A Retrospective of Canadian Ethnic Studies/Études ethniques au Canada

Abstract

A Retrospective of Canadian Ethnic Studies/Études ethniques au Canada James Frideres, Editor Emeriti (bio) and Anthony Rasporich, Editor Emeriti (bio) The first issue of Canadian Ethnic Studies/Études ethniques du Canada appeared in 1969, a modest research bulletin of the Research Centre for Canadian Ethnic Studies, edited by Alexander Malycky and Clive Cardinal of the Germanic and Slavic Studies Department at the University of Calgary. It appeared sporadically through the early seventies as several other bulletins, bibliographies, book reviews, and review articles. It then transformed into its current format in 1975, under the co-editorship of Drs. Alexander Malycky and Howard Palmer of the History Department, accompanied by a full editorial board represented from across Canada. For the next four years, the journal often combined one regular issue and another special issue, and presented a wide variety of multidisciplinary perspectives on ethnic groups, plus book and film reviews, ethnic documents and voices. The special issues were various: The Green Paper (1975); Ethnic Folklore (1975); Education and Ethnicity (1976); Ethnic groups in Western Canada (1977); Immigrants in the City (1977); Ethnic Radicals (1978). Often, Howard Palmer provided the introduction of regular issues, and he brought about both a fiscal stability to the journal, and scholarly connection with the wider Canadian Ethnic Studies Association, as well as the wider international scholarly community on ethnicity (See CES, 1991, XIII, no. 3, pp. 5–6). With two new co-editors by 1979, Dr. James Frideres (Sociology) and Anthony Rasporich (History), the journal moved towards the publication of three issues annually—one special and two regular issues. Its new directions taken in conjunction with its parent Canadian Ethnic Studies Association and its biennial national conferences and internal Bulletin, can be found in the editorial (vol. 12, no. 1, 1980) entitled “Some New Wine, Some New Bottles”. Some of the minor changes were already reflected in the title of the Journal, in the French change of the title from “du” [End Page 11] to “au” Canada, pointing to a broader spectrum of analysis of the impact of ethnicity and pluralism in Canada. Special issues in the eighties and nineties were stimulating in their breadth, trending widely from group studies such as: Ukrainians in the City (1981), Métis (1985), Chinese (1987), Doukhobors (1995); to multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary themes such as Ethnicity and Femininity (1981), Ethnic literatures (1982, 1996, 1996), Aging (1983); Art and Architecture (1984); to regional studies (Quebec, 1986), (Atlantic, 1988); to broader themes such as State of the Art (1990), Popular Culture (1991), and Immigrant Adaptation (1998). All in all, they represented a complex mosaic of themes addressing the social, cultural and historical dimensions of the ethnic experience in Canada. By the beginning of the 21st century, the journal began to link with other national and international associations interested in ethnicity, immigration and Canadian society. The Association of Canadian Studies, Metropolis and various ethnic organizations created links with the Canadian Ethnic Studies Association and this expanded the scope of papers submitted to the journal. As the reputation of the journal for publishing quality papers began to spread across the country, scholars from disciplines that previously were not linked to issues of ethnicity, such as Political Science, Anthropology, Theatre, Film, and Communication Studies, began to see the journal as an outlet for their scholarship. As the journal grew in national and international stature, manuscripts submitted ranged from theoretical to more empirically based research. The influence of Jorgen Dahlie as the Ethnic Voice editor and Tamara Seiler as Assistant editor from 1975 to the early 1990’s had a positive impact on the quality of the journal. Moreover, the work of Bob Hromadiuk as the creator of the Ethnic Studies Bibliography through the eighties and nineties also added to the value of the journal. As a result, our readership expanded as well as the submissions to the journal. All of this was partially supported by the dedicated staff who worked with the editors to ensure intake was catalogued, and that responses to scholars who had submitted papers and the evaluation of their submissions were carried out in a timely manner. Over the years, the administrative work of Sandra Demchuk, Myrna Haglund, and JoAnn Cleaver ensured...