Roberts Mahtani

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Neoliberalizing Race, RacingNeoliberalism: Placing Racein Neoliberal Discourses

David J. Roberts and Minelle MahtaniDepartment of Geography and Planning, University of Toronto, Canada;

[email protected], [email protected]

This intervention piece attempts to extend the ways neoliberalism andrace are currently conceptualized in geography. Rather than thinkingabout these concepts as two separate entities, we insist on examiningtheir co-constitutive qualities. Peck and Tickell argue that:

there is more to be done, both theoretically and empirically,

on the specification and exploration of different processes of neoliberalization. This would need to take account of the waysin which ideologies of neoliberalism are themselves produced andreproduced through institutional forms and political action, sinceactually existing neoliberalisms are always (in some way or another)hybrid of composite structures (see Larner 2000) (Peck and Tickell2002:383).

It is important to analyze the processes through which the ideologyneoliberalism is actualized through various policies, discourses, andsocial relations. However, this theorization can limit analyses to whatwe call moments of eruption of racial discrimination from processes of neoliberalization. We argue that scholarship needs to do more than maphow processes of neoliberalization have racialized results. Instead wesuggest focusing on the ways neoliberalism (its underlying philosophy)is fundamentally raced and actively produces racialized bodies. Payingparticular attention to the racialized discourses about immigrants in aCanadian newspaper, we argue that neoliberalism works to modify the

ways race functions.

The Contours of Neoliberalism in GeographyNeoliberalism has a long history in geographical thought (Hyndman2009; Viswanathan 2009). For this paper, we limit much of our analysisof neoliberalism to the work that has directly examined the concept Antipode Vol. 42 No. 2 2010 ISSN 0066-4812, pp 248257doi: 10.1111/j.1467-8330.2009.00747.xC 2010 The Authors

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Neoliberalizing Race, Racing Neoliberalism 249

in relation to race. Geographers have emphasized the impacts thatneoliberalization has had on institutions and governmental policies(see Cope 2001; Peck and Tickell 2002; Theodore 2007). Scholarshiphas begun to map the impacts of neoliberal policy reforms in termsof their racially differentiated impacts. Nik Theodores work, Closedborders, open markets: Day laborers struggle for economic rights, inits analyzing of the impacts of neoliberal policy reforms on the livesof day laborers, provides an example of this new direction. Theodoreswork provides a compelling look at how neoliberal policy reforms canhave significantly racialized impacts. As Theodore explains, In thename of greater labor market flexibility, the neoliberal regulatory projecthas sought to dismantle or seriously weaken labor market insuranceprograms and job-protection legislation, and undermine trade unionismand worker collective action (2007:252253). The result has been theemergence of an informal economy of day laborers, who are largelycomprised of illegal immigrants. Due to their precarious legal positionbear the brunt of such social change as their access to legal recourses inregards to unfair employment practices are circumscribed. Day laborers,as a notably racialized group, provide a compelling example of the waysin which neoliberal policy reforms disparately impact certain racializedpopulations.

Theodore is not alone in examing the relationship between racism andneoliberalization. David Wilsons book, Cities andRace: Americas New Black Ghettos (2006) also examines the connection between race andneoliberalism. Wilson explores the impacts of neoliberal policy reformon the entrenchment and expansion of the racialized ghetto withinthe American rust belt. He introduces readers to a cast of characters,such as Welfare Queens, welfare-hustling men, and black youthgangbangers that Ronald Reagan used to capitalize upon the fearsof the country and direct them at the ghetto. In each of these terms,race, specifically blackness, coupled with anti-market behaviors becomeintertwined in the construction of the antithesis of the ideal neoliberalcitizen in the black ghetto resident. In his analysis, race is mobilizedto show that racialized subjectivities are essential in justifying certainimpacts of neoliberalization that are experienced disproportionatelywithin racialized communities. However, Cities and Race fails toprovide a precise examination of how these black ghettos are connectedto a wider racialized system within US (or Western) society. In fact, at

several points in the book, Wilson quotes the language used to describethe ghetto that is highly evocative of the history of racism, such asthe inner city as primitive engulfers of societal resources (2006:62)contrasting this with other spaces of civility within the city (2006:60),but he never fully unpacks the use of this language to explain how ithistorically connects global tropes to the dehumanizing history of race.

