By taking a critical view and analyzing various sources that are connected to ideas of language, race, diasporas, identity, and immigration in Canada, we have begun to suggest how all Canadians might be able to move Canadian literature towards a landscape of inclusivity and understanding. More than anything, we make the case for creating a comfortable space in which Canadians can discuss, through the avenues of literature and storytelling, how unique expressions of culture and identity in Canada need to be respected and supported.
The future of Canadian literature relies on our ability to share our individual histories, as well as our collective story. By creating cross-linguistic and cross-cultural dialogues through literature, storytelling and the arts, we may begin to understand of who we truly are and where we all fit within the framework of this complex country. By honestly acknowledging our histories and by celebrating each of our many identities in Canada through literature, we may even inch closer to agreeing upon a definition of “Canadian identity”. Additionally, by creating a cross-linguistic and cross-cultural dialogue about Canadian literature and storytelling, we allow for these powerful mediums to take flight and shape how we relate to, respect, and support one another in Canada.
In the following paragraphs we will elaborate on the content of our research dialogues and explain how these conversations relate to our intention to explore the future of Canadian literature through the lens of language and culture. More specifically, we will discuss how the topics of diaspora, identity, and the immigrant experience in Canada are connected to Canadian literature, and how these important themes might be harnessed and directed towards influencing the future of literature in Canada. One such intervention strategy, in the spirit of learning and healing, could involve combining the experiences of immigrants, with the experiences of Canada’s Indigenous people through the power of literature and storytelling. While considering the future of Canadian literature, and after synthesizing the main points from our research dialogues, we focus our attention on the issues of:
-
Diaspora – Origins and Usage
-
Individual and Cultural Identities
-
The immigrant experience in Canada
-
Lessons from Indigenous Diasporas
The term Diaspora has become increasingly popular since the 2000s. Not only in academia but also in the news and in popular and mass media (Brubaker, 2014). This term originally, was “firmly rooted in a conceptual homeland”, although the classical case is the Jewish diaspora, the term has now been used to describe many different ethnic groups such as the Armenian, Greek, and African Diasporas. These cases are often spoken about in reference to the Jewish diasporic experiences. Terms such as “trading diaspora” or “mobilized diaspora” have emerged, describing aspects of the Jewish, Greek and Armenian events. The term “trading diasporas” commonly describes other diasporic groups such as Chinese, Indians, Lebanese, Baltic Germans and the Hausa of Nigeria. Brubaker notes, the three criteria that are widely accepted to be considered a diasporic group; 1) Dispersion: “ forced or otherwise traumatic dispersion” of physical space. 2) Homeland Orientation: “ the real or imagined homeland as an authoritative source of value, identity and loyalty”. 3) Boundary- Maintenance “involving the preservation of a distinctive identity …or a host society”(Brubaker, 2014, 5). The groups that we discuss in our dialogue include Black Diasporas and First Nations people in Canada. Through examining the cultural and linguistic histories of both groups, we argue that they qualify as diasporas according to the three criteria listed above.
Our investigation into diasporas has lead us to take a closer look at how both individual and cultural identities are shaped by ethnic backgrounds and how these identities can be seen in literature and language. A large portion of this research has been dedicated to exploring the concepts of Diasporas in Canadian society, with Black Diasporas being a specific case study. During this study, the dialogues that took place with our counterparts inspired us to broaden our scope of analysis. As we progressed, we noticed that contemporary Canadian society is now defined by the “Canadian Mosaic” and much of the discussion on diasporas shifted away from the issues of race to the questions of language and identity (Siemerling, 2010).
Specifically, our dialogues focused around the attempt to establish a Black Canadian identity in Canada through literature and performance. In Pilar Dominguez’s interview with George Elliot Clarke, a Black Canadian writer, Clarke points out that in Canada “we do not have any coherent idea or notion of Blackness”, but instead, are heavily influenced by culture and historical backgrounds from the homeland, as most Black Canadians are first or second generation immigrants. These ties to their culture are expressed through their literature, as well as through the performance of cultural sports and activities brought with them, but their traditions are also twisted and adapted to their new home, creating an individual style that only fits to immigrants.
During our discussion fellow student Keely Hammond (2014) pointed out that “by repeatedly describing ethnic or cultural groups in the same broad terms, without any allowance for cultural shift or diversity within the group, the group’s true identity and potential are muffled.” These broad terms often represent our attempts to acknowledge the multicultural aspect of Canada; ‘Canadian Muslims’, ‘Asian-Canadian’, ‘Black Canadian’, but instead, serve the purpose of prescribing an identity on to a group of people. This often raises problematic questions, such as “where are you from” or “what kind of Asian are you”, in an attempt to fit individuals into an ethnic group, creating stereotypical generalizations that are often harmful to the formation of the group’s collective identity, as well as the individual’s own personal identity. On our partner group’s annotated bibliography, they introduced Tim Horton’s ads from the 1990s and specific portions form the celebrated novel Diamond Grill by Fred Wah, which stood out as examples of institutionalized methods of imposing the concept of a homogenous Canadian identity onto those carrying pre-existing Diasporas with them. The underlying reasoning is not dissimilar to the assimilationist policies suggested by critics of the existing reserve-system (see Flanagan, 2000).
