Canadians Suffer Indignities, Deserve Studies Program

To the Editors:

Benjamin Holt’s daring manifesto, published in both English and French while not exceeding 600 words, is a beacon. Canada has long remained beyond the pale of the U.S. citizen’s imagination aside from limited and degrading instances. Meanwhile, U.S. minorities have entered the breach, battling in academia and the polity for justice and for recognition. Somehow, something was always missing. That something was Canada.
Consider, that in three decades after cautious beginnings, African American studies have become anchored at Oberlin and elsewhere. The history department now offers courses on the Chicano experience and on the U.S./Mexico borderlands. Asian American studies, making inroads, and now the comparative study of ethnic groups in the United States has been enshrined as a major. Why has the border with Canada been ignored, the cultures of the northern country passed over in silence? Dare I say, the ethnic studies partisans are guilty of prejudicial nationalism, if unintended: what happens in Los Angeles or New York or Cleveland is important, but not Toronto, Whitehorse or Quebec.
One could take this as occasion for resentment of Canada, blaming the victim of our failings, sneering at the casualties of Yankee priorities. None of that would be fair. Chin up, Oberlin, because we have a new mission: the elevation of Canada into our conception of human life worthy of study. Nor will Canadian studies be the last crusade. The infinite multiplication of U.S. courses and majors is achieved at the expense of studying anything from anywhere else. Entire continents, such as Australia, can be lost in the process. It is time to expand non-U.S. courses in lockstep with U.S. courses. Otherwise, national narcissism will be the inevitable result, even if the self-gaze is subdivided along immigration patterns.
Come on, Yankees, we know this is not fair. Think quietly to yourself about the indignities Canadians are made to suffer, even by yourself and your peers. Have you been party to “jokes” told “in dialect,” where the different pronunciation of the “ou” dipthong and the addition of the colloquial “eh?” let everyone know that the laugh is at Canadian expense? How about, as brother Ben Holt tells us, the onslaught of “Blame Canada” and other references to the South Park movie? I have known a radical hippie from NEW YORK who perhaps exhibits the national prejudices best. Upon hearing of comparative American ethnic studies, he was a firm supporter. When the subject of Canada arose, this usual non-militarist made a throwaway comment on the ease with which U.S. forces could defeat her. He is not, mind you, evil. The attitude is, however.
When my New Yorker friend made a joke of Canada, he showed not so much well rehearsed antipathy as slovenly indifference. For the most part, in progressive environments, we may only face this. I fear, however, that the very act of raising the issue of Canadian studies will generate a vicious opposition if it is not simply ignored. To the lazily anti-Canadian — most of Oberlin — I say wake up, grow up, join up. Do not shun the opportunity to educate and rectify your world and yourself. To the fervently anti-Canadian, I say that you will be your own gravediggers. Chauvinism against the children of the Maple Leaf will leave you damned in the judgment of history.
Six hundred words are hardly sufficient to explore the lives of 28 million Canadians and their importance to North America and the world. This is symptomatic of most letters to the editor. Some issues are simply more important than a few column inches.

–Adam Balling
OC ’01