The Dark Side of the Nation: Essays on Multiculturalism, Nationalism and Gender

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Canadian Scholars’ Press, 2000 - Political Science - 182 pages
These feminist Marxist and anti-racist essays speak to important political issues. Though they begin from experiences of non-white people living in Canada, they provide a critical theoretical perspective capable of exploring similar issues in other western and also third world countries. This reading of 'difference' includes but extends beyond the cultural and the discursive into political economy, state, and ideology. It cuts through conventional paradigms of current debates on multiculturalism. In particular, these essays take up the notion of 'Canada' - as the nation and the state - as an unsettled ground of contested hegemonies. They particularly draw attention to how the state of Canada is an unfinished one, and how the discourse of culture helps it to advance the legitimation claim which is needed by any state, especially one arising in a colonial context, with unsolved nationality problems. The myth of the 'two founding peoples', anglos and francophones, has always conveniently ignored the reality of First Nations. who may have a history of being indentured and politically marginalised and only begin struggling for political enfranchisement in their new homeland.
 

Contents

and Women of Colour
15
Chapter 2
63
Chapter 3
83
Chapter 4
125
Selected Additional Bibliography
175
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About the author (2000)

Himani Bannerji is Associate Professor in the Department of Sociology at York University and the author of several books, including: Thinking Through: Essays in Feminism, Marxism, and Anti-Racism; Unsettling Relations: The University as a Site of Feminist Struggles; Mirror of Class: Essays on Bengali Theatre; Returning the Gaze: Essays on Racism, Feminism, and Politics; Coloured Pictures The Two Sisters; and The Writing on the Wall: Essays on Culture and Politics.

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