La construction des figures de l'«autre»: les communautés culturelles au Québec.

This paper analyses the ways in which a contemporary state — in this case, Quebec — categorizes and mobilizes its inhabitants. Official documents published by the Quebec government during the last 30 years served as the basis for study. The authors found that the state fragments its members in nebulous cultural categories. Through these categorizations, the inhabitants are simultaneously included in and excluded from the mythical realm of "nationhood." In the beginning, knowledge of the French language sufficed as a condition for inclusion in the national in-group. Nowadays, the cultural criteria are increasingly "naturalized", one does not become an insider anymore. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]