Title The racial mosaic : a pre-history of Canadian multiculturalism / Daniel R. Meister

Published Montreal ; Kingston ; London ; Chicago : McGill-Queen's University Press, [2021]

Click on the following:
EBSCO eBooks

Copies

Description 1 online resource (xvii, 388 pages) Series Rethinking Canada in the world ; 10 Rethinking Canada in the world ; 10. Contents Watson Kirkconnell and Scientific Racism -- Robert England and Canadian Citizenship -- John Murray Gibbon and Folk Culture -- Making It Official -- Cultural Pluralism in Wartime Summary "Canada is often considered a multicultural mosaic, welcoming to immigrants and encouraging of cultural diversity. Yet this reputation masks a more complex history. In this groundbreaking study of the pre-history of Canadian multiculturalism, Daniel Meister shows how the philosophy of cultural pluralism normalized racism and the entrenchment of whiteness. The Racial Mosaic demonstrates how early ideas about cultural diversity in Canada were founded upon, and coexisted with, settler colonialism and racism, despite the apparent tolerance of a variety of immigrant peoples and their cultures. To trace the development of these ideas, Meister takes a biographical approach, examining the lives and work of three influential public intellectuals whose thoughts on cultural pluralism circulated widely beginning in the 1920s: Watson Kirkconnell, a university professor and translator; Robert England, an immigration expert with Canadian National Railways; and John Murray Gibbon, a publicist for the Canadian Pacific Railway. While they all proposed variants of the idea that immigrants to Canada should be allowed to retain certain aspects of their cultures, their tolerance had very real limits. In their personal, corporate, and government-sponsored works, only the cultures of "white" European immigrants were considered worthy of inclusion. On the fiftieth anniversary of Canada's official policy of multiculturalism, The Racial Mosaic represents the first serious and sustained attempt to detail the policy's historical antecedents, compelling readers to consider how racism has structured Canada's settler-colonial society."-- Provided by publisher Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index Notes Description based on online resource; title from digital title page (viewed on October 05, 2021) Subject Kirkconnell, Watson, 1895-1977. England, Robert, 1894-1985. Gibbon, John Murray, 1875-1952. SUBJECT England, Robert, 1894-1985 fast Gibbon, John Murray, 1875-1952 fast Kirkconnell, Watson, 1895-1977 fast Subject Cultural pluralism -- Canada -- History -- 20th century Racism -- Canada -- History -- 20th century Intellectuals -- Canada -- Biography SOCIAL SCIENCE / Race & Ethnic Relations. Cultural pluralism Ethnic relations Intellectual life Intellectuals Racism SUBJECT Canada -- Intellectual life -- 20th century. http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh87001732 Canada -- Ethnic relations Subject Canada Genre/Form Biographies History Form Electronic book ISBN 9780228009986 0228009987 9780228009979 0228009979

  Permalink