Representing Minorities

With case studies from across the country, in medium-sized and large cities, and mayors of various backgrounds, this volume provides an account of how different minority mayors have handled minority representation in historically majority Caucasian cities and what lessons academics and politicians can learn from them.

Canadians take great pride in their country's commitment to multiculturalism. Institutions that deny ethnic and racial diversity are not only seen as offensive, but they also compromise the challenge of crafting a progressive Canada. The mainstream media in Canada, through its awesome influence over our lives, wields sufficient power to set agendas, construct realities, and frame issues to advance or retard this cause. In defining what is acceptable and desirable, it provides the elusive ingredient for creating a society in which individuals live together respecting their differences. Media and Minorities examines the representational basis of media-minority relations in Canada. In so doing, it hopes to make a modest contribution to advancing the cause of a Canada that is inclusive and equitable, workable and fair.

The papers in this volume include not only the traditional view of what constitutes a minority but also any individual, or group recalcitrant and reluctant, not to say resistant, to the generalized lobotomy operated by the rampant uniformisation of cultures around the world. For in the ruins of “the end of history” and its context of violence and Manichean politics, any opposition to the “general consensus” could be dismissed as anti-historical and atavistic. The objective of the book is precisely to counter such rhetoric and underscore the necessity of cultural diversity and the right to difference. This book contains what can amount to a critical response to the current context of confusion surrounding the postmodern condition that arguably dominates most societies. It stresses the issue of ethics not only in world politics but also in literature and criticism which are the main focus here. In fact, the interest in minority issues is in itself an ethical concern that contributes to give substance to the idea that postmodernity opens the gates for the long-suppressed identities and sensibilities to emerge and demand recognition. This volume intends, therefore, to contribute to the recent ethical turn that seems to take place in scholarship worldwide. Operated mainly by what is referred to as postcolonial studies this shift turned literary criticism and cultural studies into the site where a sense of literature can be envisioned that is not at all universalist, or reflecting the hegemonic temptations of the new world order. It seeks to present a patchwork of minor literatures, in the sense that besides the “major” literatures/languages, there are myriads of minor voices that express dissimilarity oftentimes under the umbrella of those major languages and literatures themselves.

Electing a Diverse Canada presents the most extensive analysis to date of the electoral representation of immigrants, minorities, and women in Canada. Covering eleven cities, as well as Canada's Parliament, it breaks new ground by assessing the representation of diverse identity groups across multiple levels of government. Electoral representation is an important indicator of a democracy's health, and this book provides both a baseline for future research and an outline of the key challenges facing Canadian democracy.

Offers a comparative analysis of the media's role in the expression of racism and ethnicity.

In 2005, almost 700,000 immigrants acquired the citizenship of a member state of the European Union; over 600,000 became US citizens; nearly 100,000 became Australians and approximately 200,000 Canadians. 2005 was not an exceptional year. During the past decades, many advanced liberal democracies have become more ethnically diverse societies. This book breaks new ground in the analysis of the political representation of immigrants and visible minorities both theoretically and empirically. It examines the upward trend in migrant and minority representation and demonstrates that there remain crucial differences across liberal democracies in the timing of these developments; in channels of access for minority representatives, in the policy focus and outcomes of minority representation; in the nature of the connections between minority representatives and minority communities, and in the nature of their relationships with constituents at large. Part I analyses immigrants and visible minorities as voters, who must be the starting point of any analysis of political representation. Part II deals with the stage of candidate selection within political parties, a crucial and under-researched stage in the process of political representation. Part III deals with immigrants and members of visible minorities, once elected to parliament and includes analyses of the Canadian Parliament, the German Bundestag, MPs in the United Kingdom and Members of the United States Congress. The book will of interest to students and scholars of migration and ethnicity studies and political science, especially those with an interest in political representation, democratic institutions, voting behaviour, party organisation, legislative behaviour and comparative politics.

There are few media issues more pressing, or potentially more consequential, than the representation of ethnic minorities. Presented in an accessible style, this authoritative text therefore brings together leading international researchers who have examined some of the latest processes of change (and continuity) informing the field of ethnic minorities and the media.

The studies in this volume examine the nature and extent of their participation in Canadian politics, in both political parties and the House of Commons. While these groups feel marginalized, they believe strongly in the objectives of democracy and want to participate in a Canada that realizes those ideals more successfully.