of Sorbian national history. It is thought that the introduction of Sorbian language into church life led to the development of Sorbian literature, a Sorbian elite and hence to a national identity. Based on research into the history of Sorbian pastoral work in Lübben, the main city of the Margraviate of Lower Lusatia, the present paper argues that the lack of pre-reformation sources about Sorbian church life and accordingly the increase of them after the reformation is primarily due to general mechanisms of source creation and preservation. In view of this, the impact of the reformation on Sorbian history needs to be evaluated with caution.

The Triumph of Olemaun: Survivance, Empathic Unsettlement, and Restorying the History of Canadian Residential Schools

2018 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 132-146
Author(s):  
Anah-Jayne Markland
Keyword(s):  
Residential Schools ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Aboriginal Peoples ◽  
Close Reading ◽  
Reconciliation Commission ◽  
Mandatory Education ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Young Readers ◽  
History Of ◽  
Age Appropriate

The ignorance of many Canadians regarding residential schools and their traumatic legacy is emphasised in the reports of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) as a foundational obstacle to achieving reconciliation. Many of the TRC's calls to action involve education that dispels and corrects this ignorance, and the commission demands ‘age-appropriate curriculum on residential schools, Treaties, and Aboriginal peoples' historical and contemporary contributions to Canada’ to be made ‘a mandatory education requirement for Kindergarten to Grade Twelve students’ (Calls to Action 62.i). How to incorporate the history of residential schools in kindergarten and early elementary curricula has been much discussed, and one tool gaining traction is Indigenous-authored picturebooks about Canadian residential schools. This article conducts a close reading of Margaret Pokiak-Fenton and Christy Jordan-Fenton's picturebook When I Was Eight (2013). The picturebook gathers Indigenous and settler children together to contest master settler narratives regarding the history of residential schools. Using Gerald Vizenor's concept of ‘survivance’ and Dominick LaCapra's notion of ‘empathic unsettlement’, the article argues that picturebooks work to unsettle young readers empathetically as part of restorying settler myths about residential schools and implicating young readers in the work of reconciliation.

Multicultural and Transnational Novels

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
James Meffan
Keyword(s):  
National Identity ◽  
New Zealand ◽  
The Other ◽  
Colonial History ◽  
History Of ◽  
Return Home ◽  
Access Rights ◽  
The One

This chapter discusses the history of multicultural and transnational novels in New Zealand. A novel set in New Zealand will have to deal with questions about cultural access rights on the one hand and cultural coverage on the other. The term ‘transnational novel’ gains its relevance from questions about cultural and national identity, questions that have particularly exercised nations formed from colonial history. The chapter considers novels that demonstrate and respond to perceived deficiencies in wider discourses of cultural and national identity by way of comparison between New Zealand and somewhere else. These include Amelia Batistich's Another Mountain, Another Song (1981), Albert Wendt's Sons for the Return Home (1973) and Black Rainbow (1992), James McNeish's Penelope's Island (1990), Stephanie Johnson's The Heart's Wild Surf (2003), and Lloyd Jones's Mister Pip (2006).

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