2001/2002 PCERII Funded Research Abstract

The place of Canadian ethno-cultural festivals within the policy and tradition of multiculturalism has often been overlooked or misunderstood by Canadian journalists, academics, and policy makers interested in the complex processes of integration and ethnic identity formation. Many scholars and policy makers deride festivals such as Winnipeg's Folklorama and Toronto's Caravan as "kitschy" and reductive expressions of an outdated form of multiculturalism. However, I would suggest that these events merit much more serious scholarly attention. In this two-year project, I will conduct participation observation fieldwork in the context of Caravan and Folklorama in order to understand and explain the relationship of these events to contemporary multiculturalism. My interpretations of these festivals will be informed by observations of particular festival pavilions and interviews with festival organizers. This macro-ethnographic analysis will be guided by the following four questions: a) In what ways might such festivals represent what we might call "alternative economies of status"? b) How might festivals facilitate (or fail to facilitate) what Charles Taylor calls "dialogical" identity formation? c) In what ways do the pavilions demonstrate an attempt to influence public perceptions and stereotypes? d) How do the ethnic communities involved in these festivals use these events to depict the religious traditions with which their group is usually associated? In this project, I will demonstrate both the unique dimensions of Folklorama and Caravan, and the ways both festivals represent similar, complex, and contemporary approaches to Canadian diversity.