ANT100Y1 Lecture Notes - Lecture 5: English Canada, Tim Hortons, Multiculturalism In Canada
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Document Summary
National identities are constructed , imagined and they change. Nation: a unit constructed out of continuity and diversity. National identity is a matter of practicing "imagined community" Depoliticization: the ide that the concept of the nation "hides" politics. Culture has to do with ideas, art and habitual behaviour. Politics (in our sense) has to do with social relations: relations among groups of people within and between societies (politics in this sense is not just about government. ) The homogeneous "nation"- an "impossible" construction, always in the making. It operates in culture (as an idea) , but it"s function is political ( it is the foundation, potentially, of a state) It ignores the different groups within society and their relations: The idea of the "nation" suggests homogeneity and borders, where there is neither. Cultural, religious and racial identities can do the same. Culture can mask politics and so serve the powerful. Fosters unity over class and ethnic divisions- depoliticizes the community.
