AGEOGWHY of RACISM University of Toronto

TEE OPERATION OF WBlTENESS AND FORGETTiNG IN AHUCVILLE: A GEOGWHY OF RACISM Jennifer Ji11 Nelson A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario lnstitute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto C Copyright by Jennifer JilI Nelson, 200 1 National Library Bibliothéque nationale 1+1 ofC,& du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographie Senrices services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395. rue WellnigtOn OaawaûN KIAONQ Onawa ON KIA ON4 canada CaMda The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence ailowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriiute or sel1 reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/h, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownenhip of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts from it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or othewise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author's ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. THE OPERATION OF WHITENESS AND FORGETTING iN AFRICVILLE: A GEOGRAPHY OF RACISM Iennifer Ji11 Nelson, Doctor of Phiïosophy, 200 1 Department of Sociology and Equity Studies in Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto In the 1960s the City of Halifav dismantled the black community of Afncville under a program of urban renewal and 'slum clearance'. Africville's 400 residents were evicted from their homes, in many cases receiving insufficient financiai compensation. From that time on, the City has defended its actions by citing the deplorable living conditions in Afncville, obscuring its own creation of these conditions through years of neglect and the refusal of essentiai services. In the 1980s, the space of Mictille was made into a public park, which remains a site of contestation, protest and commemoration. The City of Halifav continues to deny financiai compensation to former residents, has never issued a public admission of wrong- doing and has actively maneuvered to silence protes. This dissertation traces the events around this history as a chain of evictions of MXcvilIe From its own space. The regdatory measures taken by the city of Halihu are theorized as a series of choices - rather than inevitably necessary moves - which constituted ~cviilein various ways: as a sIum, then as a 'problem' which was solved, and more recently as a white communal space in which past vioIence is rendered invisible. The aim of my anaiysis in this work is not an explication of the experiences of Africvilie residents, or of the eqerience of Afiican Canadians in general, but rather a criticai .- 11 mapping of the actions of the white municipality of Halifau in AfiicvilIe's history. 1 argue that these acts of regdation of black spaces and bodies Iogically foliow one another in creating a 'geography of racism'. In tracinç the continuing management of space over tirne, 1 demonstrate how whites in positions ofprivilege and authonty come to know themselves as Iegtimately dominant. In critiquing the effective erasure of racism and violence in the white story of .Akicville, I illustrate how these dominant social ectors construct their innocence through panicular foms of comrnemoration. Acknowledgments Any doctoral candidate will atten to the potential for a great sense of intellectuai and emotional isolation while writing a dissertation. However, many people have helped to keep me focused and connected to the real world, Their support consistently bolstered my energy and made this process not only bearable but often rich and rewarding. I could not have asked for a more supportive partner than Andrew .Allen, who has sustained me emotionally. intellectually and "technologically" throughout. Sherene Razack, with her razor-sharp insight, has consistently chailenged me to think and to write beyond my perceived Iimits. She has called this a process of "finding my voice," but 1 could not have done this without her own voice and her unflagging dedication to my project and to anti-racist struggie broadly. Ruth Roach Pierson, on the eve of her retirement Eom academe, traversed this work with a fine tooth comb. Her early insights made the work much stronger and her thoroughness made the final drafi much simpler to generate. Kari Dehii took tirne from her sabbatical to facilitate my completion. Her complex questions and thoroush engagement with the broader issues demonstrated interest and commitment for which 1 am very gratefùl. Nicholas Blomley performed a small miracle of eqediency in returning his perceptive and illurninating comments within a week of an unfortunate misdemeanor on the part of Canada Post. (Future graduates, find a reliable courier service well ahead of time.) Numerous fiiends and colleagues have taken a great interest in both my subject rnatter and my progress during this work. 1want to thank Nancy Nelson and Kevin Davison for invaluable research assistance and for being dedicated "Halifax correspondents." 1am indebted to Donna Jeffery, Zoe Newman, and Doreen Fumia for more than a year's worth of regular intellemal insight, deepening ûiendship and more great meals than t cm count. They have truly made the process feel tike the work of a team. As well, the Fnendship, enthusiasm and support i received from Sheila Gill and Laura CIeghorn during the earlier stages of research was fundamental in bringing the work to hition. 1 thank them, along with Sherene, Ruth, Donna Zoe and Doreen, for believing 1 had a wonhwhile and orik9inal project when 1 myself was in doubt. 1 thank Homa Asayesh and Elizabeth Rooney from the Women's Health Resource Centre. On top of their consistent interest and concem, their flexible approach to my work hours was greatly appreciated. The stafFat the Public .4rchives of Nova Scotia and the Halifau Regionai Library were incredibty helphl, showing interest and patience as I monopolized enormous volumes of work. This project was undertaken and completed dunng the course of a four-year doctoral Fellowship from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. 1am grateful for their support. Table of Contents Abstract i Acknowledgments iii Table of Contents iv Quotation v Preface 1 Chapter 1 The Spatial Order of White and Black: A theoretical framework Chapter iI Allegories of Blackness and Space: Racial Knowledge Production in Mid-Century Nova Scotia Chapter [LI The Destruction of .\fricville: Fusing racial discourse and spatial management Chapter iV "A Place to Dream Their Dreams": Forgetting as 'reconciliation' Works Cited If you don't know my name, ihen you don't know your own. -James Baldwin Replying "ficville" to a question about one's work always commands a meaningfiil gaze. It is a well-known story, and alrnost ai1 Canadians have their version at hand: It was a sharne, a tragedy, The City had no other choice. It was a slum. it was the era of integration. What ever happened to those people? We didn't want to leave. It's shocking. It isn't surprisinç. tt was only because we were black. They're tenibly bitter. They can't forget the past. It will never happen again ... -4swith any story, opinions Vary with individuai and group histories, wavering as we draw nearer or hnher away. For me it is a story both immediate and remote. For an academic writer attempting to think critically about race, it is both a poignant moment in the nation's history of racism and an ongoing struggle for justice. tis a white woman tiom a segregated, working-class rural town in Nova Scotia, PLfncvitle was a shadow of the past, minoring the black comrnunity near my own home. It is far removed fi-ommy experience, yet produced in my own history - that of white settlement - which detemined to a large degree how it could evolve and how it failed to resist destruction. In the many variations of the story, white perspectives fom a miu of pity, regret. shame, defensiveness and anger. Most common is a belief that Mifcville's destruction was an unfonunate incident which, while not wholIy successfùi, was a necessary and humanitarian effort. This is accompanied by a sense that the past must be forgotten, that 'we', and therefore 'they', must move on. But what is at stake in hrgetting the pas? What are the risks in remembering? 1s it merely a coincidence that a comptex !ook at the last four decades might unearth something whites find uncornfortable to fice, something biacks find cruciai to 2 address? This work tells Afnctille as a story of white domination, as a story of the making of a slum, and of the operation of technologies of oppression and regulation over time. It mes PLfncville as an image in the white imagination, a place against which progress and respectability couId be measured, and around which borders, real and syrnbolic, could be placed. This story sees rU'ncvi1le.s destruction as a deliberate, long-term project within a larger colonial picture of spatial management. It relies on the tenet that certain bodies are consistently produced as black within various facets of dominant white culture. such as media, education, academic work and ~ovemmentaldiscourse. It traces the rey1ation of black bodies and spaces with a view to how whites come to know themselves in relation to these acts. and through representations of their own choices. This is the ody story of Africville which 1 feel entitled to pursue, the oniy angle From which [ think a white person can approach an intimate, violent black experience.

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