i) Normative Narratives
I found similar normative narratives in Annissa’s Canadian blog post. Annissa used the absence of home to relate to being Canadian. Her last line in her blog story is very powerful, “I knew it was time to go Home.” This realization came from seeing a man cheering loudly and becoming emotional during the victory of a Canadian team during the Olympics. I imagine this brought feelings of belonging to Annissa and she became overwhelmed with the urge to want to go back to Canada. Similarly, Joanna’s Canadian Blog post also reflected being away from home as representing what it means to be Canadian to her. This instance Joanna spent four years in a foreign country and it took one moment of memory to resort her back to feeling as though her only true home is back in Canada.
All three of our blog posts reproduce the idea that we feel a sense of belonging in Canada. When we are traveling to other countries that sense of belonging is threatened and an urge to go back ‘home’ washes over us. I imagine this feeling of deep connection and belonging derives from the hidden structural privileges of our Canadian society. For example, traditions. Joanna was upset because Christmas was not celebrated the same way she remembers in Canada. Another example, using my blog post, is patterns of social interaction. In my story, I refer to missing Canada because I passed an American stereotype onto another person which was: Canadians are considerate and Americans struggle with politeness. These are the norms, patterns, and traditions we are used too and they all contribute to our sense of belonging.
I believe unintentionally all three of our stories support the status quo in Canada. If the norms of Canadian society were established in other Countries the feeling of belonging would follow us everywhere. As we were all missing Canada we were remembering positive memories that we have associated with living in Canada. I believe there are many people who live in Canada and struggle to feel a sense of belonging or ability to call it home. Slowly, we are making progress to hope one day the sense of belonging can be felt by many different walks of life that reside in Canada. In this 2007 CBC article, they made changes to the Canadian Oath by adding “including treaties with Indigenous peoples.” This oath is taken by New Canadians to honor the history of Indigenous peoples. Now the critical question is for born Canadians to ask themselves what is the history of Canada? Why do I call it home? and How do I support the status quo of living in Canada?
ii) Creating Counter-Stories
“If we believe one story to be sacred, we must see the other as secular. You’ll recognize this pairing as a dichotomy, the elemental structure of Western Society.” (King, pg.25,2003) In my story, I saw myself as Canadian because I was not American. The previous blog posts I mentioned follow this dichotomy as well, they discovered Canada was home because they did not fit into the Country’s norms they were currently in. An interesting counter-story was written by Sona. In this blog post, she shares moving to Canada and finding it rather easy to enjoy the scenery, people around her, and new beginnings; all in which allowed her to feel right at Home. The story we are all holding sacred is that Canada is home because other countries will only ever be a temporary identity for us. Kings article goes on to explain the problems with dichotomies. “We trust easy oppositions. We are suspicious of complexities, distrustful of contradictions, fearful of enigmas.” (King, pg.25,203) These are deep thoughts to help one understand why being Canadian should be more than a dichotomy and how to move away from this mindset.
All four of our stories silence the stories of the first people who owned the land. The four of us had to leave or be somewhere else first to have a sense of why Canada feels like home for us. What does that mean for the people who have always lived on this land? What is it that makes Canada feel like home for them? or lack thereof feeling of home? In class, we read the article “Thank God for Canada” and the rebuttal that was written by Melanie Delva. This is a great example of how all four of our stories brought up the normative narratives of positive social relationships, the great outdoors, the year-old traditions that we love so much in Canada, but we silenced the other realities that occur daily in Canada. Such as reserves not having clean drinking water, the effects of residential schools, aboriginal people being born with a shorter life expectancy. I wonder if any of these truths impacted my daily life would my response to what Canada means to me be different? After taking this class I have learned that although the list I listed above does not directly affect me, it is still an issue that I am apart of. If I am not apart of the answer then I am apart of the problem, because now I know better, which in turn means I can do better. I understand binaries, dichotomy, the blind spot, and how all of my background knowledge makes up how I perceive Canada. What is important now is becoming aware of all my beliefs and not imposing them to support the status quo. But rather questioning why I believe in what I do and correct myself if there is a racist or biased undertone. With this mindset, I will not trust easy oppositions and I will welcome contradictions because that is what Kings article would suggest is part of the solution to breaking down dichotomies.
ECS 110 