Shows, Selves and Solidarity:

Ethnic Identity and Cultural Spectacles in Canada

Dr. Paul A. Bramadat

Department of Religious Studies
University of Winnipeg
paul.bramadat@uwinnipeg.ca

Commissioned by the Department of Canadian Heritage for the

Ethnocultural, Racial, Religious, and Linguistic Diversity and Identity Seminar
Halifax, Nova Scotia
November 1-2, 2001

Available on-line at www.metropolis.net

The views expressed in this paper do not necessarily reflect

those of the Department of Canadian Heritage.
 2

In the social sciences and humanities, few topics command as much attention as the rather
nebulous concept of identity.1 Academics, policy makers and business people alike want to
know how to define this concept, how to cater to its various formations, how to foster it, and
perhaps how to manipulate it. The concept itself is fairly loose, referring vaguely to the
understandings groups and individuals come to have of themselves. For some
commentators, especially "essentialists", personal or collective identity is fixed, ascribed,
and perhaps only somewhat less congenital than eye colour and skin tone. Others,
especially post-modernists, treat identity as a largely elective, contingent, ephemeral
phenomenon, much like tastes in clothing or political affiliation.

It is also tempting to reify identity, to claim it is a thing that "belongs" to a group or a person,
either by choice or by nature. However, such a reification is unwarranted, since an identity
is neither exactly a discrete "object," nor the sole possession of any group,2 nor (or at least
rarely) the simple result of an individual's choice. While a growing body of literature
suggests that people negotiate their identities unexpectedly and over lengthy periods of
time, many people remain confined by a dualistic discourse in which identities are
understood either as stable primordial objects, or as entirely idiosyncratic composites or
pastiches. However, in this paper, identity will be defined as a highly fluid state of mind or
set of assumptions regarding self-hood or group definition. I want to suggest that while no
one constitutes his or her identity ex nihilo, it is important to resist the simple lucidity of
"essentialist" assumptions about the way members of a given group really and irreducibly
are. In other words, identities are human constructions that are conditioned by resilient
communal metanarratives about the history and nature of a group. Moreover, it is important
to note that this discussion about the dynamics of identity formation is itself a very recent
phenomenon. Marilyn Halter (2000: 194; cf. Baumann 1999; Shotter and Gergen 1989)
points out that for most groups of people, and for most of human history, identity was
ascribed, given by others (families, clans, tribes, religions, etc.). One might understand the
current debate about identity as a function of the decline or deconstruction of traditional
closed systems of ascribed identification.3 The on-going modern (or post-modern) struggle
for each person to win the right (though not exactly the unconditional freedom) to define his
or her own identity as he or she sees fit represents the backdrop of this whole discussion.4

1
I would like to thank John Biles (Department of Canadian Heritage and the Metropolis Project) for
providing extensive and helpful comments on an earlier draft of this paper.
2
One example of this is the way white suburban teenagers are able to embrace elements of African-
American urban hip-hop culture.
3
For that matter, one might attribute the dawn of post-modernity to the same decline in the power of
traditional ascription.
4
For a history of the concept of identity in the social sciences, see Gleason (1983) and Halter
(2000:199).
 3

Whenever a group or a person claims to possess, embody, or participate in a certain

identity, there are a great many dimensions to such collective or self-affirmation. The
purpose of this paper is to consider the possible roles "cultural spectacles" might play in
ethnic identity in contemporary Canada. After defining what I mean by a cultural spectacle,
I will outline four major ways in which spectacles might influence the creation or
maintenance of ethnic identity within contemporary multicultural Canada. I will conclude
with several suggestions about future research that might enrich our understanding of this
complex arena of political, cultural and personal meaning.

What is an ethnic cultural spectacle?

For the purposes of this paper, an “ethnic cultural spectacle” may be defined as an
organized event in which a group represents itself both to its own members and to non-
members. Such events are spectacles to the extent that they are highly dramatic,
entertaining, and (in a literal sense) extraordinary; that is, these are special occasions or
periods in which audience members are expected to be engrossed and often entertained
by a demonstration of some aspect of a community. Some of the best examples of
Canadian spectacles are the ethno-cultural festivals held in many cities across the country.
Because my own recent ethnographic fieldwork has dealt with Winnipeg's Folklorama, the
largest and oldest ethno-cultural festival in the world,5 I will use examples from this
spectacle. However, my discussion will also include references to other cultural spectacles
in Canada and elsewhere.

I would like to address four possible roles that cultural spectacles might play in the
formation and maintenance of ethnic identity.

Role One: alternative economy of status

In recent years we have witnessed conflicting accounts of the long-term economic and
social integration of immigrants in Canada. The classic story (Weinfeld and Elazar 2001;
Baeker 2000:6; Fleras and Elliott 1992:46; Kelley and Trebilcock 1998) is that upon arriving
in Canada, immigrants can often only find work in occupations which are usually perceived
to be less prestigious than their preferred fields of work. Generally, or so the story goes,
they will work hard and often experience various forms of discrimination so that they, or at
least their children, will eventually reap the rewards of their labours. Although there are now
some indications that this pattern is beginning to break down (Halli and Kazemipur 2000), it
is nevertheless still the case that due to the difficulties involved in adjusting to new
languages, climates, educational and legal systems, many newcomers will be employed in

5
This description is found on its own website. See www.folklorama.ca.
 4

a manner they consider to be less than ideal for some period of time.

