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Successes of Multiculturalism in Canada: Possibilities of Hope

Socio-Cultural Perspectives in Kinesiology

Lecture 8A: First Nations Health and Physical Activity Issues

! Dionne Brand calls Toronto: A city that has never happened before.

Weaknesses of Multiculturalism
! How do notions of accommodation and cultural tolerance deflect attention away from structural inequity?
!Racism? !White privilege?
! Multiculturalism continues to focus on the Other rather than question/ destabilize white privilege

Weaknesses of Multiculturalism (contd)

! It promotes a static and limited notion of culture
! As Rinaldo Walcott says, Multiculturalism reduces cultures to their basic denominations which reduces them to folklore.
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Weaknesses of Multiculturalism (contd)

! It pays insufficient attention to institutional forms of discrimination, focusing instead on individual expressions and experiences
! Bannerjis politicized time

First Nation Peoples Health and Physical Activity Issues

! Language of identity ! Outline:
! Colonialism/imperialism in Canada
! The consequences of imperialism on the production/dissemination of knowledge on indigenous cultures

! Some say the concept encourages immigrant communities to remain concentrated and segregated in certain areas, and as such it implies that they should never be considered Canadians

! Health and sport/PA in the Native Canadian community

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Cultural Diversity in the Research and Teaching

! Thinking about issues of culture and diversity permits us to think about issues of equity and power in the production of knowledge(s) and the dissemination of knowledge(s)
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The Politics of Research

! Research, writing and theory are about power relations as well as about facts/ data ! Indigenous people are often studied (the Other) and often through a imperialist/colonialist perspective
! Top down approach that imposes western standards/terms/definitions/etc. on non-western cultures, practices and beliefs
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Imperialism
! The extension of power/authority of an empire or nation over foreign countries ! The attitude of superiority and domination over foreign peoples ! Cultural imperialism
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Colonialism
! The act of imperialism by the establishment of settlers/colonies and the direct rule and disciplining of indigenous peoples ! The domination/ conquest of the resources, labour and markets of the colonized
Processes of marking, defining and controlling space

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Noble Savages
Death of Jane McCrea John Vanderlyn (1804)

Sex and Gender

! The objectification and representation of indigenous women as marginal and as sexual objects

! The Other is inferior, problematic, needs to be tamed, to be exploited, to be civilized, to be conquered

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The Legacy Continues

Time and Wasted Time

! Aboriginal peoples wasting of time or lack of concern for the urgency of using time productively (as per the Industrial Revolution) led many to conclude that these natives were lazy, indolent, with low attention spans ! Offered as evidence to support exclusionary practices
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Issues of Space/Property
! Space has been appropriated and place under control by those who set up the new rules about space

1990 Oka Crisis

! Land dispute between a band of Mohawk people (Kanehsatake) and the town of Oka ! Immediate cause was the proposed expansion of a private, members-only golf course and development of luxury condos on Mohawk burial land ! No consultation, environmental assessment or historical preservation offered
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