Because individual stories are bound by time and place, they represent the distinct voice of the author and his or her identity, rather than that of the ethnic group they ‘belong’ to. This implies that it is not “what” we are that creates our individual identities, but rather “where” we are. By categorizing and creating ethnic and cultural groups in broad terms, we stifle attempts to grow and move from these barriers. Even the wider national identity of “Canadian” places a boundary on the formation of an individual identity. The attempts to define a national identity, and placing the “Canadian” descriptor on an identity, also serves the purpose of alienating First Nations Peoples from the conversation about multiculturalism. During the course, we discussed the contrast between Aboriginal creation stories, which feature many different ‘creators’ and characters, versus the Genesis story of creation, which involves a single creator. We began to realize during our discussion that this contrast can be applied to understanding identity, raising the question of whether our identities are defined by our connection with others, rather than an isolated individual.
While much of our initial research had yielded insights into how individual cultural Diasporas has developed and struggled to find meaning in Canadian society, our dialogues with our partner group has shown us that these Diasporas do not exist in isolation, but instead, have a large impact and influence with those in their surroundings. This is particularly true regarding Diasporas from immigrant groups within Canada.
As a growing base of research in First Nations culture and knowledge retention has developed (see Settee 2009, Chandler 2013) in tangent with demographic shifts in Indigenous populations into urban centres (Cairns, 2000, 2005), more scholars have pointed to the community institutions as a means of halting the rapid deterioration of traditional knowledge systems from generation to generation. Our dialogue with De/colonized Voices has provided evidence of parallels between this phenomenon experienced by Indigenous groups in Canada and the experiences of first or second generation immigrants that have arrived in Canada during the second half of the century.
From those dialogues however, it appears that immigrant communities have often only been approached through highly structured institutional arms of the state, and the results have not been entirely successful. A fellow classmate who participated in our dialogue described the impactful effect that even passive institutions can have on those dealing with Diaspora concepts in their personal lives: “Unfortunately, we aren’t taught how to navigate through these situations in grade–school. I suppose that the beauty of the identity struggle is that it is a life–long struggle.” (Dara, 2014). From our research, Indigenous groups have also felt that there is inadequate support from educational institutions and have made significant progress in replacing passive policies with more active deliberation – it appears that current immigration policies can benefit from the lessons and practices of these Indigenous communities.
In contrast to the current immigrant experience, contemporary Indigenous cultural studies has had substantial resources in developing a community based educational and knowledge retentional support for their Diasporic needs. Specifically, the two-pronged approach of community and educational institutions (Settee, 2009) in the preservation of Indigenous languages can serve as a case study to assist in providing a model of a support framework missing from those experiencing an identity struggle within the “Mosaic”.
Our intervention strategy moving forward would recommend that future research on the identity struggle of Canadian immigrants apply the lessons learned from decades of cultural healing within Aboriginal communities that continues to combine the teachings of both modern society and traditional knowledge systems in innovative ways. In doing so, we hope that Canadian society as a whole will develop a greater understanding of how existing cultural Diasporas, regardless of their origins, are interacting and experiencing their dynamic cultural surroundings in Canada.
Works Cited:
Brubaker, Rogers. “The ‘diaspora’ Diaspora.” Ethnic and Racial Studies 28.1 (2005): 1-19. Routledge Taylor & Francis Limited, Jan. 2005. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Cairns, Alan C. First nations and the Canadian State: in search of coexistence. Institute of Intergovernmental Relations, 2005.
—. Citizens Plus: Aboriginal Peoples and the Canadian State. Toronto: UBC Press, 2000.
CBC Television, “True Canadians: Multiculturalism in Canada Debated” September 14th 2004, Web, April 2014, <http://www.cbc.ca/archives/categories/politics/language-culture/making-the-mosaic-multiculturalism-in-canada/true-canadians.html>
Chandler M, J,. “On Being Indigenous: An Essay on the Hermeneutics of ‘Cultural Identity.” Human Development 56.8 (2013): 3-97.
Dada, Zara. “Annotated Bibliography – Comments.” De/colonized Voices. UBC Blogs, 11 April 2014. Web. 17 April 2014. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/decolonizedvoices/annotated-bibliography-blog/#comment-28>
Domininguez, Pilar, C. “On Black Canadian Writing: In Conversation with George Elliott Clarke”. Atlantis 23.2 (2001): 187-200. JSTOR. Web. 26 Mar. 2014.
Flanagan, Tom. First Nations? Second Thoughts, Second Edition. McGill-Queen’s Press, 2000.
Hammond, Keely. “Annotated Bibliography – Comments.” Intervention Strategy: An ENGL 470 Conference on Literature, Language, and “Race” . UBC Blogs, 9 April 2014. Web. 17 April 2014. <https://blogs.ubc.ca/intervention470/annotated-biblography/#comment-16>
Settee, Priscilla. “Education, Native Languages, and Supporting Indigenous Knowledge.” Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives 19 (2009): 87-93.
Siemerling, Winfried. “Canadian literatures, language, ‘race’.” Canadian Literature 204 (2010).
Wah, Fred. Diamond Grill. Edmonton: NeWest, 2006.