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The authors were lax in using EXALTED SUBJECTS: between Europeans and Natives, and diagrams and charts in the first half STUDIES IN THE issues of citizenship. She argues that of the book, the first time that the MAKING OF RACE the encounter of Europeans with readers saw a chart or diagram was Native peoples during the fur trade in Chapter 8, which could be seen as AND NATION IN was marked by violence and that the a detriment. There were other places CANADA colonial relationship has been hierar- where the authors could have used chical. She states that the Europeans a chart or diagram, especially when Sunera Thobani perceived the indigenous peoples as discussing colonization. Chapter Toronto: University of Toronto “uncivilized,” “not fully human,” 8 also provided a summary of the Press, 2007 non-Christian with no recognizable factors of resettlement as well as a legal system, and consequently law- summary of the rest of the chapters reviewed by tabassum less. Hence the Europeans draw on of the book from that point forward. fahim ruby these differences to articulate a racial This is detrimental because many and religious superiority as legitimate readers may not want to continue reasons for subjugating Natives. reading or they might just jump to In Exalted Subjects, Sunera Tho- Presumed racial superiority then was the most important chapter, which bani engages with state policies/laws, extended to immigration policies. is Chapter 19. Although, Chapter practices, myths, and ideologies that Thobani observes that “undesired” 19 is extremely significant in this conceptualize and construct Canada’s immigrants such as Chinese, Japa- book because it points out the im- national identity. She argues that In- nese, and Indians have been victims portance of Nunavut as well as its digenous peoples and immigrants have of discriminatory Canadian immigra- negative and positive aspects; the come to be constituted as “Others” in tion policies. She also critiques the authors have failed to discuss the relation to white Canadians or what views of Seyla Benhabib, a feminist impact that Nunavut has on the she calls the “Exalted Subjects.” While philosopher and political theorist rest of Canada—specifically on the the “exalted national” is law-abiding, on citizenship. Thobani argues that province of Quebec, many o whose the subject that is constructed as the rather than examining citizenship residents have always wanted to be outsider is susceptible to lawlessness; from the perspectives of those who are a separate nation. the “exalted national” is compas- denied this status, such as Indigenous In conclusion, the authors have sionate, and what is constituted as peoples, Benhabib focuses on the ex- done an excellent job at recounting the outsider wants to gain access to periences of those who are already at the story of the Inuit people, specifi- valuable resources; and while the for- the centre. Thobani also examines the cally women, from past to present. mer is committed to gender equality, constitution of subjectivity through They have done their job and been the later is irremediably patriarchal. the points system. She writes that able to let the reader acknowledge Moreover, Thobani notes that “the the category of “person suitability” the fact that Nunavut should be master narrative” of Canada as a na- grants immigration officers, who etched in Canadian Inuit history. tion of law-abiding citizens who are “disproportionately favoured male It is important to get beyond the committed to the values of diversity applicants as independents over negative data, they note, “and to and multiculturalism is seen to be in female applicants,” an immense move toward understanding their danger in the post 9/11 era. Muslim power. Moreover, Thobani notes that empowerment.” immigrants and those who “look like the events of 9/11 and the London Muslims” have come to be constructed bombing have provided excuses to Emma Posca is a York University alum- as a serious threat to the very survival Canadian immigration to further nus. She graduated in 2002 with an of Canada. Hence, they not only restrict citizenship rights of the “non- Honors Bachelors Degree in Sociology require surveillance, but also provide preferred” groups. and Law and Society and in 2007 justification for increased restrictions Issues of welfare and notions of with a Masters Degree in Geography. on Canadian immigration and citizen- multiculturalism are stereotypically Currently, Emma is conducting research ship. Thobani’s careful examination of tied to immigrants and Indigenous for future Ph.D. candidacy while Canadian nationhood is a significant peoples. Thobani takes up these is- working in an administrative role in contribution in the area of race, nation, sues in her third and forth chapters the Graduate Program in English at and citizenship. However, I would sug- and argues, “Rather than doing away York University. gest that the idea of “keeping Canada with the socio-economic inequalities white” and its effects on indigenous of class and gender, the welfare state and immigrant women requires some further institutionalized and deep- further examination. ened [them].” For instance, Thobani In the first two chapters, Thobani writes that welfare policies reinforce examines unbalanced power relations women’s dependency on men and put