In order to demonstrate the way in which cultural spectacles might address this scenario,
let me briefly describe the spectacle with which I am most familiar: Winnipeg’s Folklorama.
In this two-week summer festival, approximately forty of the city's ethnic groups organize
"pavilions" in which they represent their culture to themselves and to outsiders. In
Folklorama pavilions, these representations take the form of cultural displays, food and
beverages, and a forty-five minute show featuring distinctive folk songs, dances, or
dramatizations. These pavilions are located in public and private spaces throughout the city
and collectively attract a total of approximately 450,000 visitors each year.

Folklorama pavilions are labour intensive operations that are almost entirely dependent on
large numbers of volunteers.6 Indeed, almost by definition, for an event to be a spectacle in
the first place, many people have to work long hours before, during, and after the festival
(often for no remuneration). Predictably, people involved in this intensive and often
stressful work (as dancers, musicians, bartenders, security guards, tour guides, organizers,
cooks, janitors, etc.) often form bonds of solidarity not unlike the kinds of attachments
formed by medical students during medical school, restaurant staff during busy periods,
and actors during a demanding production. Within these contexts, not only is solidarity
generated, but so too is a kind of alternative social structure which may be quite distinct
from that in which participants are involved during the rest of the year. To borrow a concept
from the anthropologist Victor Turner (1969), spectacle periods may be understood as
"liminal" phases during which people are temporarily freed from their usual social network
and position.

Due to this liminality, cultural spectacles become their own microcosms (cf. Piette 1992) in
which people who might occupy relatively low-status social positions during the rest of the
year, can temporarily assume positions of considerable status.7 Consider the hypothetical
example of a devout Sikh man who was trained as a physician in India but for a variety of
reasons is unable to practice medicine in Canada. Let us further assume that he would be
at least somewhat dissatisfied with the social status of his current non-medical position.
Regardless of his socio-economic position within the general economy, in Folklorama he
might easily assume a position of prominence within the pavilion organization as the
pavilion co-ordinator, or as a guide within the cultural display. In such roles, his personal

6
For many years of my life my family volunteered to ensure that Folklorama's "Cari-Cana" (or
Caribbean-Canadian) pavilion was a major spectacle. My father, who came to Canada from Trinidad
in the 1950s, was especially involved in the pavilion, often overseeing its overall operation (as its
"mayor"), or organizing its cultural display or entertainment. This involvement consumed his limited
free time for several months of every year.
7
See Victor Turner (1969) on rituals of “status reversal.”
 5

experience and religious training would be highly esteemed by other Indo-Canadians and
by pavilion visitors. As well, it is common for Folklorama pavilion organizers and performers
to be introduced and applauded by audiences not only at the beginning of each show (that
is, three times each night), but also when they visit other pavilions during the festival. Thus,
for a brief period of each year, ordinary people become—or at least are sometimes treated
as—minor celebrities. For our hypothetical Sikh man and for others who seek or enjoy an
elevation of social position, the pavilion might represent an economy of status (Bramadat
2001) in which a valued social good (status) is distributed or generated according to an
alternative method. Even though this alternative economy only operates for a short period
each year, his prominence within it might be crucial to his sense of overall well-being. By
being able to be seen on a regular basis as a cultural authority, both his Indian and Indo-
Canadian identities may be strengthened by Folklorama. Moreover, one can also surmise
that his attachment to his Canadian identity (or the Canadian dimension of his Indo-
Canadian identity) might also be augmented by his prominence in this cultural spectacle
insofar as he may appreciate the way in which Canadian society (government and public)
accepts, and in some cases, celebrates his ethnicity through these festivals.

Role Two: sites of dialogical self-definition

The second way in which cultural spectacles influence the construction and maintenance of
ethnic identity is that they represent backdrops against which individuals and groups can
participate in the so-called politics of identity. By now a certain scholarly consensus has
emerged around the notion that individual and collective identities are articulated within or
are dependent upon a kind of "dialogue" between conversational partners understood to
occupy different positions within the overall social (or "discursive") system (Taylor 1994; cf.
Gamson 1997; Mato 1998; Willems-Braun 1994; Frideres 1978).8

Groups and individuals thought to be (or who think of themselves as) marginal with respect
to the so-called dominant ethos participate in distinct ways in this dialogue. As such, it is
always important to pay close attention to the place of established power relations in the
identity-conveying conversation Taylor and others have described.9 It should be noted,
however, that the fact that people participate distinctly and apparently unequally in this

8
This consensus was well articulated and when Trudeau introduced the Multiculturalism Policy to
the House of Commons on October 8th, 1971. The former Prime Minister remarked that: “National
unity, if it is to mean anything in the deeply personal sense, must be founded on confidence in one’s
own individual identity; out of this can grow respect for that of others and a willingness to share
ideas, attitudes and assumptions.”
9
In fact, some critics (Fleras and Elliott 1992:134; Kobayashi 1994 and 1999; Li 1999:17; Li
1988:132) argue that multiculturalism tends to de-emphasize the racialized and gendered socio-
economic structures of Canadian society that largely determine the lives of minority groups.
 6

dialogue does not necessarily indicate that minority groups have only a minor role in the
identity-conveying discourse. It is becoming difficult to maintain the paradigm of the easy
hegemony of the powerful centre (typically understood as white anglophone or
francophone Canadian men of European backgrounds) over the weak periphery
(understood as non-whites, non-Christians, and women) now that slightly over 50% of
Torontonians are members of visible minorities, many members of Vancouver’s business
elite are recent immigrants from China (including Hong Kong), and formal barriers to ethnic
minorities are rare. I do not mean to suggest that Canadian society is suddenly free of
discrimination, or that it is moving ineluctably in this direction (cf. Berry and Kalin 1995;
Canadian Race Relations Foundation 2001; Boyko 1995; Halli and Kazemipur 2000; Li
1999; Walker 1997). Rather, I would argue that we should remember that the metaphorical
discussants in identity-conveying discourses often reinterpret the conversational rules in
the middle of the dialogue.

