Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-dsjbd Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-27T14:44:17.771Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Narrating Canadian Political Science: History Revisited

Presidential Address to the Canadian Political Science Association Toronto, Ontario May 30, 2017

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 December 2017

Yasmeen Abu-Laban
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

In this address, I argue that the organizational and ideational evolution of political science is closely interconnected with Canada’s history and unequal social relations since Confederation. This is because organized political science in Canada was really at heart a national venture. As a consequence, in order to understand the ideas animating early political scientists we have to consider Canada’s foundational status as a settler colony in the North American space, with a privileged place in the British Empire. This perspective may also help to highlight the distinct features of the colonial present which are giving rise to multiple sites of knowledge production-or multiple knowledges.

Résumé

Dans cette allocution, je soutiens que l'évolution institutionnelle et conceptuelle de la science politique est étroitement liée à l'histoire du Canada et à l'inégalité des relations sociales depuis la Confédération. Cela s'explique, je crois, par le fait que la science politique au Canada a vraiment été une discipline liée à l'entreprise nationale. Par conséquent, pour comprendre les idées qui ont animé les premiers politologues, nous devons considérer le statut fondamental du Canada comme une colonie de colons dans l'espace nord-américain, avec une place privilégiée dans l'Empire britannique. Cette perspective peut également aider à mettre en évidence les caractéristiques distinctes de l'héritage colonial aujourd'hui qui donnent lieu à de multiples sites de production de connaissances toujours liées à cet héritage.

Type
Research Article
Information
Canadian Journal of Political Science/Revue canadienne de science politique , Volume 50 , Issue 4 , December 2017 , pp. 895 - 919
Copyright
Copyright © Canadian Political Science Association (l'Association canadienne de science politique) and/et la Société québécoise de science politique 2017 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

For helpful comments I thank political science colleagues Linda Cardinal, Matt James, Kiera Ladner, Nisha Nath, Tim Nieguth, Michael Orsini and Daniel Salée, and for their assistance in publication, my thanks to past and current English-language editors Graham White and Brenda O'Neill. For research assistance, I thank University of Alberta Ph.D. candidates Emrah Keskin and Justin Leifso. A special thank you to artist Kent Monkman for so generously sharing his work with the political science community.

