Whiteness Limited: Racialization and the Social Construction of "Peripheral Europeans"

In a brief critical analysis of recent problematizations of whiteness, I suggest that feminist theory and anti-racism often revert to essentialist understandings of "race", whereas the new social history is more consistent with a constructionist approach. Considerable literature on the racialization of Irish immigrants in the United States and the analysis of how the Irish "became white" should not necessarily form the template by which other peripheral Europeans responded to their "racial" assignment. Racial assignments do not automatically produce racial identities, and in some cases they lead to the creation of national identities. The Ukrainian diaspora in North America serves as an illustrative example. Even though they were constructed as racial others by dominant elites in North America during the early years of the twentieth century, Ukrainians responded to their racialized status by asserting claims to a national identity. This argument raises large issues regarding the articulation of racism and nationalism.Dans une brève analyse critique des récentes problématisations de la blanchitude, l'auteur est d'avis que la théorie féministe et l'antiracisme se réduisent souvent à des notions essentialistes de « race », alors que la nouvelle histoire sociale vibre davantage au diapason d'une démarche constructionniste. Les écrits sur la racialisation des immigrants irlandais aux Étas-Unis et l'analyse de la façon dont les Irlandais sont « devenus blancs » ne devraient pas nécessairement faire office de modèle applicable à d'autres Européens périphériques d'Amérique du Nord. L'imposition du substantif « race » par d'autres ne génère pas automatiquement des identités raciales, aboutissant parfois à Ia creation d'identités nationales. La diaspora ukrainienne d'Amérique du Nord est un exemple typique à cet égard. Bien que les élites dominantes d'Amérique du Nord les ait caractérisés d'« autres raciaux » au tout début du XXe siècle, les Ukrainiens réagirent à leur statut racialisé en s'appropriant une identité nationale. Cet argument soulève de grandes questions sur l'articulation du racisme et du nationalisme

Sweetest Girl (I Long For You)

With Ukulele arrangement. Contains advertisements and/or short musical examples of pieces being sold by publisher.https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/7039/thumbnail.jp

The Vietnamese Refugee Crisis of the 1970s and 1980s: A Retrospective View from NGO Resettlement Workers

This article examines the role of NGO resettlement workers in refugee camps in Southeast Asia during the late 1970s and 1980s. The workers offered psychological support to refugees whose lives were in turmoil, but they also helped them present themselves in ways that would be most attractive to Western host countries. This process involves both commission and omission. NGO resettlement workers sometimes actively guided refugees by giving them specific advice and training. At other times, they facilitated this endeavour by observing how refugees fit themselves into the selection categories of various states, but chose to remain silent in order to avoid jeopardizing the refugees’ chances for resettlement.Cet article examine le rôle des travailleurs du secteur de réinstallation oeuvrant pour les ONG dans les camps de réfugiés en Asie du Sud-Est pendant la fin des années 70 et les années 80. Les travailleurs ont non seulement fourni des soutiens psychologiques aux réfugiés dont la vie avait été bouleversée, mais ils les ont également aidé à se présenter aux pays d’accueil occidentaux sous des aspects qui seraient les plus favorables à attirer leur intérêt. C’était un processus qui impliquait des parts égales de commission et d’omission. Parfois les travailleurs du secteur de réinstallation oeuvrant pour les ONG ont activement guidé les réfugiés en leur fournissant des conseils et des formations spécifiques, tandis que d’autres fois ils ont choisi de les aider à atteindre leurs objectifs en observant passivement la façon dont les réfugiés tentaient de se faire conformer aux catégories de sélection de différents pays, afin d’éviter de mettre en péril leurs chances de réinstallation

Facilitation ou exclusion ? La prise en charge du conjoint, les « mariages de complaisance » et la prise de décision des agents consulaires canadiens

Cet article se penche sur la prise de décision des agents consulaires canadiens chargés de la délivrance des visas, en utilisant une perspective micro-sociale. Il suggère que, même si les déviances par rapport aux catégories de « normalité » sont utilisées afin de rejeter les demandes de prise en charge du conjoint, la conformité à ces mêmes catégories est la base pour les accepter. Dans le cas canadien, les agents chargés de la délivrance des visas ne peuvent pas contrôler l’ensemble des immigrants ou le flux des conjoints des immigrants dans le pays ou dans la région auquel ils sont rattachés ; tout ce qu’ils peuvent faire est de tenter de vérifier que le candidat soit « méritant ». Dans ce cas, il peut obtenir le visa auquel il a droit, tandis que le candidat « non méritant » se voit refuser ce visa. Cet article entend démontrer qu’il n’y a pas de contradiction entre un régime de mise en œuvre restrictive et un engagement en faveur du regroupement familial.The empirical focus of this paper is the micro-level decision making of Canadian visa officers. It suggests that even though deviations from the typifications of ‘normality’ are used to reject spousal applications, conformity to the same typifications is the basis for accepting applications from couples. In the Canadian case, individual visa officers cannot control the overall numbers of immigrants, or the flow of spousal immigrants from their particular country or region; all they can do is attempt to control whether a ‘deserving’ applicant gets the visa she or he is entitled to, and an ‘undeserving’ applicant is denied a visa. This paper argues that there is no contradiction between a strict enforcement regime and a commitment to family reunification

