Canada -- the Problematics of National Identity

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Canada -- the Problematics of National Identity

There has always been a problem for Canada with the definition of its national identity. In fact, it would almost be fair to say that an unease about the lack of such a collective identity is what defines Canadians the best. This page briefly considers some of the causes of this situation, and then goes on to consider some broad themes which might be described as distinctively and characteristically Canadian. Obviously, this is a very tricky area, as any discussion of national identities must be, with the twin dangers of oversimplification and essentialism. But the purpose here is merely to convey to the uninitiated a little taste of what Canada is and has been, in cultural terms.

It has always been apparent that Canada a constructed nation. Now while this is in some senses true of all nations, the ancient European countries have been able to disguise their constructedness through gradual evolution and myths of national origin. Before the Europeans arrived, what came to be known as Canada was a vast, mostly uninhabited wilderness,...

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