Racialized Soldiers, the Canadian Military Experience and the Im/Possibility of Belonging to the Nation
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
Be All You Can Be or Longing to Be: Racialized soldiers, the Canadian military experience and the Im/Possibility of belonging to the nation by Tammy George, BSc. (Hons), MA A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Social Justice Education Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto © Copyright by Tammy George (2016) Be All You Can Be or Longing to Be: Racialized soldiers, Canadian military experience and the Im/Possibility of belonging to the nation Tammy George Doctor of Philosophy Department of Social Justice Education University of Toronto 2016 Abstract Military conquest and intervention have played a central role in the making and maintaining of empires for centuries. The question of who serves in those militaries remains extremely significant in settler societies, particularly in the contemporary negotiation of citizenship, immigration, national belonging and identity. In this dissertation I ask the following questions: Who is the racialized soldier subject? How do racialized soldiers negotiate national belonging? What are their experiences in the Canadian military? This research study examines the racial underpinnings of citizenship through an exploration of the experiences of racialized soldier subjects in the Canadian Forces in the post 9/11 era. The study is based on in-depth interviews with twenty-five reserve and retired soldiers, both men and women from various racialized communities in Canada. Drawing on a “race cognizant” poststructuralism and feminist critical race theories of subjectivity, masculinity, nation formation, citizenship and racial discourse, this research reveals several important findings. First, this dissertation reveals that while the Canadian military projects itself as a racially diverse institution, the reality is quite different. In this thesis, I theorize military recruitment as a project of inclusion into a white culture. Racialized soldiers join the military family for a number of reasons, but often experience the military as duplicitous and are at times met with enormous bureaucracy. Their journeys into the military reveal complex structural conditions that make joining the military a viable option. ii iii Once in the military, interviews with racialized soldiers reveal the visceral nature of whiteness within the Canadian military apparatus. The narratives of soldiers of colour also show that despite the amount of racial labour involved in negotiating this white space, there still remains a desire to belong. In battle zones, soldiers of colour often display an ambivalence if not a critique of the racist and Orientalist underpinnings of war. Yet they remain dedicated and are proud of their military service. These findings have important implications for understanding institutional diversity, the experiences of military life and finally, the undeniable role of racism in modern day warfare. iii iv Acknowledgements Every research project has a story, which is the story of an arrival. -Sara Ahmed (2012, p. 2) Writing a dissertation is no small feat. I am extremely fortunate to have had a community of loving support throughout this journey. What makes someone devote almost 10 years of their life to answering a few questions with the risk of never having them answered? The seeds of this project were planted years before I began graduate school and only now have I come to understand the depths of that curiosity and honoured it here in these pages. A project of this magnitude is never solitary effort; it took a select group of people to stand by me, fight with me, grapple with me, walk with me and believe in me. I am so grateful for their support, love, honesty and patience. Sherene you have a way of inspiring and eliciting the best from your students. I thank you for believing in this project and taking me on late in my academic career. You have pushed me to ask better questions of myself and my work and I am grateful and blessed to have been under your supervision. Your inspiration is not only limited to your scholarship, but you have also demanded the best of me emotionally and challenged me psychically. Deb, I will never forget the excitement and passion you demonstrated when we first met. You have consistently kept my academic fires burning and possess a rare quality that continuously draws your students in. I am so grateful for your knowledge and passion and cannot imagine this journey without you. I have learned so much from you and how to navigate academic life with grace and dignity. Alissa, you have been instrumental to my academic journey since the first day we met years ago. I always have your voice inside my head and will most likely carry it with me beyond my life in academia for you demand an ethic and way of life. To my powerfully, inspiring committee it has been the utmost privilege to work with you. Collectively, I don’t think you will ever comprehend what you have brought to my intellectual life and activism. I came to Toronto deliberately to work with minds like yours. Know that this is not only a dream fulfilled, but heart as well. To Yasmeen Abu-Laban, thank you for all your flexibility, understanding and patience. I feel very privileged to have worked with you. Your passion for the student experience is a rare quality and I thank you for all your support and engaging so carefully with my work. To Kiran Mirchandi, thank you for insightful feedback, optimism and careful analysis of my work. It was a pleasure to have you part of this really important process. To the 25 soldiers who give up so much on a daily basis and whose words have breathed life into this work. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. Thank you for sharing your lives and journeys with me. Your candour, bravery and vulnerability to face the life and decisions before you are nothing short of admirable. I think about you all everyday and the tireless work iv v you do. I will continue to work with you, support you and understand the complicated system you have navigated and continue to navigate. My family has been unwavering, dogged and nothing short of amazing. Mama, Papa, Chrissy you are the pillars that never waver and keep me focused. You lived and breathed this thesis with me. You have given me everything and made me who I am today. I am truly indebted to you all. To my beautiful sister Chrissy, I cannot thank you enough for taking the time to engage with my work. My conversations with you always push me to a different place. When I needed you most, you made me feel confident again. Thank you for your keen eye, patience and love. To the Fraschetti/Greenwood clan: Nana and Nono thank you for all your love and support. I cannot thank you enough for standing by me and taking care of me with the most caring gestures. Whether it was a hot meal, child care and lots of encouragement, I thank you. To the rest of my extended family, Gaby, Paul, Clara, Tim, Eunk-Yeong and to all my nieces and nephews that you for making me laugh when I thought laughter was not possible. A dear friend of mine once said, “Fulfilling your calling to write this work, only strengthens our friendship”. I now understand stand what you meant by that sentiment. Thank you for your love, patience, engagement, cheers and for never letting me give up on this journey. My deepest thanks and gratitude goes to Angie, Gail, Gary, Claire, Andrea, Stella, Marie, Morgan, Ana Laura, Kyoung- Yim, Shaista, Kathryn, Annette, Cassandra and Vesna. To my thesis group who really came through for me in the final stages of my dissertation. Thank you for all your support and encouragement. A huge thanks to Shaista, Suzanne, Kate, Gulzar, Laura L., Laura K., Gulzar, Sarah, Griffin, Shelina and Harjeet. To my Chingus – In many ways you were there when the seeds of this thesis first began to sprout. Thank you for all your love and encouragement and engagement with this work. Joshua, Sara and Mark, I am grateful for your love and friendship over the years and engaging with important aspects of this work in a number of contexts. Michael – there are no words to express the depth of my gratitude. Forgive the metaphor, but you were the one in the trenches with me every single day. The one who lived and breathed this work with me, day in and day out with passion and intrigue. You never let me waver even on my most vulnerable moments and taught me so much about patience, love and persistence. This thesis will not love me, but I know you always will. You always see best in me and remind me of what I am capable of. You have encouraged me to show up and stand up for myself and for that and some many other reasons, I am so grateful to you. Finally, to my darling Isadora – this thesis took flight as soon as you entered my world. You made me look at this work differently and through your eyes – a true gift and blessing. Your v vi optimism, your sense of wonder, your focus have all influenced the way I see this work. This thesis is for you and your father – so that you may one day understand some of the questions and desires that motivated your mother, but more importantly be inspired and feel safe to ask your own questions in the years ahead. My sincerest love and gratitude, Tammy vi Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ii . Acknowledgements ...............................................................................................................iv Contents