41 thoughts on “Annotated Bibliography”

1. Hello Team “Us Vs. Them”! I just wanted to let you know that Team “This Is Their Land” (myself, Rajin, Florence, Qihui, and Ali) have chosen to partner with you. Rajin and I will likely be posting our first comments to this page today.

   Cheers!

   Lauren

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   • Thanks, Lauren!

     We look forward to all of your comments.

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2. Hi Shamina, Christie, Devon, and Charlotte!

   The reason that our team chose yours to partner with is because we are both looking at the marginalization of First Nations’ voices in Canada today and in the past. While you are looking at the marginalization of these voices in literature, we are looking at the persecution of aboriginal languages. Our team is hopeful that Canadians can encourage the resurgence of indigenous languages with a view to proliferating their multi-faceted perspectives on the sacredness of the Canadian landscape; however, our investigation would not be necessary if not for the fact that many of Canada’s aboriginal languages are on the verge of being lost due to abuse of them by colonials.
   As Harsha Walia says in the YouTube video, “Harsha Walia on Anti-Oppression, Decolonization, and Responsible Allyship,” in order for someone to be marginalized, somebody else has to be benefitting. It is the sad truth that white Canadians continue to benefit from the violence perpetrated against First Nations people throughout history. This is true of both those of us (and here I am speaking as a white Canadian) who have taken part in the genocide and of those of us who have not. Immigrants have also been benefitting from the oppression of the First Nations, which is another thing that Harsha Walia points out in her video, but it is undeniably white Canadians who have been the primary recipients of privilege in the unfair transactions of this country’s politics.
   With all of this in mind, I hope that our teams will have a fruitful dialogue regarding ways in which Canadians can encourage First Nations’ voices in their struggle for revivification; because it is certainly our duty to offer our help.

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3. Hey everyone,

   Great work so far! You guys have created a super dynamic way of looking at culture in Canada, especially in terms of literature because that is such a key way of circulating ideas and information, or misinformation in terms of Inuit representation that Charlotte discussed.

   In connection to our own project on language, I think “Us vs. Them” is a perfect example of investigating the language we use around issues of race and culture. Going back to the Inuit example, we seem to be accustomed to viewing Aboriginal groups as “nothing like us,” as if we would have nothing in common with them therefore our society is a separate entity from theirs. Like aliens on a different planet, maybe?

   Christie mentions that we tend to view each group as alien and different, and I totally agree that we see differences much more than we see similarities. The whole reason there is still a distinct feeling of “Us vs Them” is a testament to these differences. I’ve noticed more and more people moving towards being respectful towards Aboriginal culture. UBC is always thanking the Musqueam and recognizing that they are only borrowing their land. This is fantastic, but the way we talk about different groups like the Musqueam is still very careful. I think this just comes down to a lack of understanding. The way we talk about Aboriginalness is still very ‘white’ in that we are forever viewing them as different, much like Shamina’s discussion on ethnic literature.

   It’s nice to see books, like the Orenda, discuss similarities rather than differences. I personally think this “they’re so exotic” attitude just comes from a lack of familiarity with the culture and a habit of speaking in dichotomies of “Us vs Them” rather than dualities of “Me and You.”

   As a slight tangent, I have a habit of avoiding Asian authors when I’m in Chapters because it is my belief that 8/10 (maybe even 9/10) times they will be writing about their Asianness and the difficulties of trying to balance Asianness in a white society. It would be nice to see more Asians nonchalantly dropped into narratives because that’s more like real life, at least in my experience, and maybe nonchalantly do things like go to a Chinese New Year dinner or a matsuri? Perhaps one day we will teach others about different cultures, including Aboriginal ones, without exoticizing them. What do you guys think?

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   • Hi Florence!

     Thanks for sharing some of your thoughts with us!

     You bring up an excellent point regarding the growing show of respect towards Aboriginal culture, but I have to wonder whether it is just that, a show. I’ve always taken a somewhat ‘tongue in cheek’ view towards thing such as the way UBC presentations often start with the mention of the University being built on unceded Musqueam territory, as it seems to me if the University (and those involved with) really gave a damn they would do something other than just mention it. But, mentioning it at all is still preferable to ignoring the issue, so I won’t beat them down too much for it!

     Anyways, thanks so much for your comment!
     – Christie

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4. Hello partner team!

   I really enjoyed reading the research that your group has done. For my response, I would like to comment directly on the articles that Devon Smith wrote about.

   I chose to respond specifically to these 2 articles because I have similar perspectives on the discussion of Us vs Them, and I feel that the articles that I have written about in particular will also contribute to the idea of “mutual identification” that was brought up.

   I like the idea of mutual identification and I do feel that ideally, we should be able to keep our heritage and traditions strong, while growing as a nation. But, how? Can a Canadian Aboriginal identify himself/herself as both Aboriginal and Canadian? I believe it should be, if it isn’t, and this is where we come in. Our intervention serves as a platform to raise awareness to the challenges that Canadian Aboriginals face in reaching this goal.

   So perhaps we can brainstorm briefly here and talk about some difficulties and possible solutions.

   Difficulties:
   – Limited space for growth (geographically, economically, socio-politically and in literature) for Aboriginal people
   – Visibility (what I mean by this, is how visible the Aboriginal community is in relation to other cultural groups)
   – Lack of defined Canadian culture where cultural markers are ceremony and food
   – Political phrasing – in news or within informal conversations

   Possible Solutions:
   – To foster an environment that is conducive for the growth of Aboriginal cultures
   – Shift the focus away from how Canada has “no culture” or “no identity”, because that’s not true.
   – To have more Aboriginal people represented in literature, media, government, various leaders in society
   – Encourage the readings of more Aboriginal Canadian authors in schools
   – Design programs that engage the community to rebuild their language and their culture
   – Respecting the space required for growth, in particularly geographically and socio-economically

   I’ve listed a few here, but I’m sure together we can come up with more. Lastly, in tackling the Us vs Them discussion, here’s an article that speaks directly to the Aboriginal Identity in the Canadian Context. The article recognizes the difficulties faced within the context in Canada and concludes by saying that “Aboriginal identity today is about: (1) reclaiming suppressed culture and forging new identities; and (2) projecting an Aboriginal identity into the mainstream society and becoming part of the nation-building process (both First Nations and Canada).”

   Frideres, James. “Aboriginal Identity in the Canadian Context.” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 28.2 (2008):313-342. ProQuest. Web. 7 April. 2015.

   That’s all for now folks!
   Qihui Huang.

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   • Hi Qihui!

     Thanks for your comment, I really enjoyed seeing your idea of brainstorming some possible roadblocks and solutions to the idea of ‘mutual identification’. I definitely agree with all of your points you put down regarding difficulties, and one that stuck in my head was the lack of a defined Canadian culture. To me, this stirred up some ideas in my head about what Canadian culture really is, and how may I, or others, associate to that. Due to Canada being such a multicultural country, far beyond just that of the ‘white colonizer’ and the aboriginal’s, it quickly becomes very difficult to come up with a single idea of Canadian culture. How can you associate with your heritage and traditions, as well as being associated with a Canadian culture that isn’t necessarily even defined? This brought me into one of your solution comments – ‘shift the focus away from how Canada has ‘no culture’ or ‘no identity’, because that’s not true.’ I feel that this comment ties directly into what I was just saying about identifying with a culture that is so vast, and not specifically defined. I agree that it is extremely important to not think that Canada has ‘no culture’ or ‘no identity’, because like you said, that simply isn’t true – Canada has many cultures and many identities, and I feel it’s overly important to exemplify this if everyone is going to be able to have this mutual identification when living in Canada with a different heritage than the white colonizer/settler.

     Anyway, thanks for your comment, I really enjoyed putting some serious thought into how we can possible attack the idea of having mutual identification within our Canada.

     Devon Smith

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5. Hi Christie, thank you for your article “Is Canada a Blank Slate, With No Culture?”.