Perhaps it is better to understand minorities as occasionally opting for what some

commentators call a “strategic essentialism" (cf. Danius and Jonsson 1993; Stasiulis 1990
and 1999; Kobayashi 1994; Baumann 1999:87) in which they temporarily opt to identify
themselves with certain stereotypical characteristics in order to achieve certain social or
political ends. In the past decade, scholars have explored the ways in which more and
more groups have employed the discourse of “the other” in order to express their places in
the broader society in terms of historic injustices committed against them by hegemonic
forces. In Canada, aboriginals, women, gays and lesbians, Japanese and Sikh Canadians,
and others have made some significant (albeit incomplete) progress in their use of this
discourse to convince Canadian governments and a large segment of the broader public
that they have suffered discrimination at the hands of the dominant groups (in this case,
Britain, France, Canada, men, whites, heterosexuals). While one cannot dispute the truth
of these groups’ claims, we might also interpret the role of victim as an example of strategic
essentialism in which internally heterogeneous groups present themselves as
homogenous. Upon achieving the sympathy, policy changes, compensation, or public
attention (to name only a few goals) they may seek, these groups are able to re-define their
collective identities in different ways to suit different contexts; individual members are then
free to return to their unique ways of combining their ethnic identities with other forms of
self-understanding. In other words, while systemic discrimination is still a problem in
Canada, minority groups are far from powerless participants in Canadian public discourse;
their power is often derived from their will and ability to control, influence, and deploy their
self-representations in the politics of identity.10 In his discussion of the relationship between

10
It is also important to note that the place of racialized minorities in Canadian society is also
determined by larger economic and social shifts. For example, in his study of the Chinese in Canada,
Peter Li writes, “[T]he improved opportunities of the Chinese after the war have more to do with the
industrial expansion of Canada than with the social equality implied in the mobility dream.”
(1988:117). See Halter (2000) for a discussion of the ways the ethnic identity of visible minorities
has become a fashionable and marketable commodity within contemporary capitalism.
 7

“race,” rights, and Canadian legal history, James W. St. G. Walker describes legally
disadvantaged minorities:

These were vibrant communities with religious institutions, newspapers, political and
social organizations, a range of cultural expressions, all contributing to a group
momentum distinct from the mainstream. These were recognizable entities,
subordinate in some respects, but in others preserving considerable control over
their lives. This was a history in which people were actively engaged, not as victims,
or objects, but as participants in the shaping of their own destinies. (1997:321)

Whether or not public discourse actually involves unequal partners, and whether or not
individuals should be thought of as representing unchanging authentic ethnic identities or
hybrids between "other" and "mainstream" identities (Karim 1996; Halter 2000; Kobayashi
1994; Li 1999), are mainly philosophical questions. For the present analysis, we will
assume the validity of the notion that identity emerges out of dialogue, and that such
dialogue is evident in cultural spectacles. For members of ethnic minorities, an ethnic
cultural spectacle may represent a symbolic site in which they articulate a particular
account (or "story") of themselves (as Sikh-Canadians, Croatian-Canadians, etc.). When
Folklorama pavilion organizers create a cultural display and decide what forms of
entertainment they will use to represent their group, this decision obviously forces group
members to clarify for themselves the ways they want to understand (or to “story”)
themselves and be understood by outsiders (Mato 1998:200; Piette 1992:51). Such stories
may sometimes amount to transnational fictions, as in the case of the second generation
Serbian-Canadian at Folklorama's Serbian Pavilion who has never been to Serbia but still
feels deeply connected to this "imagined community" (Anderson 1983). These stories may
also amount to efforts to preserve the identity-generating links between Canada and some
other (even “imagined”) homeland (cf. Bramadat 2001).

In short, spectacles may facilitate the presentation of dramatic performances of identity

directed not only by, but also at themselves in order to tell a certain kind of story about
what it might mean for individuals and groups to combine within themselves various
identities (Canadian, Serbian, first generation, second generation, rural, urban, local,
global, etc.). Since more and more generations of children born in Canada lack an
unmediated personal memory or experience of another (i.e., neither French nor English)
language, religion, or non-Canadian place, regular performances of identity are crucial
means of perpetuating or recreating a particular identity in many communities. By
encouraging ethnic communities to re-enact and re-experience concentrated versions of a
particular ethnic identity in a public (and even ritualistic11) manner, spectacles such as

11
I use this word deliberately. Since each year Folklorama's pavilions are usually located in the same
spaces, stage the same (or similar) performances, use the same (or similar) cultural displays, and
serve the same food, participation in this festival, and other spectacles like it, clearly have an
important ritual component.
 8

Folklorama exemplify the form of Canadian multiculturalism that encourages

conversational partners to speak from specific discursive locations. Scholars may argue
that the identities celebrated in such festivals are reified, whereas identity is also (or,
according to some, only) dynamic, constructed, and “processual” (Baumann 1999).
However, we should not overlook the reasons (different in each case) that communities
choose to depict themselves in one way and not another.12

