Long story short, I've always not really enjoyed the Canada Day Celebrations [putting aside my issues with the concepts of nationhood and states] much. Don't get me wrong, it's fun, I get to hang out with people I love, we usually manage to hang out and do lots of fun things... but...My disdain mostly arises from not being able to relate to why people like Bharat natyam and other 'traditional' folk dances so much on that day. I lived for a long time in the nation's capital and going to parliament hill to do this sort of thing got really tiring after the ..... first 20 minutes. I don't do classical indian dances, none of my relatives do either, in fact they aren't very popular in India either (from what I know) - with exception, kind of like how ballet works here.
Anyways, here is an excellent passage on the problematic nature of 'multi-culturalism' from a new book that I can't recommend highly enough "Discourses of Denial: Mediations of Race, Gender, and Violence" by Yasmin Jiwani (UBC Press - 2006). Go out and get this!!! It is a must read, it's not necessarily anything drastically new for people who are familiar with critical race studies, but Jiwani's book provides an amazing synthesis of current work and she uses contemporary examples to illustrate these ideas. Plus, she is a fabulous writer who doesn't hold back.
This passage I believe can aptly be used to describe the problematic nature of Canada day style multi-cultural festivals (she is referring more specifically to media representations and news coverage):
"Or, alternatively, their [POC] representation us used to show up the image of the dominant society as one of tolerance, meritocracy, and equality. Of course, this does not hold true for raced bodies that stereotypically appear most frequently in the music and sports sections of the newspaper. here, their success is often attributed to their innate predisposition toward these activities.
The novelty or dramatic criterion of news stories also coincides with the certain aspects of racialized minority cultures. Seen against a backdrop of White society, these groups offer colourful alternatives. Their fashion, music and cuisine become objects of attention in the coverage devoted to ethnic festivals and ceremonies. Conversely, cultural rites and rituals are given coverage when they are perceived and positioned as being antithetical to social norms. The persistent coverage of arranged marriages, circumcision rites, communal living arrangements, and different religious traditions contributes to images of racialized communities that cast them as being uncivilized, oppressive, and undesirable......these legacies are grounded in a legacy of colonialism and imperialism" (Jiwani 2006: 40)
Earlier in the book Jiwani has an amazing passage that explains why communities of colour often take-up these roles under multiculturalism and multicultural policies. I wish I could type out the two pages - but I will type up bits of it:
"Communities, then [in regards to race-based program funding by the government], become a focal point of the policies, despite the reality that these communities are, as Bannerji (2000) reminds us, not natural constructions but but social constructions mediated out of a necessity to respond to particular state policies. In turn, these communities are harnessed by these policies to better serve the status quo and thereby utilized to maintain a hierarchical racialized structure of power. Such communities are reified as embodiments of particular cultural formations even though what they may be representing is a graft of a culture, specific social classes within that cultural formation, and particular interpretations of cultural traditions. Patriarchal and economic elites maintain the boundaries of these so-called cultural communities, ensuring compliance and cohesion. However, as Bannerji remarks this is not only a top-down imposition but also a bottom-up response, based on the racism, exclusion, and hostility from the dominant society faced by these groups. Within the context of these communities, power is naturalized and rendered normal through the recuperation and reification of tradition.
Bannerji calls our attention to a key element of multiculturalism, namely, the connection between race and culture. Racialized communities are minoritized and interpreted as primordial cultural entities rather than as entities formed through state measures. Further, these cultural labels are not neutral but carry Orientalist and racially inscribed connotations of Western society that represents itself as progressive, emancipatory, and democratic. Racial differences become cultural differences, and race itself is culturalized. ....emphasis on culture evacuates concepts of race and racism, so that cultural tolerance comes to replace the need for racial tolerance....to tolerate is to 'put up with'. " (Jiwani 2006: 13-14).
A final word on 'upper-class POC':
"Assimilation also offers, especially through class privilege, a greater degree of mobility. On the other hand, the deeply racialized nature of identity, both group and individual based, limits such latitude in the sense that no matter how rich or assimilated a person of colour is, where s/he can go is undoubtedly curtailed by elite structures of power....illusory promises of fitting in and belonging provided one buys into the trappings of so-called normalcy and normative behaviour - are just that - fictions - when they run headlong into the reality of race and racism...... In a hierarchy structured in dominance, the ideological labour involved is one of keeping each group "in its place." This includes racialized people of colour whose confinement at a particular level of the hierarchy ensures that those above can maintain their power and privilege." (Jiwani 2006: 28)
Cross posted at Pass the Roti.
13 comments:
Racial differences become cultural differences, and race itself is culturalized. ....emphasis on culture evacuates concepts of race and racism, so that cultural tolerance comes to replace the need for racial tolerance....to tolerate is to 'put up with'.
Awesome. Reminds me of Chinatowns.
Assimilation also offers, especially through class privilege, a greater degree of mobility. On the other hand, the deeply racialized nature of identity, both group and individual based, limits such latitude in the sense that no matter how rich or assimilated a person of colour is, where s/he can go is undoubtedly curtailed by elite structures of power
This is what the model minority adherents don't understand at all.
