Variations to Multiculturalism: Canada and Australia

BTAN3012MA06: Topics in North American Political Culture:

Variations to Multiculturalism: Canada and Australia

Spring 2017 Dr. Gabriella T. Espák

THU10-12; Rm.55 Office: Main Bld 108/1, Office hours in Rm.112

Seminar, 2 hrs, graded, for MA studentsOffice hours: TUE 12-13, THU 12-13

Web: ieas.unideb.hu/espak E-mail:

Coursedescription:

This course is designed to broaden students’ understanding of various kinds of multiculturalisms that exist beside the American model. After an introduction into Canadian and Australian ethno-cultural diversity from a descriptive approach, we will discuss from a historical perspective why these countries introduced official federal multiculturalism policies in 1971 and 1973. Throughout the period from the 70s to the present we will see how the policy developed from cultural pluralism (cf. ethnic food and festivals) to a more complex accommodation of diversity (cf. cultural relativism). We will locate possible conflicts with regional and Indigenous interests, and critically assess the limits of multiculturalism in managing the ethnocultural diversity of these countries. This is a theory- and policy-oriented course. Students are encouraged to bring their knowledge of cultural diversity and actively participate in the discussions, and they are also expected to follow current affairs.

Requirements and Assessment

In general: You are expected to read the assigned documents and essaysbefore class, further prepare for class with comments and questions, and participate actively in the discussions.

FOCUS questions (cf. the course schedule below) will help digest key points in the readings, but they are provided only for the first (Canadian) half of the course. I expect you to generate such questions for the second (Australian) part yourself.

Grades will be granted as

90% up: excellent; 80% up: good; 70% up: average; 60% up: poor; below 60%: fail.

Your coursework contributes to your grade as

participation: 20%; presentation: 20%; essay: 30%;end-term paper: 30%.

Participation and attendence: Contribution to discussions will take you towards a better grade. Please observe the rule that no more than three absenses are permitted.

Presentation: Bring your own text/topic, which you have selected from the library or the internet (proper identification of the source is mandatory!), introduce it in class, relate to it, criticize it (emphasizing its positive and critical aspects), identify its approach and period of origin, etc. Please, prepare a handout or use other visual aid to engage your audience, because fellow students will be required to respond to your presentation with questions and comments. Occasional presentations (1 per session) can be heard during the semester, and one class towards the end of the course will be devoted exclusively to presentation-time. Such extended discussions of presentations will consolidate coursework and prepare you for the end-term paper, as well as give you the opportunity to present your views and practice meaningful discussion.

Essay: (required, in order to get a grade.) You will write this out of class. You will be given the opportunity to discuss your topic and outline in my office hours, when you will receive all necessary assistence. Your essay can be either (a) responsive to texts read for class, or (b) summative of an issue/personage of the period. Make it no shorter than 8 pages (about 3000 words), in MLA or Chicago format, with title page and works cited list. Presentation and essay topics may overlap. (Note: I take it for granted that you are aware that plagiarism is a major “crime,” and will be punished accordingly. By all means avoid such a situation. As an indication of your awareness, please add and sign this sentence on the coversheet of your essay: “Hereby, I certify that the essay conforms to international plagiarism rules and regulations.”)

End-term paper: (required, in order to get a grade.)You will write this in class, full time; and will be asked to respond to opinion-generating extracts, most of which you will have met before in your readings. The paper will be evaluated according to content (facts, terminology, critical opinion) and language (grammar, style). No re-sits will be granted; failing the end-term paper may mean failing the course.

