Feb.28 Discussion Questions
by C. Kwon ~ February 27th, 2011. Filed under: Notes.Ibbitson, Let Sleeping Dogs Lie
1. The author argues that there is a “lack of national homogeneity” in Canada and that each region has a separate identity. Do you agree? If so, do you think this is a problem?
2. The author writes: “It is the easiest thing to feel Canadian, because it means so little.” Does the label Canadian really mean so little?
3. Do you think that the author underestimates the desire of some groups to behave in ways that go against the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms?
4. The author claims that we live “in a society built on an economy that encourages success and judges people in large measure by their ability to achieve it.” Is this true or overly idealistic?
Smith, “Cement for the Canadian Mosaic”: Performing Canadian Citizenship in the Work of John Murray Gibbon
1. Considering Gibbon’s work is from the early twentieth century, does his work still accurately reflect the racial hierarchy and prejudice in the modern Canadian society? If not, what has changed? What do you think instigated such changes?
2. Smith comments that Gibbon treats cultural festivals like they are commercialized packages. Have you seen or experienced a cultural display that you felt was of the same nature? What made you feel that it was superficial or commercial?
3. This article extensively discusses the “management of culture/ethnicity” which is mostly carried out by British Canadians towards non-Anglo immigrants and citizens. Do you think this management can occur within a culture? In other words, do we consciously try to package our own culture to look presentable to Anglo-Canadians?
4. “This inherent instability of the authenticity of the settler subject leads … to attempts to establish the settler’s “native” legitimacy … through representation and discourse.” (Smith 45). What would happen if Anglo-Canadians were not to assert this sense of legitimacy? Would it weaken or strengthen the nation as whole?
5. Smith states that GIbbon didn’t even consider visible minorities as a part of the Canadian mosaic because they can’t be assimilated. How would you define a successful assimilation? In what ways would Canada change if it practiced an immigration policy akin to that of the US?
*(As of 2006 visible minorities formed 16.2% of Canada’s population.)