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ProQuest Information and Learning 300 North Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, Ml 48106-1346 USA 800-521-0600 ® Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. “II n’y a pas de ‘potentially hot issues’?” Paradoxes of Displaying Arab-Canadian Lands within the Canadian Museum of Civilization Following 9.11 A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts. Institute of Political Economy Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada By Elayne Oliphant April 2005 © Elayne Oliphant Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Library and Bibliotheque et Archives Canada Archives Canada 1*1 0-494-06773-X Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Ottawa ON K1A 0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: Our Tile Notre reference ISBN: NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non L’auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. this thesis. Neither the thesis Ni la these ni des extraits substantiels de nor substantial extracts from it celle-ci ne doivent etre imprimes ou autrement may be printed or otherwise reproduits sans son autorisation. reproduced without the author’s permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne Privacy Act some supporting sur la protection de la vie privee, forms may have been removed quelques formulaires secondaires from this thesis. ont ete enieves de cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires in the document page count, aient inclus dans la pagination, their removal does not represent il n'y aura aucun contenu manquant. any loss of content from the thesis. i + i Canada Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Abstr a ct This thesis examines the implications of the attempted delay and eventual reinstatement of the contemporary art exhibit The Lands within Me: Expressions by Canadian Artists of Arab Origin at the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau following the attacks of September 11, 2001. Located in a national culture and history museum in a multicultural nation in the immediate post-9.11 period, the narratives associated with this display caused temporary ruptures in traditional categories associated with these spaces. As an ethnography of a museum exhibit, this project examines the controversy surrounding The Lands within Me as a critical moment in which the contradictions between the narratives and experiences of belonging in the nation are revealed. ii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. A cknowledgements There are numerous individuals whose assistance and guidance throughout this project must be acknowledged. Patricia Forget at the Canadian Museum of Civilization made the archives an enjoyable and accessible place to conduct lengthy research. Staff at the museum freely offered their time and stories, including Dr. Victor Rabinovitch, Dr. Stephen Inglis, Dr. Andrea Laforet and Dr. Ai'da Kaouk. These discussions were always informative and enlightening. I am thankful to Farouk Kaspoules for his insightful comments and patience in organizing our meeting. Professors Ruth Phillips and Simon Dalby offered invaluable critical reflections at various stages and I am grateful for the time they gave to the project, and for their interest in this topic. Their guidance, however, is not reflected in any shortcomings of the work to follow. Stimulating conversations at the Institute of Political Economy, inside and outside of the classroom were vital in thinking about and providing the basis for this thesis. Finally, I am thankful for the support of Donna Coghill, Cynthia Shelswell, Chris Oliphant, Ronna Smithrim, Dianne Oliphant, Evelyn Patchett and Ryan O’Donnell. iii Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. T a ble o f C o n t en ts List of Figures v P r e fa c e vi . and at night we leave oar dreams on the window sill, memory o f a place 1 Chapter 1: Introduction 4 Lebanon-Canada. via Bahrain 28 Chapter 2: Retelling Stories of Th e L axds wit his M e 30 Quebec, la cinquieme saison 51 C h a pt e r 3: N a r r a t iv e s o f t h e M u s e u m 53 A Great Country Welcomes You 74 C h a pt e r 4: N a r r a t iv e s o f M ulticulturalism 76 Le Regard 95 Chapter 5: N arratives o f 9 .1 1 97 Conclusion 121 Appendix 129 Bibliography 133 IV Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. L ist o f F ig ures _________________________________________________________ Figure 1: Organizational Chart of the Canadian Museum of Civilization 130 Figure 2: Timeline of The Lands within Me 131 Figure 3: Ma Cabane au Canada 132 v Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. P reface I began the work for this ethnography in the fall of 2004. Having recently returned to Ottawa from a summer away, I was delighted to discover that the Canadian Museum of Civilization (CMC), where much of my research would be conducted, was within walking distance of my new home. The season was particularly warm and sunny, allowing the bright colours to remain far longer than anticipated. Perhaps it was this vibrancy that first distracted me from noticing the multitude of representations of the very work I was conducting present on my walk each day. Throughout the year, I discovered that the national capital region was filled with symbols of the various struggles that have occurred around Canada’s national multicultural identity. The daily walk to the museum is brief and requires no more than half an hour of travel in each direction. I begin on Bank Street, a space that always struck me as an aberration from the typically clean, conservative and orderly streets of Ottawa. The city is kept in good working order by a bureaucratic institution known as the National Capital Commission (NCC). This powerful body is charged with encouraging the flourishing culture and vitality of Canada’s capital. Although Ottawa is not a city of extraordinarily high rates of immigration, there are a number of visibly distinct communities within its boundaries. Prominent among these are a multitude of Arab Canadian communities. Before I travel far from my home, along Bank Street, I pass four shawarma houses, a Middle Eastern Bakery and two Middle Eastern grocers. Continuing my journey I encounter a number of buildings where some of the numerous governmental organizations are housed. At Wellington Street I turn due east and walk past the full length of Canada’s parliamentary buildings. Gothic vi Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. structures, many dating from the century only just recently passed, their already impressive stature is thrown further into relief along the crest of a highpoint overlooking the Ottawa River. Crossing the Rideau Canal I reach the scenic site of one of Canada’s grand old railway hotels, the Chateau Laurier. Throughout my recent studies I have learned that these seemingly innocuous sites provide the content for one of the great myths of Canadian nation building. Typical of a settler-colonial worldview, the land, presumed empty and untamed, is populated and modernized through the construction of the railway, creating a single unified link across the vast, wild geographical space. Through this process, particular visions of sovereignty are both expressed and established. Prior to the arrival of Europeans, it was assumed, “the whole of the land is ‘unused,’ hence no sovereignty can exist.” In ‘using’ the land, European colonialists and Canadian nationalists staked an irrevocable claim upon it - an act whose repercussions continue to reverberate for both the land and its early inhabitants today.1 Here, I can see the museum for the first time; its curvatures and slopes make it immediately distinguishable among the strict lines of the century buildings and factories by which it is surrounded.