"The Black, continental African presence and the nation-immigration dialectic in Canada" in Social Identities: Journal for the Study of Race, Nation and Culture
How is the Canadian national identity constructed? What are the relationships between the national identity and the immigration policy of Canada? And how has the Black presence in Canada influenced Canada's national identity formation and immigration policy? This paper examines the extent to which Black, continental Africans are implicated in the nation-immigration dialectic of Canada. It sets various conceptions Black African identities in Canada against notions of Canadian national identity, using the dialectical principles of negation and sublation. As the number of Black Africans continues to grow, it is important to understand the interplay between the social construction of 'blackness' and the national identity formation of Canada.
Joseph Mensah is a Professor in the Department of Geography at York University. Mensah works in cultural studies, transnationalism, formations of ethno-racial identity, African development, socio-spatial dialectics, race and return migration.
Other publications from this author include:
- "Seeing/being double: how African immigrants in Canada balance their ethno-racial and national identities" in African and Black Diaspora: An International Journal (2015)
- "Black continental African identities in Canada: Exploring the intersections of identity formation and immigrant transnationalism" in Journal of Canadian Studies (2014)
- "The global financial crisis and access to health care in Africa" in Africa Today (2014)
- "Ghana's National Health Insurance: insights from members, administrators, and health care providers" in Journal of Health Care for the Poor and Underserved (2013)
- "Cultural dimensions of African immigrant housing in Toronto: a qualitative insight" in Housing Studies (2013)
- Ghanaian and Somali immigrants in Toronto's rental market: a comparative cultural perspective of housing issues and coping strategies" in Canadian Ethnic Studies (2013)
- "Access to postsecondary education: can schools compensate for socioeconomic disadvantage?" in Higher Education (2012)
- "Gender, power, and religious transnationalism among the African diaspora in Canada" in African Geographical Review (2012)
- Black Canadians: History, Experience, Social Conditions (2010)
- Neoliberalism and Globalization in Africa: Contestations on the Embattled Continent (2008)