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We draw from these two examples to demonstrate that, in bothcases, the resulting theorization treats racism as an inevitable result of neoliberalization rather than mutually constitutive with neoliberalizingpolicies. The racist eruptions that result from neoliberal policiesand practices are cited, but race is imagined as a fixed category,where individual racialized groups are seen as distinct and mappedonto neoliberal policy outcomes. Neoliberalization is understood as asocioeconomic process that has racial implications, but little is saidabout the ways that neoliberalism modifies the way race is experiencedor understood in society. We suggest that this theorization is incomplete.We recommend a move from analyses of race and neoliberalismtowards analyses that race neoliberalism . This kind of analysis moreclearly delineates how race and racism are inextricably embedded inthe neoliberal project. To begin the process of racing neoliberalism, itis essential to understand neoliberalism as a facet of a racist societythat works to both reinforce the racial structure of society, while alsomodifying the processes of racialization. As other geographers havepointed out (Gilmore 2006; McKittrick 2006; Pulido 2006) race is afundamental organizing principle in society. We suggest that there is aseductive, common-sense logic to neoliberalism that reproduces racistideologies. We highlight the fruitfulness of this way of understanding

race and neoliberalism in our case study.

Methodological ApproachFor our analysis, we examined the ways that immigration andimmigrants were positioned in a leading Canadian newspaper, TheGlobe and Mail . We conducted an archival search of The Globe and Mailfrom 1 October 2002 to 30 September 2006 to create an initial datasetmade up of all articles containing the term immigration in their title,abstract, and/or within their text. Our initial archival search produceda data set of 3754 articles that included the word immigration in thetitle, text or abstract during this period. From this dataset, we paredthe sample down to 896 articles by eliminating those articles not aboutimmigration, immigrants or refugees in Canada. Within our analysis, wechose to include editorials, opinion pieces, guest columns, and lettersto the editor to grasp a full picture of what a typical reader might readabout immigration in The Globe and Mail . Each article and letter was

treated the same for purposes of coding. From a set of 55 sub-themes,several major themes emerged as distinct ways in which The Globeand Mail communicated stories about immigration. While certainlythe sheer number of stories that touted immigration as important toincreased economic success (14% of the articles) or the number thatlinked immigrants to criminal activities or terrorism (24% of the articles)influenced our findings, our approach was to examine the discourse at aC 2010 The AuthorsJournal compilation C 2010 Editorial Board of Antipode .


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more macro level by examining the ideals and discourses that appearedto be underpinning The Globe and Mail s choice of coverage.

Extending Harald Bauders (2008) analysis of immigrant portrayals,where he outlines the connections between immigration and utility,we also found that many stories in this paper celebrate the virtues of immigration and its link to a successful Canadian economy. However,while Bauders investigation of the economic-utility perspective of neoliberal restructuring of Germanys immigration policies is similar toour work, we more specifically engage with the racialized representationof the immigration and its relationship to neoliberalization. In fact,neither the word race nor racialization ever appears in Baudersanalysis. In other words, we are interested in the ways in which thediscourses that Bauder identifies work to modify how race is understoodand experienced as a result of neoliberal policy reforms (and theircorresponding discourses). Our analysis starts from a similar place asBauder by examining a strikingly similar set of discursive constructionsof immigrants in the Canadian newsprint, but works towards a differenttheoretical end.

