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Canadian Literatures Beyond the Colour Line: Re-Reading the Category of South Asian-Canadian Literature by Diana Frances Lobb A thesis presented to the University of Waterloo in fulfillment of the thesis requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in English Waterloo, Ontario, Canada, 2011 © Diana Lobb 2011 Author's Declaration I hereby declare that I am the sole author of this thesis. This is a true copy of the thesis, including any required final revisions, as accepted by my examiners. I understand that my thesis may be made electronically available to the public. ii Abstract This dissertation examines current academic approaches to reading South Asian- Canadian literature as a multicultural ―other‖ to Canadian national literature and proposes an alternative reading strategy that allows for these texts to be read within a framework of South Asian diasporic subjectivities situated specifically at the Canadian location. Shifting from the idea that ―Canada‖ names a particular national identity and national literary culture to the idea that ―Canada‖ names a particular geographic terrain at which different cultural, social, and historical vectors intersect and are creolized allows for a more nuanced reading of South Asian- Canadian literature, both in terms of its relationship to the complex history of the South Asian diaspora and in terms of the complex history of South Asian encounters with the Canadian space. Reading prose, poetry, drama, and theatrical institutions as locations where a specifically South Asian-Canadian diasporic subjectivity is reflected, I am able to map a range of individual negotiations among the cultural vector of the ―ancestral‖ past, the cultural vector of the influence of European colonialism, and the cultural vector of this place that demonstrate that the negotiation of South Asian-Canadian diasporic subjectivity and its reflection in literature cannot be understood as producing a homogenous or ―authentic‖ cultural identity. Instead, the literary expression of South Asian-Canadian diasporic subjectivity argues that the outcome of negotiations between cultural vectors that take place in this location are as unique as the individuals who undertake those negotiations. These individual negotiations, I argue, need to be read collectively to trace out a continuum of possible expressions of South Asian-Canadian diasporic subjectivity, a continuum that emphasizes that the processes of negotiation are on- iii going and flexible. This dissertation challenges the assumption that Canadian literature can be contained within the limits of a Canadian nationalist mythology or ethnography. Instead of the literature of the Canadian ―nation‖ or the Canadian ―people,‖ Canadian literature is best understood as the literature produced in this location by all the ―minority‖ populations, including the dominant ―minority.‖ Reading Canadian literature, then, is reading the differential relationships to history and community that occur in this place and which are inscribed in these collectively Canadian texts. iv Acknowledgements Writing this dissertation has been a long adventure fraught with complications. It has been a journey that I could not have undertaken without the kindness, support, and constructive criticism of Dr. Linda Warley. Her teaching and enthusiasm for the literatures of this place, which I encountered during my undergraduate degree, were the first signposts to the field of research that it has been my great joy to explore, under her guidance, at the doctoral level. Dr. Heather Smyth and Dr. Fraser Easton have also been invaluable in the shaping of this dissertation. Their advice and insights into the specificities (and the nuances) of the multiple vectors of theoretical and cultural influence that intersect with my arguments have been greatly appreciated. This project would also not have been possible without the stalwart support of my family: my parents, Roland and Iona; my Aunties; my partner, Colin; and my stepchildren, Oliver, Riley, and Hailey. You have all been patient beyond belief and your support has been without reserve. I thank you and I love you all. And lastly, to David: you made me promise that I would keep going until it was done. I am keeping my promise. I would also like to thank the University of Waterloo, the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Fund, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada for their financial support of my research. v Dedication For Vincent L'Abre (né1738, Poitou, France) and Ione Ghose (née 1932, Lahore, British India) Settler/Invaders of the “New World” vi Table of Contents Contents Author's Declaration ............................................................................................................................. ii Abstract ................................................................................................................................................ iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... v Dedication ............................................................................................................................................ vi Introduction: Reflections In/On South Asian-Canadian Literature............................................................... 1 Chapter I: Debating The Canadian Postmodern act of Survival in The Bush Garden (While Asking: who is Selling Illusions?): South Asian-Canadian Literature and the Institutional Construction of Canadian Literature. .................................................................................................................................................... 25 1. Doing the Nation Differently: Literary Citizenship, Diasporic Citizenship, and the Time(s) of The Nation ...................................................................................................................................................... 36 2. A Nation of Mythic Proportions: Challenging the figure of the Anglo-Celtic Settler/Invader ........... 51 3. Risking Sameness, Gaining Difference: Examining the potential of South Asian-Canadian diasporic literature .................................................................................................................................................. 64 4. ―I AM [a kind of] CANADIAN‖: Describing South Asian-Canadian literature as a ―New World‖ Phenomenon ............................................................................................................................................ 69 5. Performance Reviews: Academic Critique and South Asian-Canadian Diasporic Literature ............ 73 Chapter II: A Bit More Than Just a Heritage Minute: Présence Canadiénne and Representations of the Komagata Maru Incident ............................................................................................................................ 79 1. Talking About The Elephant In The Room: Official Discourse, The Komagata Maru Incident and The Conceit of Deceit: ............................................................................................................................ 93 2. Plotting a Vector: Présence Canadiénne and the Conceit of Deceit ................................................ 102 Chapter III: Stage Directions: Canadian Theatrical Nationhood and South Asian-Canadian Theatre .... 123 1. Red Indians: Vancouver Sath, the Naxalite Movement and Workers' Theatre:................................ 136 2. Money and the Ethnic Vote: Teesri Duniya Theatre, Rahul Varma, and Populist Theatre in Canada. .............................................................................................................................................................. 155 Chapter IV: Indra's Jewelled Net: Reflections and Connections in South Asian-Canadian Fiction ......... 179 1. Location, Location, Location! : Defining Diaspora in Anita Rau Badami's Can You Hear The Nightbird Call?...................................................................................................................................... 189 2 Mise-en-abîme: The Role of Empathy in Rohinton Mistry‘s Tales from Firozsha Baag and A Fine Balance .................................................................................................................................................. 213 Conclusion: Where is here? ...................................................................................................................... 240 References ......................................................................................................................................... 251 vii Introduction: Reflections In/On South Asian-Canadian Literature In an academic environment where the terms of literary study are being transformed, where the discourse of the nation seems to be being rewritten by processes of globalization to become the discourse of the transnational postnation, where the discourse of the postcolonial is being rewritten as post-theoretical discourse, does it still make sense to talk about a Canadian national literature or a ―minority‖ literature like South Asian-Canadian literature? The answer really depends on how we choose to read those terms: Canadian national literature and South Asian-Canadian literature. If we choose to read either or both of these terms as marking out within creative texts a shared identity rooted in a cultural or ontological essential identity, then the answer is no. Reading these terms