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WORKSHOP:
Comparative Cultural Studies 1
Culture, Cultural Policy, and the MediaChair: Steven Totosy (Martin Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany and Boston, USA)
Contemporary Canadian Literature and the Multiculturalism Policy
Young, Judy (Ottawa, Canada)
In her paper, "Contemporary Canadian Literature and the Multiculturalism Policy," Yudy Young attempts to place recent developments in Canadian literature into the broader context of cultural studies and of public institutional responses to ethnic and racial diversity. On the basis of a review of the Canadian federal government's support for the writing and publishing efforts of Canadian writers of various origins, Young examines those tenuous aspects of the cultural policy process which have influenced and helped shape the Canadian literary establishment in the last 30 years. Young discusses the various measures taken by the state to provide opportunities for writers to move into the mainstream and encourage publishers, critics, teachers, and the public in general to accept as Canadian artists and artistic practice from many cultures. Naturally, this raises the question of a national paradigm in Canadian writing. A discussion of this will have to deal with some of the core ambiguities of process: do institutional attempts to solve problems of exclusion lead to marginalization? Is the centre/margin distinction valid? Who or what defines the cultural and literary identity of a writer? Are multiple identities characteristic of the Canadian experience or are they a transnational phenomenon?
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