Through a focus on the utility and productive nature of immigrantsfor Canadas growth, immigrants are depicted as adding significantutilitarian value to the Canadian economy. This is, of course, a strongly

neoliberal argument (Bauder 2008). Articles such as Labour shortagewoes loom, research says (Scoffield 2005), New Canadians cankeep the lights shining on the Prairie (Simpson 2005), and Ontarioeyes brightest immigrants (Howlett 2006) underscore the need forimmigrants to shore up Canadas economy. Immigrants are seen as away to solve many of Canadas pressing concerns from low fertility ratesand an aging population, to the growing demand for skilled labor anddoctors, to fuelling hot housing markets. Racism and its accompanyingstereotypes associated with immigrants (high fertility, non-professionalaspirations) are effectively mobilized as desirable whereas historicallythese were seen as negative attributes of immigrants. These presumedfeatures of the potential immigrant population are part of a racist lexiconthat was previously employed to denigrate immigrants. Now, the samediscourse is manipulated to present immigrants as a more desirablepopulation (who at the same time know their place). A few examples of this theme follow:

For governments, success will mean overhauling pension rules to

allow older people to work longer; it means abolishing the fearthat immigrants will take away jobs from Canadians, removingimpediments to immigrants who want to work here and bringing inmore of them; it means luring women into the work force with largerdaycare subsidies and flexible hours (Plenty of work, not enoughbodies; Brethour and Scoffield 2006:B4).



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and

Mr. McGuinty will outline plans to attract a steady influx of newCanadians by capitalizing on theprovinces rich multicultural heritage,said senior government sources. The provinces diversity is one of our biggest economic advantages if we leverage it properly, one of the sources said. The emphasis on immigrationand Ontario as aplace where newcomers can build a better future for their familieswill mark the first time a government attempts to link the provincescultural diversity to its economic prosperity. (Ontario eyes brightestimmigrants; Howlett 2006:A7).

Such stories recognize the importance of recruiting immigrants,emphasizing that Canadians should embrace immigrants because theyadd value to the Canadian economy. However, there is another sideto this story. Despite the calls to embrace immigrants because of their contribution to Canadas wellbeing, beneath the surface lies amuch more pernicious level of discourse that persistently racializesimmigrants as not-quite-Canadian. What is of interest to us here isthe way that the immigrant is effectively positioned as, paradoxically,both the good guy and the bad guy. On the one hand, theimmigrant is seen as contributing to a particular segment of the nationseconomy. On the other hand, the immigrant is effectively demonizedas deviant, criminalized and tarnishing the supposed Canadian way of life. We suggest that we might begin to understand this complex andcomplicit relationship as being fundamentally shaped by neoliberalismin contemporary Canada.

While it would be short-sighted and incorrect to understand theracialization of the immigrant as something brought about by therise of neoliberalism, since this process obviously has a much longerhistory in Canada as elsewhere, it is important to understand how the

neoliberal moment has allowed for the development of new discoursesthat reinforce this process.

The Co-Constitutive Nature of Race and NeoliberalismNeoliberalism in Canada has effectively reshaped the ideal conceptionof the relationship between the citizen and the society (and thecorresponding obligations that each has to the other). As Dana-AinDavis explains in Narrating the mute: Racializing and racism in aneoliberal moment:

Neoliberal practices pull into its orbit a market of ideas about a lot of things including the family, gender, and racial ideology. It is, as LisaDuggan (2003) notes, saturated with race (xvi) using capitalismto hide racial (and other) inequalities by relocating racially coded



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economic disadvantage and reassigning identity-based biases to theprivate and personal spheres (Davis 2007:349).

Specifically, it has meant the establishment of a market orientation tothis relationship. Ideally, within a neoliberal theorization of society,the success of the individual is directly related to his/her work output.Modalities of difference, such as race, do not predetermine ones successas each individual is evaluated solely in terms of his or her economiccontribution to society. What becomes clear is that this ideal relationshipis not equally realized by all members in society. For immigrants toCanada, there appears to be a different set of rules and expectations.Herein lies the double-edged sword of neoliberalism. Constituting theimmigrant as not-quite Canadian allows for the continued disconnect

between their ability to play the neoliberal game and the rewards thatthey receive for successful play. This can be seen through policies thatcontinue to disregard foreign degrees or other credentials that is atthe heart of the deskilling process, for example. Yet, as immigrantsare racialized within the economy of Canada, claims of racism underneoliberalism are fundamentally ruled as outside of the way in whichsocietyespecially Canadian societyis structured. Davis, again,provides a useful articulation of this process:

Under neoliberal racism the relevance of the raced subject, racialidentity and racism is subsumed under the auspices of meritocracy.For in a neoliberal society, individuals are supposedly freed fromidentity and operate under the limiting assumptions that hard work will be rewarded if the game is played according to the rules.Consequently, any impediments to success are attributed to personalflaws. This attribution affirms notions of neutrality and silences claimsof racializing and racism (Davis 2007:350).