References

Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. 2001. “Humanizing the Oriental: Edward Said and Western Scholarly Discourse.” In Revisingo Culture, Reinventing Peace: The Influence of Edward W. Said, ed. Aruri, Naseer and Shuraydi, Muhammad A.. New York and Northampton: Interlink/Olive Branch Press.Google Scholar
Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. 2016. “Representing a Diverse Canada in Political Science: Power, Ideas and the Emergent Challenge of Reconciliation.” European Political Science 15 (4): 493–507.Google Scholar
Ainley, Marianne Gosztonyi. 1999. “Mabel F. Timlin, 1891–1976: A Woman Economist in the World of Men.” Atlantis 23 (2): 28–38.Google Scholar
Albaugh, Quinn M. 2017. “The Americanization of Canadian Political Science? The Doctoral Training of Canadian Political Science Faculty.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 50 (1): 243–62.Google Scholar
Bakan, Abigail B. 2014. “Race, Class and Colonialism: Reconsidering the ‘Jewish Question.’” In Theorizing Anti-Racism: Linkages in Marxism and Critical Race Theories, ed. Bakan, Abigail B. and Dua, Enakshi. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Banting, Keith. 2010. “Is There a Progressive's Dilemma in Canada? Immigration, Multiculturalism and the Welfare State.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 43 (4): 797–820.Google Scholar
Battell Lowman, Emma and Barker, Adam J.. 2015. Settler Identity and Colonialism in 21st Century Canada. Halifax: Fernwood Press.Google Scholar
Berkenpas, Josh. 2016. “The Behavioural Revolution: A Genealogy of a Concept.” European Political Science 15: 233–50.Google Scholar
Borden, Rt. Hon. R.L. 1913. “Opening Address.” Canadian Political Science Associaiton: Papers and Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting Canadian. Ottawa, September 4.Google Scholar
Cairns, Alan C. 1975. “Political Science in Canada and the Americanization Issue.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 8 (2): 191–235.Google Scholar
Canadian Political Science Association Diversity Task Force (CPSA DTF). 2012. “Report and Analysis of the Canadian Political Science Association Member Survey.” Abu-Laban, Y., Everitt, J. , Johnston, R., Papillon, M. and Rayside, D.. (November 2, 2017).Google Scholar
Canadian Association of University Teachers. 2016. CAUT Guide to Acknowledging Traditional Territory. (February 1, 2017).Google Scholar
Canadian Election Study/Étude Électoral Canadienne. (May 16, 2017).Google Scholar
Cardinal, Linda. 2005. “New Institutionalism and Political Science in Quebec.” In New Institutionalism: Theory and Analysis, ed. Lecours, André. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Cardinal, Linda, Couture, Claude and Denis, Claude. 1999. “La Révolution tranquille à l’épreuve de la ‘nouvelle’ historiographie et de l'approche post-colonial. Une démarche exploratoire.” Globe 21: 75–95.Google Scholar
Coulthard, Glen. 2014. Red Skin, White Masks: Rejecting the Colonial Politics of Recognition. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.Google Scholar
Davis, Lennard. 2001. “Nationality, Disability and Deafness.” In Revising Culture, Reinventing Peace: The Influence of Edward W. Said, ed. Aruri, Naseer and Shuraydi, Muhammad A.. New York and Northampton: Interlink/Olive Branch Press.Google Scholar
Dawson, C.A. 1943. “Canada in Perspective.” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 9 (3): 289–99.Google Scholar
Dembski, Peter E. Paul. 2017. “Introduction.” In Travels and Identities: Elizabeth and Adam Shortt in Europe, 1911, ed. Paul Dembski, Peter E.. Waterloo: Wilfrid Laurier University Press.Google Scholar
Dhamoon, Rita and Abu-Laban, Yasmeen. 2009. “Dangerous (Internal) Foreigners and Nation-Building: The Case of Canada.” International Political Science Review 30 (2):163–83.Google Scholar
Dimand, Robert. W. 2008. “How Keynes Came to Canada: Mabel Timlin and Keynesian Economics.” In Keynes for the Twenty First Century: The Continuing Relevance of The General Theory , ed. Forstater, Matthew and Wray, L. Randall. New York and Houndsmills: Palgrave Macmillan.Google Scholar
Donald, W.J.A. 1913. “Notes: The Canadian Political Science Association.” Journal of Political Economy 21 (8): 762–64.Google Scholar
