Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Social Science General

The House of Difference

Cultural Politics and National Identity in Canada

by (author) Eva Mackey

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Jun 2002
Category
General, Minority Studies
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802084811
    Publish Date
    Jun 2002
    List Price
    $45.95

Classroom Resources

Where to buy it

Description

The unexpected global rise of intolerant nationalism at the end of the twentieth century has received much attention, and yet intolerance also manifests itself in more subtle ways, even in nations such as Canada, with its mythologized history of tolerance and its official policies of multiculturalism. Drawing on extensive fieldwork and interviews with white Canadians and government bureaucrats, as well as an in-depth analysis of national identity and its construction, Mackey explores ideas of racial and cultural difference, multiculturalism, and pluralism. She argues that official policies and attitudes of multicultural 'tolerance' for 'others' reinforce the dominant Anglo-Canadian culture by abducting the cultures of minority groups, pressing them into the service of nation-building without promoting genuine respect or autonomy. The book also contributes to an understanding of how official 'multicultural tolerance' has contributed to the rise of the new right in recent years. Mapping the contradictions and ambiguities in the cultural politics of Canadian identity, The House of Difference opens up new understandings of the operations of 'tolerance' and western liberalism in a supposedly post-colonial era.

About the author

 

Eva Mackey is the author of House of Difference: Cultural Politics and National Identity in Canada and is an associate professor in the School of Indigenous and Canadian Studies at Carleton University.

 

Eva Mackey's profile page