Rushing from and hastening to : nationhood, whiteness, and Italian-Canadians

Abstract

This thesis examines the development of both Italian and Canadian nationhood and its effect on and contribution of racialization in Canada. It analyzes the manner in which scholarship on Whiteness tends to dehistoricize and decontextualize immigration in the creation of White subjects, and how this practice denies the conditions under which most individuals have become immigrants. The study challenged the discursive claims made by Italian-Canadian scholarship by applying a critical race analysis, and highlights how Italian-Canadians achieved Whiteness in Canada and its implications.