ABSTRACT
This introduction presents an overview of key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book contends that Canada's politics of representation and the narratives through which the nation imagines itself and presents itself to others are shifting as a result of globalizing pressures. It aims to contribute to Canadian literary criticism by foregrounding both the city and 'globalism', which is increasingly perceived as the state-of-the-art literary paradigm. These are two significant axes of contemporary culture and identity that were previously disregarded by an English Canadian critical tradition built around the importance of space and place in Canadian writing. By adopting the lens of urban glocality, this volume problematizes such oppositional critical discourses as postcolonialism, diaspora, feminism, multiculturalism, and environmentalism so that they may continue to provide important paradigms towards the analysis and consecution of the utopian aspirations for social justice, peace, security, and environmental balance that characterize the Canadian ethos.
