Who’s Afraid of Cultural Identity? or, Stand Up and be Counted Down

If we can explore the situation lucidly, explain the dangers convincingly, we will have dealt very largely with the problem itself. But two things are necessary in addition. All vacancies in Canadian universities, from 1 presidencies to teaching assistantships, should be widely advertised and the responses honestly acted upon. This is good academic and democratic procedure in any case and should greatly assist Canadian candidates in their search for positions. Lastly, a greatly increased programme of Canadian studies must be undertaken in our universities. This also is only right for us on general academic grounds; our students deserve the opportunity to study domestic problems and material. Our native peoples, Indians and Metis and Eskimos, and our many ethnic groups would gain courage and dignity from a far greater scholarly exploration of their heritage in Canada. At the last CAAS meeting a glimpse at some unexplored Canadian material was enough to reveal what a vast unopened storehouse of literary, musical, artistic and historical material there must be, not to mention the geographical and political and sociological work that waits to be even started. This is work for Canadians and it is they who will largely, I believe, seek to do it. Before we start any programme of protective legislation, therefore, let us find out whether these much more productive and clearly less harmful methods will work. I believe they will and I would like to think that these ' approaches are somehow very Canadian. It will remain to be seen what impact this important book makes on attitudes in our staffing. It will be interesting to observe how familiar with its contents, non-Canadians become. JOSEPH GOLD Who's Afraid of Cultural Identity? or, Stand Up and be Counted Down At first glance the title of the Mathews and Steele dossier, The Struggle for Canadian Universities, may seem overly alarmist and tendentious. Ordinary "liberal-minded," non-committed academics may be put off by the apparent tone of provocation, while those who have other fish to fry will make the most of the opportunity offered for subtle, and not so subtle, misrepresentation. That this last has already happened is apparent to anyone who has paid attention to the controversy which erupted in the mass media - and in faculty lounges - after Mathews and Steele chose to break silence, a little over a year ago, about a real problem. In the usual climate of Canadian timidity, indifference, and cultural insecurity they made a no-no. Instead of closing their eyes, holding their tongues, and hoping the whole situation would just quietly disappear, ' with the help, if absolutely necessary, of the red-herring of an "'impartial " survey of every possible attenuation of the central problem - supported by a grant from the Canada Council or the Rockefeller Founda62 tion- they chose to speak out. The violence of the reaction from certain quarters - to give an extreme example, quoted in Time, of course, "Wehope we can club these people to death" - clearly shows the importanceof their action. It's healthy to have the rabid running off at themouth: their protective colouring of uscholarly objectivity" shows asthe camouflage it is, which simplifies seeing what is hidden. J do not, however, intend to write a review of The Struggle for Canadian Universities, even though many of the reviews which have already appeared present serious misrepresentations, whether or not intentional, of Mathews and Steele's position. There are some more generalpoints involved which may get lost in the haggling over statisticalvalidity , the confusion regarding citizenship and nationality, or the imputations of chauvinism or anti-Americanism because one prefers to remain Canadian rather than become American, u.s. style. Ultimately_, these general points are more important than the particular details of what happened at Carleton University in the winter of 1968-69 or at SirGeorgeWilliams University on May 17, 1969. First, the problem is not one which concerns merely the universities; it is central to the condition of Canadian culture. And this brings in at once the question of cultural identity, and the whole ambivalent labyrinthsurrounding the use, and misuse, of such labels as "international," "national," "nationalist," "cosmopolitan" and uprovincial." Second, the question of cultural survival is not, as so often assumed...