Dua, Enakshi. 2014. “Not Quite a Case of the Disappearing Marx: Tracing the Place of Material Relations in Postcolonial Theory.” In Theorizing Anti-Racism: Linkages in Marxism and Critical Race Theories, ed. Bakan, Abigail B. and Dua, Enakshi. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Easton, David. 1969. “The New Revolution in Political Science.” American Political Science Review 63 (4): 1051–62.Google Scholar
Éditorial. 1995. Politique et Sociétés 28 (August): 3.Google Scholar
Ferguson, Barry Glen. 1993. Remaking Liberalism: The Intellectual Legacy of Adam Shortt, O.D. Skelton, W.C. Clark, and W. A. Mackintosh, 1890–1925. Montreal and Kingston: McGill-Queen's University Press.Google Scholar
Fierlbeck, Catherine. 2005. The Development of Political Thought in Canada. Peterborough: Broadview Press.Google Scholar
Forsey, Eugene A. 1962. “Canada: Two Nations or One?” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 28 (4): 485–501.Google Scholar
Gagnon, Alain-G. and Iacovino, Raffaele. 2007. Federalism, Citizenship and Quebec. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Gibson, J. Douglas. 1956. “The Changing Influence of the United States on the Canadian Economy.” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 22 (4): 421–36.Google Scholar
Godbout, Jean-François. 2017. “Les cinquante ans de la Revue candienne de science politique: Le blingualisme en déclin?” Revue canadienne de science politique 50 (1): 3–11.Google Scholar
Green, Joyce. 1995. “Toward a Détente with History” International Journal of Canadian Studies 12 (Fall): 85–105.Google Scholar
Green, Joyce. 2001. “Canaries in the Mines of Citizenship: Indian Women in Canada.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 34 (4): 715–38.Google Scholar
Green, Joyce. 2007. “Taking Account of Aboriginal Feminism.” In Making Space for Indigenous Feminism, ed. Green, Joyce. Winnipeg: Fernwood Publishing.Google Scholar
Halperin, Sandra and Oliver Research. 2017. Political Research: Methods and Practical Skills. 2nd ed. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Hankivsky, Olena. 2014. “Rethinking Care Ethics: On the Promise and Potential of an Intersectional Analysis.” American Political Science Review 108 (2): 252–64.Google Scholar
Heron, Craig. 2016. “A Workingman Watches.” Canada Watch (Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies of York University) Spring: 27–29.Google Scholar
Héroux-Legault, Maxime. 2017. “The Evolution of Methodological Techniques in The Canadian Journal of Political Science .” The Canadian Journal of Political Science 50 (1): 121–42.Google Scholar
Hopper, Tristin. 2017. “‘This measure has not excited much interest’ : The Brits who created Canada 150 years ago were bored out of their minds.” The National Post (Toronto), March 30. (March 30, 2017).Google Scholar
Huntington, Samuel P. 1993. “The Clash of Civilizations?” Foreign Affairs 72 (2): 22–50.Google Scholar
Hurd, W. Burton. 1930. “The Relation of the Origins of Immigrants to the Settlement of the Country.” Papers and Proceedings of The Annual Meeting of the Canadian Political Science Association. vol. ii. Ottawa, May 1930.Google Scholar
Kellogg, Paul. 2015. Escape from the Staple Trap: Canadian Political Economy After Left Nationalism. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
King, Mackenzie. 1947. Canada, House of Commons. Debates (vol. III, May 1): 2644–46.Google Scholar
Kuhn, Thomas S. 1962. The Structure of Scientific Revolutions. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Kuokkanen, Rauna. 2007. Reshaping the University: Responsibility, Indigenous Epistemes and the Logic of the Gift. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Lalande, Gilles. 1971. “Presidential Address.” CPSA Newsletter (September): 1–6.Google Scholar
Ladner, Kiera L. 2017. “Taking the Field: 50 Years of Indigenous Politics in CJPS .” Canadian Journal of Political Science 50 (1): 163–79.Google Scholar
Ladner, Kiera and Tait, Myra, eds. 2017. Surviving Canada: Indigenous Peoples Celebrate 150 Years of Betrayal. Winnipeg: Arbeiter Ring.Google Scholar
Lambert, Steve. 2016. “Jets, Oilers Among Organizations Leading Way in Indigenous Tributes,” Oct. 24. (March 15, 2017).Google Scholar
Lévesque, Henri-Georges. 1952. “Humanisme et sciences sociales.” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 18 (3): 263–70.Google Scholar
