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CHAPTER 8 CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND ETHNICITY

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For Fox, culture signifies 'the way we interpret and ... You think of culture in terms of opera, ballet and classical music. ... The Makeup of Canadian Society ... – PowerPoint PPT presentation

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Title: CHAPTER 8 CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND ETHNICITY


1
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Defining Culture
  • Although we constantly live culture, it is not
    a concept that is easily defined. We are born
    into a culture, raised within a culture,
    developed and educated within a culture, work
    within a culture and experience the day-to-day
    experiences of a culture.
  • Researchers have a difficult time agreeing on the
    meaning of the concept culture. Literature
    reveals that there are many different meanings
    and many different perspectives of the concept of
    culture.

2
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Defining Culture
  • According to Fox (1994), culture is a construct.
    For Fox, culture signifies the way we interpret
    and experience social life (1994 23).
  • Research conducted by Karlis (1993a) presents
    culture as consisting of three attributes
  • religion
  • language and
  • social, media and arts activities.

3
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Canadian Culture
  • Grace (2001) associates Canadian culture with
    geographical location. She posits that, despite
    our continual lament that the north is not valued
    or understood as important, indeed, essential to
    the Canadian identity, to what makes us a
    distinct imagined community, and to the
    geopolitical reality of Canada as a circumpolar
    national state, a very great deal of attention
    has in fact been paid to the North (Grace, 2001
    74).

4
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Canadian Culture
  • Hillier (2000) argues that Canada is often
    defined according to its demographic composition
    that is, the multi-ethnic makeup of the Canadian
    population. Moreover, Hillier (2000 178) also
    describes Canada as a bilingual, bicultural
    society in stating that Canadian society is that
    of two solitudes or two nations warring within
    one bosom.

5
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Canadian Culture
  • For Matheson (1997), Canadian identity may be
    reflected through our national symbols, for
    instance, the national colors of the flag, the
    maple leaf and the beaver.

6
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Canadian Culture
  • Pierre Burton (1987) describes Canadian culture
    comparison with American culture. Burton
    (19879) states that as for culture we
    Canadians and Americans dont even speak the
    same language. You think of culture in terms of
    opera, ballet and classical music. To us, it
    covers everything from Stompin Tom Connors to
    Hockey Night in Canada. Thus Canadian culture
    expands beyond traditionally defined cultural
    activities to those activities that reflect the
    uniqueness of Canadian society.

7
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • The Makeup of Canadian Society
  • The Canadian population is comprises of many
    different ethnic groups while immigration is a
    consistent feature of the growth of Canadian
    population (Butler, 1990).
  • The fifth round of the 2001 Census of Population
    released on January 21, 2003, indicates that the
    proportion of foreign-born is the highest it has
    been in seventy years as 5.4 million people or
    18.4 of the total population were born outside
    of Canada. Immigrants who came to Canada in the
    1990s came mostly from Asia and the Middle East.
    In fact, 58 were born in Asia and the Middle
    East, 20 from Europe, 11 in the Caribbean,
    Central and South America, 8 in Africa, and 3
    in the United States (Statistics Canada, 2003).

8
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Multiculturalism Policy and Practice
  • It was not until July 21, 1988 that the Canadian
    Multiculturalism Act became law. This Act
    commits the Government of Canada to assist
    communities and institutions in bringing about
    equal access and participation for all Canadians
    in the economic, social, cultural and political
    life of the nation (Multiculturalism and
    Citizenship Canada, 1990).

9
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Ethnic Community Organizations
  • To fulfil the leisure and cultural needs of
    ethnic community groups in Canada, Canadas
    multicultural policy allows the basis for the
    establishment of ethnic community organizations.
    Indeed, most ethnic groups in Canada have
    established their own ethnic community
    organizations.
  • Ethnic community organizations are a means to
    strengthen ethnic identity in Canada (Breton,
    Reitz and Valentine, 1980) through religious
    structures (i.e., churches, synagogues, mosques,
    temples), and social centres and recreation
    facilities to address the spiritual, intellectual
    and social needs necessary to practice ethnic
    heritage.

10
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Equal Opportunity and Recognition through Leisure
    Services
  • A question that has often been raised about
    Canadas multiculturalism policy deals with the
    issue of equal opportunity and equal
    recognition. A number of factors make some
    ethnic community organizations more powerful and
    more likely to maintain ethnic community
    traditions. Size, time period in Canada,
    lobbying strength and geographical location are
    determining factors for the experience of the
    traditions of ethnic heritage.
  • Although no perfect policy exists to deal with
    multi-ethnic societies, Canadas multiculturalism
    policy does at the very least encourage equal
    opportunity and recognition of ethnic groups.
    This means that all individuals of ethnic descent
    are encouraged to participate in the ethnic
    cultural traditions and leisure activities of
    their ethnic homeland. Simply knowing that their
    host nation takes a stance in support of ethnic
    diversity is often more than enough for Canadas
    ethnically diverse population to experience a
    diversity of leisure opportunities reflective of
    their ethnic homeland and Canadian culture.

11
CHAPTER 8CANADIAN CULTURE, MULTICULTURALISM AND
ETHNICITY
  • Ethnicity and the Selection of Leisure and
    Recreation Activities
  • Since the 1970s, research in leisure and
    ethnicity has continued to grow (Karlis, Bolla
    and Dawson, 1992 Karlis, 1990b).
  • One of the first attempts to kick-start research
    in this area was a study conducted by Malpass
    (1973) positing that the total community
    included the ethnic group.
  • Another study conducted by the Ontario Ministry
    of Tourism and Recreation in 1984 discussed how
    recreational services did not adequately address
    the cultural differences of society.
  • A recent study of Canadian teens of South Asian
    descent reveals that leisure preference is
    determined by adherence to South Asian cultural
    traditions (Tirone, 1999/2000).
  • In a study of the Greek Community of Toronto,
    Karlis (1993a) found that immigrants from Greece
    not only prefer but also tend to participate in
    leisure activities that are classified as
    Greek.
  • Research by Bolla and Dawson (1990) also
    justifies the need and preference of Canadas
    ethnic populations to experience the leisure
    activities of their homeland culture.
  • A study published in Canadian Ethnic Studies by
    Karlis and Dawson (1995) shows that the
    inadequate use of the concept ethnicity poses
    conceptual problems as well as programming
    problems for research on ethnic groups.
  • In a study on Indo-Canadian women, Tirone and
    Shaw (1997) found that leisure was perceived as
    not important.
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