In Reconstructions of Canadian Identity: Towards Diversity and Inclusion, editors Professor Maciel Jorge and Vander Tavares bring together diverse perspectives to investigate inclusion and exclusion within the processes, discourses, and practices that forge and frame Canadian identity. They examine the way in which current multicultural policies continue to benefit the dominant groups and (further) harm minoritized ones. Illustrating both the shortcomings of and possibilities for a more inclusive multiculturalism in Canada, Reconstructions of Canadian Identity invites readers to reflect on what it means to be Canadian in the twenty-first century.

“This collection is an invitation to rethink Canadianness as necessarily multicultural and vibrantly ethnoracially and religiously diverse: an elusive ideal but one we ought to continue to struggle towards,” says Handel Wright, the Director for the Centre for Culture, Identity, & Education at the University of British Columbia.

“The multiplicity of perspectives and voices represented in this collection draws attention to core contradictions associated with Canadian identity,” says Terry Wotherspoon from the University of Saskatchewan. “Interconnected themes and analytical frames enrich the work, offering unique ways of reconsidering what Canada represents as a nation.”

Maria João Maciel Jorge is an Associate Professor of Portuguese and Luso-Brazilian Studies in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Linguistics, and is the Associate Dean of Global & Community Engagement in the Faculty of Liberal Arts & Professional Studies. A first-generation scholar, Maria João (M. J.) Maciel Jorge immigrated to Canada from the Azores in 1989. She holds a PhD from the University of Toronto, and her research and publications include both Spanish and Portuguese early modern literatures as well as colonial and new world encounters, and Portuguese island culture and literature. 

Vander Tavares is a Postdoctoral Researcher in education at Inland Norway University of Applied Sciences and holds a PhD from York University.