   First off, your teams topic “us vs them” and ours “united or divided” definitely align well and I think our “dialoguing” will generate some insightful and engaging discussion around this idea of Canada as a nation.

   What I found interesting at the start of this article and in the 5 people that Douglas Todd interviews is how Indigenous peoples are seemingly absent from the conversation about multiculturism in Canada. In the 3rd paragraph he begins, “Many people — including homegrown Canadians, immigrants and academics — maintain Canada’s support for multiculturalism means the country has no culture. But I talked in the past week to five thoughtful people who beg to differ.” Aboriginals might be included under “homegrown Canadians” and/or “academics” but you get the sense this is not the case.

   I like the idea of “strongly recommending” courses for foreign students that pertain to national history and cultural identity as has been done in countries like Denmark but I would like to see that taken one or two steps further to include residents here in Canada. The articles I have written annotations for on our website address the importance of education and cultural information exchange for building awareness of the numerous minority groups that make up our society. One article entitled “The Unsustainable Nature of Ignorance” would like to implement cyclical testing on Aboriginal awareness of post secondary students across Canada so that administrators can identify and measure outcomes associated with changes to the curriculum. I think this is a progressive step that would go a long way in creating a sense of place for indigenous peoples not just in the classrooms but in Canadian society as whole.

   I think it is an interesting question of “What keeps Canada united?” The answers however of “The Canadian Charter of Rights, universal health care, hockey and multiculturalism” seem somewhat ignorant in light of what we have learned this year about nation building and literature in the context of European and Indigenous history.

   Canada, as a nation, is not a homogeneous community. Despite the implied notion of unity that Nationalism projects, the realities of the past, present and future for marginalized groups like First Nations clearly demonstrate this to be untrue. The stories of many underrepresented groups within Canada – Aboriginal, Immigrant, Queer etc – have been, for the most part, absent in the effort to build a “national body of literature”. These stories, as we have learned from Thomas King, are who we are. They are what defines us and the communities that make up this country.

   Thanks for this interesting article!

   Stuart Fleming (team United or Divided)

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   • Hello, Stuart!

     You hit the nail on the head right away! Aboriginals were as invisible within that article as they may seem to visitors of Canada. I think in some ways they are ignored as it’s ‘easier’, or ‘less messy’ to just leave them out of the conversation entirely, which is not right at all.

     I like the idea of recommending those courses as well, but deciding what would be taught in them would be a bit of a trick! With a country like Canada, that is trying to distance itself from/forget the more negative parts of its past it would be interesting to view the syllabus of such a course and see what is included and what is struck from the record.

     I agree with your assessment of the answers given with that article, “universal health care” and “hockey” really bothered me. They seem like flippant answers to a fairly serious question, at least in my eyes. Your mention of King made me wonder how he would’ve answered such a question if he had been contacted within this article.. I think King would’ve agreed with you, that it is stories that have the potential to keep Canada united, but that will only stand as long as the stories continue to be passed on, and we have failed in that.

     Thanks again for your thoughts, Stuart!

     – Christie

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     • Hey Christie and Stuart!

       I was pondering this question of uniting the Us vs. Them dichotomy in Canada as I was commenting on our own blog.

       I agree with Stuart’s suggestion of recommending courses, but I think even in a setting like this we can go maybe, at most, halfway to becoming closer to the issue. What I mean is, rather than Us vs. Them, we effectively become “Us looking into Them.” Even in a course like this, where we are reading articles and literature, we are still very much on the outside looking into the issue and judging it based on cold theories and extrapolation of our limited background knowledge.

       In the Canadian curriculum, so much emphasis is placed on history, that multicultural children feel zero connection to the Aboriginal struggles. Most kids tell me the find it boring, because they are working with nothing but texts and pictures. Translated folktales, two-sentence summaries of their daily life ingrained in the past, and pictures of strange carvings they don’t understand. The way Aboriginal culture is taught appears to be stuck in the past, as if we were talking about the Incans and the Mayans. Canadian teachers are forced to teach Aboriginal culture, but how can they teach something that they have so little understanding of?

       I suggested on my team’s blog that idealistically every child can go on a cultural exchange and immerse themselves in Aboriginal culture, learn the language, understand the practices so that they are not mere stories and art. However, this would take understanding and willingness to open the door on both sides.

       At the same time, until we connect with each other, we will only have “universal health care” and “hockey.” And don’t forget Tim Horton’s. Until then, I think we are united in the land we share, but divided in our little bubbles of culture, that which we call multiculturalism.

       Thanks for the interesting discussion!
       Florence

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6. Hi partner team again!

   Here is my second comment.

   So I think Christie Smith and Shamina Kallu mentioned the concept of “Otherness” and I think that’s great because it’s puts into perspective the social climate that we’re dealing with – how we as individuals and as culture have a tendency to mentally notice differences before we notice similarities. In this comment, however, I would like to focus on the article written by Charlotte Hodgson.

   I’m particularly interested in this article because I believe in education and I believe that we reap what we sow, and hence we should plant thoughtful seeds that make a better future for us all and children’s books are a great place to start.

   I just did a quick search on the Vancouver Public Library’s website, keyword: “aboriginal” in the “Children’s Fiction” collection and it returned 1 result. Refusing to believe that statistic, I expanded my search keyword “aboriginal” in the “Children’s Information Books” collection and it returned 44 results and 12 results when I searched in the “Children’s Folk & Fairy Tales” collection. So this is a good start, though this is also an opportunity where we can write in to our respective libraries to expand their collection of Aboriginal authors/stories. Disclaimer, searching “aboriginal” might not have returned the best results.

   Apart from stories and books written by Aboriginal authors, I agree with Charlotte that publishers need to be aware of their role in shaping our society. In determining which pictures to represent of the Aboriginal population goes a long way in shaping the perception of an individual. The same goes for our media. In Green Grass Running Water, Thomas King told the story of how Portland had to wear a prosthetic nose in order to look more “Indian”. In “The Truth about Stories”, Thomas King writes about how ƒthere is a stereotypical image of what an Indian is supposed to look like. We live in a society where your appearance immediately has cultural / historical meanings associated with it. What we can do as individuals is to be aware of our own misperceptions and build an environment where individuals have the freedom to define who they are on their own without being subject to preconceived notions of who they should be. So, what can we do?

   Again, here’s another list of ideas
   – We can support Aboriginal communities in their publishing of literature
   – We can write to our community and school libraries to include more Aboriginal authors/ books
   – We can write to our media (tv, radio) to have more Aboriginals represented
   – We can form a board/community/website that is made of anyone who is interested, to list books / sites/ media companies which represent various cultures in a fair and meaningful way that encourages relatability, and breaks down the walls of “otherness”

   There is a a great article written by Lorenzo Cherubini about Aboriginal identity and the issues in literature that he points out include: (i) existing various perceptions of Aboriginal identity; (ii) Aboriginal values are appropriated under European colonialist lenses (iii) since the current representations come from positions of disadvantage they continue to contribute to the environment of misrepresentation. Cherubini then concludes the article making some recommendations which I will briefly summarize here:

   – examination of literature that have failed to foster the Aboriginal identity and through that examination reclaim their ability to do so
   – increase awareness in Canada among Canadians regarding Aboriginal languages and cultural traditions for and the value it has
   – allow Aboriginal to be an agent in their own education and their children’s education.
   – encourage Aboriginal community leaders to engage more with government groups to promote proper representation of Aboriginal people

   Cherubini, Lorenzo. “Aboriginal Identity, Misrepresentation and Dependence: A survey of the Literature.” The Canadian Journal of Native Studies 28.2 (2008): 221-239. ProQuest. Web. 7 April. 2015.

   That’s all from me!
   Qihui Huang

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   • Wow, Qihui! You did some fantastic brainstorming here. I completely agree with you that children’s books are the most basic place to start. If we start planting the idea that every other culture can be summarized in a symbol, it becomes much harder to change this mentality later in life. Not only that, but children’s literature is a good looking glass to interpret where a society is in relation to their morals and their values. When we start getting into teen or adult literature, perspectives tend to broaden out, and books take on a different use. When books are aimed at children, they have a tendency to be geared towards teaching a child about how to live in a society; it teaches a child about a society’s morals.

