Canadian Identities: -- General ViewsGeneral Views -- Its formation and Related Issues 1. Settlement ColoniesSettlement Colonies 2. Language and Cultural IdentityLanguage and Cultural Identity 3. Gender/Race Relations Gender/Race Relations 4. Gender/Cultural Identity Gender/Cultural Identity -- From Two Solitudes toFrom Two Solitudes to ManyMany: National Myths & Realities

MICHAEL J. FOX Keanu Reeve Captain Kirk Jim Carrey ALANIS MORISSETTE k.d. Lang Celine Dion Paul Anka, Neil Young, Peter Jennings Saturday Night Life: Dan Aykroyd Pamela Ander- son Lee Megan Follow as Anne of Green Gables Which of the following are Canadians?

Internet Jokes on Cultural Differences n Aussies: Dislike being mistaken for Pommies (Brits) when abroad. n Canadians: Are rather indignant about being mistaken for Americans when abroad. n Americans: Encourage being mistaken for Canadians when abroad. n Brits: Can't possibly be mistaken for anyone else when abroad.

Internet Jokes on Cultural Differences n Americans: Spell words differently, but still call it "English". n Brits: Pronounce their words differently, but still call it "English". n Canadians: Spell like the Brits, pronounce like Americans. n Aussies: Add "G'day", "mate" and a heavy accent to everything they say.

n Aussies: Are extremely patriotic to their beer. n Americans: Are flag- waving,anthem-singing, and obsessively patriotic to the point of blindness. n Canadians: Can't agree on the words to their anthem, when they can be bothered to sing them. n Brits: Do not sing at all but prefer a large brass band to perform the anthem. Internet Jokes on Cultural Differences

n Colonization 2: Settlement Canada: U. K. Metaphor:Miranda n Colonization 3 : Internal colonialism = racism against the immigrants; Quebec General Themes (1): Settlement Colonies  Colonization 1: invasion, exploitation & cultural imposition India: U.K. e.g. “moth” in The God the Caribbean: Holland, Spain, France, U.K. u Metaphor: Caliban n Colonization 4: neo- colonialism U.S.

Canadian History u New France u Charles II of England established HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY n Canada become a confederation of former colonies (The British North America Act) n the creation of the status of Canadian citizen n expo '67 in Montreal n The Constitution Act ended British control over amendments to Canada's Constitution. n Canadian Multiculturalism Act

Indian subcontinent n metaphor: masala; midnight’s children, god of small things; cracking earth. General Themes (2): Language & Cultural Identity/Hybridity the Caribbean – terms & metaphor: creole; metissage; colors, houses and animals causes: Europeans + Africans + Asian indenture laborers n Canada -- metaphor: mosaic causes: settlement + cultural colonization + immigration + Multiculturalism Act (1988) e.g. “Syntax” n causes: n language, n religion, n race and caste multiple invasion/ colonization;

Canadian Identity n Compared with the States, it merged quite late, slowly and peacefully in the 20 th century. n Defined in contrast with the Americans -- White North (but not the West), Irony (but not Innocence), victim mentality (but not heroism), Mounties but not cowboy, etc. n Charateristics (?): Gentleness + violent hockey, Two solitudes.

General Themes (3-1): gender relations Marital & Social Relations: n “Honor”; Fire n Antoinette “Blossom” n Allegory: The Adjuster,, The Handmaid’s Tale; “Blossom”

n Race/Gender power u parallel: women as double- victims (WSS; Earth) marriage as a constaint (“Her Mother”; Annie John) u opposite: Clare’s hunting experience (Abeng) n Canada’s national identity//Gender n Atwood’s “Tricks with Mirror” n Handmaid General Themes (3-2): race/gender (class) relations the Caribbeans in Toronto (Rude; “Blossom”) poverty, drug, sexism inverse racism, defense mechanism & survival skills

n 3. fear, lack, and ways of resistance & self- assertion: n Clare, Antoinette n Handmaid, “Rain Child” 2. Departure & Memory: n Baggage, film screen (“Imaginary Homeland”) n Annie John n “Self-Destruct” in Rude n Photos; House burned (The Adjuster) 1. A girl/child’s growing process: (education) n SB, “Gainda,” “Her Mother” n SA, Antoinette, Annie, Clare n “The Found Boat” General Themes (4): gender/cultural identity & migration

From Two Solitudes to MANY: National Myths & Racial Realities e.g. “Who Are We?” "As Canadian as possible,..., under the circumstances."

“The Canadian North”: Its Myths and “Realities” n The Group of Seven

Myth 1: Victim Mentality n “Garrison Mentality” n “Victim Mentality” vs. American individualism e.g. Atwood 在 Survival 中視加人 為自然力量的「集體受害者」， 主張加拿大文學即是移民文學， 哀悼「離家及失落」。換言之， 加拿大文學的「後殖民」主題 之一即是文化及地理上－－或 內在與外在－－的流離失所. But who are the victims? e.g. “Can Lit.” by Earl Birney

Myth 2: Two Solitudes n Duality -- caused by settler-colonization and neo-colonialism –French and English; –British, American & “Canadian” n e.g. “Tricks with Mirrors” The victims are not necessarily powerless. Interactions between the victimizer and the victimized.

“Tricks with Mirrors” from You Are Happy n “November” “Kill what you can’t save what you can’t eat throw out what you can’t throw out bury What you can’t bury give away.” What do the Mirrors mean here? What tricks does the mirror/speaker do to “you” with mirrors?

“Tricks with Mirrors” from You Are Happy n Mirror: n Identity narcissism, self- absorption, entrapment, stasis. n Note: Atwood compares writers to trickster. n “The trickster figure embodies contradictions, often using humor, parody, and satire to expose hypocrisy and pretension.

Myth 3: Mosaic and Multiculturalism Immigrants to Canada n Early 20 th century: Italians and Jews discriminated against n the postwar new-comers: at first mainly British, and then Dutch and German n in the 1960s -- Mediterranean peoples, notably Italians, Greeks and Portuguese, n in the 1970s -- a steadily growing number of Asians--from India and China via Hong Kong especially and of people of ultimately African origin via the Caribbean. Ghettoized? V e r t i c a l Mosaic

Examples of Self- Conscious Artists: Laiwan n Laiwan, born in Zimbabwe, of Chinese origin; emigrated to Canada in 1977 to leave the war in Rhodesia.

An Example of Multi-Media Artists: Laiwan’s “The Imperialism of Syntax” n What does syntax mean? n What are the consequences of “being subject” to another’s syntax? n What are the speaker’s ways of survival and resisting the other’s syntax? n What are the differences between the Chinese and the English versions?

An Example of Multi-Media Artists: Laiwan’s “The Imperialism of Syntax” n “subject” to their rules n Self-forgetting, ridiculed n Talk back n Chinese: not mother tongue, openness to another interpretation

An Example of Multi- Media Artists: Laiwan n n ETHOS: writing with found objects, detail seven panels of laminated Vancouver bus transfers, 1982