Quote:
Originally Posted by Ramako
I see far more of a cultural and historical connection between Canada and Western and Northern Europe than I do with South America.
What exactly is the connection between Canada and South America? We're in the same hemisphere? We're both technically part of the same landmass? Do we even get many immigrants from South America, compared to places like east and south Asia? I don't really see the connection.
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There are undoubtedly strong connections to Europe on one level, but there's an altogether different sort of connection with the rest of the Americas. Disregarding Latin America for a moment, we certainly have strong cultural bonds with the Anglo- and Franco-Caribbean that shouldn't be overlooked in the broader conversation. Those ties range from the superficial (sharing a Queen, &c.) to the substantive (large immigrant communities, strong economic ties both today and in the past, &c.).
On a broader level, there are certain traits, issues and even anxieties that link New World societies together. A few:
1) The legacy of colonialism and the Indigenous substrate - On the most obvious level this manifests itself in the thousands of Indigenous communities one can find scattered from the High Arctic all the way to Patagonia. There isn't a single country on the continental Americas that doesn't have some sort of continuing Indigenous presence - often marginalized economically and culturally, all of our countries face similar issues on this front. There is the lingering trauma of colonial violence, sometimes very much on-going, that marks our societies. I don't think any of us have really figured out how to balance the needs of Indigenous nations with those of our wider communities yet. And I would argue that all of us have, in some way, incorporated various Aboriginal cultural artefacts into our own identities.
2) The fallout from the Trans-Atlantic slave trade - This one would not, at first, seem to be the case in Canada, especially relative to the US, Haiti, Brazil, &c., but I'd argue that as a New World society we are very much shaped by the horrors of the slave trade and its ensuing cultural baggage. We can look at concrete historic events that directly link Canada to slavery and its direct legacy: the presence of African slaves in New France (though relatively few in number), Black Loyalists and our role in the Underground Railroad, historic economic ties to plantation economies, segregation in Dresden, the destruction of Africville, the abuses at the Nova Scotia Home for Colored Children, &c.
But there is also a wider cultural legacy of slavery that continues here and now. We see it in the way we conceive of and talk about race, in the marginalization of racialized minorities, in our position economically and politically relative to the position of former slave-dependent economies (specifically but not exclusively the Black majority nations of the Caribbean). We can hear it in our music, even taste it in our food.
3) Hybridity of identity - related to the above, New World countries have forged national identities in a distinctly different way than both the Old World's nation states and its post-colonial lines-on-a-map-istans. Identity is a conscious but palpable construction free(ish) of the bondage of old ethnic ties. In some cases this is the result of actual genetic admixture of formerly scattered peoples often resulting in mixed identities (Métis, Mestizo, Maroon, &c.). In others, we see a mingling of languages creating creoles, mixed languages and even informing our slang (Patois, Kreyòl, Chinook jargon, &c.). More broadly, our societies seem more adept at accepting and integrating disparate cultural groups whether by melting pot, mosaic or what have you.
As far as Canadians recognizing themselves as belonging to a Pan-American identity, I think we still have a ways to go. We're taught, at length, about our ties to Europe. We're reminded of those links constantly, and we ought to recognize that we've spent a good deal of time and energy avoiding our ties to the rest of the hemisphere. We were a staunchly proud colony while Latin America engaged in wars of liberation. We viewed the Monroe Doctrine as an existential threat instead of as a benevolent (but ultimately misguided and even destructive) gesture of continental solidarity in the face of foreign imperialism. We took our sweet time joining the OAS, and have only recently become really awake to our neighbours down-continent (immigration, globalization and the resource extraction industry all playing a role). When do we know we've embraced a Pan-American identity? Is it when we vote as a bloc at the UN (which, IIRC, we recently did re: LGBT rights, some exceptions notwithstanding)? Is it when the Pan-Am Games get more attention than the Commonwealth Games? Is it when some permutation of the FTAA gets past its substantial hurdles? I don't know.