     I loved that you mentioned the media’s role in this as well. While our group is focusing on literature, there is no use in ignoring the effect that media has on our perceptions and beliefs. Charlie does not even recognize his own father with that ridiculous synthetic nose on his face. The media has come a long way in changing some of its methods of depicting race, such as eliminating the use of black-face, or the way cartoon characters reflect race (the Natives in Peter Pan). I would even like to add that there are some shows out there that are trying to do their best to either make the race or gender of its characters completely unimportant, or point out the insane stereotypes certain races have to face everyday. That being said, there is still a tendency in media to have the “stereotypical black guy” or another minority in its main cast. I have mixed feelings on this. While it is nice to show a realistic level of variety in a group of friends, by creating a role for a race for this specific purpose makes the idea of avoid racial prejudices next to impossible.

     I loved the brainstorming you did on ways we can help fix this! My favourite suggestion was creating a website in which people can list books/sites/media companies that represent various cultures in a meaningful way. This whole course was about integrating technology with literature, and finding a way through this form of media to make a change in literature. I think this is such a good idea! I would even suggest to Erika that this website should be created in future classes, with a blog dedicated to a student’s favourite book/movie/show/etc. that depicts a group in a fair light. This website would grow with every new class.
     I also liked your suggestion of writing to schools and libraries to have more Aboriginal books represented. This is a brilliant idea if we want to reach the younger generation. The library is still a primary tool for younger children, as they are learning to read and write with the help of picture books. A website is a great idea for those who are able to navigate their way around the internet, but if we want to “sow the seeds” of knowledge, as you have said, then I think writing to schools and libraries is the way to go.

     Thank you so much for you post 🙂
     Charlotte Hodgson

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     • Hi Charlotte and Qihui!

       I love the dialogue that you two have going about children’s literature and the opportunity it represents for Canadians (and people around the world) to impact the future for the better through presenting fair and realistic representations of ethnic, sexual, and other minorities in text! I was actually excited, Qihui, as strange as it may seem, when I read that your search through the Vancouver Public Library’s online catalogue for children’s books that use “aboriginal” as a key word returned very few results (especially in the fiction section) because this represents a possibility for purposeful and focussed trail-blazing by members of the Canadian Literature community to impact the next generation for the better! If children’s writers can get together (physically or online; and you are so right, Charlotte, that the possibilities created by technology make this discussion even broader) and if they can make commitments to one other in concert with publishers to drastically increase the amount of children’s literature being written which has as its goal the abolishment of the “us vs. them” dichotomy, well, then… I think something might really happen!
       It looks like there is a discussion around this that has been picking up steam in recent years, too; and that can only help. An online search that I did yielded some interesting results: in 1992, for example, there was an article published by Nancy Larrick, Ph.D. called “The All-White World of Children’s Books” (the text of which is available online at http://pnla2012.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/56625171/Allwhiteworld_Larrick.pdf), and the mere existence of which shows that only 20 or so years ago this situation was even worse than it is today; and also, just recently, a page has been made on the Horn Books website for the continuous posting of commentary and resources regarding the intersection of race and children’s literature (http://www.hbook.com/talking-about-race/). This page shows that the field is taking ground, if slowly; and all of this reminds me of a video that was posted on our class Facebook page about a month ago (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D9Ihs241zeg). It’s about the dangers of a single story, and Chimamanda speaks about what it was like for her to grow up reading stories that were written only about white people.
       I get hyped up about this subject. It is just so exciting; and part of the reason why I find it so is that I just wrote and illustrated a children’s book which seeks to address the specific us vs. them dichotomy that exists between settler Canadians and First Nations peoples, but I didn’t know that I was entering a field with so much need for more work! It all makes the publication of my book next week even more exciting. I only hope my book stands up to its mandate. The story is called “Rory and the Coyote,” and I wrote one of my annotated bibliography entries on it for my group’s research conference. If you would like to take a read, you can find it here: https://blogs.ubc.ca/engl470conference2015/annotated-bibliography-blog/.

       Thanks again for a great discussion! I look forward to seeing where it goes!

       Lauren

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       • Hi Lauren,

         First I want to congratulate you on your publication! That is an incredible accomplishment, and you must be really excited. I read your annotated bibliography of your story, and I really look forward to reading the full tale once I have finished replying to the posts on our page.

         It is an excited topic, isn’t it? I was especially interested with what you had to say about languages, and your use of Indigenous languages in your children’s book. I had gone to an exhibit a few weeks ago at the Royal BC Museum in Victoria (my favourite museum, if anyone gets the chance to go: http://royalbcmuseum.bc.ca). They had an exhibition called “Our Living Languages: First Peoples’ Voices in British Columbia. I hadn’t known before I saw the exhibit that BC is known as a linguistic “hotspot” because there are over 34 First Nations languages spoken here. The exhibit also talked about ways First Nation communities were trying to preserve their language and interest younger generation to learn it. It made me think about how I had to learn French in elementary school because Canada’s official languages are English and French. My school was on Native land, and at every assembly we thanked them for letting us use the land. Here in BC we see a mix of many languages. We see English and French on all packaging and official signs, and we see Native Languages on road signs, reminding us that many of our cities and towns are Aboriginal names. Would it not make just as much sense to teach students in BC a mix of French and at least one of the Native tongues that are spoken in BC? Wouldn’t that be a better thank you and recognition that this is their land too, and not the colonizers?

         I bring this up because I loved the use of language you introduced in your story, and I think this is the way books directed towards children should go. Learning the language, even a few words or greetings, can spark interest and respect in a child who is learning to read. By learning words of these languages as they learn to read English, they can be brought to the same level. Perhaps this is a bit of daydreaming on my part, but I personally, would love to see a shift in this direction in elementary schools in BC.

         – Charlotte

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         • Hi Charlotte! I definitely agree with your idea about teaching young children a variety of languages, as opposed to just English and French. Wouldn’t it be absolutely delightful if we were able to thank the First Nations culture for letting us use their land by actually saying “thank you” in their native tongue? Now that would put a smile upon my face!
           My team and I are discussing ways in which Canadians can encourage the resurgence of Indigenous languages with a view to proliferating their perspective on the importance of healing and protecting our natural environment. A method of intervention that I am very keen on seeing developing is through our education system. I think this dichotomy of “Us Vs. Them” is being reinforced through our education system, and the types of languages that are being taught. If our schools were to include teachings of Indegenous languages, it may finally break down the boundaries of “Us vs. Them” and we can start viewing our society as a collective unit.
           But then again, I may be daydreaming too.

           Thank you for your insight!
           Regards,
           Rajin Sidhu

7. Hello Team ‘Us vs Them’, and it’s a pleasure to get to interact with your group and our connecting topics of interest!
   Firstly I wanted to comment a bit on Christie’s bibliography posting on “Social Theory – A Historical Analysis of Canadian Socio-Cultural Policies”. I love that you decided to use an article based on sociology, and my minor in this field will hopefully impart some wisdom and light on the topic on hand.

   Your observation about ‘in’ and ‘out’ groups is a profound one, and fundamental to our topic of nationalism and identity. What I’ve also learnt in sociology classes in the past is a direct in-group bias that occurs within the in-group. This phenomenon is headlined by the process that an in-group gets biased treatment that only further pushes out groups further away from unity in a nation. I think this kind of bias is exactly the kind of relationship between indigenous and more prevalent western European narratives that we are studying in this course and conference. There is something more ‘in’ about popular culture surrounding more western and European centric narratives in literature, and this only goes to divide our nation into the dichotomy of ‘us’ versus ‘them’. But why? How can we begin to rectify this issue of in-group bias in relation to Canadian nationalism and culture?