Modes of incorporation and racialization: the Canadian case

This thesis makes a contribution to three areas of sociological thought. First, it is concerned with the elaboration and extension of the political economy approach to migration as it is represented in the work of Stephen Castles and his various co-authors. It suggests that the work of Castles, et al., is relatively silent on the role of the state, and ideological relations in the structuration of migration. In seeking to further refine the political economy framework as it is applied to migration, this thesis draws upon two other sets of literature which, in part, have emerged as counters to some of the more economistic of their formulations. In this light, the second area of sociological literature I draw upon is the recent work on the concepts of free and unfree labour. Finally, this thesis is informed by an analysis of recent debates on the concept of racialization. In synthesizing these three strands of sociology, this thesis advances the theoretical claim that political economy oriented theorists should focus on modes of incorporation, or the manner in which foreign-born labour articulates with capital and the state. Within this context, four distinct modes of incorporation under capitalism are identified. These modes of incorporation are designated as: free immigrant labour, unfree immigrant labour, free migrant labour and unfree migrant labour. This thesis suggests that agents are subject to particular modes of incorporation, in part, on the basis on the process of racialization. This thesis uses the cases of late nineteenth and early twentieth century Chinese migration to Canada, and the post-1945 migration of farm labourers, from a number of source countries, including, specifically, the Netherlands, Poland, Germany, and the Caribbean, to the south western Ontario fruit and vegetable industry to highlight the centrality of the state in the process of migration, and the differential modes of incorporation of foreign-born persons into sites in production relations. Furthermore, the process of racialization is seen to have an impact on whether particular groups are allowed entry to a social formation, and upon how they are incorporated into sites in production relations

The Ties Allowed to Bind: Kinship Legalities and Migration Restriction in the Interwar Americas

AbstractNew immigration restrictions in the United States and elsewhere in the 1920s and 1930s made legal entry dependent on specific kinship formalities. This article explores the impact of the new system through a study of British Caribbean migrants. Because family patterns and the place of church and state sanction within them varied greatly by class—here, as in many parts of the world—the result was a curtailment of mobility that affected elites very little, and working-class would-be migrants enormously. In order to elucidate de facto patterns of exclusion, the author concludes, historians of transnational labor must begin paying more attention to the work “family” does.</jats:p

Whiteness, Blackness and Settlement: Leisure and the Integration of New Migrants

At times of economic uncertainty the position of new migrants is subject to ever closer scrutiny. While the main focus of attention tends to be on the world of employment the research on which this paper is based started from the proposition that leisure and sport spaces can support processes of social inclusion yet may also serve to exclude certain groups. As such, these spaces may be seen as contested and racialised places that shape behaviour. The paper draws on interviews with White migrants from Poland and Black migrants from Africa to examine the normalising of whiteness. We use this paper not just to explore how leisure and sport spaces are encoded by new migrants, but how struggles over those spaces and the use of social and cultural capital are racialised

Reading Ronaldo: contingent whiteness in the football media

Ever since his introduction to the first-­-team at Manchester United FC, Cristiano Ronaldo Dos Santos Aveiro has been recognised as one of the footballing world’s most stand-­-out football players. In turn, Ronaldo has drawn the attention of scholars working across a number of disciplines. While sports economists and sociologists of sport, amongst others, have contributed to a growing literature about Ronaldo and the social implications of his on and off-­-field behaviour, few critical analyses have considered the racialised aspects of Ronaldo’s representations, or how audiences make sense of his racialised or ethnic identity. Using images of Ronaldo, which we presented to and discussed with self-­-identified physically active white British men, we explore what it is representations and audience interpretations of Ronaldo reveal about the complexities of white male identity formation. We do this to understand better how white male identities can be read and interpreted through and in the context of football. Facilitated by our conception of contingent whiteness, we argue that white British men’s interpretations of Ronaldo’s whiteness are inextricably linked to discourses of ‘race’, masculinities and football

Minority youth, crime, conflict, and belonging in Australia

In recent decades, the size and diversity of the minority population of contemporary western societies has increased significantly. To the critics of immigration, minority youth have been increasingly linked to crime, criminal gangs, anti-social behaviour, and riots. In this article, we draw on fieldwork conducted in Sydney, Australia's largest and most ethnically diverse city, to probe aspects of the criminality, anti-social behaviour, national identity, and belonging of ethnic minority youth in Australia. We conclude that the evidence on minority youth criminality is weak and that the panic about immigrant youth crime and immigrant youth gangs is disproportionate to the reality, drawing on and in turn creating racist stereotypes, particularly with youth of 'Middle Eastern appearance'. A review of the events leading up to the Sydney Cronulla Beach riots of December 2005 suggests that the underlying cause of the riots were many years of international, national, and local anti-Arab, anti-Muslim media discourse, and political opportunism, embedded in changing but persistent racist attitudes and practises. Our argument is that such inter-ethnic conflict between minority and majority youth in Sydney is the exception, not the rule. Finally, we draw on a hitherto unpublished survey of youth in Sydney to explore issues of national identity and belonging among young people of diverse ethnic and religious background. We conclude that minority youth in Sydney do not live 'parallel lives' but contradictory, inter-connected cosmopolitan lives. They are connected to family and local place, have inter-ethnic friendships but are often disconnected to the nation and the flag. © 2009 Springer Science+Business Media B.V

Screening migrants in the early Cold War: the geopolitics of U.S. immigration policy

The main elements of U.S. immigration policy date back to the early Cold War. One such element is a screening process initially designed to prevent infiltration by Communist agents posing as migrants from East-Central Europe. The development of these measures was driven by geopolitical concerns, resulting in vetting criteria that favored the admission of hardline nationalists and anti-Communists. The argument proceeds in two steps. First, the article demonstrates that geopolitics influenced immigration policy, resulting in the admission of extremist individuals. Second, it documents how geopolitical concerns and the openness of U.S. institutions provided exiles with the opportunity to mobilize politically. Although there is little evidence that the vetting system succeeded in preventing the entry of Communist subversives into the United States, it did help to create a highly mobilized anti-Communist ethnic lobby that supported extremist policies vis-à-vis the Soviet Union during the early Cold War