VOLUME 26, NUMBERS 3,4 233 women in a hierarchical relationship nadian nationality as superior, its very Tabassum Fahim Ruby is a Ph.D. can- where the traditional heterosexual survival threatened by the “fanatic” didate in the Department of Women’s nuclear family becomes a “fundamen- Muslim. Further, feminist gender Studies at York University. Areas of her tal principle of social organization.” values are used to justify the “war research interest include colonialism, Nonetheless, Thobani observes that on terror.” After all, Thobani states, a modernity, race and racism, identity, Aboriginal communities and mothers central slogan in mobilizing popular and Islam and gender. were denied the right to raise their support for the war in Afghanistan children, as they were forced to send and for Canadian participation in this their children to residential schools “good” war is to save Muslim girls and TROUBLING where they experienced “deep racial women from the Taliban. WOMEN’S STUDIES: denigration of their communities Analyses of post 9/11 security mea- PASTS, PRESENTS by their teachers and guardians.” sures in the light of historical racist AND POSSIBILITIES Despite having social hierarchies, immigration policies are thus a timely Canada prides itself as being a multi- project. Thobani examines these Ann Braithwaite, Susan Heald, cultural society that respects different issues meticulously and her engage- Susanne Luhmann, and Sharon cultures. However, Thobani argues ment with the subject is insightful and Rosenberg that the idea of multiculturalism informative. Throughout the book, Toronto: Sumach Press, 2004 politically identifies people of colour Thobani discusses “keeping Canada by their cultural backgrounds. And white” idea’s impact on women. Her reviewed by rachel race is reconfigured as culture where analysis, however, sometimes falls “all people of colour would become short of engaging Native women’s hurst ideologically constructed as immi- issues and, besides the Indian Act, the grants on the basis of their shared effects of colonialism on their lives. Troubling Women’s Studies is a criti- cultural and linguistic diversity.” Similarly, the points system not only cal intervention into the practice of Multiculturalism thus comes to attest “disproportionately favoured male Women’s Studies in the (Canadian) to the enduring superiority of white- applicants,” but in essence it is mas- university. This book accomplishes ness. Further, Thobani writes, mul- culine and class based. For instance, the difficult work of formulating ticulturalism diverts attention from a person would earn a maximum questions that face Women’s Stud- the power relations that reproduce of 25 points if s/he has a Master’s ies in a university climate shaped racial hierarchies since it suggests or a Ph.D. degree, and 24 points if by two factors: an increasingly that conflicts arise from “ignorance fluent in national languages. Most instrumental vision of university and cultural intolerance,” rather than immigrants come from countries education within the institution at social inequalities. where resources are limited. Many large, and the inclination in Women’s In the last two chapters, she exam- parents often send male children to Studies in particular to transmit ines the most recent changes to im- get higher education because in turn, histories that paradoxically function migration policies. Thobani reviews potentially they would bring higher as legitimization and ossification of the Immigration Policy Review (ipr), salaries into the family. Thus, many the (inter)discipline. The authors the Social Security Review (ssr), and prospective female applicants’ social convincingly present the founda- post 9/11 security measures. Through circumstance may not allow them to tions of Women’s Studies as rooted these documents, she argues that score as high on the points system as in modernism, with goals that are no Canadian immigration articulates male applicants. Thobani, however, longer tenable and appear impossible: Canada as white and through its does not examine the gender effects under these conditions, how do we policies tries to “keep Canada white.” of the points system. Moreover, the “pass on” (meant by the authors in However, since Canada’s birth rate is dustcover of the book shows an image all senses of the phrase) Women’s declining, and the population is ag- of a woman who has her head covered. Studies? A key question elaborated ing, it cannot sustain itself without The illustration thus suggests that in the text is about how we pass on immigrants. Hence, Thobani notes the book focuses on women, which Women’s Studies (in contrast to a that some of the recommendations is somewhat contrary to its content. conventional focus on what contents these reviews proposed include that Nevertheless, Thobani’s contribution get passed on). The authors argue Canada should return to the pre-1960 on the subject of race and nation- against fortifying the boundaries source countries because by doing so, making is substantive. Academics of Women’s Studies by articulating it would not have to deal with cultural would find Exalted Subjects an a singular definition of the field in and racial tensions. For the most part invaluable book that engages criti- reaction to the contemporary climate. these suggestions are sparked by the cally with Canada’s national identity, Instead, they encourage cultivat- “war on terror.” Thobani argues that Indigenous rights, migration, and ing an atmosphere of intellectual these discursive measures recast Ca- citizenship. curiosity and openness, even as this

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