   I argue that this in-group bias begins and ends with how we think about certain cultures, and this is influenced by all the social inputs around us – literature, media etc. I think that using a psychological theory is valuable in our study of the topic at hand, and thank you for bringing forward this lens. For me, there is something very cognitive and psychological that stems from our cultural influences that lead us to think and act in certain ways that annihilate other cultures from our ‘nation’. This goes beyond just “your narrative” versus “my narrative”. Bottom line, we need to begin to consider how we critically ‘think’ about our influence and effect on nationalism and multiculturalism in Canada. We ‘think’ Canada is, like you point out, “sports, maple leaves, and two languages”, when in fact this is an in-group bias of the kind of things we associate with the majority of Canadian ‘identity’. We know through this course the kinds of difficulties we face when we consider literature and culture in such narrow-minded ways, voices and narratives. How do we begin to change the way we think critically about what represents Canada as a whole, and not as a representation of a singular popular in-group?

   Thank you for bringing forward sociological and psychological lens to this conference, and I look forward to developing some sort of an intersection between all areas of study to help us understand this issue of Canadian nationalism!

   – Jeffrey Liu (Team ‘United or Divided’)

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   • Hi Jeff!

     Thanks for shedding some more light onto the subject, I’m not the most knowledgeable about sociology and its concepts, so it’s a welcome addition! Your discussion of the biased treatment only encouraging the behaviour to continue was of particular interest to me as I had not considered how such a phenomenon would continue to occur, but that makes perfect sense.

     As for your question regarding how to solve the issue of “in-group bias in relation to Canadian nationalism and culture”, I don’t think we can rectify it, not quickly anyways. It will be more of a slow shift in thinking, which can only be done, I think anyways, through the use of education and teaching acceptance and interest as opposed to distrust, dislike, and disinterest.

     Thanks for commenting, Jeff!

     – Christie

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8. Hi Shamina and Team Us vs. Them,

   I believe that the notion of “us versus them” in the discourse of multiculturalism also points to the shortcomings of nationalism as our team is exploring. In my research for another course, I have come across some critiques of multiculturalism policy that highlight the divisiveness among people and a desire to define what is Canadian or nationalistic.

   There are two views (but there exist many more) that I’d like to talk about. First, multiculturalism is ineffective in that only for verisimilitude does Canada adopt the image and narrative of a “cultural mosaic”. In the discourse of the mosaic, all cultures are welcomed into this mosaic and are on the same level because they are part of the same ‘big picture’. However, the failure of multiculturalism is that it does not address actual issues of disparity between cultures (Satzewich & Liodakis 160). Canada definitely has the representation of a large range of cultures, but it has not been fully accountable in dealing with racism, discrimination, and oppression. Within literature, I do believe that representation of voices who have typically not been included in the canon of Canadian literature is a start. However, it really is not enough because it could fall into the danger of introducing works, for example, by one Aboriginal author as the required work by an Aboriginal author in Canadian Literature courses. The inclusion of such works would only be compensatory in nature instead of being critically engaged with.

   The second view is more focused on the “us versus them” discourse coming from cultures that themselves have been colonized or oppressed in some way by Anglo-tradition. This is the idea that if an ethnic person has a hybrid identity and engages with the ‘other’, ‘white’, part (which unfortunately implies the sense that identity can be cleanly separated in this way) of their identity, then they are “whitewashed” and perhaps even bring some form of disgrace to their ethnic group. The term “whitewashed” re-colonizes a person, and even worse, others them from an ethnic group with which they identify. I’d like to share an article that a former classmate of mine wrote on this label.
   Multiculturalism is meant to be welcoming of all cultures, but for it to be truly multicultural, it must accept hybrid identities and cast off the idea of “us versus them” no matter who people think “us” or “they” are.

   As for your observation that Moss does not include any Indigenous voices in the collection of essays, here is what Moss has to say about their representation on page vii of her book:  “A book like this is determined in content as well as quality by the contributors who agree to participate in the project. It would have been preferable to have more representation from First Nations scholars …”. I think this is not a matter only of representation, but also accountability in learning how to be patient. Perhaps there is anxiety on both sides to engage in dialogue due to various factors: fear of misunderstanding, fear of offending, or skepticism of the system in which one would potentially engage with such as nationalism, multiculturalism, or even postcolonialism. The “us versus them” idea fails to recognize that dialogue is an intersection and it may not be easily reached.

   Thank you for sharing!
   Jasmine Chen (Team United or Divided)

   Works Cited

   Moss, Laura F. E., et al. Is Canada Postcolonial?: Unsettling Canadian Literature. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2003.

   Satzewich, Vic, and Nikolaos Liodakis. ‘Race’ & Ethnicity in Canada: A Critical Introduction. Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2010

   Shewaramani, Deepika. “Stop calling people whitewashed.” The Ryersonian. 8 Apr. 2015. Web. 8 Apr. 2015.

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   • Hi Jasmine!
     Thank you for your comment – it has given me much to think about. Your discussion of multiculturalism absolutely hits the nail on the head. On a national and international front, Canada is deemed as a mosaic but in reality, I think, this is a national myth. Despite the institutionalized nature of multiculturalism in Canada, the policies fall short and this is certainly evident in the “issue of disparity between cultures” as you mention. Your point that representation is a good start but certainly has its pitfalls is very interesting, and I think well-articulated in Fazeela Jiwa’s article that I have shared above. She mentions that often times, these works can be generalized to represent an entire community, culture or ethnic group and, as you mention, this would seem to be more a compensatory measure than a measure of critical engagement and understanding.

     Thank you for sharing that interesting article written by a former classmate of yours. It was a great read and certainly serves to support the issue of re-colonizing with terms such as “whitewashed”. Ideally, yes, it is necessary to rid the “us versus them” dichotomy that seems to exist, and I think it is evident in the example you’ve shared that as a nation touting its “multiculturalism”, we have a long way to go. I think, also, the quote you’ve shared by Moss makes this unmet need evident as well. While some will argue that in terms of representation, Canada has done well in upholding its multicultural image, the lack of contributors who agree to participate in the project for the numerous reasons you’ve indicated, is indicative of the distance we have yet to tread in creating a safe and inclusive space for these narratives.

     Going back to your discussion of the “hybrid” identities, I think this an intersection example of where the “us versus them” dichotomy collapses but also reifies itself. The categories implicit in the dichotomy are transgressed by those whose identities are a hybrid of the two, people such as Fred Wah. This is another example of the diversity in “Canadian” identities, and presents an interesting challenge to our neatly categorized societal assumptions.
     Thank you again for sharing your insights!

     Works Cited

     “Book Review | Diamond Grill by Fred Wah | Canadian Literature.” Book Review | Diamond Grill by Fred Wah | Canadian Literature. Web. 10 Apr. 2015. <http://canlit.ca/reviews/rattling_a_noisy_hyphen>

     Jiwa, Fazeela. “Expect Expectations: Reading “Ethnic” Literature Through a Multicultural Lens.” Plenitude: Your Queer Arts and Literature Magazine. 1 Feb. 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

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9. Hi Team ‘us versus them’, and I’m slowing working away at catching up on all your wonderful bibliography entries, keep up the good work!

   I wanted to make a comment regarding Christie’s second bibliography entry in relation to Douglas Todd’s “Is Canada a Blank Slate, With no Culture?”, and hopefully give a little insight or brainstorming to our topic at hand!
   I think that choosing this article is a smart one, mainly because of its emphasis on culture. In looking at nationalism, I had totally forgotten about the notion of culture playing a role in how we define ourselves in a nation. Indeed, the problem at hand isn’t just literature alone. I am an avid theater enthusiast, and am inclined to think of culture in relation to the idea of ‘cultural events’ or things that have ‘cultural significance’. I think if we look critically at the kinds of things we call culturally ‘valuable’, we can begin to see a strong connection to identities and nationalism. When can we call something culturally ‘valuable’? And if it is deemed as worthless, is this harming a sense of multiculturalism in a nation? I consider performance art as an important element of culture, whether storytelling or officially deemed ‘theatre’ (whatever that may mean). When I go to play productions in the Vancouver area, upon reflection, most are European centric and dominated narratives surrounding Westernized notions of ‘Canadian’ life. What about all the other cultures? Even when a self-proclaimed ‘Canadian’ play is put on, there is little attention paid to a suppressed or wronged narrative of our indigenous past. I wouldn’t consider Robert LePage (World renowned Canadian theatre aficionado) all encompassing when it comes to portraying a sense of equalitarian nationalism in Canada. I think this ties in perfectly with your posting and the observation that “cities such as Vancouver promote their diverse communities, yet often do not pay enough attention to what preceded them”. Isn’t this crucial in our quest to unify Canada?

