CBC – ZERO ANTHROPOLOGY

Cultural Appropriation, Cultural Exploitation, Cultural Genocide: Problems of Neoliberal Diversity Management

In Canada, “a yoga instructor…says her free class at the University of Ottawa was cancelled because of concerns over cultural appropriation….‘There were some cultural sensitivity issues and people were offended’,” this despite the fact that yoga was deliberately spread to the West by Indian gurus and was meant to be shared. In Lethbridge, Alberta, high […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Heroism in Doubt: Canadian War Mythology Takes a Hit from Wikileaks

The Toronto Sun, a notoriously right wing tabloid, said of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that it had become “unhinged,” that the CBC has “truly lost its collective mind over the WikiLeaks release of the Afghan war logs.” Another piece in the Sun concluded, “leave it to the CBC to smear our troops.” What egregious act […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Québec-Vermont: An Even Better Union, Against State-Sponsored Fear

Another Chapter in “Border Studies” I was reminded of one of the stuffier, starchy clichés in Barack Obama’s speeches, about a “more perfect union,” as I thought of two seemingly disparate facts: the strong subterranean movement of socialist and anti-imperialist thinking and practice within Québec, and the fact that Vermont is one state within the […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS FOR ABORIGINALS IN CANADA: Links to Key Resources

RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS FOR ABORIGINALS IN CANADA TRUTH & RECONCILIATION COMMISSION Mandate for Truth and Reconciliation Commission June 1, 2008 – Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission is Formally Established and Operational Statement of the Commissioners of the Indian Residential Schools Truth and Reconciliation Commission concerning the apology to be made by the Prime Minister […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

“Canada” — Dealing with the Hate Crime: Prime Minister’s Apology to Aboriginals this Wednesday (2.2)

Following up on the last post about “Canada,” there was news today that “Canadian” Prime Minister Stephen Harper will be making a formal apology to aboriginals this coming Wednesday, at 3:00pm, in the parliament in Ottawa. This apology is specifically for the treatment of aboriginals in the residential schools. Aboriginal leaders are asking the wider […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

“Canada” — The Name of a Hate Crime

I have often thought that “Canada” is probably best understood as a euphemism for hate crime, a code word for invasion, a federal fantasy born of imperialism, built on internal colonialism. It’s the kind of case study that could be used for validating the notion of “invented tradition,” as it was created in part by […]

by Maximilian C. Forte

Government retreats on copyright reform

A Canadian news story on a momentary stalling of the entrenchment of the copyright culture in Canada. The weight of this culture of permission, of closed access, is felt especially heavily in Canadian universities, where royalties are collected, presumably on the behalf of authors, while restricting the extent of access to any given author’s work. […]