Journal of Multilingual and Multicultural Development
Editor and Book Reviews Editor: John Edwards (St Francis Xavier University, Canada)
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Volume: 24 Number: 6 Page: 525–539
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Pluralist Founding Nations in Anglo- and Franco-Canada: Multiple Migrations, Influences, Reconceptualisations
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Dirk Hoerder
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While scholars in Canada developed highly sophisticated research on ethnic relations and constructions of identities, due to a hierarchisation that places the national over the ethnic, the two so-called 'Founding Nations' have not been analysed as two more ethno-cultural groups. The
shorthand terms 'British-' and 'French-Canadians' refer to complex groups with multiple histories that reflect social rank, gender, ethnicity, conquest, or prior experiences in the so-called non-white segments of the empire. Second, the histories of these two groups in Canada's colonial period,
fashioned to fit ethno-political strategies, also have to be deconstructed in order to uncover interactions and exchanges. Given the power relationships, lasting images of French habitants were propagandised by British-Canadian cultural elites, and French-Catholic elites, constructed a story
of oppression. Third, a look at the school system and the citizenship laws indicates in which ways pluralist versions of history were kept out of young Canadians' socialisation and how British- and Catholicimperial interests skewed curricula. In conclusion, it is illustrated how undecipherable
meanings of historical references in everyday discourse may impose history as a dead weight rather than a story of becoming on the living generation.
Keywords: NATION, ETHNO-CULTURAL GROUPS, FRENCH-CANADIANS, BRITISH-CANADIANS, CITIZENSHIP, CULTURAL HEGEMONY
© 2003 Multilingual Matters
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