   Lastly, I want to strongly agree with you and your observation that nationalism and culture can become merely a “collection of divergent cultures”. I guess in relation to your other posting, this danger lies in the fact that in-groups and out-groups only continue to diverge and separate more as differences are emphasized and similarities are ignored. The question is indeed: how can Canadian culture begin to rectify this issue in literature, and also stigmas of cultural importance?

   Do you think theatre is worthy of study as ‘culture’ when it comes to how nations construct a national identity? How do you think theatre can influence nationalism and multiculturalism?

   Thanks, and cheers!

   – Jeffrey Liu (Team unitedordivided)

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   • Hello again, Jeff!

     I too am a theatre enthusiast, so I can completely understand where you are coming from with this comment.

     It is difficult to place value on culture as it is something that isn’t quantifiable, or at least not in the way that say a property is. I think there is a certain danger in regarding something as “valuable” as that automatically places others below them, or without value.

     I agree with your thoughts concerning the content of plays, especially those touted as being ‘Canadian’. Our past is not a pretty subject in a lot of ways, and is therefore something that is easier ignored than dealt with. This leaves us with a festering sore of sorts, which only gets worse the longer is is left unattended.

     I believe theatre is definitely worthy of study in terms of culture, as it has been considered a stereotypical activity of ‘the cultured’ for decades. 🙂

     I think it’s amount of influence depends on its popularity. If there is no one to watch the show than there is no one to be influenced by it.

     Thanks again for the insightful comments!

     – Christie

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10. Thank you Devon for your review of “The Role of Multiculturalism Policy in Addressing Social Inclusion Processes in Canada”! In order to respond to your post with more knowledge, I read the article as well, and I agree with much of what you have already said. However, I do have some questions and different theories I would like to discuss!

    The term ‘mutual identification’ is a very interesting topic of discussion. Like yourself, I believe that this term connotes positivity because it allows cultures to keep practising their traditions while also adopting others. However, I see this term as creating a hierarchy between cultures, and here is why:
    – A culture (presumably minority) is supposed to conform themselves to another culture. Automatically this creates a top-down approach to the assimilation where the top culture seems to hold more power then the assimilating culture simply because they do not have to adapt.
    – By labeling the assimilating culture as having “mutual identification”, this allows the other culture to not take responsibility for compulsory assimilation etc. which will probably occur.

    There are good and bad sides to mutual identification, same as with many of Canada’s multicultural policies. I think that the real issue is creating a supportive nationalist environment while obtaining the same level of respect for all cultures. My group (United or Divided) have dedicated our research to discovering what Nationalism means for Canada, specifically with literature. We have some great articles posted in our annotated bibliography regarding this, if you are interested I suggest you check it out!

    I also want to pose this question, is Canada TRULY a ‘mosaic of cultures’? Here is a short clip that I came across on YouTube that supports the idea of Canada being cultural mosaic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8hennwzBSw.
    The reporter asks people on the Toronto streets what is Canadian culture for them. Answers vary from freedom to nice/friendly, freedom of expression/personal rights, free healthcare and many more. Notice the diverse racial backgrounds of the people interviewed. I felt that the answers could be applied to any culture living in Canada, which made me wonder if being Canadian is anything you want it to be? And in that case, why are some majority cultures finding the need to force assimilation on minority ones?

    Now to play the devil’s advocate…

    Most people that I have asked consider Canada to be a culturally inclusionary country, unlike our American neighbours. While America is seen to be a ‘melting pot’ of cultures, expecting newcomers to forget their old culture and adopt the American lifestyle and ideology, in comparison, most of Canada is much more socially tolerant and accepting of minorities and their cultures. Canada claims to be multicultural and this is probably because of our diverse ethnography, but does this automatically mean that Canadians are inclusionary between one culture and another? With more segregated cultures arising, larger social fissures may occur between different cultures in Canada and social complications will ascend from this. Cultures will distance themselves from one and other and Canada will lose the sense of togetherness. Now I am by no means saying that all minority cultures should adopt a ‘Canadian culture’ and this is partially because I am not even quite sure what constitutes a ‘Canadian culture’! I am suggesting that multiculturalism can be negative if cultures begin to isolate and distant themselves in Canada.

    Hope to hear back from you and your group with your thoughts on this 🙂
    
    Ecjulie. “What is Canadian Culture”. Online video clip. YouTube. YouTube, 25 Nov. 2011. Web. 9 April 2015. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O8hennwzBSw

    Leana Lemon (Team United or Divided)

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    • Hi Leana!

      First off, just want to say thank you for your comment, as it definitely sparked some thoughts in my head that I hadn’t had before. Your initial points on how mutual identification can have some hierarchical tone to it had not at all crossed my mind before, and I am mildly embarrassed that it hadn’t, because I completely agree with what you said. I feel that this dialogue somewhat ties into the comment Qihui previously left on this same article. In our dialogue we discussed that some people say that due to Canada being a very multicultural country, there is no specific Canadian culture – which we both agree is not true. But at the same time, it makes it very difficult to answer the question of if someone is mutually identifying with their own culture/traditions, as well as those of Canadian culture/traditions, what is the Canadian culture that they’re mutually identifying with? If it’s that of the ‘white settler’, then I definitely agree that there is a hierarchical spectrum to the term, and that is not necessarily putting the right foot forward. As I said, your comment definitely sparked some new thoughts for me, and I really appreciate that. Creating new thoughts and ideas through our dialogue is what this course is all about! So, thank you very much for your thought provoking comment, I plan on putting more thought into this!

      Devon Smith

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11. Hello again! This post is directed towards Charlotte 🙂

    Your summary and thoughts on Robert David’s “Representing the Inuit in Contemporary British and Canadian Juvenile Non-Fiction” was an interesting read and very similar to the article “Arctic and Outback – Indigenous Literature at the ‘Ends of the Earth” by Kimberley McMahon-Coleman, summarized by my group member Heather on our webpage: https://blogs.ubc.ca/unitedordivided/annotated-bibliography/

    I agree that one of the issues Canadian literature faces is accurate representation. European literary depictions of colonized land and societies (such as the Inuit people of Canada) used colonial discourse and had a tendency to characterise the colonized cultures as unconventional and flawed in comparison to their own European practices. Through these discourses, a division between cultures was invented by the newcomers, while also simultaneously creating and reinforcing cultural stereotypes that would strengthen colonial ideologies. Although we cannot change the past, our representations of cultures in literature can be altered by increasing the availability, for example, of Inuit literature written by Inuit authors.

    However…I wonder if it is still possible to accurately represent a culture when it is not your own, or will there always be unintentional generalization/assumptions made? For example, would Green Grass Running Water still read the same and convey the same messages if it had been written by a European-Canadian author?

    As I discussed in my annotated bibliography post, along with having their cultures misrepresented by other cultures, Indigenous authors are also facing difficulties when it comes to incorporating aspects into their literature that are readily recognizable as “Native” to non-Native readers (Fagan and McKegney, 2008). Often they are forced to include, whether satirically or not, stereotypes of Indigenous peoples for a more simplistic comprehension for non-Indigenous readers. It is especially scary that inaccurate representations are being found in children’s books because they are easily impressionable. Growing up I had little to no exposure to Indigenous literature but I did see Indigenous people stereotyped in comics such as TinTin and fairy tales like peter pan. As you have suggested, I also feel that there is a need for an “uncomfortable read” so that we are able to become comfortable with change in literature. Indigenous authors censoring and “westernizing” their literature makes it comfortable to read and accept what is being said, this needs to change not only because it is supressing Indigenous authors but because it is masking the truth about their culture.

