Sameness and Difference in Canada and the UK: Interrogating Whiteness As a Categorical Marker Within Interpretative Matrices of Inclusion and Exclusion
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Sameness and Difference in Canada and the UK: Interrogating whiteness as a categorical marker within interpretative matrices of inclusion and exclusion by Raluca Bejan A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Social Work University of Toronto © Copyright by Raluca Bejan 2018 Sameness and Difference in Canada and the UK: Interrogating whiteness as a categorical marker within interpretative matrices of inclusion and exclusion Raluca Bejan Doctor of Philosophy Social Work University of Toronto 2018 Abstract This dissertation contests the ontological social work interpretations addressing issues of societal inclusion and exclusion for migrant populations. Outcomes of societal advantage and disadvantage, of privilege and oppression, as the colloquial social work jargon designates, resulting from distributive inclusionary-exclusionary processes, are generally abstracted on identitarian categorical markers (i.e., gender, class, race) and subsequently interpreted through intersectional matrices of analysis. Categorical whiteness, taken as a fixed classification to denote fair skin colour possessed by those originating from Caucasian racial ancestries, particularly from European ethnic backgrounds, has grown to represent the universal marker grounding analyses of privilege. Yet the assumption that whiteness is the same (i.e., European, ii biologically marked by skin colour and privileged) across the globe, in every social circumstance, and universally traversing national communities of value, is highly problematic, since interpretations of categorical markers depend on particular geo-political and national referential frames. In comparing and contrasting the inclusionary and exclusionary logic determining aspects of societal marginalization for two populations, skilled migrants to Canada, and Romanian and Bulgarian migrants to United Kingdom (UK), this dissertation demonstrates that: 1) a universal taxonomy of whiteness as explanatory for outcomes of inclusion and exclusion does not hold within transnational contexts; 2) current understandings of ontological whiteness are constructed on a false epistemological presumption of equivalence that synonymizes colonialism with Europeanness, Europeanness with whiteness, and whiteness with colonialism; 3) the theory of intersectionality, generally used to contextualize particular outcomes of privilege and oppression, is limited in analyzing inclusionary-exclusionary processes; and it proposes, in turn: 4) the adoption of a sameness-difference dialectical reasoning to guide inclusionary/exclusionary analyses for transnational migrant populations. iii Acknowledgments First, I would to thank my Supervisor, Professor A. Ka Tat Tsang for supporting me in drafting a theoretical dissertation. Many thanks to the Committee Members, Dr. Natalya Timoshkina and Dr. Charmaine Williams, as well to the internal and external examiner(s), Dr. Lin Fang and respectively Dr. John Shields for reading the dissertation in detail and for providing thoughtful comments and feedback. Special thanks to Angela Umbrello for her timely administrative support. I am very grateful to other Faculty Members who I met along the way, for brief or substantial periods of time, and who challenged my thinking on the matter: Bridget Anderson, Maria Nikolakaki, Adrienne Chambon, Sheila Neysmith, Rupaleem Bhuyan, Adrian Favel, Daniel Auer, Gregory L. Cuéllar, Zovanga Kone, Nicholas Van Hear, Manuela Boatcă and Dace Dzenovska. Shelley Craig offered me strong support when I entered academia. Michelle Buckley introduced me to a remarkable research project in the UK and offered me the opportunity to gain substantial research experience. Special thanks to Igor Shoikhedbrod for reading several drafts of this text and for providing invaluable feedback. Many thanks for Fritz Pino, Yu-Te Huang and René Paul Bogović for the endless theoretical discussions on current systems of classifications. A big thank you to Ioan Cocan for his patience and care. And to my parents, Maria and Florin Bejan, who taught me early on that critical thinking is the kernel of a meaningful life. My friends stood out along the way. They offered me laughs, care and ongoing support. Thank you, Andreea Iorga-Curpăn, Carrie Cooke, Mirela Cherciov, Peter Murvai, Daniel Amza, Iulia Mihăilă, Olga Amza, Flavius Georgescu, Valentin Coman, Cora Grădinescu, Naomi Lightman, Jarrett Moore, Salim Nabi and Manaal Fahim. Without all of your help, this dissertation would not have been possible. iv Table of Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................... ii Acknowledgments .................................................................................................................. iv List of Figures ......................................................................................................................... vi Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 1 1.1 The argument explained ............................................................................................... 7 1.1.1 The argument within the context of social justice social work .............................. 12 1.2 Methodology ................................................................................................................ 24 1.3 Introducing the author ............................................................................................... 28 1. Processes of inclusion and exclusion ............................................................................ 33 2.1 The notions of inclusion and exclusion ...................................................................... 33 2.2 Classified outcomes of inclusion and exclusion ........................................................ 39 2.2.1 The Canadian context ............................................................................................. 41 2.2.2 The British context .................................................................................................. 49 2.3 Resolutions of inclusion and exclusion ...................................................................... 60 2.3.1 Inclusion: The Candian solution ............................................................................ 62 2.3.2 Brexit: The British resolution ................................................................................. 71 2. Explanations of inclusion and exclusion ...................................................................... 82 3.1 The Rubik’s Cube ....................................................................................................... 82 3.1.1 Skilled migrants in Canada .................................................................................... 85 3.1.2 A2 nationals in the UK ........................................................................................... 95 3.2 Whiteness as an explanatory parameter of the Cube ............................................ 109 3.2.1 Ontological whiteness ........................................................................................... 109 3.2.2 Epistemological whiteness .................................................................................... 137 3. Matrices of inclusion and exclusion ........................................................................... 155 4.1 The limits of intersectionality ................................................................................... 157 4.2 The universal-particular dialectic ........................................................................... 163 4.2.1 The (multicultural) national as the terrain withholding the universal-particular dialectic .......................................................................................................................... 193 4. Conclusions................................................................................................................... 199 References:........................................................................................................................... 215 v List of Figures Figure 1. Estimates of non-British resident population (p. 57). Figure 2. Figure 2: Yearly estimates of GDP rates in the UK (p. 73). Figure 3. British Election Study - Word Cloud (p. 75) Photo 1. Carl Brigham- A Study of American Intelligence. Cover (p. 120) Photo 2. Carl Brigham- A Study of American Intelligence. Table No. 33 (p. 120) Photo 3. Carl Brigham- A Study of American Intelligence. Table No. 32 (p. 120) vi Introduction The social work discipline uses the notions of inclusion and exclusion as analytical pillars in grounding a larger social justice discourse, theorized on universalized ontological and epistemological assumptions, and abstracted on identitarian categorical markers (i.e., race, gender or class) to denote societal advantages and disadvantages. Certain identitarian markers signify privilege (i.e., male gender, whiteness, etc.), while others signify oppression (i.e., racialized identities, female gender, trans-gender, etc.). Categorical whiteness generally delineates the ultimate, universal marker of advantage. Since 1988, when Peggy McIntosh introduced the ‘white privilege’ terminology within the academic jargon, framing it to conceptually branch-out from interlocking systems of oppression, mounting it as analogous with the male privilege notion