Role Three: public education about ethnic identity

I. Fighting General Prejudice

Willems-Braun argues (1994:79) that although festivals promote certain cultural

stereotypes, they are "radically ambivalent" in the sense that they also allow groups an
opportunity to contest incorrect assumptions members of the public might have about
them. As I mentioned above, inasmuch as any portrait of oneself or one's ethnic group is a
kind of fiction that necessarily (if only temporarily and strategically) excludes certain
characteristics of oneself or one's group, ethnic cultural spectacles are opportunities for a
given group to choose how they wish to be understood by non-members (Halter 2000:97).
The public performances of indigenous cultures described by Cruikshank, the Folklorama
pavilions described by Thoroski and Bramadat, the Giglio Feast described by Primeggia
and Varacalli, the Cultural Festival of India described by Shukla, and the various festivals
described by Halter, are all means by which group members can convey or construct a
picture of themselves for a public which not only seeks an authentic or sanctioned
depiction of identity (Cruikshank 1997; Halter 2000), but might also harbour certain
stereotypes about these groups. These festivals are thus sites of contestation in which
individuals and groups shape, or more to the point, reshape the ways others perceive them
by effectively (if temporarily) seizing control of the arena of cultural representation (Cohen
1982:25, 34-35; Gamson 1997). Audrey Kobayashi (1994) warns against the kind of
strategic essentialism required for heterogeneous groups (divided by class, gender roles,
generations, etc.) to agree upon a single definition or representation of their culture. She
argues that even strategic homogeneity would simply seem to counter one (“bad”)
stereotype with another (“good”), without attending to the group’s material realities.
However, the on-going and sometimes conflictual discussions within each community
about how best to represent themselves (perhaps, but not necessarily, through
stereotypes) goes a long way toward clarifying and perhaps resolving internal differences,

12
Halter describes the way Irish tourists are surprised by the elaborate nature of post-1970s St.
Patrick’s Day celebrations (and Irish pride and nationalism) in the United States. In response, Irish
people have expanded on their own St. Patrick’s Day festivities to accommodate the expectations of
American tourists to Ireland. Halter argues that such American festivals reflect the weakening of
social and geographic ties and the transformation of communal memories of the homeland
(2000:160-168).
 9

even though outsiders may only see the drama of sameness.

Greenhill and Thoroski (2001) and Thoroski (1997) argue that while festivals such as
Folklorama enact and celebrate Canadian diversity, they do so in a manner that is
deliberately designed to avoid controversy. For example, in an attempt to avoid provoking
political debate, the Palestinian Muslim population in Israel is virtually invisible in
Folklorama's Israel Pavilion, Sikh-Hindu tensions in India are not mentioned in the cultural
displays of the India pavilion, and the two Irish pavilions omit any reference to the conflicts
between Catholics and Protestants in Ireland.13 However, this tendency is not universal.
For example, several years ago, a master of ceremonies for one of Folklorama’s Filipino
pavilions commented between acts: “We’re here to show you that not all Filipinos are ugly
dog-eaters.”14 As well, at Folklorama 2000, a master of ceremonies for one of the festival’s
two Greek pavilions complained repeatedly about the way Greek Cypriots have been
treated by the Turks with whom they share Cyprus.15 So, while the general standards of
apoliticism and non-provocation are observed at most spectacles, closer examination
reveals a more ambiguous situation. In short, if identity emerges dialogically, cultural
spectacles may be one way to provide minority groups with opportunities to engage the
assumptions held by their discursive partners, and in so doing, to influence their own and
their partners’ identities.

II. Reducing Religious Illiteracy

Since the 1960s, many social scientists have been enamoured of the theory of
secularization, which argued that as modernization and rationalization extended their
influence throughout western institutions and cultures, and throughout the globe, religion
13
As well, in the Cultural Festival of India (Shukla 1997), there was no indication in the literature
presented, nor in the cultural displays, that India is the site of some of the world's most abject
poverty (even though most non-Indian visitors would already know this). Similarly, in the Yukon
International Storytelling Festival (Cruikshank 1997), participants predictably understood the
festival as an opportunity to emphasize, celebrate and promote the cultural and moral richness of the
aboriginal narrative tradition and not simply to describe the complex and often difficult social,
political, and economic dimensions of aboriginal life.
14
Although the speaker was clearly addressing prejudices present in certain components of popular
Canadian discourse, the audience seemed stunned by his comment, likely because it was so out of
keeping both with Folklorama etiquette (Bramadat 2001) and the rest of his upbeat commentary on
the show and Filipino culture.
15
See Townsend (1995) for a discussion of the ways an aboriginal art exhibit at the National
Gallery of Canada challenged the dominant and sanctioned ways of expressing aboriginal culture.
See Thoroski (1997) for examples of the counter-hegemonic discourses evident in Folklorama’s
Afro-Caribbean Pavilion.
 10

and spirituality would retreat and eventually disappear. This theory gradually became
something of a tacit assumption in many academic circles until more recently when
sociologists and anthropologists began to observe that decades after its ascendancy, there
was rather scant evidence for this grand theory.

While certain aspects of certain societies did experience or evidence processes of

secularization, the pervasive disenchantment that was forecast by secularization theorists
has not come to pass.16 However, we do see evidence of two processes associated with
certain forms of secularization: differentiation and privatization. As a result of differentiation,
religion is condensed into more concentrated societal pockets, but does not play as
significant a role in other areas of society such as public education, law, government,
politics, and mainstream entertainment.17 As a result of privatization, people begin to treat
religion and spirituality as if they were matters that belong, like one's sex life and finances,
exclusively in the privacy of one’s home rather than in public discourse.

