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Us, Them and Others: Pluralism and National Identity in Diverse Societies. By Elke Winter. Toronto, ON: University of Toronto Press, 2011.288 pp. ISBN 9780802096920.
Us, Them, and Others: Pluralism and National Identity in Diverse Societies, presents a theoretical model of multicultural transformation of national identity in Canada. The author, Elke Winter, takes an in-depth look at media discourses surrounding multiculturalism in Canada between 1992 and 2001. Winter frames her discussion to present an analysis of triangular relations among "us," "them," and "others." She addresses Québec and English Canada relations, and explores the complexity of negotiating the intricacies of pluralist national identity formation within unequal power relations in diverse societies.
The book is divided into four parts beginning with introductory considerations, theoretical framework, empirical analysis, and ending with concluding thoughts. The first part presents a concise historical overview positioning Canada as an ethnically diverse country. It details events that set the grounds for the multicultural transformation of a Canadian national "we" with the presence of "two competing projects of nationhood within the same state" (p. 9). Winter notes the political emergence of Aboriginal people, immigration, and ethnonational diversity as factors contributing to the construction of multiculturalism as official policy in Canada. She also emphasizes the impact of the 1990s Québécois sovereignty movement and credits it for the implementation of multiculturalism "as a policy and government-promoted dimension of Canadian identity" (p. 22), and for facilitating the conditional inclusion of "others" into a multicultural Canadian "we."
The second part combines a literature review of Pluralism Studies with a...