"Bodies on the move": spatialized locations, identities, and nationality in international work.

• Author: Razack, Narda

Transformations of space, place, and environment are neither neutral nor innocent with respect to practices of domination and control. Indeed they are fundamental framing decisions-replete with multiple possibilities--that govern the conditions (often oppressive) over how lives can be lived. Such issues cannot be left unaddressed in struggles for liberation (Harvey, 1996: 44).

First, whiteness has the ability to move; second, the ability to move results in the unmarking of the body. In contrast, blackness is signified through a marking and is always static and immobilizing (Mohanram, 1999: 4-5).

Introduction

THIS ARTICLE EXPLORES THE MEANINGS OF RACE, IDENTITY, AND NATIONALITY IN international work to illustrate how the self is constituted in spaces abroad. The analysis is underpinned by the findings of a research study of the experiences of Canadian social work faculty and students, who went to a "developing" country to conduct research, collaborate on projects, and fulfill practica course requirements. (1) Experiences include the voices of white and minority students. Faculty collaborations abroad are not new areas for exploration and analysis (Kobayashi, 1994). However, in the context of a new era of globalization, and given the increase in international activity within the sphere of global capitalism, differential analyses are warranted. We appear to be plunging headlong into more international commitments and not stopping to fully analyze the effects. (2) Institutions have displayed an urgency to respond to the impact of transnational corporations on the state. Some responses to globalization take the form of vigorous moves to internationalize the university. The message is clearly stated in this directive from a report from one university:

urgent ground exists to take concerted action that will allow us to make the most of opportunities which are presenting themselves in an increasingly competitive environment.... Our report therefore is a call not to rest on its laurels but to think afresh. It is an opportunity for all sectors of the community to work collaboratively both internally and externally to effect changes [to] be a leader in international academic affairs (York University, 2000: 1). The response includes seeking research funds and organizing collaborative projects and partnership ventures with a host of international partners, which has increased faculty collaborations abroad. Schools of social work across Canada have organized international practica as requests for placements in Southern countries have increased. Placements are organized on an ad hoc basis in most schools of social work, with the lack of a supporting infrastructure resulting at times in a form of "professional imperialism," since there is little attempt to ensure reciprocity and to analyze these North-South experiences (Razack, N., 2002). Since social work treads the well-worn path of imperialism, an analysis of these work-abroad initiatives is all the more urgent (Gray, 2005).

The discussion begins with a twofold theoretical exploration of space. First, I relate how spaces are imagined and how identity is produced in and through spaces at home and abroad; second, I illustrate how white and minority bodies are viewed differently in Northern and Southern spaces. Mohanram (1999) describes the significance of movement for white and black bodies in terms of their racial and spatial attributes. She states that "place and landscape are not inert, but things which actively participate in the identity formation of the individual" (p. xii). Space is therefore central to the formation of racial identity.

Next, I examine how notions of identity and nationality become more acutely present when conducting work in an international setting. International work translates into travel from one territory or place to another, but also involves a host of relational meanings and explorations of the self and the body politic. I examine how identity is constructed in these travels and illustrate the struggles for minority students and faculty who travel alongside their white counterparts. Given the complexities of international work, I close with critical insights into the struggles inherent in it so that we can avoid sustaining hegemony in North-South encounters. I also argue that the experiences abroad can lead to a new imperative for students and faculty to recognize and attend to the nuances of how race and identity shape the professional encounter. Such learning can enhance domestic practice.

The Research Study

The purpose of this qualitative study was to explore the experiences of Canadian white and minority academics and students who went to a developing country for research and practicum. My rationale for focusing on Northerners going to developing countries extends earlier research I conducted that critically examined the North-South international practicum in my own school (see Razack, N., 2002). I noticed the binary of how subtly dominant/subordinate positions are produced. Moreover, as an academic committed to transformative practice, I felt the timing for further research on this topic was critical because of the increased attention to internationalization in universities.

Selecting the Sample

Ten schools of social work across Canada were represented among the 14 faculty members interviewed. Four of the faculty members organized international placements within their respective schools. I avoided naming minority faculty participants because there are not many in Canadian schools of social work, and, with such a narrow focus on international work, confidentiality could be easily breached. Eighteen students were interviewed and represented six schools. These schools were chosen because they have attempted to organize international practica. However, all the participants shared an ambivalence about their school's commitment to international social work. Most of the students I interviewed had completed an international placement in the last one to three years. Of the 18 students, 10 were white and eight identified themselves as nonwhite. In this article, minority refers to students who are considered nonwhite.

The faculty administrators at one school assisted me in organizing a focus group of eight students who went abroad with faculty supervisors for a two-week educational program. Participants traveled to Latin America, Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean; some faculty paid frequent visits to the same country, since one project led to others. Interviews lasted approximately two hours. I began by asking the participants to reflect on why they wanted to go abroad and what they hoped to gain from this journey. I also asked about their images of the host country and the realities upon arrival. Further questions allowed me to examine their relationships with the local people, their status in the host country, and differences they encountered while abroad, especially concerning race, whiteness, and identity. I begin by spatializing the journey.

Understanding Spatialized Locations in International Work

Why does "space" matter to the international discourse? Canada is a settler society with a history of genocide and colonization. (3) Spatial theory helps us to understand how Aboriginal, black, and other populations have been spatially ordered and contained, and illustrates how colonization is always a spatial project. I wish to connect space and subjectivity by examining how dominant and subordinate identities are produced. For example, how do Northerners, in leaving the space of settler society, position themselves in colonized space in the South? I use the works of Lefebvre (1976), Soja (1996), Sherene Razack (2002), and Mohanram (1999) to explain some underpinnings of spatial theory. (4)

We are taught that everything occurs in time and is distinctly historical. Therefore, all our actions are located temporally and historically. Lefebvre (1991: 129) argues that there is also a spatial dimension to social and historical realties:

The study of space offers an answer according to which the social relations of production have a social existence to the extent that they have a spatial existence; they project themselves into a space, becoming inscribed there, and in the process producing the space itself. Failing this, these relations would remain in the realm of "pure" abstraction--that is to say, in the realm of representations and hence of ideology. Soja (1996: 46), picking up on Lefebvre's arguments, appeals for a "similar action-oriented and politicized ontology and epistemology for space: that 'everything' also occurs in space, not merely incidentally, but as a vital part of lived experience, as part of the (social) production of (social) space, the construction of individual and societal spatialities." All our social relations and interactions become real and concrete "when they are spatially 'inscribed'--that is, concretely represented--in the social production of social space" (Ibid.; emphasis added).

Other theorists have examined the relations of colonialism and race to space (Mohanram, 1999; S. Razack, 2002). Sherene Razack argues that a theory of space recognizes that the dominant notion of space as innocent does not allow for an understanding of the dialectical relationship between spaces and bodies, in which some are marked as degenerate and others as bourgeois (2002: 9). Brown and black bodies predominantly inhabit the degenerate spaces. These arguments are crucial to international work, since the white participants in this study come to claim space and ties to nations in ways that differ distinctly from those of participants of color. Racial identity is tied to landscape, and notions of race are part of a discourse about the nation. In this study, the participants told particular stories about how their ties to country, notions of citizenship, ideas of global citizenry, and bodies were shaped by their experiences abroad...