As a result of both these processes, many Canadians assume that religion and ethnicity
are neatly separated modalities of identification. A related and equally popular notion is that
those for whom this is not the case must be older, first generation Canadians. However, in
my own research on Folklorama and religion and ethnicity in general, I have found that in
many if not all ethnic groups, it is unwise to assume either that a clear separation exists
between ethnicity and religion or that a lack of a simple distinction between these two

16
See Sociology of Religion (Swatos 1999), a volume of the premier academic journal in this area
devoted entirely to the secularization debate. In fact, not only do the vast majority of North
Americans continue to profess a loyalty to some deity and religion, but many continue to attend
places of worship fairly regularly. Moreover, in many places throughout the world, religion — and
not only the reactionary variety — has returned to the public arena (e.g., Falun Gong and evangelical
Christianity in China, and Russian Orthodoxy in Russia). In Canada, the evidence for secularization
is stronger than it is in the United States (i.e., fewer people attend places of worship, and more
people describe themselves as having no attachment to a specific religion). However, the majority of
Canadians, like Americans, continue to believe in God and to profess an interest in spirituality of
some kind. While established religious institutions, such as the United Church of Canada, the
Catholic Church, and the Anglican Church, are experiencing declines in attendance, it is important
not to confuse this process with a disinterest in the traditional offerings of religion. It is also
important to remember that throughout North and South America, evangelical Protestantism is still
robust, and in some places, growing (Bibby 1993). The prominence of religion in Canada’s two
national newspapers and in international news also reflects its enduring presence in the local and
global arenas.
17
On the continued, albeit ambiguous, role of religion in Canadian public education, see Sweet
(1997).
 11

dimensions is characteristic only of recent or older immigrants.18

The intimate relationship that often exists between ethnic identity and religious identity is
evidenced in cultural spectacles such as Folklorama, Caravan, and the Giglio Feast in New
York. Even though the organization that oversees Folklorama opposes the inclusion of
religion in pavilion shows and displays, when many ethnic groups represent themselves to
outsiders, religion is employed as a significant theme. This seems fairly predictable, since it
is impossible (or at least very difficult) to understand any culture unless one has some
sense of the religious traditions with which the culture is associated. Organizers of
Folklorama pavilions seem to agree with this anthropological truism. For example, one of
the festival's two Greek pavilions is not only located in the Greek Orthodox church, but
formally features the church as part of its cultural display. Similarly, in the Serbian pavilion,
which is also held in and features their Orthodox church, one tour guide explained this
prominence by noting, "Without the Orthodox Church, there is no Serbia." As well, in the
Israel Pavilion, Judaism is depicted as intractably bound up with being Israeli (even though
Israel is a de facto multi-religious society) (Bramadat 2001). And finally, in the First Nations
Pavilion, shows not only begin with a prayer of thanksgiving to the Creator, but also include
many dances and displays that are explained in both practical and spiritual terms.

The place of religion in these pavilions not only reflects its prominence in these ethnic
communities: it also clearly addresses an interest in the broader society. Although some
Canadians abjure institutional religious involvement for themselves and formal religious
education for their children, an even cursory perusal of Canadian newspapers, television
programs, and scholarly research will confirm that religion continues to be the subject of
great public and personal interest.19 Canadian institutions have been are slow to respond
creatively to this interest. For example, Lois Sweet (1997) demonstrates that regardless of
the prominence of religion on the local, national, and international stages, most provincial
public education systems have yet to integrate into their curricula dispassionate or secular
education about religion. Moreover, media depictions of non-Christian religions have been
notoriously prejudicial, as a consideration of the way Islam is depicted will illustrate (Said
1974; Karim 1996).

Because of both the privatized nature of and general ignorance about world (or “other”)

18
For two important discussions of the intimate relationship between religion and ethnicity in the
United States, see Gatherings in Diaspora: Religious Communities and the New Immigration
(Warner and Wittner 1998), and Religion and the New Immigrants: Continuities and Adaptations in
Immigrant Communities (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000).
19
For example, quite recently, the media made a great deal of the significant role played by the Sikh
community in British Columbian politics; Stockwell Day's conservative Christian beliefs were also
the focus of considerable media attention.
 12

religions in contemporary North America,20 many people may be uncomfortable asking

direct questions about another person's religious (or perhaps one should say religio-ethnic)
identity. However, cultural spectacles such as Folklorama provide individuals with a safe
context within which to learn about the religious elements of a group's ethnic background.
Through such spectacles, ethnic groups are able to represent their multi-dimensional
identities more fully to other Canadians and to answer questions outsiders might have
about their deepest individual and shared convictions.

III. Sports, food, dance, etc.

In addition to creating a context in which people can learn about the religious elements of a
group's or an individual's identity, spectacles also represent an opportunity to showcase the
sports (Husbands and Idahosa 1995), foods (Anderson and Alleyne 1979; Halter 2000:106;
Shukla 1997:299; Thoroski 1997:108), dances, clothing, and other cultural elements that
partially constitute a given identity. Although a full analysis of this issue is beyond the scope
of this essay, it is interesting to note that many of these voluntary activities are facilitated
mainly by women. In an analysis of the place of food consumption and preparation in
American ethnic communities, Ebaugh and Chafetz write:

Along with the use of the native tongue, the collective consumption of traditional
foods constitute the most significant ways by which members of ethnic groups
define cultural boundaries and reproduce ethnic identities. To the extent that women
virtually monopolize this role, they constitute a critical lynchpin in the reproduction of
ethnicity within immigrant congregations. (Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000: 92)

The rather widespread assumptions among scholars and policy makers that festivals
represent an obsolete and merely symbolic form of “red boots” (Kobayashi 1993:206; cf.
Ley 1984)21 multiculturalism may (however unintentionally) render invisible some of the
arenas in which women play important roles in expressing various elements of their
communities’ priorities.

