- Paperback: 272 pages
- Publisher: Penguin Canada (May 16 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0141006765
- ISBN-13: 978-0141006765
- Product Dimensions: 21.6 x 14 x 1.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 340 g
- Average Customer Review: 1.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #104,607 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Winner of the Gordon Montador Award for nonfiction, Selling Illusions is Neil Bissoondath's most controversial book to date. While race and race relations have been the focus of much of his fiction, Bissoondath's exploration of the problematic nature of Canada's multicultural policies has, since its publication in 1994, embroiled him in heated public debates with some of Canada's most outspoken writers, including Clifton Joseph, Himani Bannerji, and Marlene Nourbese Philip. Bissoondath, himself a Trinidadian Canadian of East Indian descent living in Quebec, argues that the 1971 Multicultural Act, in attempting to create a cultural mosaic of diversity and tolerance, has resulted instead in a cult of multiculturalism that is by its very nature divisive. Bissoondath claims the act's focus on cultural uniqueness rather than cultural assimilation has hindered ethnic inclusiveness in Canadian society and has instead cemented into the Canadian culture stereotyped cultural categories based on race and the continued ghettoization of ethnic minorities in Canada. From Bissoondath's perspective, Canada's multicultural policies, with their focus on maintaining visible cultural differences, keep new immigrants to Canada from seeing themselves as Canadians. Selling Illusions is a provocative challenge to take another look at an issue that is at the heart of contemporary Canadian--and indeed North American--life. --Jeffrey Canton
Book Description
Since he immigrated to Canada almost three decades ago, Neil Bissoondath has consistently refused the role of the ethnic, and sought to avoid the burden of hyphenation - a burden that would label him as an East Indian-Trinidadian-Canadian living in Quebec. Bissoondath argues that the policy of multiculturalism, with its emphasis on the former or ancestral homeland and its insistence that There is more important than Here, discourages the full loyalty of Canada's citizens.
Through the 1971 Multiculturalism Act, Canada has sought to order its population into a cultural mosaic of diversity and tolerance. Seeking to preserve the heritage of Canada's many peoples, the policy nevertheless creates unease on many levels, transforming people into political tools and turning historical distinctions into stereotyped commodities. It encourages exoticism, highlighting the differences that divide Canadians rather than the similarities that unite them.
Selling Illusions is Neil Bissoondath's personal exploration of a politically motivated public policy with profound private ramifications - a policy flawed from its inception but nonetheless implemented with unmatched zeal.
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Most helpful customer reviews
1 of 5 people found the following review helpful
1.0 out of 5 stars
simplistic look at a complex reality,
By Samir Kassir "SAM Kassir" (Canada) - See all my reviews
This review is from: Selling Illusions: Revised Edition (Paperback)
Bissoondath's polemical text does not deal with the complexity of the Canadian reality and fails to explain the inter-linkages of English/French, Quebec/ROC, Canadian/Aboriginal peoples, immigrants/canadian born, white/minorities, christian/non-christian. In a simplified unresearched text he jumps to major conclusions about Canada and its multiculturalism policy, regardless of the political theories behind it, the history of legislation in the country, the elements of democracy, or even a little comparison with countries that do not have a multiculturalism policy like France and the UK>
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