    Leana Lemon (Team United or Divided)

    Fagan, Kristina and McKegney, Sam.”Circling the Question of Nationalism in Native Canadian Literature and its Study”. Review: Literature and Arts of the Americas. 41. (2008): 31-42.

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    • Hi Leana,

      You bring up some very good points. I hadn’t thought about an Indigenous author feeling the need to stereotype his own characters in order to please his readers. That makes me incredibly sad. I suppose that’s one of the major themes in Green Grass, Running Water, which is what makes the book such in incredible read.

      As for your question as to whether non-Native authors are able to depict Native characters accurately, I think that is a very difficult question to answer. No matter what, someone is going to be offended, and that’s where the “uncomfortable read” is going to come into play. On one hand, I think it is true to some extent that authors should write what they know. If a writer has never experienced what it’s like to grow up on a reserve, then they risk misrepresenting it, thus taking a step backwards. On the other hand, I am generally against censorship as a principle, and that includes censoring who is allowed to write what. I know there are some fantastic authors who go to great lengths to research and interview every character they want to represent, so that they know, at least from one person’s point of view, what it is like in a settling the author is unfamiliar with. While I would love to see an increase in Aboriginal authors, as well as a variety in the genres that make it to the best seller lists, I also would steer away from discouraging white authors to try their hand at Native styles. These authors are allies to the cause, and are doing their best to promote a new style and new ideas into a fairly locked-in setting. If they do their research, and find solid references, I would encourage anyone of any background to play around with genres, styles, cultures, and myths.

      Thank you for your insightful comments! 🙂

      – Charlotte

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12. Hey Charlotte,

         I really enjoyed reading your annotation and Robert G. David’s article. As someone who has spent time in an Inuit community and is planning to pursue a career in Education, this was highly relevant to me! You may find my annotation on Kimberley McMahon-Coleman’s “Arctic and Outback – Indigenous Literature at the ‘Ends of the Earth’” interesting as it discusses the portrayal of the Arctic and Outback in adult literature, contrasting the European portrayal with the Indigenous one.

         My research team is looking at Canadian “nationalism” in relation to a “national” body of literature and I think that children’s literature is highly relevant to that discussion. While not a lot of children’s books are included in such cannons (Anne of Green Gables being an exception), children’s books are the books that first introduce us to reading and to much of the world beyond our own neighbourhood, so more inclusive children’s literature is highly important if we want to widen the image of what it is to be Canadian and bridge the gap between “us” and “them”. I feel that portraying the Inuit as they are today, and not as they were 100 years ago, in children’s books, as well as contemporary adult fiction, is crucial to bridging the gap between Inuit and non-Inuit Canadians. David’s comment about the Inuit being isolated from other Canadians hit the nail on the head — I was at a National Youth Forum on Reconciliation and Decolonization last month and many of the Indigenous Youth Leaders who are actively making change in their communities had never met an Inuk before. Unfortunately, the remote, northern location of Inuit communities means that many southern Canadians never meet an Inuk and that many Inuit Canadians never make it to the south (although there is a substantial Inuit community in Ottawa, due to Nunavut Sivuniksavut).

         While David argues that Canadian publications are better than British ones in distinguishing between the Inuit in Greenland and Canada, I feel that Canadian publications have a long way to go in distinguishing between different Inuit communities within Canada. Most of what we hear about the Inuit in southern Canada refers exclusively to Nunavut (the syllabic orthography, for example). Of course, David’s student was done in Iqaluit, so this wasn’t noted.

         I think that David’s point about marketing is highly significant. Unfortunately, trade publishers in North America care little for quality or factuality, preferring to publish books with a guaranteed market. As David says, the exotic is of greater interest to the Western market than the everyday. Unfortunately, the out-dated portrayal of the Inuit in today’s media does nothing to help the people it portrays, as Southerners deem modern Inuit not to be “authentically” Inuit. Of course, authentic is a dangerous term to apply to culture, but it is sadly applied far too often. While the Inuit I know do not drive dog sleds, but snowmobiles (and cars in the summer) and do not live in igloos but houses, they do continue to hunt for their meat. Like the west, they have progressed with time without abandoning their traditional cultural practices. I have friends who do grass sewing, throat singing, drum dancing, and soap stone carving, as well as Facebooking and studying at universities/holding professional jobs. The Inuit culture(s) of the past is/are very much alive, just changed, as is/are the European culture(s) of the past. I think we must be careful in portraying modern Inuit to not completely disregard the traditional side to their lifestyle.

         I really appreciated David’s point about movements to ban the seal hunt as those always irk me. While the Inuit I know may no longer use every part of the animal, they certainly use a lot of it, making boots from the skin and eating the blubber, liver and meat. The seals in Labrador are certainly better treated than many farm animals in BC! They are wild, happy and free until they are killed instantly. Not so much can be said of the animals in southern facotry farms… The “ban the seal hunt” movement is so poorly informed it’s shocking.

         As David mentions, I think we really need Inuit written books. There are certainly Inuit writers, such as Alootook Ipellie, whom McMahon-Coleman discusses in “Arctic and Outback – Indigenous Literature at the ‘Ends of the Earth’”, but sadly these authors get little notice in the south. I firmly believe that our school curriculum needs a solid reworking and the inclusion of Inuit, as well as First Nations and Métis literature, is needed to help bridge the gap between the various nations within Canada.

         I realize most of my comments have been on the article rather than your annotation, but I thoroughly enjoyed reading both and thank you for bringing my attention to David’s insightful article. I hope you enjoy McMahon-Coleman’s article, should you choose to read it!

    Heather (United or Divided?)

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    • Hi Heather,

      I’m sorry if my reply is short. I had typed a long response, and lost it all when I tried to post the comment. But I will try to recreate most of my response.

      I have read the article my McMahon-Coleman after your team member Leana directed me towards it. I commented on your blog that I found the difference between how the Arctic was once viewed as a place to be feared, and is now depicted as a location for children’s stories, where polar bears make friends with the simple Inuit people. It is a misfortune that publishers would prefer to offer their readers an exotic and profit setting over the truth. People like the idea that there are still communities out there who completely live off the land. However, this idealistic vision also puts the Inuit into a category of an “uncivilized” group of people, and therefore creates a separation between them and the Anglo-European image of Canada.

      I agree with you that our curriculum is in need of a major renovation. I did not learn the difference between the different Inuit groups while I was in school, and I am severely lacking in knowledge of the north as a whole. When it comes to literature, I was asked when I was studying abroad what Canadian literature they had taught us in school. I couldn’t name a single one. I knew Margaret Atwood, Anne of Green Gables, and some of the other classics, but I had never been taught them in a classroom setting. When we studied literature, we studied English literature, or great American classics. We certainly never covered any literature written by or about First Nations in any depth. This is a huge problem if we are trying to create a more inclusive sense of what it means to be “Canadian”. When the only literature we teach students to associate with Canada is English literature and American classics, how can we expect them to create any identity for Canada other than an Anglo-European one?

      Thank you for your comment!

      – Charlotte

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      • Hey Charlotte,

        Sorry to hear your response was lost! I hate it when that happens 🙁

        I’m 100% with you about the literature taught in our schools! We studied almost exclusively British literature when I was in school, with a few American novels thrown in. We read one Margaret Atwood poem in grade 12 and that was our Canadian content. While the British and American books are certainly good, I think we ought to be covering a lot more Canadian content, including Indigenous writing. Some schools are good at this (check out the English curriculum at Children of the Earth High School in Winnipeg), but most are not. This isn’t just curriculum that should be taught to Indigenous youth, but to all youth.

