Open AccessUnsettling Claims of Belonging:
Author(s) -
Jennifer Matsunaga
Publication year - 2021
Publication title -
cultural and pedagogical inquiry
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
ISSN - 1916-3460
DOI - 10.18733/cpi29573
Subject(s) - shame , indigenous , narrative , sovereignty , premise , citizenship , gender studies , sociology , history , genealogy , political science , psychology , social psychology , law , epistemology , literature , art , philosophy , ecology , politics , biology
Starting from the premise that we have to know where we have been to know where we are going, this piece looks heavily to the past and considers the effects of differently experienced belonging in Canada across generations. This autobiographical reflection questions how we might read migrant-settler narratives of belonging alongside Indigenous struggles for sovereignty in such a way that desires for belonging do not displace or erase such struggles but rather support them. Reflecting on my experiences of belonging and shame as a Japanese Canadian of mixed Japanese and British ancestry, the article seeks to deconstruct and disrupt settler-migrant stories by examining citizenship and belonging from these different perspectives.