Synopses & Reviews
In the recent campaign led by the National Congress of Italian Canadians to gain redress for compatriots interned during the Second World War, leaders claimed that the Canadian state had waged a 'war against ethnicity.' Their version of history, argue the editors, drew on selective evidence and glossed over the fascist past of some Italian Canadians.
The editors have assembled scholars who, while having diverse views, seek to stimulate informed debate. Enemies Within is the first study of its kind to examine not only the formulation and uneven implementation of internment policy, but the social and gender history of internment. It brings together national and international perspectives. The book offers differing interpretations of Italian internment in Canada, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Australia. It invites comparisons between Italian Canadians and Canada's other internees, including Communists, German Canadians, Ukrainian Canadians and Jewish refugees. Contemporary redress campaigns are examined. Masculinity, female internees, Communist women's release politics, and memory culture are some of the little-studied subjects that also receive attention.
This book contains photographs never before seen. A general introduction and four section introductions provide valuable background to the issues being discussed.
Synopsis
Enemies Within is the first study of its kind to examine not only the formulation and uneven implementation of internment policy, but the social and gender history of internment. It brings together national and international perspectives.
Synopsis
In recent years, various groups have made victimization by the state their central political concern. A particular sore point has been the Canadian government's treatment of minorities in wartime. Following the central redress campaign legitimately waged by Japanese Canadians, a number of ethnic organizations came forward to press their claims, providing a striking example of the 'Auschwitz competition' -- a macabre contest in which groups annex a holocaust to their past in order to bolster contemporary claims to national status. In the campaign organized by the National Congress of Italian Canadians to gain redress for compatriots interned during the Second World War, leaders argued that the Canadian state had waged a 'war on ethnicity.'
The editors have assembled scholars who, while having diverse views, seek to stimulate informed debate. Enemies Within is the first study of its kind to examine not only the making and uneven implementation of internment policy, but the social and gender history of internment. Masculinity, sexuality, Communist women's release politics, and female internees are some of the little-studied subjects that receive attention. This richly illustrated book contains photographs never before seen. A general introduction and four section introductions provide valuable background to the issues discussed.
Synopsis
Bringing together national and international perspectives on Italian and other wartime internees, the essays in this book assess the differing interpretations offered of Italian internment in Canada, the UK, the USA, and Australia during WWII.