ABSTRACT
The theoretical framework Charles Taylor developed in his seminal essay ‘The Politics of Recognition’ (1994: 25-73) serves to explore how social identity is formed through dialogical relations and negotiation of the factors involved in the construction and presentation of image. Within Canada, official policies of multiculturalism encourage ethnic and religious minorities to retain traditional facets of their cultural and linguistic identity. Demonstrating a particular tradition or authentic identity (ethnic, religious, cultural, political) enables a group or collectivity to be accepted as one more component in the diversity that is conceptualized as Canadian multiculturalism, and allows them to participate in what Andrew Ross (1988) calls the ‘politics of difference.’ Authenticity is often determined through cultural or religious objectification whereby food, language, religious ceremonies or festivals, clothing, and other facets of tradition become objects which symbolize this identity, and can be observed and participated in by others (Handler 1986: 38-40).
