Racism In Canad A Conceptual Analysis

First, I will discuss where I was raised and how this reflects how I define and consume race and racism in Canada. In this paragraph I will discuss how my personal experience of being raised in a white dominated community relates to terms such as: post colonialism, collective consciousness, assimilation policy and whiteness. By discussing my personal experience and relating it back to these concepts I will get a better sense of how racism is shaped in the area I grew up in. To begin, I was raised in a white European dominated community called Woodbridge. In this community most of the residents are of Italian descent and are immigrants themselves originating from Italy. Therefore, this brings in the idea we learned in lecture of post colonialism. …show more content…
For example, my nonno wants me and my brother to continue this practice so we can continuously show the community that we are of European descent. Another Eurocentric idea that has been constantly shown and brought up to me as I was growing up in Woodbridge was the idea of speaking Italian and seeing my nonno and nonna every Sunday for family meals. This ties in to Italian culture and again shows that my grandparents want my brother and me to carry on not only these cultural traditions but as well carry on and show the community how we are of European descent. In addition, this relates to Emilie Durkheim’s concept of collective consciousness. This concept is a primary source of identity formation. “Similarities among members or sameness within the social group lead members to differentiate between themselves and others and to prefer their own kind over others” (Satzewich and Liodakis, 2013, p. 7). This idea of collective consciousness is apparent in Woodbridge because most residents relate with one another. For the most part they share the same values, beliefs, and traditions. Moreover, this relates specifically to the Italians in Woodbridge and the Eurocentric ideas I listed