Dominion of Race: Rethinking Canada’s International History by Laura Madokoro, Francine McKenzie, and David Meren, eds.
| Published date | 01 September 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0020702018794199 |
| Date | 01 September 2018 |
| Subject Matter | Book Reviews |
to those established by the United States and Russia with Beijing. China presents a
number of opportunities for international cooperation, and is a beneficial partner
for Canada in the achievement of its Arctic goals, specifically with respect to sustain-
able development, given Chinese companies’ willingness to invest in long-term, high-
capital, and high-risk projects. Given, however, the ‘‘dark side’’ of China’s rise (172),
a strategy of engagement and hedging is advocated. Maintaining the alliance with
the United States and NATO, shoring up support for smaller Arctic states (particu-
larly Iceland and Greenland) to ensure they do not become subservient to Chinese
economic dominance, and modest development in defence capabilities are necessary
backstops to blunt any possible excesses of Chinese power. ‘‘Vigilance is required—
not panic’’ (167) for Canada in creating space for China’s growing Arctic involve-
ment, while shoring up the architecture of the region to ensure Beijing continues to
understand their interests are best served within it.
China’s growing involvement in the Arctic is a reality which should not be met
by resignation or alarm, but by a calibrated and evidence-based approach of mana-
ging this burgeoning relationship. Alongside the importance of dispelling the hol-
lowness of the threat narratives which are increasingly framing and simplifying this
issue, China’s Arctic Ambitions emphasizes that the future trajectory of China’s
Arctic engagement is not solely predicated on the views and actions of Beijing, but
as well on those of Canada, and the region as a whole. In particular, Canada must
continue to facilitate an environment which encourages mutual cooperation with
China, while protecting against the degradation (intentional or not) of the struc-
tures and processes which make the Arctic stable and adaptable to change in the
face of its increasing accessibility to those both inside and outside the region.
Laura Madokoro, Francine McKenzie, and David Meren, eds.
Dominion of Race: Rethinking Canada’s International History
Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2017. 321 pp. (includes annotated bibliography
and index) HB 89.95, PB 34.95
Reviewed by: Greg Donaghy (greg.donaghy@international.gc.ca), Head of the Historical
Section at Global Affairs Canada
Dominion of Race: Rethinking Canada’s International History is a bold and self-
conscious assault on the traditional notion of Canada’s international history as a
nationalist story of inexorable progress down a liberating road from ‘‘colony to
nation.’’ In its place, editors Laura Madokoro, Francine McKenzie, and David
Meren offer a series of eleven essays that focus on race to excavate Canada’s
Eurocentrism, decentre the Canadian state, and challenge the primacy of
Canada–United States relations after 1945. Notions of race and white supremacy
imported into the Canadian settler state from imperial Britain, they argue, margin-
alized Indigenous peoples at home and created racial hierarchies that served as
templates for Canada’s engagement abroad. Canada viewed (and continues to
view) the world through the racialized and gendered lens of the British Empire
488 International Journal 73(3)
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