Canadian Nationalism and George Ryga: a Postcolonial Perspective: Critique of Canadian Nationalism in the Plays of George Ryga

This book focusses on the plays of George Ryga by applying Post-colonial theory. The book studies the plays of Ryga in the light of the argument that as a product of a multicultural society the plays critique the national policy of Canada and have played an important role in sensitizing the Canadian society about the problems of natives and other ethnoracial minorities. George Ryga (1932-1987) produced his work at a time when the question about a viable Canadian national identity was gaining momentum. As a marginalized Ukrainian Canadian Ryga was well aware of the bias inherent in the Canadian national and multicultural policy. His plays are strong statements of resistance against Canadian nationalism. Ryga?s plays embody a discourse about the silent strategies of suppression adopted by the Canadian government to marginalize the natives as well as the ethnic minorities of Canada. The chapters of the book will scrutinize the ways in which this discourse has been used by Ryga. How does he address racial and cultural differences? How do the plays bring out the dialectics of Canadian nationalism? sentation.