Thanks for this post. A lot of ppl come here for your posts.
and a lot of new ones come here for yours, and a lot of old ones are introduced to a fresh perspective! :)
Racial differences become cultural differences, but again, we are comparing the mean/median of different populations.
I grew up in Japan, and I have a "Japanese" friend who grew up in Australia then moved to Sweden. We worked together in Japan in a US company. One day, our colleagues decided that I am unique and she is unusual. We asked them what is the difference. They said that I am 2-3 sigmas away from the mean, but still something that can happen within the probability of the normal curve. She is an outlier that can not happen in the Japanese environment.
I do not know if we can ever develop a regression model to predict the outcome of combination of different attributes such as wealth, education, family history, race, location, and so on.
When I moved to the US, I encountered many Americans who think I am unusual for a Japanese. I always respond to them that I am still within the normal curve. Of course, they get confused.
They have a formula they believe as robust in as good or appropriate for a Japanese individual, in terms of what treatment I should get from others, including social inclusion, position level in the hierarchy, and air time allocation.
But I also have an experience of communicating with my colleagues from Europe over emails who have only the slightest idea from my name that I may be an Asian, but no idea what gender I am (kind of ignorant...) These tend to take a polite position, making sure not to piss off me just in case I may be a person in an important position. If I send all information about what I do, except my nationality and gender, I can peak into the world how white male are treated every day.
Once they get to know my race and gender, they can be still relatively better, while I am still working with them on a conference call basis. It finally breaks when they see me.
This indicates that racism has something to do with the skewed co-efficient people use on the visual information that is associated with the race in the regression analysis in human mind, to determine how they should define / treat the other person.
But one thing I do not know is why human mind works that way on the visual information processing. I am very curious to know.
Maybe, you folks can educate me.
When I moved to the US, I encountered many Americans who think I am unusual for a Japanese. I always respond to them that I am still within the normal curve.
We people of color bloggers including those on the blogs on the right of the screen talk about race and gender stereotypes that control and marginalize minorities and women. Patricia Hill Collins calls them controlling images. Some examples are the mammy, jezebel and sapphire. It's disappointing the human race hasn't significantly moved beyond instantly categorizing and hierarchizing people according to physical appearance. And bobtail, you will learn plenty here and from the blogroll on the right.
Very interesting, AD. I didn't know that about Canada's national holiday.
When I read the first few lines, I was confused at first, thinking, "What? There's a Bharat Natyam holiday?" I didn't know before about the multi-culti celebrations in Canada. Ick.
On a similar note, today is "Independence Day" in the US, and I was reading online a speech about the holiday by Frederick Douglass that you might also appreciate.
~Bq
BQ, I wish I had photos of past canada day events... Maybe I can youtube some performances. In Toronto - it's a tad different, but in most parts of Canada the holiday is celebrated by one main event organized by the city and there's multicultural performances galore - a large part of which are primarily traditional. Things are 'changing'...
I wrote this post mostly to share Jiwani's work, which is good!
Jiwani is good stuff. Thanks for your postings. Bq, I'm posting Douglass' speech for you.
Oh, I didn't mean to bypass the main point of your post. Jiwani does make several on-point critiques.
About this part,
"...these communities are, as Bannerji (2000) reminds us, not natural constructions but but social constructions mediated out of a necessity to respond to particular state policies. In turn, these communities are harnessed by these policies to better serve the status quo and thereby utilized to maintain a hierarchical racialized structure of power. Such communities are reified as embodiments of particular cultural formations even though what they may be representing is a graft of a culture, specific social classes within that cultural formation, and particular interpretations of cultural traditions. Patriarchal and economic elites maintain the boundaries of these so-called cultural communities, ensuring compliance and cohesion. However, as Bannerji remarks this is not only a top-down imposition but also a bottom-up response..."
I thought about how so many non-South Asians in the US don't realize the diversity of language etc, among S. Asians like in stupid questions/statements like "You don't look Indian" or "Do you like Bollywood?"
I also really hate the buffet-style performances (performance with a capital P) of "cultural shows".
I also thought about how particular immigration policies fueled the "model minority" myth, and Jiwari also addresses some related issues in the part about upper-class pocs who subscribe to problematic ideas about race and class.
Bq
BQ - I concur with everything you just said. I don't think Canada and the states differ too much in how these policies/ideas play out... but maybe there is less of a model minority myth here though - because there is are many working class/middle class south asians who are not as well to do as south asians/indians (mostly) in the states.
Especially in Toronto.
there are tons of lower class south and east asians in the us.
Totally there are Donna, but from this thing I read a few years ago - I believe that indians in particular make up the highest earning 'ethnic minority' in the states?
Hence there isn't this 'model minority' stereotype (as much) here in Canada, because we don't earn as much here. Particularly in Toronto 30-40% of "south asians" as a group (vs indians in particular) are under the poverty line.
Don't quote me on any of this... I do however, think that there are class differences percentage wise (and I acknowledge that the model minority myth is harmful because it is a myth and not every south asian is well-to-do in the states). Not like it really matters much, except for the way stereotypes work here. I dunno really.
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