- Keywords: Image, media, pluralism.
- Timeline: 1990s.
- Summary: Considering the matter of media construction and representation of ethno-racial and ethno-cultural diversity, Mahtani notes: “The media is directly responsible for how Canada, in all of its diversity, is interpreted among its citizens. Simply put, the media is responsible for the ways that Canadian society is interpreted, considered, and evaluated among its residents. The media influences attitudes in Canada by siphoning and selecting the information we receive to made choices about our day-to-day realities. However, this selection process is governed by a series of representations. Decisions about representations of cultural diversity ought to be envisioned within a series of competing discourses taking place within media institutions. Despite what we would like to believe, Canadian media is not fair and democratic, nor objective in nature” (p. 99-100).
Makabe, T. (2005). Intermarriage: Dream becomes reality for a visible minority? Canadian Ethnic Studies, 37, 1, 121-126.
- Keywords: Japanese-Canadian, intermarriage, cultural change, identity.
- Timeline: 1940s-2000s.
- Summary: Regarding the geography of Canada’s Japanese-Canadian community, Makabe notes: “Of all ethnically-defined Japanese Canadians, over half (55 percent) resided in two major population centres in the country – Metropolitan Toronto and Greater Vancouver” (p. 122). Reflecting on why intermarriage is so high among Japanese-Canadians, Makabe observes: “In attempting to explain this strikingly high rate of intermarriage in the Japanese community, some of the respondents said the determining factor was the very small population and the widely scattered distribution pattern of Japanese Canadians … The proportion of Japanese in Toronto, for instance – some 20,000 Japanese among over four and a half million persons – is only 0.4 percent of the general population. This purely demographic factor has undoubtably had a strong impact on the maintenance of ties to fellow ethnics and interpersonal relationships within the Japanese-Canadian community.” (p. 122). Near the end of the paper, Makabe states: “[I]ntermarriage is inevitable in the Japanese-Canadian community. The distinction between marriage and intermarriage is vanishing among those members reaching marriable age” (p. 125).
McLellan, J. (2004). Cambodian refugees in Ontario: Religious identities, social cohesion and transnational linkages. Canadian Ethnic Studies, 36, 2, 101-118.
- Keywords: Immigrant experience, community building, Buddhism.
- Timeline: 1970s-2000s.
- Summary: Considering ways in which the identities of Cambodian-Canadians change: “This paper examined the role of religion in the negotiation of cultural and social identity among Cambodian Canadians, in the development of social cohesion, and in transnational networks and linkages. Personal family and friendship ties, religious support, sponsorship, and the vicarious connections to cultural traditions of music and dance are the most significant facets of identity, especially among first generation Cambodians” (p. 116). McLellan expands on this stating: “Through the process of resettlement, the struggle to generate new grounds of identity and legitimacy results in readjusted power relations and privileges. New forms of social, political, and economic arrangements and structures emerge with new sets of pragmatic rules and ritual narratives, new manifestations of power and activity, and multiple adaptations, all of which are evident in the different manifestations of Cambodian remittances and return visits to Cambodia” (p. 116).
