Painting the Maple: Essays on Race, Gender, and the Construction of Canada

Painting the Maple explores the critical interplay of raceand gender in shaping Canadian culture, history, politics and healthcare. These interdisciplinary essays draw on feminist, postcolonial,and critical theory in a wide-ranging discussion that encompasses bothhigh and popular forms of culture, the deliberation of policy and itsexecution, and social movements as well as individual authors andtexts. The contributors, who come from many fields, establish connectionsamong discourses of race, gender, and nation-building that haveconditioned the formation of Canada for more than one hundred years.They analyze ways in which these elements have participated in andcontributed to exclusionary practices and policies, such asmarginalization of women and racialized groups. Together, their essayspaint a picture of a nation that privileges whiteness, masculinity, andChristianity. This book gathers many insights on the construction of Canada,hitherto scattered in the literature. It will be of interest tofeminist scholars and others concerned with issues of race and gender.At times provocative, Painting the Maple illuminates thechallenges that lie ahead for all Canadians who aspire to create abetter future in a reimagined nation.