Course Schedule and Readings

W1, Feb 23 Orientation (F&F)
In advance: Familiarize yourself with the general socio-economic facst of Canada and Australia (use any written or electronic source at hand.) Collected course readings will be available electronically in the Institute Library.
W2, March 2 Identity by Design(Canada1: diversity, mosaic)
Required:
MacIver, Don. “Canada: The Politics of Deep Diversity.” The Politics of Multinational States. Ed. D. MacIver. London: Macmillan, 1999. 237-270.
Day, Richard J.F. “The Rise of the Mosaic Metaphor.” Multiculturalism and the History of Canadian Diversity. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2000. 146-176.
FOCUS: 1.In what forms is diversity present in Canada?
2. What’s your concept of assimilation?
3. How would a Canadian identity evolve in terms of the (a) design theory; (b) free emergence theory; (c) constrained emergence theory?
4. Think about these sentences: “Plastics, atomic fission, and multicultural citizenship: harbingers of the coming modern age.” “Indians were “citizenized” rather than civilized.”
Optional:
Fleras, Augie and Jean Leonard Elliott. “Multiculturalism: A Fact of Canadian Life.” Multiculturalism in Canada: The Challenge of Diversity. Scarborough, ON: Nelson Canada, 1991. 25-52.
Fleras, Augie and Jean Leonard Elliott. “Celebrating Diversity: Multiculturalism as Ideology.” Multiculturalism in Canada: The Challenge of Diversity. Scarborough, ON: Nelson Canada, 1991. 53-67.
W3, March 9 A Most Ambitious Project (Canada2: multiculturalism as state policy)
Required:
Fleras, Augie and Jean Leonard Elliott. “ ‘Forging Unity from Diversity’: Multiculturalism as Policy in Canada.” Multiculturalism in Canada: The Challenge of Diversity. Scarborough, ON: Nelson Canada, 1991. 68-91.
FOCUS: 1. What’s multiculturalism as a state policy?
2. What stages of multiculturalism would you describe?
3. What’s the significance of the policy (see especially the Multiculturalism Act, 1988)?
4. Can you see any negative aspects of the policy?
Suggested:
Day, Richard J.F. “Unhappy Countriness: Multiculturalism as State Policy.” Multiculturalism and the History of Canadian Diversity. Toronto: U of Toronto P, 2000. 177-208.
W4, March 16 Constitution, MC Act, Citizenship (Canada3: statute law and civic commitments)
Required:
Canada. Constitution Act, 1982. = Schedule B of the Canada Act, 1982 (UK) 1982, c.11.
Canada. Canadian Multiculturalism Act (1988). RS, 1985, c.24 (4th Supp).
Cairns, Alan C. “The Fragmentation of Canadian Citizenship.” Belonging: The Meaning and Future of Canadian Citizenship. Ed. William Kaplan. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 1993. 181-220.
FOCUS: 1. Read closely the Constitution and the MCAct, paying attention to the structure of the texts too.
2. What is (Canadian) citizenship?
3. How do multiculturalism and citizenship relate to each other?
4. What rights and obligations does citizenship involve?
5. “a crisis of citizenship and community” (p. 182.) Why? Explain.
Suggested:
Bissoondath, Neil. “A Question of Belonging: Multiculturalism and Citizenship.” Belonging: The Meaning and Future of Canadian Citizenship. Ed. William Kaplan. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 1993. 368-387.
W5, March 23 Quebec, First Nations (Canada4: national and indigenous minorities)
Required:
Fleras, Augie and Jean Leonard Elliott. “The Politics of Vision: Multiculturalism versus Biculturalism.” Multiculturalism in Canada: The Challenge of Diversity. Scarborough, ON: Nelson Canada, 1991. 167-78.
Borrows, John. “Wampum at Niagara: The Royal Proclamation, Canadian Legal History, and Self-Government.” Aboriginal and Treaty Rights in Canada: Essays on Law, Equity, and Respect for Difference. Ed. Michael Asch. Vancouver: U of British Columbia P, 1997 155-72.
FOCUS: 1. Which two visions of Canada competed in the Meech Lake debate?
2. What is “distinct society” and what are the implications of the term for Canada’s ethnocultural and constitutional composition?
3. Check what aboriginal rights are mentioned in the 1982 Constitution.
4. Describe the “two-row wampum.”
5. What does “an inherent right to self-government” mean?
