In this course, we interrogate the extent to which Canada has constructed itself as a laboratory of multiculturalism and diversity. First, we reach back to the colonization of Canada by the French and British empires, and then illuminate the recent heritage(s) of these two colonial presences. By doing so, we discover some basic things about Canada, a country whose geography and history are, admittedly, not as well-known as the United States.
We spend some time discussing the specificity of Quebec as a province that is francophone and largely dominated by Roman Catholicism, until the 'révolution tranquille' in the 1960s.
We analyse the historical construction of a 'middle-class multiculturalism' (Jennifer Elrick) since the 1960s, as well as study the introduction of multiculturalism as a public policy since the 1970s. We also analyse certain forms of racism, particularly targetting Muslims in Québec, through France-imported controversies around 'laïcité'.
Importantly, we spend most of the last courses discussing the history of first nations, through the colonisation of Canada, and then more recently, we study the national trauma caused by the 'residential schools'. These as well as polemics around extractivism cast a slur on Canada's reputation as a haven of multiculturalism.
By and large, the course is really a history and sociology of multiculturalism and diversity in Canada.
O. E.
- Professor: Olivier Esteves