Role Four: spectacles as ethnic show business

Ours is a society permeated by highly commercialized and highly Americanized cultural

spectacles such as the Academy Awards, the Olympics, the Superbowl, advertizing
campaigns, major motion picture releases, political scandals, and reality television shows.
In a society so marked by large-scale corporate entertainment events, ethno-cultural
spectacles such as Folklorama, Mosaic, and Caravan might be understood as examples of

20
I am always surprised that even my own undergraduate students, most of whom identify
themselves as Christians, know very little about their own tradition.
21
This term refers to the number of Ukrainian dance festivals across Canada.
 13

what we might call "ethnic show business." In other words, since the aesthetic (visual,
auditory, symbolic) language of mostly American commercial-cultural spectacles has to a
large degree dominated our understanding of the way a culture can and ought to celebrate
an event (or itself), it seems plausible to interpret ethnic cultural spectacles as local
renditions of global (though, in truth, mainly American) patterns.

Many writers see in this pervasive American style the harbinger of cultural homogenization.
For example, in his influential Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism in Canada, Neil
Bissoondath writes:

And so it is with the ethnic cultures offered at the pavilions of Caravan and other
such festivals: all the colourful ethnics bowing and smiling in mechanical greeting at
the tourists…passing by. They look like the real thing, but their smell is synthetic.
They have no bite. They are safe. Culture Disneyfied. (1994:83)

He continues:

Our approach to multiculturalism encourages the devaluation of that which it claims

to wish to protect and promote. Culture becomes an object for display rather than
the heart and soul of the individuals formed by it. Culture manipulated into social and
political usefulness becomes folklore—as Rene Levesque said—lightened and
simplified, stripped of the weight of the past. (1994:88)

Moreover, in an allusion to the homogenizing effects of multinational fast food franchises,

Thoroski (1997:111) refers to Folklorama as an example of "McMulticulturalism." It is quite
plausible, even self-evident, that many festivals have taken the shape they have taken in
order to conform to the expectations and compete for the interest of the "consumers" of
cultural spectacles. While Bissoondath, Kobayashi, Baumann, Greenhill, and Thoroski
might lament the homogenizing effects of the quasi-commercial style of cultural spectacle
(complete with dramatic openings, light shows, souvenirs, sing-alongs, effusive masters of
ceremonies), perhaps a more generous interpretation is possible.22

For example, we might understand this style as a complex function of the nature of
communication in (late?) capitalist societies.23 The commercialized style of ethno-cultural
spectacles is indicative of the common and dominant consumerist ethos in which the
majority of people in the developed or developing world lives. We might want to pay closer
attention to the ambiguity of this example of commercialism before we conclude it must
22
See Gans (1979), Roberts and Clifton (1982) and Halter (2000) on “symbolic” or “portable”
ethnicity, an attenuated, post-traditional form of identification in which people selectively and
temporarily embrace certain elements of a putatively more authentic ethnic identity.
23
On this topic, see Mato's (1998) interpretation of an indigenous people's exhibit at the
Smithsonian Institution.
 14

necessarily lead to catastrophic culture loss. In her research on the role of corporate
sponsorship in major arts events in Puerto Rico, Arlene Davila confirms that while the
corporate discourse adds certain constraints to events, it also provides global symbols
which can become the backdrop against which newer and yet still distinctively Puerto
Rican identities are expressed (1997:92). In Shopping for Identity: The Marketing of
Ethnicity, Marilyn Halter argues that although

the impetus to reclaim roots often stems from disdain for commercial interests,
paradoxically, consumers look to the marketplace to revive and reidentify with ethnic
values…. Thus, consumerism simultaneously disrupts and promotes ethnic
community and can be both subversive and hegemonic. (2000:13)

She also comments that:

Consumerism thus becomes defined as a threat to cultural formation…. Yet in

interview after interview,… the meaning that participation in their respective
movements for ethnic renewal [often in the form of ethno-cultural festivals] had
brought to their lives was palpable and simply could not be ignored. (2000:196)

In short, even though one cannot extricate oneself from the discourses of consumerism or
American popular culture, we should recall that virtually everything in the arena of
individual and communal identity is, if not controllable, at least negotiable.

Before we accept the argument that the articulation of cultural identity in terms largely set
by the dominant commercial culture threatens pre-existing and more "authentic" forms of
identity, we should remember that identity and cultural traditions are more fluid than we
often assume (Hobsbawm 1983). Moveover, identity always emerges discursively or
dialogically. That is, all forms of Indo-Canadian or Korean-Canadian or Irish-Canadian
identity have emerged out of a dynamic interaction between these groups and the broader
Canadian environment (including its laws, educational systems, cultural norms, climate,
languages, etc.). Such interactions compel both the groups in question and the broader
society and institutions to undergo a continual process of recreation, using a combination
of old and new resources.24 Since one cannot speak ahistorically of an Indo-Canadian or
Korean-Canadian identity sui generis any more than one can speak ahistorically of a
Canadian identity sui generis, one should not be alarmed by a rearticulation of ethnic
identity that borrows the style of commercial cultural spectacles. Perhaps such a style is a