LaSelva, Samuel V. 1996. The Moral Foundations of Canadian Federalism: Paradoxes, Achievements, and Tragedies of Nationhood. Montreal: McGill-Queen's Unviersity Press.Google Scholar
Lindroos, Kia, Cardinal, Linda, Sawyer, Marian and Laurent, Mathieu St. 2014. IPSA Gender Monitoring Report 2013. Montreal: International Political Science Association.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour Martin. 1990. Continental Divide: The Values and Institutions of the United States and Canada. New York and London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Lucas, Jack. 2013. “A Century of Political Science in Canada.” Journal of Canadian Studies 47 (2): 89–118.Google Scholar
Macdonald, Laura. 1995. “Unequal Partnerships: The Politics of Canada's Relations with the Third World.” Studies in Political Economy 47 (Summer): 111–41.Google Scholar
Mahdavi, Mojtaba and Knight, W. Andy. 2013. “Towards ‘the Dignity of Difference?’ Neither ‘End of History,’ nor ‘Clash of Civilizations.’ “In Towards the Dignity of Difference? Neither “End of History” nor “Clash of Civilizations,” ed.Mahdavi, Mojtaba and Knight, W. Andy. Farnham UK and Burlngton VT: 1–23.Google Scholar
Maillé, Chantal. 2007. “Réception de la théorie postcoloniale dans le féminisme québécois.”Recherches feministes 20 (2): 91–111.Google Scholar
Martel, Marcel 2016. “An Example for the World? Confederation and French Canadians.” Canada Watch (Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies of York University) Spring: 7–9.Google Scholar
McPherson, Kathryn. 2016. “Gender and the Confederation Debates.” Canada Watch (Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies of York University) Spring: 30–32.Google Scholar
Meisel, John. 1962. The Canadian general election of 1957. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Moniére, Denis. 1982. “Présentation.” Politique 1 (1): 5–7.Google Scholar
Monroe, Kristen Renwick, ed. 2005. Perestroika! The Raucous Rebellion in Political Science. New Haven CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Morgan-Feir, Caoimhe. (2017). “Kent Monkman: History Painting for a Colonized Canada.” (March 20 2017).Google Scholar
Nath, Nisha. 2011. “Defining Narratives of Identity in Canadian Political Science: Accounting for the Absence of Race.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 44 (1): 161–93.Google Scholar
Orsini, Michael. 2012. “Autism, Neurodiversity and the Welfare State: The Challenges of Accommodating Neurological Difference.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 45 (4): 805–27.Google Scholar
Newton, Janice 2017. “The Formative Decades of CPSA.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 50 (1): 37–55.Google Scholar
Noël, Alain. 2013. “A Century Old Association, with a Youthful Bent.” Canadian Political Science Association. (April 15, 2017).Google Scholar
Papillon, Martin. 2009. “Towards a Postcolonial Federalism? The Challenges of Aboriginal Self-Determination in the Canadian Context.” In Contemporary Canadian Federalism: Foundations, Traditions, Institutions, ed. Gagnon, Alain-G.. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Papillon, Martin. 2008. “Is the Secret to Have a Good Dentist? Canadian Contributions to the Study of Federalism in Divided Societies.” In The Comparative Turn in Canadian Politics, ed. White, Linda A., Simeon, Richard, Vipond, Robert and Wallner, Jennifer. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
Pennock, Pamela E. 2017. The Rise of the Arab American Left: Activists, Allies and their Fight against Imperialism and Racism, 1960s-1980s. Chapel Hill NC: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Rocher, François. 2007. “The End of ‘Two Solitudes?’ The Presence (or Absence) of the Work of French-speaking Scholars in Canadian Politics.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 40 (4): 833–57.Google Scholar
Rocher, François and Stockemer, Daniel. 2017. “Langue de publication des politologues francophones du Canada.” Revue canadienne de science politique 50 (1): 97–120.Google Scholar
Russell, Peter. 2004. Constitutional Odyssey: Can Canadians Become a Sovereign People? 3rd ed. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Said, Edward W. 1994. Culture and Imperialism. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Said, Edward W. 1979. The Question of Palestine. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Said, Edward W. [1978]1979. Orientalism. New York: Vintage Books.Google Scholar
