MULTICULTURALISM AND URBAN LEGENDS

SOCIOLOGY OF URBAN LIFE AS/SOCI 3830 6.0A

REFLECTION PAPER ASSIGNMENT: TORONTO HAS A REPUTATION AS THE WORLD’S MOST MULTICULTURAL CITY. HOW DID THIS LEGEND EMERGE? IS IT MYTH OR REALITY? HOW COULD URBAN SOCIOLOGISTS PROVE OR DISPROVE THE LEGEND? IS TORONTO THE UBER-MULTICULTURAL, GLOBAL GATHERING PLACE?

REFLECTION PAPER – 5 TO 10 PAGES – 10% – DUE: NOVEMBER 29, 2006

MAJOR RESEARCH PAPER – 10 TO 15 PAGES – 25% – DUE: MARCH 13, 2007

{EVERYBODY WRITES A PAPER FOR THE MINOR ASSIGNMENT AND IT SHOULD FEED INTO THE MAJOR ASSIGNMENT. THE PURPOSE OF THE REFLECTION PAPER IS TO REFLECT ON THE CONCEPTS AND MEANINGS OF “MULTICULTURALISM” AND “URBAN LEGEND AND REALITY” IN RELATION TO THE CITY OF TORONTO}

COVER PAGE

THE REFLECTION PAPER MUST BE ACCOMPANIED BY A COVER PAGE CONTAINING THE FOLLOWING:

. STUDENT NAME AND CLASS

. STUDENT EMAIL

. ESSAY TITLE

. DUE DATE

. NAME OF PROFESSOR

. NAME OF COURSE

**NOTE ON EMAILING PAPERS: NO EMAILING PAPERS UNDER ANY CIRCUMSTANCES

CRITERIA FOR EVALUATION

A GOOD REFLECTION PAPER NEEDS TO HAVE A CLEAR, WELL FOCUSED THESIS, REVIEWS RELEVANT LITERATURE, AND IS ANALYTICAL (NOT SIMPLY DESCRIBING EVENT, BUT EXPLAINING WHY THEY HAPPEN). YOU SHOULD SUPPLY EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT YOUR POSITION BY UTILIZING AVAILABLE PRIMARY OR SECONDARY SOURCES.

YOUR ESSAY WILL BE EVALUATED BASED ON YOUR ESSAY'S: ACADEMIC CONTENT, CLARITY, ORGANIZATION OF IDEAS, PROPER USE OF SOURCES, PROPER QUOTATIONS AND CITATIONS. PLEASE REFER TO YORK'S CENTRE FOR ACADEMIC WRITING <http://www.arts.yorku.ca/caw AND THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIOLOGY ESSAY WRITING GUIDELINES FOR OTHER WRITING RESOURCES. ALSO SEE FILE ON COURSE WEB - “GETTING STARTED APA STYLE”.

CRITERIA FOR FINAL PROJECT

PURPOSE: THE PURPOSE OF THIS REFLECTION PAPER AND MAJOR PROJECT/PAPER IS TO EXPLORE THE URBAN LEGEND OF THE TORONTO AS THE WORLD'S MOST MULTICULTURAL CITY THROUGH THE EXAMINATION OF A DISTINCTIVE ETHNORACIAL “NEIGHBOURHOOD” (AS A SOCIAL SIGNIFICANT UNIT) IN TORONTO, IN TERMS OF ITS SOCIAL PSYCHOLOGICAL, ETHNORACIAL AND ECOLOGICIAL STRUCTURE(S).

1. TO REVEAL THE DIMENSIONS {LANGUAGES/FOODS/FESTIVALS/WORK/COMMUNITY/POLITICS} OF TORONTO

2. TO DOCUMENT NEW AND EMERGING COMMUNITIES

3. TO REVEAL NEW FORMS OF MEETING AND SHARING

4. TO EXPLORE WHAT MAKES TORONTO UNIQUE

5. TO SEE IF TORONTO'S MULTIPLE PUBLICS CONSTITUTE A NEW FORM OF CIVIC CULTURE.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES: 2007 HAS BEEN DESIGNATED “THE YEAR OF CREATIVITY.” HOW IS YOUR WORK GOING TO BE USED BY THE COMMUNITY? AND HOW IS IT INFORMED BY THE COMMUITY?

