rizzla
Feb 28, 2013
Essays / Re-imagine of geo-political borders;Advice on word usage [2]
I am doing a research paper on how Thomas King's "Borders" force us to re-imagine geo-political borders. I'm exploring an idea that the border is trying to strip a family of its cultural heritage, forcing them to categorize themselves as Canadian or American. I am wanting to call this "ethnocide" or "cultural genocide" but feel those terms are too harsh to accurately describe what is going on. I've seen the term "soft ethnocide" but have not been able to find a concrete definition of that term, so am hesitant to use that as well. Further research hasn't found a way to describe the act of forcing a person into a cultural category, or stripping an existing cultural heritage. Any ideas would help move this idea from what I think to be a good idea, to a well thought out and valid point to be made on this subject.
I am doing a research paper on how Thomas King's "Borders" force us to re-imagine geo-political borders. I'm exploring an idea that the border is trying to strip a family of its cultural heritage, forcing them to categorize themselves as Canadian or American. I am wanting to call this "ethnocide" or "cultural genocide" but feel those terms are too harsh to accurately describe what is going on. I've seen the term "soft ethnocide" but have not been able to find a concrete definition of that term, so am hesitant to use that as well. Further research hasn't found a way to describe the act of forcing a person into a cultural category, or stripping an existing cultural heritage. Any ideas would help move this idea from what I think to be a good idea, to a well thought out and valid point to be made on this subject.