My goal is to turn Quebecers inside out and discover all their secrets.

If a single person never fully gets to know himself or herself, an entire population has even less of a chance.

We’re going to try to understand Quebecers based on their Roots, which are solid, steady and unchanging. It is in this naked state, and after evolving under a precarious set of circumstances, that Quebec has defined itself and given itself a social type.

As consumers of goods, services and ideologies, homo consumens quebecensis base their decisions on the 6 Vital Roots that define them, each with their own economic, geographical, political, sociological, ecological, biological and psychological subtext.

Based on their genetic cultural baggage, Quebecers are:

1. People of the earth

2. In a state of minority

3. North American every day of their lives

4. Catholic

5. Of Latin origin

6. Of French descent

In other research, these Roots have been more abstractly labeled Earthiness, Minoritarity, Americanness, Catholicity, Latinity and Frenchness.

The Quebec social type is a lot like vegetable stew. You don’t focus on the taste of any one vegetable in particular, but you quickly notice if the cabbage is missing.

With their different Roots, Quebecers are paradoxical hybrids (and I intend to prove this in a number of ways). And since they often get tangled up in all these Roots, they’ve developed opposing and impulsive behaviours that confound manufacturers and make politicians nervous.

These Roots are passed on from generation to generation. Our background dictates that we will always be what we have been. This comment is not meant to be fatalistic (Heartstring No. 22). I prefer to think of it as admirable and optimistic (Heartstring No. 25). Much like the depths of a mine, our collective unconscious is full of unexpected treasures: our Heartstrings. These sensitivities are adaptable and they’re the ones that can be worked on.

But we’ll get to them later. First, let’s focus on the 6 Vital Roots.

English adaptation of Les 36 cordes sensibles des Québécois by Jacques Bouchard