The Participation of Aboriginal and Other Cultural Minorities in Cultural Development

Abstract

This paper is a review of the literature on Aboriginal and other ethnically based cultural industries. Participation in the cultural industries by organizations based in Native and ethnocultural communities has grown dramatically over the past decade. The emergence of Aboriginal broadcasting operations, mostly in, but not limited to, northern Canada, has had a dramatic effect on the cultural life of those communities. Broadcasting undertakings organized by ethnocultural groups have succeeded in a number of Canadian cities, with cable community channels providing an effective outlet. There are multilingual radio stations in some cities and a multilingual television station in Toronto. There is a small but important presence in the publishing industry, mostly at the level of periodicals, by Native and ethnocultural groups. There is, however, a dearth of research into cultural industries in these sectors. Much of the work touches on Aboriginal broadcasters but looks at them in social or anthropological terms, not as cultural industries. Recommendations are made for a number of baseline studies focusing on the impact of Native and ethnocultural organizations as cultural industries which create employment, cash flows, and have an economic life.