Self-inscriptions : ethnic, indigenous, linguistic and female identity constructions in Canadian minority life writing. A comparison of Apolonja Kojder's "Marynia, Don't Cry" and Rita Joe's "Song of Rita Joe" ...
Despite Canada’s official policy of multiculturalism, until recently, the perspectives of the country’s lesser-known, marginalized writers have not been usually taken into consideration in mainstream discussions on the nature of Canadian identity and its socio cultural mosaic. Specifically, minority...
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| Format: | Text |
| Language: | English |
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University of British Columbia
2008
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| Online Access: | https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0066917 https://doi.library.ubc.ca/10.14288/1.0066917 |
| Summary: | Despite Canada’s official policy of multiculturalism, until recently, the perspectives of the country’s lesser-known, marginalized writers have not been usually taken into consideration in mainstream discussions on the nature of Canadian identity and its socio cultural mosaic. Specifically, minority life writing narratives had generally received little critical attention in Canada. This paper aims to fill this slowly-decreasing gap through the exploration of two texts whose female writers negotiate their distinct ethnic and national selves within the cultural dominant of Canada. The essay compares Apolonja Kojder’s Polish-Canadian memoir, Marynia, Don’t Cry, to Rita Joe’s Mi’kmaq-Canadian autobiography, Song of Rita Joe. The analysis of these texts sets the Polish and Aboriginal communities into conversation, and yields a discussion on the nature of cultural, national, linguistic and female identity. It argues that identity is political, relational and always in process. Since much of the personal narrative ... |
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