Key Terms
What is enthnocentrism?
Ethnocentrism is the belief that one's culture is superior to others.
Name one example of the Garrison Mentality from our texts
Moodie's fear of outsiders/the land; Portrayal of Indigenous peoples in "The Rising Village"; Macdonald's concern with order, stability, and cultural values etc.
What is one device in the following passage?
"Oh Child of Nations, giant-limbed/ Who stands among the nations now /Unheeded, unadorned, unhymned/ With unanointed brow - "
Personification; imagery; rhyme
What is Abolition and why does it matter to Canadian identity?
Abolition refers to the end of slavery. Canada abolished slavery in stages, and did so much earlier than the United States. Many Canadians advocated for abolition in the United States and supported the underground railroad (which has remained an important point of national pride)
What are two examples of systemic racism from our texts?
The entire Royal Commission to Investigate Chinese and Japanese Immigration; the slavery Sophia Pooley faced; the forced removal and starvation Louis Riel addresses; John A Macdonald's concern with keeping Canada British.
In the following passage Walker uses _______ device to __________
As humble plants by country / hedgerows growing/That treasure up the rain,/ And yield in odours, ere the day's declining, / The gift again;
Simile and imagery to liken women to unnoticed plants and suggest that women can (humbly) turn ordinary things into gifts.
What is the goal of Settler Colonialism?
To permanently establish a new political structure through the elimination of Indigenous rights
What are 2 First Wave feminist struggles that Machar sought to address in her writing?
Access to Education
Access to work outside the home
What are 3 devices or rhetorical strategies Shadd uses to support her argument in this passage?
"The conclusion arrived at in respect to Canada, by an impartial person, is that no settled country in America offers stronger inducements to [black] people. The climate is healthy, and they enjoy as good health as other settlers or as the natives; the soil is of the first quality; the laws of the country give them, at first the same protection and privilege as to other persons not born subjects, and after compliance with Acts of Parliament affecting them, as taking oath, they may enjoy ‘full privileges of British birth in the province’"
Diction (positive language); appeals to logos (laws and climate); appeals to pathos (safety, health); juxtaposition with America; ethos (first hand knowledge; argument that "an impartial person" would agree)
What were the goals of Confederation?
To unite the provinces of Canada to promote peace, order, and good government, support trade, prevent American expansion, ensure security, and foster cultural unity.
How does Terra Nullius support Settler Colonialism?
Terra Nullius or "nobody's land" suggests that land inhabited by Indigenous people is not actually occupied, and therefore can be claimed which supports Settler Colonial goals of taking land to establish a new political/social order
What rhetorical appeals does Riel use here?
"When I came into the Northwest in July, the 1st of July 1884, I found the Indians suffering. I found the half-breeds eating the rotten pork of the Hudson Bay Company and getting sick and weak every day. Although a half-breed, and having no pretension to help the whites, I also paid attention to them. I saw they were deprived of responsible government, I saw that they were deprived of their public liberties."
Theorists like Wah and Bhabha argue that cultural hybridity refuses colonial desires for easy classification and purity, instead providing a third space (or a space of "living in the hyphen") that "both binds and divides" (Wah 72) identities
What is 1 reason that 19th Century Canada might have had a national literature? What is 1 reason that it might not have had a national literature?
Reasons Against - no major literary industry. Many voices were still left out. National identity and culture were unclear. Many were publishing for audiences in other places
What is important about the structure of the following passage?
"So I roam backward and forward across the continent. When I am East, my heart is West. When I am West, my heart is East. Before long I hope to be in China. As my life began in my father’s country it may end in my mother’s."
The structure gives equal weight to each part of Far's identity by using a parallel structure and repetition, with the exception of one sentence, which emphasizes her connection to China.