        It’s actually odd, when you compare Canada with other countries, to think that we study no Canadian literature. In high school in France I read Zola and Maupassant and other big names in French literature and in Australia Looking for Alibrandi is on the national curriculum. It’s really strange to come from a country with such a fabulous literary legacy that does not teach its own literature.

        Heather

        Works Cited:

        Children of the Earth High School. Winnipeg School Division. 2013. Web. 12 Apr. 2015.

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        • That said, it is good to teach literature from elsewhere, which I don’t think France is too good at.

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13. Hey Christie,

    I really enjoyed reading your annotation of Douglas Todd’s “Is Canada a Blank Slate, With No Culture?”. Of course Canada has culture: the problem in defining “Canadian culture” is that we have too many of them! As the CanLit guide defines a “nation” as ‘a group of people who regard themselves as sharing the same culture’, I would argue that Canada is not a nation, but a state without a nation (or with many nations).

    I found it highly ironic that Dosanjh called “justice, equality, compassion and diversity” Canadian values. Canada was built on a system of prejudice and inequality, void of compassion and attempting to assimilate all those who were not Northern European. Jusice, equality, compassion and diversity? I think not. If we really valued those things, we would be much more respectful of Indigenous Treaty Rights and Land Claims. I think that, rather than being those things, we like to tell ourselves that we are.

    I found your questions at the end really interesting as I believe that some of Canada’s cultures do view others as “different, alien, unrelatable”. This is our problem! Obviously people around the world have much in common, but in all my travels, I have honestly been nowhere more different from home than the Canadian north. Yes, we have similarities, but our differences are striking. I don’t think we should be working to create one Canadian culture, but that we should be working to inform ourselves about other Canadian cultures. I certainly think we could learn a lot from Canada’s Aboriginal peoples and that we ought to better connect ourselves with the land; however, I don’t think most Canadians would want to adopt the local Indigenous culture in order to conform. Unfortunately, European culture has been in North America too long to do away with it, so we’re stuck with a cultural mosaic which cannot be blended. I think there’s a lot of potential in working together and learning about one another’s cultures, though. (Not to mention that it’d be impossible for communities as different as Vancouver and Qikiqtarjuaq to conform culturally, even if we wanted them to: culture is shaped by climate, landscape, etc. and Canada is too big and vast to be consistent.)

    I did an annotation of Rita Wong’s “Decolonizasian: Reading Asian and First Nations Relations in Literature” which you might find interesting. Wong suggests bringing together minority groups in Canada to discuss their shared cultural experiences without references to the White centre. I think we need to accept a lot more as “Canadian” than the White Canada which policy advocated for so long. Canada is not a nation, but we are a multicultural state with great deal to learn from one another if only we open up to doing so. What are your thoughts?

    Heather

    Works Cited:

    CanLit Guides. “Reading and Writing in Canada, A Classroom Guide to Nationalism.” Canadian Literature. Web. 09 Sept. 2015

    Wong, Rita. “Decolonizasian: Reading Asian and First Nations Relations in Literature.” Canadian Literature Vol. 199 (2008): 158-180. UBC Library. Web. 31 March 2015.

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    • Hello Heather!

      Thanks for your comment and thoughts!

      I like your idea of Canada being a state without a single nation and instead with many. It’s certainly a thought worth considering.

      I’m glad someone else viewed Dosanjh’s comments the same as I did. It is very convenient to forget about Canada’s rather sordid past, and in discussions about Canada’s diversity it is rarely brought up or taken into account. When they are brought up it seems more as if it’s to pay lip service as opposed to any real kind of support or thought.

      I like your idea about learning about the various cultures around Canada, although I think acceptance has an important part to play there as well. Different groups not understand and accepting each other as equally Canadian is detrimental to the society and state as a whole.

      This idea of a White Canada is definitely more harmful than helpful when it comes to trying to pinpoint any type of Canadian culture, as it is just not relatable for some groups. I noticed this issue with some books we would read in class, particularly in Elementary school, as I lived in an area with a large amount of Indo-Canadian children, whereas all the main characters in the novels we read, such as the Harry Potter and the Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe series, were White. It’s a problem that clearly affects not only Canada and Canadian literature, but literature from around the world.

      Anyways, you’re definitely on the right track with that kind of thinking you put into your comment, I really enjoyed reading it and comparing it to my own ideas. Thanks for the compelling thoughts!

      – Christie

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      • Hey Christie,

        I agree about acceptance being a major issue! We need to work on getting to know one another well enough to accept one another. It’s easy to other a culture from which you know no one; much harder to other a culture from which you have friends.

        Your point about the books read in schools is very valid! More students ought to read A Wizard of Earthsea, but surely there are other English-language, fantasy novels with non-white protagonists? I read a lot of Australian stuff growing up and most of the characters in the books I read were white, too. I’ve read a few YA books with Aboriginal characters, but even they are only a few characters in a few books. One of the main characters in John Marsden’s Tomorrow series is Asian Australian and Gillian Rubinstein’s Shinkei has a Japanese character, but neither of them is the protagonist. I can’t think of many English-language books for children or teens with non-white protagonists, which is pretty sad. Can you recommend any? I’m going into teaching and would love to have a list!

        Heather

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        • Oops, sorry about the formatting! I wish we could edit these posts 🙁

          Heather

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        • Hi Heather!

          I’ve come across a few! Here some of the top of my head, I’ve read about half, the others I have just heard about.

          – The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian by Sherman Alexie

          – A Free Man of Color by Barbara Hambly

          – Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor

          – Parvana’s Journey by Deborah Ellis

          – The Chaos by Nalo Hopkinson

          – The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini

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14. Hi Charlotte,

    Although I haven’t read The Orenda, I just wanted to thank you for introducing it to me through your annotated bibliography. It is really interesting to see how the issues of nationalism and “us versus them” dichotomy both appear in your post and the reviews. The choice of the word “juxtaposition” in Quill and Quire’s review is peculiar to me. The word implies that the two belief systems are so different from one another that they jar when they come together. Along with King’s criticism that the book reinforces a nationalist view that favours the colonizer and Atwood’s belief that Canadian literature is about “Survival”, I can understand why there may be criticism against this novel. I think that it is also understandable that people may be apprehensive about deconstructing nationalism because survival and self-preservation are perhaps inherent instincts in people. If nationalism prides the collective sense of national identity, then challenging the way nationalism demarcates the in-group from the out-group would be a threat to that survival instinct. However, I agree with you when you say that the criticism does help strengthen the dialogue between the First Nations and the colonizers. Although we as readers are not able to change the text of the story, we are still able to engage in dialogue and depart from looking at stories from the “us versus them” angle. Do you think that Canadian literature theorists should change the notion that Canadian literature is about survival if it is based on the survival of a national identity that was formed by colonizers?

    Thank you!

    Jasmine (Team United or Divided)

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    • Hi Jasmine,

      One of the reasons I chose to cite this book is due to the controversy surrounding it. As Robert G, David says (who is another author I have cited in this bibliography), representing Native people in a balance between their traditional values, and their modern ways of life will make for some uncomfortable reading. I agree with him on this point, and would argue that a controversial book that incites a discussion about identity and history is a valuable one. We cannot change the text of his story, and I wouldn’t want to change the text of his story. That is one story. But his story might encourage others to write a different version. One where survival is not the main focus. I can understand the point of view that Canadian literature is defined by survival, because it is based on the struggle of the colonizers to survive. But The First Nations had been surviving and thriving long before the colonizers arrived. Your question is a difficult one to answer. I think that literature that depicts a time before colonizers arrive are not about survival, but more about thriving. However, once the colonizers arrived, it was entirely about survival. Not just the survival of the Europeans in a new environment, but the survival of the First Nations with a new element in their environment. But, yes. The notion that Canadian literature is about survival does tend to make one believe that the colonizers struggled to make an inhospitable land hospitable, and that is a very narrow, enclosed and bias view of the past, ignoring entirely the lives of those who lived on the land far before the Europeans arrived.

      Thank you for your comment!

