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Journal article

On Being not Canadian: the Social Organisation of "Migrant Workers" in Canada

Date

2001

Authors

Nandita Sharma

Abstract

Se fondant sur la mbthode d’ethnographie institutionnelle de
Dorothy E. Smith, l’auteure btudie l’organisation sociale de notre
connaissance des gen? categorises c o m e non-immigrants ou u travailleurs
migrants m. A la suite de l’btude du Non-Immigrant
Employment Authorization Program (NIEAP) du gouvernement
canadien (1973), elle montre l’importance de la pratique idhlogique
raciste et nationaliste des Etats B l’endroit de l’organisation
materielle du march6 du travail compbtitif cc canadien )) dans le cadre
d’un capitalisme mondial restructure de m6me que la reorganisation
qui en rbsulte des notions d’esprit national canadien. Elle montre
aussi que la pratique discursive des parlementaires qui consiste B
considhrer certaines personnes comme des u problemes pour les
cc Canadiens BB ne provient pas de l’exclusion physique de ces
(( &rangers m mais plutBt de leur diffbrenciation idbologique et
mathrielle des Canadiens une fois qu’ils vivent et travaillent dans la
societb canadienne.

Utilizing Dorothy E. Smith’s method of institutional ethnography, I
investigate the social organization of our knowledge of people categorized
as non-immigrants or “migrant workers.” By examining
Canada’s 1973 Non-immigrant Employment Authorization Program
(NIEAP), I show the importance of racist and nationalist ideological
state practice to the material organization of the competitive
“Canadian” labour market within a restructured global capitalism
and the resultant reorganization of notions of Canadian nationhood. I
show that the parliamentary discursive practice of producing certain
people as “problems” for “Canadians” results not in the physical
exclusion of those constructed as “foreigners” but in their ideological
and material differentiation from Canadians, once such people are
living and working within Canadian society.

Journal title

Canadian Review of Sociology and Anthropology

Volume

38

Issue

4

Page numbers

415-439

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Economic sectors

Agriculture and horticulture workers, Occupations in services - Domestic work, Sales and service occupations - general, Trades, transport and equipment operators and related occupations - general, Natural resources, agriculture and related production occupations - general, Labourers in food, beverage and associated products processing, Dancers, and Other

Content types

Policy analysis

Target groups

Researchers, Unions, and NGOs/community groups/solidarity networks

Geographical focuses

Canada, Ontario, Alberta, Manitoba, Quebec, British Columbia, Other provinces, Federal, Nova Scotia, and National relevance

Spheres of activity

Anthropology, History, Law, and Sociology

Languages

English