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Article Excerpt
Abstract
Humanitarian immigration is an important element in the construction of Canada's identity as a liberal and compassionate country. Drawing on Hegelian dialectics, a discourse analysis of newspaper articles published between 1996 and 2001 examines processes of national identity formation through humanitarian immigration in the media. My interpretation of this discourse suggests that Canada's national identity is constructed on the basis of material inequalities through negation and sublation of refugees. By representing refugees who experience gender violence, children, and victims of natural disaster as deserving, the media construes an identity of Canada as compassionate. War criminals, supporters of hate crimes, and violent offenders are involved only to a limited degree in this dialectic.
Resume
L'immigration a titre humanitaire est un element important dans la construction de l'identite du Canada en tant que pays liberal et compatissant. Utilisant la dialectique hegelienne, une analyse de discours est entreprise d'articles de journaux publies entre 1996 et 2001 afin d'examiner les processus de formation de l'identite nationale a travers l'immigration a titre humanitaire dans les medias. Mon interpretation de ce discours suggere que l'identite nationale du Canada est construite sur la base d'inegalites materielles, a travers la negation et la 'rehabilitation' (l'anglais 'sublation', et l'allemand 'Aufhebung') de refugies. En presentant les refugies victimes de violences liees au genre, les enfants, et les victimes des ca tastrophes naturelles comme meritants, les medias construisent une identite du Canada comine compatissante. Les criminels de guerre, les defenseurs des crimes de haine, et les contrevenants violents ne sont pris en compte que de facon limitee dans cette dialectique.
Introduction
Humanitarian immigration is, next to economic and family-oriented immigration, one of three pillars of Canadian immigration policy. Although refugees constituted only 13.6 per cent of all immigration to Canada in 2005, (1) the significance of this category lies in its ethical and political value. Through humanitarian immigration and refugee admission, Canada fulfills its commitment to humanitarianism and constructs a self-image as a liberal and compassionate nation. (2)
In this paper I examine media discourse of humanitarian immigration. My analysis focuses on newspaper articles published in five major Canadian newspapers during a period when Canadian immigration reform was hotly debated in the press. Drawing on Hegelian ideas of dialectics, I interpret this discourse in the context of national identity formation. This interpretation highlights the press's representations of Canada's international reputation, discursive constructions of deserving vis-a-vis undeserving refugees, and coverage of contested cases of refugee applications and deportations.
In the next section, I review the literature on the dialectics of humanitarian immigration and national identity formation. Following a presentation of the research design, I present the results of my analysis. I end with a conclusion.
Dialectics of Humanitarian Immigration
National identity is an important aspect of humanitarian immigration and the admission of refugees. In the context of Australia and Canada, Catherine Dauvergne observes: "Humanitarianism is about identity. The individual identity of the other who benefits from our grace is important, but only because of the light it reflects back on us." (3) Her argument, based on liberal political philosophy, suggests that humanitarianism serves as a way of defining "the nation as compassionate and caring." (4) Dauvergne's observation that "part of our humanitarianism is about ... applauding ourselves" (5) is echoed by Minelle Mahtani and Alison Mountz, whose discourse analysis of the newsprint media revealed that:
Clearly, Canadian immigration officials are looked upon favourably in the media when welcoming Kosovar refugees. We suggest that Canadians felt good about themselves vis-a-vis the press, the actions of government, and the contributions of citizens through that immigration event. (6)
Humanitarian immigration, however, can also contribute to the construction of an unfavourable identity of the receiving country. Mahtani and Mountz continue:
Months later, however, Canadian immigration officials came under attack for their treatment of the Chinese migrant boat crisis. The media scripted Canadians as irate citizens with a government constructed as "soft:" letting people in through the "back door." (7)
Humanitarian immigration can serve the construction of a national self-image as positive or negative.
The manner in which this national identity is produced follows a dialectical process. In the context of humanitarian immigration, refugee selection policies and practices identify refugees as the Other, or the mirror image of the perceived national self. This process of identity formation relies on constructing and "reinforcing the boundary between an 'us' group and a 'them' group," (8) a process which relates to Georg W. F. Hegel's notion of "negation." (9)
Following Ludwig Feuerbach, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels rejected Hegel's emphasis on the internal reflection of the self-consciousness. Instead they suggested that the dialectical process has a material basis. (10) This material basis is reflected in the process of national identity formation through humanitarian immigration. In contrast to liberal ideas of justice emphasizing principles of equality between human beings, "[h]umanitarianism is the opposite; it is grounded in a specific type of difference created by material inequality" (11) This material inequality defines who is a refugee and thus serves as an object of negation and national identity formation.
When four boats carrying 599 Chinese refugees arrived at Canada's western coast in 1999, the media represented these refugees as racialized, illegal, and non-belonging. These representations legitimated the rejection of the refugees and reaffirmed a European ethnic Canadian identity of Canada. (12) The "regular" refugee selection process, however, serves a different role. It identifies the deserving Other, worthy of the nation's compassion. The nation exercises this compassion by granting refugee status. (13)
An additional element of the Hegelian dialectical movement is a second negation, or "sublation" (Aufhebung). (14) With this second negation, the image of the Other is absorbed into the self. The admission of the foreigner and the "mysteries of strangeness" can be an important component in the replenishment of a nation. (15) In the context of humanitarian immigration, the second negation consists of the inclusion of the refugee Other into the cultural identity of the national self. In Canada, "[w] hen refugees are admitted as permanent members of the community, they are literally invited to change their national identity;" (16) after three to four years of permanent residency they are encouraged to become Canadian citizens and embrace "Canadian" values and norms. (17) The dialectical movement of othering and inclusion involves the resolution of the contradiction that refugees are "both other and not-other." (18) Refugees and humanitarian migrants "must be not like us in order to need our protection, but must be able to shed that identity and merge with the nation when required." (19)
In the empirical part of this paper, I examine the media representation of refugees and humanitarian immigration to Canada. My aim is to examine the relationship between media reporting and the discursive construction of the national self.
Research Design
Context
In contrast to research examining the contents of refugee law and associated legal practices,...
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