      – Charlotte

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15. Expect Expectations: Reading “Ethnic” Literature Through a Multicultural Lens – Written by Shamina Kallu

    Hi Shamina, thanks for this very insightful annotation on a very interesting article. I found Fazeela’s honest disucssion about multiculturalism very refreshing and eye opening.

    Is Multiculturalism more of a mosaic ideology than a melthing pot? Fazeela makes an interesting distinction about Canada as a “Mosaic” when she says it “sounds beautiful and harmonious: a plethora of different shapes, sizes, and colours fitting together just right. It’s easy to forget that all of these pieces must fit into a frame” (Jiwa 2013). I think most people overlook this fact when thinking about Canadian culture. The framework that ethnic groups become categorized into exist as “static sterotypes” and ignore the “abilities, sexualities, gender identifications etc” that exist within each culture (Jiwa 2013).

    I also agree that the inherent dangers of these cultural boundaries is that they limit how readers engage in ethnic literature. In most cases, what is accepted into mainstream literature does not include the complexities of ethnic groups. As a result, Fazeela rightly argues, the literary canon is limited to “fixed stereotypes” and those groups that exist outside these margins are pushed further to the periphery.

    We have seen this before in our review of Northrop Frye and the closed system of Western structuralist literature. Within this framework cultural groups are assigned a fixed place and identity.

    We see it also in other forms of media such as film – ie classic western genre. Thomas King demonstrates this very clearly in his poignant video entitled “I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind”. King reminds viewers, via clips of archived media, of the stereotypes First Nations people have and continue to be categorized into. He then contrasts these representations by showcasing the complex varied reality of “Indians”.

    Thankfully First Nation authors like King are changing this perspective through dialogic narratives in film and print. Other authors, as Fazeela points out, from marginalized groups in the queer and feminist communities are also changing this dominant format by introducing more representative literature. Furthermore, with the emergence of new media technologies more groups are finding a place to build communities and express themselves. Hopefully this collective wave of change continues to grow and shape the Canadian literature landscape so that it starts to reflect the true identity of the culures within it.

    Thanks for a very interesting article

    Stuart Fleming

    Jiwa, Fazeela. “Expect Expectations: Reading “Ethnic” Literature Through a Multicultural Lens.” Plenitude: Your Queer Arts and Literature Magazine. 1 Feb. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2015. .

    King, Thomas. “I’m Not the Indian You Had in Mind”. National Screen Institute. 2007. Canada http://www.nsi-canada.ca/2012/03/im-not-the-indian-you-had-in-mind/

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    • Hi Stuart!

      I am very glad you enjoyed the article! I really loved Jiwa’s discussion of multiculturalism and its failure to truly manifest itself in Canadian literature. The problem of fixed stereotypes is indeed something we have discussed time and time again throughout this course. Thank you for bringing up the examples we find in media (such as the classic western genre). I actually just commented on your blog and mentioned this as well, and came here to find your comment! Glad we are on the same page! The video you shared was great, so thanks for that as well. King’s discussion of the depiction of John Wayne in western-style films (discussed in GGRW) articulates this point very well too. It is troubling to see how these depictions have had consequences that permeate everyday aspects of life and society for First Nations people and continues to affect their lived realities, and the overall understanding of First Nations people that remains prevalent in today’s mainstream society. I think Jiwa and King make some great points regarding strategies to decolonize Canadian literature, thank you for bringing that up.

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16. A response to: Expect Expectations: Reading “Ethnic” Literature Through a Multicultural Lens

    Hi Shamina,

    Wow, I can say without hesitation that the article you introduced us to by Fazeela Jiwa was one of the most insightful I’ve encountered this term. Like Stuart, I was refreshed by her reminder that while “the mosaic sounds beautiful and harmonious […] It’s easy to forget that all of these pieces must fit into a frame.” This assertion awakens us to the ethnic, racial, sexual, political and gendered limitations that become engrained within the foundation of our “multi-cultural” society.

    In an attempt to intersect findings presented by your group to ones discovered by ours, I might consider “language” to be included in Jiwa’s list of cultural limitations. From children’s books to academic essays, one of the boundaries we discovered within our research was the inevitable divide that is reproduced through the written or spoken word. Jeannette Armstrong, a dual-speaker of English and N’silxchn, emphasizes the violence that occurs when her first language is bulldozed by the English standard in Canadian printing; English is simply incapable of replicating the N’silxchn meaning she aims to convey. This is a highly unfortunate consequence of producing publishable work in Canada, and reinforces Jiwa’s claim that the “ethnic identities that mainstream Canadian lit claims to represent falls short.”

    Armstrong’s approach to countering this imbalance is to include N’silxchn words within her creative and critical pieces. We encountered this method in Green Grass Running Water, and were challenged to do the research in an attempt to gain some insight into the Cherokee meaning King wished to convey. This method, as a powerful form of resistance, can also be considered a beneficial and important tool of education.

    Thanks again, Shamina!

    Armstrong, Jeannette C. “Land Speaking” in Speaking for the Generations: Native Writers on Writing. Ed. Simon J Ortiz. University of Arizona Press: 1998. 177-94. Print.

    Jiwa, Fazeela. “Expect Expectations: Reading “Ethnic” Literature Through a Multicultural Lens.” Plenitude: Your Queer Arts and Literature Magazine. 1 Feb. 2013. Web. 3 Apr. 2015.

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    • Hi Ali!

      Thanks for your great comment. I definitely agree that language has acted as a cultural limitation. Your discussion of how “language is bulldozed by the English standard in Canadian printing” really takes me back to one of the questions I addressed in my personal blog earlier this semester. You may recall that both Dr. Paterson and Wendy Wickwire discuss some of the barriers in understanding first stories. As Dr. Paterson mentioned, collecting, translating and publishing first stories is a process that is very disconnected from the process of First Nations storytelling itself and often results in the meaning of these stories being diminished. Indeed, Jiwa’s claim that ““ethnic identities that mainstream Canadian lit claims to represent falls short” is supported by an understanding of these barriers.

      Thank you for sharing Armstrong’s approach to addressing this issue! I think King’s strategy (which you mention) was a great way to do this in GGRW (both as an act of resistance and maintaining meaning). His use of allusions was an excellent means of allowing the reader to gain insight and the underlying connotation of his stories. We also encountered an interesting strategy in Robinson’s work “Coyote Makes a Deal with King of England”, where we focused largely on the use and effectiveness of oral syntax in shaping our reading and listening of a story. Armstrong, King and Robinson all provide great tools of education in using these styles, and, like you said, these are especially powerful forms of resistance.
      Thank you very much for your comment and insights, Ali. I am so glad you enjoyed the article!

      Works Cited

      Paterson, Erika. “Lesson 2:2.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies Canadian Literary Genres. University of British Columbia Blogs, 2013. Web. 10 Apr. 2015.

      Robinson, Harry. “Coyote Makes a Deal with the King Of England.” Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Ed. Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talonbooks, 2005. 64-85.

      Robinson, Harry. Living by Stories: a Journey of Landscape and Memory. Compiled and edited by Wendy Wickwire. Vancouver: Talon Books. 2005. (1-30)

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17. Hi Devon! I really enjoyed reading your thoughts about Three Day Road, and how the dual narrative structure of the novel and characters fits in perfectly into the “Us vs. Them” concept that your group is examining. I agree with your idea about the representation of Niska’s and Xavier’s characters and how each of them represent both sides of the dichotomy. I can’t help by think about the many beginnings of Green Grass Running Water, in terms of the different narrators and how each story is told from a different perspective. In regards to your research, do you think the idea of different narrators in a story has a major role in the “Us vs. Them” dichotomy? I, for one, feel that authors who engage in this type of story telling structure do reinforce this dichotomy because of the different stories the reader is getting from two characters in the same novel. It feels as if there are multiple stories and each character comes either from an “us” or “them” position, and they are never mutually interacting with each other.

    Thank you so much for your insight!
    Regards,
    Rajin Sidhu

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