SOSC 1130 Lecture Notes - Safety Valve, Failed State
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2011-11-10
Canadian Immigration Policies during the Great Depression: Political Deportations
Context
•Political economic considerations in Canada shaped Canadian immigration
policies in late 19th century and beginning of the 20th
•Intimately connected with national policies
•Canada needed workers to participate in labour intensive industries
•Canadian government wanted agricultural settlers who raised capital in Canada
through wage work
•Climate of xenophobia, nativist sentiments, (social anxiety)
•Nativist – defender of Canadian culture and ways
oBritish, like British immigrants
Great Depression and the Challenge to the Nation State
•Collapse of economy and national market in 1920s, investors lost confidence
•Resulted in massive unemployment
•Two major tasks
oMaintain Canada’s economic viability
oTo organize support for its project of nation building
•Nation-building refers to the process of constructing or structuring a national identity
using the power of the state. This process aims at the unification of the people within the
state so that it remains politically stable and viable in the long run. Nation-building can
involve the use of propaganda or major infrastructure development to foster social
harmony and economic growth.
oBuilding infrastructures in Canada, settling west, building railways
oChinatown
oBuilding nation and unit while excluding others
oBuilding nation in opposition to other nations
oKamagatu
oJapanese
oAnything excluding people is an example, trying to keep white Canada
•Nation building is crucial to nation states – unifies the country creating economic
and political links
•Nationalism
oCreates myth of common origin
oHomogenizes diverse societies
oDevelops symbols that transcend differences
•When ever there is a crisis, nation states become very fragile
•Nation States = social constructions
•To not fall apart, need a sense of common project and in a crisis this is more
difficult
•Gramsci’s concept of hegemony
oMore peaceful way of maintaining control (ideology over physical
violence)
oInvolves organized consensus
oPartial concealment of coercion