Telling an Exceptional Love Story: Interrogating Televised Narratives of Mixed Unions in Canada

• In Event: 2183 - Section on Race, Gender, and Class Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 13. Relationships and Reproduction

Abstract

Racial endogamy is an implicit social norm and interracial intimacy is often conceived to be a transgression. Increasing number of mixed unions in Canada is presented as an indication of success of multiculturalism in reducing social distance between different groups. This paper analyzes the narratives of mixed couples represented in a Canadian documentary series called “crazy for love” using dialogic and performative narrative analysis focusing on thematic and structural elements of these cultural texts. It examines the representation of mixed unions and the connections between their personal stories and the larger public narrative of the Canadian nation. Mixed marriage is depicted as an exceptional choice that supports the idealized vision of the inclusive Canadian nation of the future ignoring the historical and contemporary racial tensions in Canadian society. However, The narrative structure allows certain expression of racial diversity while silencing others and supports certain forms of narrative identities to be composed and performed.

Author

• Tanvi Sirari, University of British Columbia