Rethinking transnationalism

Description

Toronto is one of the most ethnically and racially diverse metropolises in North America today and its diversity continues to grow with the settlement of almost fifty percent of newcomers to Canada every year. Increased urban diversity urges us to grasp the new dynamics emerging between host societies and a growing variety of immigrant groups. This question is even more significant within the contemporary context of neoliberal restructuring. Downloading and cutbacks in service provision have serious implications for immigrants' citizenship because of the pervading inequalities that they and other disadvantaged groups already face in Toronto.I tackle these issues by examining Latin American immigrants' struggle for belonging in Toronto since the early 1990s. This group is relatively recent in Canadian history, it is very diverse, and it is socioeconomically disadvantaged when compared to society at large. This case study explores the intersections of transnationalism and neoliberal governance; this combination of approaches serves two purposes: to address issues of diversity and difference while contextualizing immigrants' experiences within the broader conjuncture; and to uncover the multiple actions of a variety of subjects in response to state discourses and practices. First, I contend that the uses and meanings of transnationalism should be expanded to study the internal diversity of immigrant groups within host societies. I demonstrate that Latin Americans in Toronto form a "transnational network of immigrant communities" that cuts across multiple borders, but within one particular locale. Then, I take a governmentality perspective to explore Latin Americans' transnationalism in relation to the arrival of the shadow state. The group developed innovative spatial strategies to lay claims to equal rights such as public parades, the building of ethnic places, the creation of umbrella organizations, networks of service providers, and partnerships with other ethnic/immigrant groups. The study reveals that the nonprofit sector constitutes a contradictory space of citizenship formation where immigrants are formed into Canadian citizens, but where they can also contest and negotiate dominant notions of citizenship. Latin Americans' experiences suggest that restructuring presents both a closure to social rights and opportunities for new transnational spaces of empowerment and resistance.

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