| This thesis considers the representational practices of Canadian museums and their relationship to a particularly Canadian form of multicultural nationalism. The underlying premise of my investigation is that, although multicultural nationalism claims to be—and in many ways is—particularly inclusive of a wide range of differences, it will, like any nationalism, always place restrictions on both the quantity and quality of differences that it will accommodate and on the ways in which it will accommodate them. It will thus encourage a certain form of tolerance, and even celebration of difference, but only within certain limits. These limits, although always open to negotiation, will be defined by the caveat that the inclusion of difference must not challenge the unity, authority or legitimacy of the nation itself, or in this case, of the national state. My argument is that the representational practices of museums are significantly shaped by negotiations over these limits, and that museums in turn both shape and provide legitimation for the limits of cultural differentiation in the broader society.;More specifically, this thesis examines how, through various practices of representation, major Canadian museums not only reflect a nationally delimited multiculturalism but also reproduce a specifically multicultural nationalism in both obvious and not so obvious ways. They reiterate its hegemonic narratives of a benevolently inclusive national state and affirm the relationships that it sets up between the nation and its citizens, and within the nation between its citizens. On the other hand, museums also function as sites in which these narratives and relationships can be challenged and renegotiated. Much like multicultural nationalism itself, museums are always simultaneously both disciplinary and dialogical. On this basis, my work explores the productive capacity of these contradictions. In doing so, it addresses questions about the possibilities and limitations of both museums and multicultural nationalism in relation to their stated intentions towards the betterment of society.;Keywords: Nationalism, Multiculturalism, Museums, Representation. |
