Calculated Kindness
April 24, 2005, [MD]
Ever since I arrived in Toronto, I’ve been fascinated by the
multi-culturality and the way different cultures integrate or do not
integrate with each other. I’ve wanted to understand more about the
process, and I was happy to come across Calculated Kindness : Global
Restructuring, Immigration and Settlement in Canada published by
OISE and edited by Rose Baaba Folson.
- An edited volume, with very different chapters not always integrating into a unified whole.
- Although some of the topics were interesting, I often found that the articles spent far too much time “preparing the ground”, rehashing different immigration theorists (often the usual suspects in several articles), and the actual argument and data became very short. When they ended with “and thus I have shown”, I almost had the impression of reading a student essay (then again, these are mostly MA/PhD students writing).
- Some really interesting stuff, like the history of Chinese/Japanese immigration to Canada, stuff about Punjabis from India immigrating, and an article about “white immigration to developing countries”, ie. development consultants and businesspersons.
- The sources listed a few people that I’d like to look up for further reading.
172 p.
Stian Håklev April 24, 2005 Toronto, Canada comments powered by Disqus