6. According to Borrows, what historical argument (and which documents) can justify claims for an inherent aboriginal right to self-government?
Suggested:
Cairns, Alan C. “Why Is It So Difficult to Talk to Each Other?” McGill Law Journal 42 (1997): 63-90.
W6, March 30 The History of Australian Diversity (Australia1: race relations, nationalism, imperialism)
Required:
Theophanous, Andrew C. Introduction. Understanding Multiculturalism and Australian Identity.Melbourne: Elikia, 1995. ix-xxxv.
Suggested:
Jayasuriya, Laksiri. “Immigration Policies and Ethnic Relations in Australia.” Immigration and Multiculturalism in Australia. Perth, WA: U of Western Australia, 1997. 49-82.
W7, April 6 Australian Multiculturalism (Australia2: state policy documents
Required:
Australia. Office of Multicultural Affairs [OMA]. National Agenda for a Multicultural Australia... Sharing Our Future. Canberra: AGPS, 1989.
National Multicultural Advisory Council [NMAC]. Multicultural Australia: The Next Steps. ---. ---. Multicultural Australia: the Next Steps: Towards and Beyond 2000. Vol. 1-2. Canberra: AGPS, 1995.
Suggested:
NMAC. Australian Multiculturalism for a New Century: Towards Inclusiveness. Canberra: The Council, 1999.
W8 Consultation week
W9, April 20 The Ethnic Vote (Australia3:economic and political drives)
Required:
Pauline Hanson’s Maiden Speech. (10 Sept. 1996)
Birrell, Bob. “Our Nation: The Vision and Practice of Multiculturalism under Labor.” People and Place 4.1 (1997). 6 Oct. 2000 <
Kalantzis, Mary, and Bill Cope. “The Economic Reason Why We Must Return to Multiculturalism.” Workplace Communication and Culture 5 March 1997. 6 Oct. 2000 <
Handi, Péter. “Ausztrália 2000-ben.” (Népszabadság)
J. Kardos, Béla. “A Perspective for Reconciliation [. . .]
W10, April 27 Reconciliation, Asylum Seekers, Asians (Australia4: CAR, indigenes, refugees, politics of race)
Required:
Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. CAR: An Introduction
Djerrkura, Gatjil. “Indigenous Peoples, Constitution and Treaties.” conference presentation. 23 July 1999.
McMaster, Don. “The Politics of Race.” Asylum Seekers. Carlton South, Vic.: Melbourne UP, 2001. 127-160.
Suggested:
CAR. Weaving the Threads: The Progress Towards Reconciliation: Report to Parliament Covering the Second Term of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation 1995-1997. Canberra: CAR, [Nov.] 1997.
Reynolds, Henry. “New Frontiers.” Indigenous Peoples’ Rights in Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. Ed. Paul Havemann. Auckland: Oxford UP, 1999. 129-140.
Foley, Gary. “Whiteness and Blackness in the Koori Struggle for Self-Determination.” (1999)
Leary, Virginia. “Citizenship, Human Rights, and Diversity.” Citizenship, Diversity and Pluralism. Eds. Alan C. Cairns et al. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s UP, 1999. 247-264.
W11, May 4 The Politics of Multiculturalism(Can5Au5: political philosophy, comparisons, fun)
Required:
Kymlicka, Will. “The Politics of Multiculturalism.” Multicultural Citizenship: A Liberal Theory of Minority Rights. Oxford: Clarendon, 1995. 9-33.
Hage, Ghassan. Preface & Introduction. White Nation: Fantasies of White Supremacy in a Multicultural Society. Annandale: Pluto, 1998.
FOCUS: Be able to explain the following terms in Canadian context:1. multinational; polyethnic; group-differentiated; 2. self-government rights; polyethnic rights; special representation rights
Suggested:
Stratton, John and Ien Ang. “Multicultural Imagined Communities.” Multicultural States: Rethinking Difference and Identity. Ed. David Bennett. London: Routledge, 1998. 135-62.
Kymlicka, Will. “American Multiculturalism and the ‘Nations Within’.” Political Theory and the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Eds. Ivison et al. Cambridge, Cambridge UP, 2000. 216-36.
Gooneratne, Yasmine. “How Barry Changed His Image.” Meanjin 48.1 (1989): 109-115.
W12, May 11 Presentations
Presentations on prominent politicians and public intellectuals are particularly welcome: the Trudeaus, Whitlam, Blanchett, etc.
W13, May 18 End-term Paper (Essay due!)
W14, May 25 Evaluation