Sangeetha Navaratnam: “Confessions of a Sri Lankan Customs and Immigration officer: Reflections on Race and Space at a major Canadian airport.” (working title)
The spaces we occupy are often influenced by social identifiers such as race, gender, ability, sexuality and class. Furthermore, areas such as borders are places where these identifiers are loaded with even greater significance due to the political nature of the space. This paper uses Critical Race Theory and Spatial theory to examine how issues of belonging, power and privilege are manifested in the day-to-day practices of boarder crossings. Using personal examples and an auto ethnographical approach I am to reflect on my experiences as a Sri Lankan Tamil Boarder Services Officer at a large Canadian airport. I use my experiences as a Sri Lankan Tamil woman to better understand the ways in which race and space intersect at a major international airport. According to Dei “Our knowledge, like all knowledge, is positional and reflects human interests” (1996: 14). I am informed by my experiences, and those lived experiences also inform my social reality. Therefore, the majority of my observations and reflections are focused upon Sri Lankan Tamils who are attempting to cross the border. However, as a Sri Lankan Tamil BSO I learned very quickly that at the border interactions are not a one way process, it is not only the passengers, who are classed, raced or gendered but the officers as well. This collision of my Sri Lankan Tamil identity with that of a BSO became especially obvious when I was working because passengers and coworkers often could not comprehend a person who has been traditionally marginalized in Canadian working in such a powerful position. In this paper I aim to examine the ways in which the space I occupied in the airport as a BSO can offer insight into the ways in which these collisions occur and how they are experienced from a Sri Lankan Tamil perspective.
Biographical Statement:
Sangeetha Navaratnam is a M.Ed. Candidate at the Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto enrolled in a collaborative program in South Asian Studies. She is also an elementary school teacher who has a specialization in urban education. Her current research interests include qualitative research methodology within the field of Sociology, Education and South Asian diaspora, more specifically, in the area of critical race theory and education. In particular, her area of analysis is theorizing education as it relates to the South Asian Diaspora in Canada by examining both barriers to education for South Asian youth and ideas surrounding the mode minority myths.