THE PAPER WILL BE GUIDED BY THE FOLLOWING TERMS OF REFERENCE/APPENDICES:

WORKING DEFININTION OF MULTICULTUALISM: A NEW CIVIC CULTURE CREATED ON THE BASIS OF MULTIPLE PUBLICS

{ADAPTED FROM LEONIE SANDERCOCK, TOWARDS COSMOPOLIS: PLANNING FOR MULTICULTURAL CITIES (CHICHESTER: JOHN WILEY & SONS, 1998)}

DEFINITIONAL POINT OF DEPARTURE

URBAN LEGENDS ARE NARRATIVES WHICH PUT OUR FEARS AND CONCERNS INTO THE FORM OF STORIES OR ARE TALES WHICH WE USE TO CONFIRM THE RIGHTNESS OF OUR WORLD VIEW. WE WANT TO EXAMINE THE NARRATIVES OF TORONTO’S UBER-MULTICULTURALISM FOR EVIDENCE.

THIS PROJECT WAS INSPIRED, IN PART, BY THE GROUND BREAKING WORK OF MICHAEL J. DOUCET.

IN A GROUND BREAKING RESEARCH ARTICLE, DOUCET DEBUNKED THE OFTEN TAKEN-FOR-GRANTED ASSUMPTION THAT TORONTO IS THE MOST MULTICULTUAL CITY IN THE WORLD. IN DOUCET’S VIEW, TORONTO’S REPUTATION AS THE MOST MULTICULTURAL CITY IN THE WORLD IS MORE URBAN LEGEND THAN URBAN FACT. TORONTO MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE MOST MULTICULTURAL CITY ON THE PLANET, DOUCETS RESEARCH INDICATES THERE IS NO EXISTING OR ACCEPTED BODY OF EVIDENCE TO SUPPORT SUCH AN ASSERTION. INSTEAD, THE SENTIMENT RESTS ON SUPPOSITION, HEARSAY, RUMOUR, CONJECTURE, AND INTERNALLY FABRICATION. THE CLAIM THAT TORONTO IS THE MOST MULTICULTURAL CITY GETS ITS LEGS THROUGH REPEATED VOICING, FROM ALL SECTORS OF SOCIETY. CONSEQUENTLY, IT HAS BECOME A PUBLIC DISCOURSE IN SOCIETY BASED ON NARRATIVES NOT CONTRADICTED BY THE FACTS, BUT RATHER, IT IS A REPUTATION THAT DOESN’T SEEM TO BE CONNECTED TO ANY DECISIVELY DISCERNABLE FACTS OR BODY OF KNOWLEDGE

IN THE ARTICLE, THE ANATOMY OF AN URBAN LEGEND: TORONTO'S MULTICULTURAL REPUTATION, DOUCET ARGUED THAT TORONTO MAY OR MAY NOT BE THE WORLD’S MOST MULTICULTURAL. MICHAEL J. DOUCET FOUND THAT TORONTO'S MULTICULTURAL REPUTATION CAME INTO FULL FORCE IN THE LATE 1980S, AND THIS SENTIMENT BEGAN TO BE EXPRESSED IN A VARIETY OF MEDIA: THE CITY'S MAINSTREAM PRESS; LETTERS TO EDITORS; RESTAURANT REVIEWS; TELEVISION NEWS REPORTS; UNIVERSITY STUDENT NEWSPAPERS AND LOCAL ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLIES; ARTICLES ABOUT TORONTO PUBLISHED IN OUT-OF-TOWN NEWSPAPERS; SPEECHES BY PROMINENT CITIZENS; AMERICAN MAGAZINE ARTICLES AND CANADIAN NEWSWIRE COPY ABOUT SUCH REPORTS; OFFICIAL MUNICIPAL GOVERNMENT ADVERTISEMENTS; FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOCUMENTS; AND PROBABLY ELSEWHERE AS WELL. (2001: 5)

{MEANWHILE} IN CLASSIC URBAN LEGEND FASHION, WRITERS BEGAN TO CITE EARLIER REPORTS AS THEIR SOURCE; SO THE LEGEND BECAME ALMOST SELF-PERPETUATING, THOUGH IT DID TEND TO APPEAR IN THE MEDIA IN DEFINITE CYCLES. NOBODY EVER SEEMED TO QUESTION THE VERACITY OF THE ASSERTION. SADLY, AS I SHALL SHOW PRESENTLY, THERE WAS NO TRUTH TO THE STATEMENT WHATSOEVER.