This collection of essays deals with the multiple aspects of cultural identities in literature from a postcolonial perspective. The questions raised are at the crossroads of Canadian cultural identity as they address gender, language, race, nationalism, and ethnicity, making this book a valuable reference for researchers, scholars, and students who work in the expanding fields of cultural studies, minority or gender studies, and Canadian studies. Les textes réunis dans cet ouvrage ainsi que la diversité des contributeurs qui proviennent d'horizons culturels variés (Europe, Afrique, Asie, Russie, Acadie, Québec, Haïti...) permettent de mieux apprécier la richesse de ces apports pour les littératures du Canada. Dans cette perspective, l'objectif de ce recueil d'essais n'est pas de répondre à l'éternelle question de l'existence d'une identité canadienne mais plutôt d'affirmer les multiples identités qui composent le Canada actuel et de contribuer ainsi à poser les jalons de nouvelles cartographies de l'imaginaire.

Highlighting the geopolitical and economic circumstances that have prompted migration from Hong Kong and mainland China to Canada, The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities examines the Chinese Canadian community as a simultaneously transcultural, transnational, and domestic social and cultural formation. Essays in this volume argue that Chinese Canadians, a population that has produced significant cultural imprints on Canadian society, must create and constantly redefine their identities as manifested in social science, literary, and historical spheres. These perpetual negotiations reflect social and cultural ideologies and practices and demonstrate Chinese Canadians' recreations of their self-perception, self-expression, and self-projection in relation to others. Contextualized within larger debates on multicultural society and specific Chinese Canadian cultural experiences, this book considers diverse cultural presentations of literary expression, the “model minority” and the influence of gender and profession on success and failure, the gendered dynamics of migration and the growth of transnational (“astronaut”) families in the 1980s, and inter-ethnic boundary crossing. Taking an innovative approach to the ways in which Chinese Canadians adapt to and construct the Canadian multicultural mosaic, The Transcultural Streams of Chinese Canadian Identities explores various patterns of Chinese cultural interchanges in Canada and how they intertwine with the community's sense of disengagement and belonging. Contributors include Lily Cho (York), Elena Chou (York), Eric Fong (Chinese University of Hong Kong), Loretta Ho (Toronto), Jack Leong (Toronto), Jessica Tsui-yan Li (York), Lucia Lo (York), Guida Man (York), Kwok-kan Tam (Hang Seng Management College), Eleanor Ty (Wilfrid Laurier), and Henry Yu (British Columbia).

This collection explores the perpetually changing notion of Latin American identity, particularly as illustrated in literature and other forms of cultural expression. Editor Elizabeth Montes Garcés has gathered contributions from specialists who examine the effects of such major phenomena as migration, globalization, and gender on the construct of Latin American identities, and, as such, are reshaping the traditional understanding of Latin America's cultural history. The contributors to this volume are experts in Latin American literature and culture. Covering a diverse range of genres from poetry to film, their essays explore themes such as feminism, deconstruction, and postcolonial theory as they are reflected in the Latin American cultural milieu.

This collection of critical theorizing reflects the lived experiences of racialized Asian-Canadian contributors. Grounded in theory and history, these essays illuminate pathways to better understand Asian-ness in contemporary Canada. These academics provide fresh perspectives on Asian Canadian exclusion, examine new spaces for critical resistance, and navigate the challenges of identity formation across racial, cultural, and national boundaries.

From David Henry Hwang's M. Butterfly to Evelyn Lau's Diary of a Runaway to Fred Wah's poetry, diasporic Chinese literature in English is reaching wider audiences. The interdisciplinary essays in Culture, Identity, Commodity provide close textual readings and general theoretical frameworks from American, Australian, and Canadian perspectives for a range of textual productions - novels, autobiographies, plays, and Chinese cooking shows - that address this dynamic field. Established and emerging scholars offer timely discussions of "diasporic Chinese studies," drawing on transnational, postcolonial, globalisation, and racialisation theories. The collection examines what is at stake in the consideration of diasporic literatures and the connections and fissures emerging in these new critical terrains. Book jacket.

La presente tesis se centra en el género novelístico en lengua inglesa como paradigma de la Identidad literaria canadiense con el fin de analizar su construcción restrictiva por medio de la Recuperación de contribuciones de mujeres y autores étnicos que han sido bien relegadas o bien infravaloradas como agentes literarios relevantes. Esta investigación abarca un periodo que comprende desde la publicación de la primera novela canadiense en inglés, The History of Emily Montague de Frances Brooke en 1769, hasta 1904 año en el que la obra de Sara Jeannette Duncan titulada The Imperialist vió la luz; es decir, desde los comienzos del género en inglés hasta la primera novela modernista. La primera parte engloba el marco teórico general del Nuevo Historicismo, el Feminismo y los Estudios Étnicos puesto que resaltan el papel crucial de la historización de la literatura en la creación de tradiciones e identidades literarias, e impulsan una visión crítica tanto de la producción literaria de mujeres y escritores étnicos como de su consideración. La segunda parte se centra en la historia, tradición e identidad literarias canadienses. Por medio de la novela, se analiza el proceso de antologización de la literatura canadiense en inglés a través de un estudio detallado sobre la presencia/ausencia de autoras y autores étnicos en antologías publicadas entre 1920 y 2004. También se incluyen las contribuciones de críticos/as feministas y/o étnicos puesto que cuestionan axiomas establecidos en la historia, tradición e identidad canadienses y posibilitan el acceso a las obras de estos escritores/as alternativos cuyos diversos sentidos identitarios, de otro modo silenciados, son revelados. Precisamente estos diferentes sentidos de la identidad son el eje de la tercera parte. Desde 1769 a 1904 existen: una primera novela frecuentemente infravalorada escrita Frances Brooke; novelas olvidadas de autoras con gran reconocimiento como Susanna (Strickland) Moodie; escritoras relevantes en la ficción juvenil como es el caso de Agnes Maule Machar, Margaret Murray Robertson y Margaret Marshall Saunders; contribuciones tempranas de autores étnicos como Martin Robinson Delany y Winnifred Eaton; así como novelistas de éxito de la talla Agnes Early Fleming, Lily Dougall, Susan Frances Harrison y Sara Jeannette Duncan. Dándoles voz y resaltando su relevancia, este trabajo demuestra que la literatura canadiense temprana está plagada de autoras y autores étnicos inteligentes, poderosos y reconocidos cuyas aportaciones deben ser re-consideradas si se pretende seguir manteniendo el carácter multicultural y no patriarcal de las letras canadienses. Estas novelas de un autor afroamericano y residente temporal en Canadá, de una mujer canadiense de ascendencia chino-inglesa, y un amplio espectro de mujeres inmigrantes o nativas pone de manifiesto no sólo que Canadá cuenta con un pasado literario sólido y forjado desde la diversidad sino que cuestiona el hecho de que esta herencia literaria todavía necesita ser recuperada.

Canadian Architecture: Evolving a Cultural Identity surveys the country's most accomplished architectural firms, whose work enhances cities and landscapes across Canada's geographically varied expanse. Author Leslie Jen explores a number of significant projects in urban and rural environments--private residences, cultural and institutional facilities, and democratic public spaces--that profoundly influence our interactions with each other and the communities in which we live. Accompanied by stunning photography, Canadian Architecture is a testament to a thriving, diverse and innovative design culture that continues to play an integral role in shaping our national identity.