Xenophobia in the anglophone Canadian literature and culture

[V. Lj. Stanković]

210 listova

Ova disertacija ispituje položaj imigranata i starosedelaca u Kanadi, kao i njihov odnos sa većinskim kanadskim stanovništvom/kolonizatorima. Korpus disertacije obuhvata sedam romana kanadske književnosti: Obasan Džoj Kogave, Kafe Nestajući Mesec (Disappearing Moon Café) Skaj Li, Nije ovo nova zemlja (No New Land) M. G. Vasanđija, U lavljoj koži (In the Skin of a Lion) Majkla Ondačija, Pesma Gavranice (Ravensong) Li Marakl, Poljubac Krznene kraljice (Kiss of the Fur Queen) Tomsona Hajveja i Sve dok je trava zelena i vode teku (Green Grass, Running Water) Tomasa Kinga. U analizi odabranih romana, ksenofobija će biti posmatrana kao dinamičan fenomen koji se prepliće sa teorijama koje čine teorijski okvir, a koji uključuje sociološke i psihoanalitičke teorije o strancu i stranom, fobične aspekte ksenofobije, teorije o rasizmu, etnicitet, etnonacionalizam, nacionalizam i postkolonijalizam. Primenom ovog teorijskog okvira dolazi se do zaključka da ksenofobija drugačije utiče na dominantno stanovništvo/kolonizatore, a drugačije na imigrante i starosedeoce. Kanađani doživljavaju imigrante kao neprijateljske i nelojalne strance, rasnu pretnju koja narušava rasnu čistotu i homogenost Kanade i koju zbog toga treba zakonski neutralisati, etnički obeležene strance koji ne pripadaju Kanadi i jeftinu radnu snagu koju treba eksploatisati kako bi se Kanada izgradila. Čak i starosedeoce koji su na svojoj zemlji, Kanađani (kolonizatori) vide kao strance čiju stranost i kulturnu različitost treba ili iskoristiti u cilju oblikovanja starosedelačkog identiteta, ili ih uništiti u korist hrišćanstva. Na ksenofobičnu diskriminaciju, isključivanje i tlačenje, imigranti i starosedeoci odgovaraju raznovrsno. Pojedini imigranti se odlučuju za asimilaciju, afirmišući svoj kanadski identitet i trudeći se da dokažu da pripadaju Kanadi, drugi neguju svoj izvorni identitet, povlačeći se u svoju izvornu zajednicu i afirmišući svoju rasnu čistotu i etničku pripadnost, pa čak i vraćajući se u zemlju koju su napustili, a neki se nalaze u poziciji između dve kulture, postajući identitetski gledano, hibridi. Težak položaj imigranata pokazuje se i kao motivacija za neke Kanađane da postanu bliski sa njima i da započnu svoju etnonacionalnu i nacionalnu borbu protiv kanadskog nasilnog, nepravednog i eksploatatorskog društva. Odgovori starosedelaca na ksenofobiju kolonizatora sasvim su slični odgovorima imigranata: neki pokušavaju neuspešno da se asimiluju, drugi se povlače u svoje rezervate, dopuštajući kolonizatorima da oblikuju njihov identitet, dok neki uporno afirmišu svoj starosedelački identitet, pomažući onim starosedeocima koji žele da se asimiluju da se vrate svom izvornom identitetu. Uprkos različitim reakcijama, zajednički imenilac za imigrante i starosedeoce jeste ostanak u Kanadi koja je za njih postala novi dom, što je koristilo i Kanadi koja se tokom vremena razvila u Ustavom regulisanu multikulturalnu državu.

This dissertation examines the position of the immigrants and indigenous people in Canada, and their relationship with the Canadian majority population/the colonizers. The dissertation encompasses seven novels of Canadian literature: Joy Kogawa’s Obasan, Sky Lee’s Disappearing Moon Café, M. G. Vassanji’s No New Land, Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion, Lee Maracle’s Ravensong, Tomson Highway’s Kiss of the Fur Queen, and Thomas King’s Green Grass, Running Water. In the analysis of these novels, xenophobia will be understood as a dynamic phenomenon that interacts with the theories presented in the theoretical framework of this dissertation, which includes the sociological and psychoanalytic theories on stranger and the foreign, the phobic aspects of xenophobia, the theories on racism, ethnicity, ethnonationalism, nationalism, and postcolonialism. By applying these theories to the selected novels, we come to the conclusion that xenophobia has a different impact on the Canadian majority population/the colonizers and the immigrants and indigenous people. Canadians regard the immigrants as hostile and disloyal strangers, as a racial threat that compromises the racial purity and homogeneity of Canada, because of which it has to be neutralized using the law, as ethnically marked strangers who do not belong to Canada, and as exploitable cheap labor used for the development of Canada. Canadians (the colonizers) even perceive the indigenous people as strangers whose foreignness and cultural difference should be used in shaping their identity or destroyed in favour of Christianity. The Canadian immigrants and the indigenous people diversely respond to xenophobic discrimination, exclusion, and oppression. Some immigrants choose assimilation by asserting their Canadian identity and striving to prove they belong to Canada, others remain faithful to their native identity by withdrawing into their native community, asserting their racial purity and ethnical belonging, and even returning to their homeland, while others are situated between two cultures, becoming, identitywise, hybrids. The difficult position of the immigrants in Canada motivates some Canadians to become close to them and start their ethnonational and national fight against violent, unjust and exploiting Canadian society. The responses of the indigenous people are similar to those of the immigrants: some unsuccessfully try to assimilate, others retreat into their reserves, allowing the colonizers to shape their identity, while some stubbornly assert their indigenous identity, helping other indigenous individuals who want to assimilate to reembrace their indigenous identity. Despite different responses of the Canadian immigrants and indigenous people to xenophobia, they share one common characteristic: they stayed in Canada that became their home, which was advantageous to Canada that has become a constitutionally regulated multicultural state.

ksenofobija, kanadska književnost, rasizam, psihoanaliza, etnicitet, etnonacionalizam, nacionalizam, postkolonijalizam, multikulturalizam

xenophobia, Canadian literature, racism, psychoanalysis, ethnicity, ethnonationalism, nationalism, postcolonialism, multiculturalism

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