As a consequence, neoliberalism effectively masks racism throughits value-laden moral project: camouflaging practices anchored in anapparent meritocracy, making possible a utopic vision of society thatis non-racialized. David Theo Goldbergs articulation of racist cultureis particularly useful in understanding how race is both evoked andsuppressed under neoliberal discourse. Goldbergs project in Racist Culture: Philosophy and the Politics of Meaning is to map theoverlapping terrains of racialized expression, their means and modesof discursive articulation, and the exclusions they license with the view

to contending and countering them (Goldberg 1993:9). His centralthesis is that modern racist culture is marked, fundamentally, by itsrefusal to acknowledge the role that racism plays in everyday structuresof society and how these structures work to fundamentally disguiseand, simultaneously, reify the power of racism within society. Heintricately describes the ways liberalism sanctions racist institutions and



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immigrant is the understanding of the immigrant as a racializedindividual. This surface-level, supposed race neutrality in the mediadiscourses serves two purposes; first, it works to silence the work of race and racism in influencing the discourse on contemporary viewsof immigration in Canada. It also suppresses challenges that this kind of discourse is, at its core, fundamentally racist. As a result, this neoliberal-influenced discourse both modifies the way that discussions of racismin contemporary discourse can take place, while silencing the waysin which racist thinking saturates the very organizing principles of neoliberalism.

Conclusion[We need to] develop better theoretical frameworks for understandinghow power, politics and pedagogy as a political and moral practicework in the service of neoliberalism to secure consent, to normalizeauthoritarian policies and practices, and to erase a history of struggleand injustice (Giroux 2008:180).

We have argued that current conceptualizations of neoliberalism ingeography require more precise articulations that move beyond simply

citing the eruptions of race/racism that result from neoliberalization,towards actually shaking the racist foundations that saturateneoliberalism. Our brief analysis of articles about immigration in TheGlobe and Mail demonstrates the way a neoliberal-influenced commonsense discourse is employeda discourse which effectively eradicateshistories of injustice facing immigrants in Canada.

Geographers are ideally situated to examine the ways that anunconscious embrace of neoliberalism has lead to a modification of the functioning of race within society and the way race is discussed.Making these links is important because, as Giroux reminds us, itis crucial to examine what role public intellectuals . . . and universitiesactually play pedagogically in constructing and legitimating a neoliberalnotion of common sense, and how the latter works pedagogically inproducing neoliberal subjects (Giroux 2008:173). Our analysis offersa glimpse of the ways immigrants are constructed as neoliberal subjectsthrough common-sense discourses. Rather than pointing to somesort of definitive conclusion, this paper can merely offer up some

new questions as to the promising possibilities that can be examinedin understanding the complex relationship between neoliberalismand race. We believe in the potential of geographical analyses toconsider both race and neoliberalism in a plurality of forms, wherewe consider various racialized neoliberalisms rather than a singular,capital-N Neoliberalism. It also provides a glimpse at a more preciseanalysis of race in our discipline. To this end, we believe asking newC 2010 The AuthorsJournal compilation C 2010 Editorial Board of Antipode .


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questions about geographys particular epistemological history withrace would provide us with a valuable approach towards developingnew research on race, neoliberalism and geography. We look forwardto seeing scholars engage with race and neoliberalism in geographyin ways that do not reinforce static categories of racial ontologies andepistemologies.

AcknowledgementsThis paper has benefited from the critique of Sue Ruddick. We are also grateful for herinvitation to present an earlier version of this paper at the AAGs in Boston, MA in April2008.

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