Quebec’s identity crisis
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The Bouchard-Taylor Commission was established in 2007 amid growing concerns among French-Canadian Quebecers about maintaining Quebec's cultural identity in the face of expanding immigration, and Gada Mahrouse's piece offers vital background for the commission. Although the Commission's final report recognized that concerns about cultural deterioration were unjustified, Mahrouse contends that the process itself upheld racialized hierarchies. The consultation process framed immigrants and minorities as "others" whose belonging needed to be defended and negotiated by portraying French-Canadian Quebecers as the judges of what is considered appropriate cultural and religious practices. In addition to upholding preexisting power systems, this dynamic portrayed racialized groups as permanent outsiders.
By analyzing how veiled Muslim women are simultaneously hyper-visible and invisible in secularist discourse, Alia Al-Saji's phenomenological examination of the hijab further muddies the picture. Al-Saji contends that discussions concerning the hijab in France and Quebec are influenced by gendered and colonial constructs of the "modern" against the "traditional," in addition to secularism. The headscarf turns become a contentious emblem that opposes Western gender ideals while also signifying women's oppression. Al-Saji demonstrates how these narratives endure in modern policies and attitudes by relating this to the colonial goal to "unveil" and control.
In Quebec, Sirma Bilge presents the idea of "sexularism," emphasizing the connections between nationalism, gender, and religion. Bilge challenges Quebec's secularist framework, which portrays Muslim communities as intolerant and backward by using feminism and LGBTQ+ rights, by drawing on Jasbir Puar's work on homonationalism. This storyline supports a nationalist ideology that opposes pluralism and values a homogeneous Quebecois identity, in addition to reinforcing Islamophobia.
These conflicts are further demonstrated by the music we studied. I'll Be the King by Neelam Hakeem explores gender relations in a Black Muslim setting, fusing identity navigation difficulties with empowerment. The racialized experiences of airport securitization are described in Sikh Knowledge and Humble the Poet's Security Shuffle, which fosters unity among people of different religious and cultural backgrounds. Both songs emphasize how racially and religious minorities have to deal with systems that make them feel like they don't belong.