24
The debate over changing the traditional uniform for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s
musical ride is a good example of this bi-directional approach to integration in action. While the
RCMP resisted the requests of its Sikh officers to wear turbans instead of the standard Stetson hats,
eventually this Canadian institution reframed itself in light of the changing nature of its officers and
Canadian society. On this debate and the bi-directional approach it bespeaks, see Biles and Claus
(1997) and Jenson and Papillon (2001).
 15

harbinger of communal dissolution. Or, perhaps it signifies an intermediary period that will
usher in a new, bolder and more cosmopolitan style of distinctive ethnic self-expression.
Or, perhaps such a spectacular mode of expression does not in any significant way reduce
the cohesiveness or preclude the survival of the ethnic communities in question. More
research over a longer period of time is required to determine which of these options best
describes Canadian phenomena.

We should also consider why an articulation of ethnic identity framed partly in the aesthetic
vernacular of the dominant ethos might be embraced by so many members of the second
or third generation (as it is in Folklorama). I would suggest that to the extent that these
individuals might experience some dissonance between their parents' versions of their
ethnic identities and their own (see Ebaugh and Chafetz 2000), festivals such as
Folklorama might represent sites par excellence in which young people can engage in the
creative negotiations of their identities. To put this suggestion in practical terms, if second
generation Indo-Canadians are raised in social, educational and media milieux in which
American popular culture is a—or perhaps the—dominant cultural force, perhaps they can
embrace Folklorama's India Pavilion because it employs the symbolic vernacular of the
American spectacle.25 An expression of identity couched in the aesthetic and cultural
language of the American ethos of consumption could demonstrate to a particular group
that it is possible to be Indian (or Croatian, Italian, or West Indian) in a distinctly Canadian
way.26

25
In a discussion of the way the Dene traditional athletic activities are modelled on the Olympic
Games, Heine (1994) argues that such a derivation allows the Dene to express the importance of
traditional games in the context of an increasingly globalized culture.
26
One of Halter’s immigrant informants said that there is no longer the same pressure to assimilate
in the United States as there was in the 1960s and 1970s. “It’s OK to be a hyphenated American. It’s
even sexier in some ways” (2000:80). While Canada and the United States embody different
approaches to multiculturalism, the increasing openness to multi-ethnicities is characteristic of both
nations.
 16

Outstanding Issues and Directions for Future Research

I would now like to outline briefly a number of outstanding issues and directions for future
research.

1. It would be useful for scholars and policy makers to have at their disposal something
akin to a history of the relationship between cultural spectacles and government policy.
An analysis of the interactions between government bodies, ethnic groups, and festival
organizers would help to contextualize the current situation.

2. It would also be helpful for scholars to attend to the disinterest (at least) or derision (at
most) of academics and policy makers toward cultural spectacles.27 In a private forum,
one colleague referred to these spectacles as "the old song and dance form" of
multiculturalism, and suggested that this mode has ceased to be of interest. Whenever
I tell colleagues about my interest in events such as Winnipeg’s Folklorama or Toronto's
Caravan, most assume (and some appear to hope) that I will use my research to
criticize the banality, or to use Bissoondath’s concept, the “Disneyfication” (1994:83) of
these spectacles. I would argue that by reducing these events to their superficial,
"kitschy" and “McMulticultural” (Thoroski 1997:111) characteristics, scholars overlook
what Michael Ashkenazi calls the "polysemic" quality of festivals (1987; cf. Piette 1992).
It does seem strange that many commentators regard the earnest cultural expressions
of these groups with such condescension, as though educated elites know better the
ways ethnic minorities ought to express their collective identities. Perhaps the academic
community is overlooking an important context in which many newer Canadians (and
some established ones) negotiate their own kind of Canadian identity. It would be
illuminating to explore the broader issues at work in the assumptions that may
undergird this dismissive approach. As a starting point to these discussions, I would
suggest we consider Peter Li's (1994) insight that the implicit and explicit division
between high (elite) culture and popular (folk) culture promotes the hegemony of what
he calls "occidental values."28 Perhaps, as Pierre Bourdieu observes (1993), the
condescension many commentators express about folk or popular culture helps to
entrench their own prestige. We might also consider the extent to which the lack of
interest in festivals at a policy level reflects the response of the governing Liberal Party
to the Canadian Alliance Party’s opposition to the multiculturalism program (see Jenson
and Papillon 2001:23).

27
Luc Perron, a Senior Economist with the Department of Canadian Heritage notes that in general,
there has been very little research into the social and economic importance of cultural industries
(2000: 3).
28
See also Waterman (1998) on the way high art festivals define elite sensibilities.
 17

3. Literature searches performed by myself, my research assistant, and professional

database compilers yield very few Canadian studies of cultural spectacles. Further
support is needed for research (especially ethnographic research) into the ways
Canadian ethnic communities organize cultural spectacles and the effects of these
events on both these communities and the broader society. Only when a sizeable body
of literature emerges will we be able to clarify the implications of such spectacles
(Baeker 2000:14).

