Defining Narratives of Identity in Canadian Political Science: Accounting for the Absence of Race

Abstract

The genesis for this review includes two observations and two wellgrounded suspicions. The first observation is that mainstream CPS literature is heavily weighted to a consideration of some 'identities'~regions, Quebec, provinces, cultural0linguistic0ethnic groups! over others~gendered, racialized and class-based identifications, indigenous nationalist0 nation-based 'identities'!. Second, CPS literature is notable in that while discussions of ethnicity0culture figure prominently in a number of areas, discussions of 'race', racialization and racism remain conspicuously absent. Consequently, the first suspicion is that while a focus on 'identity' inclusions may lead one to focus on the variability of CPS approaches to 'identity', a contemplation of exclusions urges us to consider how dominant CPS narratives are coherent enough to have a particular narrowing effect. The corollary suspicion is that the ubiquity of the absence of 'race' suggests that discourses of 'identity' in CPS sift 'race' out.In tandem with the breadth of the conceptual work that 'identity' is supposed to do, the consistent analytic submerging of 'race' in CPS has important consequences for the integrity of the field. The different dimensions of 'identity' that Brubaker and Cooper reference are interrelated yet arguably distinct; consequently, there is a conceptual and analytic danger when they are collapsed upon each other. Our understanding of "who" is directly tied to how we draw correlations, identify moments of transition and change, assess political significance, understand political motivations, conceptualize the exercise of power, and make sense of unanticipated actions and consequences. Consequently, a lack of clarity0 transparency around the level of analysis we adopt when we speak about 'identity' jeopardizes our analytic rigour. Moreover, clarity0transparency around our level of analysis allows us to identify which dimensions of 'identity' are consistently being ignored and how a particular analytic focus might contribute to the erasure of 'race'. The consequences of the analytic submerging of 'race' are extreme, ultimately erasing a particular class of political subjects, a particular technology of political power, as well as the material history of the Canadian state and the discipline's implication in it. The erasure of 'race' further limits how we conceptualize other forms of domination and resistance, given that 'race' exists in complex and constant interplay with other structuring forms of identification. As Thompson rightly suggests, disciplinary lag, "whereby political science becomes disconnected from the society it purports to analyze," gives us reason for concern~2008: 536!.This review broadly surveys and maps how CPS has considered and shaped the logic of 'identity' within three main disciplinary dimensions: the institutional, societal0citizenship and governance dimensions. As Kernerman states in the context of multicultural nationalism, the operating logic of a field "defines the broad objective of the conversation and se...

The Future of Canadian Political Science: Boundary Transgressions, Gender and Anti-Oppression Frameworks

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Engaging with Identity Politics in Canadian Political Science

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