Salée, Daniel 2013. “L’évolution des rapports politiques entre la société québécoise et les peuples autochtones depuis la crise d'Oka.” In Les Autochtones et le Québec. Des premiers contacts au Plan Nord, ed. Beaulieu, Alain, Gervaois, Stéphan and Papillon, Martin. Montreal: Presses de l'Université de Montréal.Google Scholar
Shortt, Adam. 1913. “Aims of the Political Science Association.” Canadian Political Science Association: Papers and Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting Canadian. Ottawa, September 4–6.Google Scholar
Shortt, Adam 1930. “The International Postion and Prospects of Canada.” Papers and Proceedings of the Canadian Political Science Association. Ottawa, May 30.Google Scholar
Slowey, Gabrielle. 2016. “Confederation Comes at a Cost: Indigenous Peoples and the Ongoing Reality of Colonialism in Canada.” Canada Watch (Robarts Centre for Canadian Studies of York University) Spring: 33–36.Google Scholar
Smith, Joanna. 2012. “Canadian Security Forces Spied on Constitutional Expert Eugene Forsey: Declassified Documents.” The Toronto Star (Toronto), Jan 27. (May11, 2017).Google Scholar
Stasiulis, Daiva and Jhappan, Radha. 1995. “The Fractious Politics of a Settler Society: Canada.” In, Unsettling Settler Societies: Articulations of Gender, Race, Ethnicity, and Class, ed. Stasiulis, Daiva and Yuval-Davis, Nira. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Stasiulis, Daiva and Yuval-Davis, Nira. 1995. “Introduction: Beyond Dichotomies–Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Class in Settler Societies.” In Unsettling Settler Societies: Articulations of Gender, Race, Ethnicity and Class, ed. Stasiulis, Daiva and Yuval-Davis, Nira. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Stavro, Elaine. 2014. “SARS and Alterity: The Toronto-China Binary.” New Political Science 36 (2): 172–92.Google Scholar
Stevenson, Garth. 2013. “Politics.” The Canadian Encyclopedia. (Feb. 24, 2017).Google Scholar
Stewart, Bryce M. 1913. “The Housing of Our Immigrant Workers.” Canadian Political Science Association: Papers and Proceedings of the First Annual Meeting Canadian. Ottawa, September 4–6.Google Scholar
Thompson, Debra. 2008. “Is Race Political?” The Canadian Journal of Political Science 41 (3): 525–47.Google Scholar
Timlin, Mabel. 1960. “Canada's Immigration Policy, 1896–1910.” Canadian Journal of Economics and Political Science 26 (4): 517–32.Google Scholar
Tolley, Erin. 2017. “Into the Mainstream or Still at the Margins? 50 Years of Gender Research in the Canadian Political Science Association.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 50 (1): 143–61.Google Scholar
Trent, John E. and Stein, Michael. 1991. “The Interaction of the State and Political Science in Canada: A Preliminary Mapping.” In The Development of Political Science: A Comparative Survey, ed. Easton, David, Gunnell, John G. and Graziano, Luigi. London and New York: Routledge.Google Scholar
Vickers, Jill. 2015. “Can We Change How Political Science Thinks? Gender Mainstreaming in a Resistant Discipline.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 48 (4): 747–70.Google Scholar
Vickers, Jill and Issac, Annette. 2012. The Politics of Race: Canada, the United States and Australia. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Vipond, Robert. 2008. “Introduction: The Comparative Turn in Canadian Political Science.” In The Comparative Turn in Canadian Politics, ed. White, Linda A., Simeon, Richard, Vipond, Robert and Wallner, Jennifer. Vancouver: UBC Press.Google Scholar
White, Graham. 2017a. “The Journal/Revue at 50.” Canadian Journal of Political Science 50 (1): 1–2.Google Scholar
White, Graham. 2017b. “Continuity and Change: Fifty Years of the Journal/Revue .” Canadian Journal of Political Science 50 (1): 17–35.Google Scholar
“Why Exactly Are We Spending $500-million on an Anniversary?” 2017. The Globe and Mail (Toronto), Jan. 6. (Feb, 20, 2017).Google Scholar
Williams, Patrick and Chrisman, Laura 1994. Colonial Discourse and Post-Colonial Theory: A Reader. New York: Columbia University Press.Google Scholar
Wilson, Vince Seymour. 1993. “The Tapestry Vision of Canadian Multiculturalism.” The Canadian Journal of Political Science 26 (4) : 645–69.Google Scholar