Abstract:
Abstract
The aim of this research project is to draw on accounts of experiences ofborder crossing
and regulation at the Canada/U.S. border at Niagara in order to illuminate the dynamics of
differentiation and inequality at this site. The research is informed by claims that the world is
turning into a global village due to transnational flows oftechnology, infonnation, capital and
people. Much of the available literature on globalization shows that while the transfer of
technology, information, and capital are enhanced, the transnational movement of people is both
facilitated and constrained in complex and unequal ways.
In this project, the workings of facilitation and constraint were explored through an
analysis often interviews with people who had spent a substantial portion oftheir childhood (e.g.
5 years) in a Canadian border community. The interviewees were at the time ofthe research
between the ages of 19 and 25. Because most ofthe respondents were 'white' Canadians of
working to upper middle class status, my focus was to explore how 'whiteness' as privilege may
translate into enhanced movement across borders and how 'white' people may internalize and
enjoy this privilege but may often deny its reality. I was also interested in how inequality is
perceived, understood, and legitimated by these relatively privileged people.
My analysis ofthe ten accounts ofborder crossing and regulation suggests that
differentially situated people experience border crossing differently. An important finding is that
while relatively privileged border crossers perceived and often problernatized differential
treatment based on external factors such as physical appearance, and especially race, most did
not challenge such treatment but rather saw it as acceptable. These findings are located within
newer literature that addresses the increasing securitization ofborders and migration in western
societies.
