SFU Thesis Template Files

Peripheral Europeans: The History of the Racialization of Slavs in Canada by Jakub Burkowicz M.A., Queen’s University, 2007 B.A., Simon Fraser University, 2004 Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology Faculty of Arts & Social Sciences Jakub Burkowicz 2016 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2016 Approval Name: Jakub Michał Burkowicz Degree: Doctor of Philosophy (Sociology) Title: Peripheral Europeans: The History of the Racialization of Slavs in Canada Examining Committee: Chair: Dara Culhane, Professor Wendy Chan Senior Supervisor Professor Dany Lacombe Supervisor Professor Robert Menzies Supervisor Professor Emeritus Habiba Zaman Internal Examiner Professor Department of Gender, Sexuality and Women’s Studies Renisa Mawani External Examiner Associate Professor Department of Sociology University of British Columbia Date Defended/Approved: August 16, 2016 ii Abstract This dissertation investigates the racialization of the Slavs in Canada from the end of the 19th century until the middle of the 20th. Utilizing Michel Foucault’s and Ernesto Laclau’s formulations of discourse, Berger and Luckmann’s social constructionism, and, broadly, poststructural theory, the principal aim of this work is to demonstrate that during this period Canadians recognized the Slavs as a distinct, homogenous, denationalized racial type. To this end, this dissertation draws on immigration, eugenic, political, journalistic, art, legal, literary, and other discourses in order to trace the discursive formation of race in Canada while considering how such a formation constructed the racialized figure of the Slav. Historians working in the field of Whiteness Studies have established the racialization of various Europeans outside of whiteness in the United States. This dissertation suggests that Whiteness Studies’ emphasis on the banishment of peripheral Europeans from whiteness, along with the trope of “becoming white,” does not apply to the history of racialization of Slavs in Canada. The argument advanced here is that while Slavic identity was occasionally articulated in a strained relationship to whiteness, it is more accurate to see the racialization of the Slavs as entailing an estrangement from the positive attributes associated with an Anglo-Saxon identity and a simultaneous fitting into a complex racial discursive formation whose categories were denationalized. This dissertation insists on a historical approach to the sociological study of race. Examining what various Canadian discourses had to say about the Slavic artistic ability, suitability for assimilation, criminal tendencies, community life, and potential for participation in democratic institutions, this dissertation historicizes race for the reader who today is not likely to recognize the Slavs as a racialized category. This dissertation also contributes to Slavic Studies, urging a move from “Slavic ethnic cultures” and an experience of “xenophobia,” which are popular moves in that field, to the social construction of the Slavic race and the historical experience of racism. Keywords: Racialization; Slavs; Canada; Poststructuralism; Slavic Studies; Whiteness Studies iii To my parents, Kazimierz and Aleksandra Burkowicz iv Acknowledgements The arduous task of completing this dissertation was lightened by the support I received from my committee members, colleagues, friends, and family. Doubtlessly, this work could not have been completed singlehandedly. Deep gratitude is due to my senior supervisor Wendy Chan for her patient, open-minded, and caring approach during this process. Her willingness to allow me to freely explore this topic, coupled with her thoughtful feedback and attention to the overall aspects of this project, was exactly what I needed from her. Appreciation is also due to my committee members Dany Lacombe, for challenging me theoretically and, thereby, helping me develop as a theorist and for her attention to my workload needs, and to Robert Menzies, for his encouraging – at times even moving – yet extremely (in the best academic sense) keen and thoroughgoing feedback one could wish for. I have often thought how much my work has benefited from the diverse range of skills and talents of this “dream team” committee, and I am grateful to be able to finally acknowledge them. I would also like to recognise the support of colleagues and friends, who I am fortunate to say have become one and the same over the years. Thanks is due to Maureen Kihika and Anthony Ndirangu from whom I continue to learn about race and whose friendship I am grateful for. I am also thankful to Sean Ashley for the quality time spent discussing sociology; Efe Peker, for traveling on this journey through graduate studies together; and to Ataman Avdan and Jennifer Thomas, for traveling it in parts. As well, I would like to express thanks to Tracey Anbinder who has generously arranged a workspace for me without which completing this work would have been doubly difficult. Lastly, I am extremely grateful to my family – my wife Taslim, and my sons Anjay, Alek, and Augustyn, whose patience and support during this trying time has helped me carry through. v Table of Contents Approval .......................................................................................................................... ii Abstract .......................................................................................................................... iii Dedication ...................................................................................................................... iv Acknowledgements ......................................................................................................... v Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... vi List of Figures................................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1. Introduction ............................................................................................. 1 A Sociology of a Racially Extinct Category? .................................................................... 1 Methodological Considerations ...................................................................................... 8 The Argument ............................................................................................................... 13 Chapter 2. Race in Whiteness Studies and Slavic Studies ................................... 18 Whiteness Studies: An Overview................................................................................... 19 The Historians of Whiteness .......................................................................................... 22 A Critique of the Historians of Whiteness ...................................................................... 27 Slavic Studies................................................................................................................ 33 A Critique of Slavic Studies ........................................................................................... 37 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 42 Chapter 3. An Antifoundationalist Theory of Race ................................................ 45 Structuralism and Poststructuralism .............................................................................. 47 Common Criticisms .............................................................................................. 47 An Outline of the Two Theoretical Currents .......................................................... 49 Poststructuralism and the Discursive Formation of Race ............................................... 58 Related Concepts: Typification and Racialization .......................................................... 66 Conclusion .................................................................................................................... 70 Chapter 4. The Slavic Racial Type .......................................................................... 72 How Do You Racialize a Slav? ...................................................................................... 76 Racialized National Categories ............................................................................. 78 Racialized National Categories Placed Under Racial Meta-Categories ................. 79 Racialized National Categories Placed Next to Racial Meta-Categories ............... 81 Denationalized Racial Meta-Categories ................................................................ 82 The Case of Scientific Racism: Gobineau and Canadian Eugenicists ........................... 88 Physiognomy and Perception ........................................................................................ 95 Conclusion .................................................................................................................. 102 Chapter 5. The Making of a Periphery: The Slavs as External Others ............... 104 The Others of Europe .................................................................................................. 105 vi Race and Self-Government ......................................................................................... 110 Canada’s Absorptive Capacity .................................................................................... 116 Canadian

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