4. Policy makers should pay special attention to the emerging body of research on these
festivals. I expect that once enough research is conducted, a consensus will emerge
that ethno-cultural spectacles advance the multiculturalism program’s three goals. The
spectacles I have considered above appear to enrich civic participation by creating
social spaces in which people from a variety of backgrounds can come together to
learn about each other and perhaps to dispel certain misconceptions they might have
about a particular group. Of course, ethno-cultural spectacles also contribute to arenas
in which members of ethnic communities can strengthen their internal group confidence
and solidarity. As Trudeau noted in his famous speech that introduced the
multiculturalism policy to the House of Commons (October 8th, 1971), this “confidence
in one’s own individual identity” can form “the base of a society which is based on fair
play for all.” As such, participating in Canadian society through the medium of festivals
represents a means of advancing social justice. Finally, festivals represent excellent
opportunities for groups and individuals to engage in the politics of identity. While some
might argue that the identities that are articulated in spectacles often reproduce cultural
stereotypes, a closer examination will reveal both elements of resistance to such banal
depictions within communities and often surprising explanations for why a particular
stereotype was chosen in the first place. If policy makers are interested in combating
discrimination and fostering civic participation, social justice, and identity, cultural
spectacles deserve to remain important components of an overarching multicultural
policy agenda. If we conclude that these events help ethnic communities both to
maintain their distinctive identities and to integrate into Canadian society, we could do
more to cultivate festivals/spectacles. This may require larger and easier-to-access
grant programs, more proactive program management, or both.

5. Policy makers would, of course, have to choose between promoting multicultural

festivals, festivals for specific ethnic groups, or national festivals (with a multicultural
flavour) such as Canada Day. One important population to address when establishing
these funding priorities is the increasing number of people of mixed origins. New
Canadian identities and sub-cultures are emerging all the time; perhaps policy makers
could address these individuals and communities in future multicultural programming
decisions.
 18

Summary

Although Canadian cultural spectacles are rarely the subjects of sustained academic or
government attention, such events are nonetheless vibrant components of Canadian
society. I would like to summarize the four ways such events might influence identity
formation.

First, ethnic cultural spectacles might represent alternative economies of status. In such
events, people who occupy relatively low status (or perhaps higher status, but non-public)
positions in society may be empowered because their life experiences are formally
validated by their own community and outsiders who might participate in a particular event.
The event thus creates its own temporary microcosm in which the rules that govern society
the rest of the year are suspended, and a different system of social status and prestige
comes into effect in which the relative newcomer might be better situated.

Second, spectacles such as Folklorama clarify and re-construct ethnic identity by providing
an opportunity for communities to participate in the creation of their personal and public
identities by consciously deciding which elements of their shared history they will portray.
The very act of organizing a formal cultural spectacle that depicts the language, religion,
food, sports, dances, clothing, history, music, and politics of a group, ensures that ethnic
identity per se will remain a salient issue for the foreseeable future. As such, these events
are excellent means by which an individual or a group might participate in what Charles
Taylor (1994) has described as the dialogical process of identity formation. Jensen and
Papillon discuss various tensions underlying the “Canadian diversity model.” They write
that, “Multiculturalism is thus a good example of an approach cutting through the various
dimensions of diversity to choose a point of balance between homogeneity and
heterogeneity, individual and collective rights, economic freedom and collective welfare. It
is not an uncontested compromise, however” (2001:22). I would argue that festivals make
public particular kinds of balances achieved by communities, cities, provinces, and the
federal government within the Canadian diversity model. As such, festivals are good
indicators of the current status of diversity in Canada.

Third, festivals allow members of ethnic minorities to influence the Canadian public in
several ways. These events allow minorities to determine or effect the ways they will be
understood, in a general sense, by outsiders. As well, while ethnic groups are often
associated with specific religious traditions, many Canadians consider religion an
excessively provocative topic of discussion. Because cultural spectacles allow (though
rarely encourage) minority groups to depict the religions with which they are associated,
these events represent opportunities to disabuse outsiders of erroneous views they might
have about a particular religion. Such spectacles also counter the growing religious
illiteracy in our country. Finally, these events serve as opportunities for communities to
inform non-members about their distinctive traditions, including music, dance, food, sports,
 19

and history.29

Fourth, cultural spectacles might also represent local efforts to reinterpret the style and
format of commercialized (and largely American) public events. While commentators are
often critical of this dimension of spectacles, we should remember both that identity is
discursively negotiated, and that members of the second and third generation might
appreciate seeing their own culture represented partially in terms of the familiar standards
of popular culture.

In this essay, I have outlined the following five policy-related recommendations.

• that a comprehensive history of the relationship between cultural

spectacles and the government be written
• that the political and academic motivations behind the disinterest in
festivals be studied
• that ethnographic research into Canadian ethno-cultural festivals be
supported
• that policy makers attend to the emerging literature on these events to
understand the ways festivals address the goals of the multiculturalism
program
• that policy makers prioritize the kinds of spectacles they wish to support
in light of both established goals and the findings of this emerging body of
literature

According to Baeker (2000), the definition and practice of contemporary Canadian

multiculturalism is (or should be) less focused on welcoming new ethnic "others" to Canada
(specifically, white, eurocentric, bilingual Canada), and more focused on a celebration of
the emergence of a broad, cosmopolitan, relatively post-European, and decreasingly white
civic culture. Ethnic cultural spectacles, while certainly historically rooted in the former
approach to multiculturalism, can also aid in the presently emerging form. We are just
beginning to appreciate the complex roles played by cultural spectacles in the ways
Canadians—young and old, new and established, individuals and groups—negotiate their
identities. While we still have a great deal of work to do in order to better understand these
roles, I am confident that our investigations will be quite fruitful.

29
As such, festivals provide a context in which both men and women can be recognized publicly for
their work within ethnic communities.
 20

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