School of Racism: A Canadian History, 1830–1915 - Softcover

Catherine Larochelle (author) & S.E. Stewart (translated By)

Softcover

ISBN 10: 177284053X ISBN 13: 9781772840537

Publisher: University of Manitoba Press, 2023

Synopsis

Exposing the history of racism in Canada’s classrooms

Winner of the prestigious Clio-Quebec, Lionel-Groulx, and Canadian History of Education Association awards

In School of Racism, Catherine Larochelle demonstrates how Quebec’s school system has, from its inception and for decades, taught and endorsed colonial domination and racism. This English translation of the award-winning book extends its crucial lesson to readers across the country, bridging English- and French-Canadian histories to deliver a better understanding of Canada’s past and present identity.

Using postcolonial, antiracist, and feminist theories and methodologies, Larochelle examines late-nineteenth and early-twentieth-century classroom materials used in Quebec’s public and private schools. Many of these textbooks, and others like them, made their way into curricula across Canada. Larochelle’s innovative analysis illuminates how textual and visual representations found in these archives constructed Indigenous, Black, Arab, and Asian peoples as “the Other” while reinforcing the collective identity of Quebec, and Canada more broadly, as white. Uncovering the origins and persistence of individual and systemic racism against people of colour, Larochelle shows how Otherness was presented to―and utilized by―young Canadians for almost a century.

School of Racism names the ways in which Canada’s education system has supported and sustained ideologies of white supremacy―ideologies so deeply embedded that they still linger in school texts and programming today. The book offers historians new insight into how Canadian and Quebecois concepts of nationalism and racism overlap, helps educators confront racism in their classrooms, and deepens urgent discussions about race and colonialism throughout Canada.

About this title

About the Author

Catherine Larochelle is a professor of history at the Université de Montréal and a member of HistoireEngagee.ca’s editorial board. She is the co-host of the podcast Persistance coloniale and is interested in the different ways history is written and disseminated in Quebec.

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Manitoba Press
• Publication date: 2023
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 177284053X
• ISBN 13: 9781772840537
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 472