Border narratives in Canadian social work: Neoliberal nationalism in the discursive construction of “citizen/Self” and “non-citizen/Other”

Abstract

This article elucidates how social work is not only constituted by cross-border processes but also constitutes the transnational processes of bordering within the territorial boundary of the nation-state. The analysis is drawn from a qualitative study of social workers who have worked with migrants without full immigration status in Toronto, Canada. Building on critical border scholarship that reconceptualizes borders as processes, I examine border narratives – a discursive-level operation of border making. I highlight how neoliberalism, one of the key technologies of contemporary transnational bordering processes, intersects and works together with nationalistic citizenship discourse, governing the discursive constructing of “citizen/Self” and “non-citizen/Other.” I call this governance at play neoliberal nationalism and demonstrate some of the ways that neoliberal nationalism works on, through, and within social workers to make sense of exclusionary and inclusionary practices towards migrants without full immigration status as they struggle to navigate a highly complex immigration system and funding structure as well as the effects of neoliberalism in their workplace. I demonstrate how social workers reproduce neoliberal logic and the hegemony of national citizenship even as they critique them, rendering it challenging to see their own complicity in the internal border making of the Canadian nation-state.

Keywords:

• Border narratives
• neoliberal nationalism
• Canadian social work
• “citizen/Self” and “non-citizen/Other”
• transnational social work

Acknowledgements

I would like to thank Professor Yuk-Lin Renita Wong, guest editors, and two anonymous reviewers for their insightful comments and suggestions on earlier drafts. Any errors that remain are my sole responsibility.

Notes

1. I was one of the interviewees in this study. Prior to pursuing doctoral education, I worked with migrant communities, many of which consisted of migrants without full immigration status. Due to the critical nature of my research, it was important for me to include myself as one of the interviewees. I borrowed this idea from the work of Barbara Heron (2007).

2. In the context of international relations, Harmes (2012) employs the term “neoliberal nationalism” to argue that contrary to the literature of the field, neoliberalism and nationalism are not antithetical to each other, but instead, that “certain nationalist policies can be genuinely compatible with, and even essential for, neoliberal values” (p. 72). My use of neoliberal nationalism differs from Harnes’ in that I treat nationalism and neoliberalism as not simply policies or values but power that circulates.

3. Pseudonyms were used to protect personal identities.

4. In 2011, Citizenship and Immigration Canada (CIC) cut settlement funding by 5%, amounting to a $53 million loss from 2011–2012 and an additional $6 million from 2012–2013 (Ontario Council of Agencies Serving Immigrants, 2011).