Séances de la conférence

Almost five decades, or two generations, after its historical 1979 revolution, the Iranian society seems to be witnessing another major socio-political transformation. The signs of this transformation were most evident through the 2022 massive protests (known as the Mahsa Movement) that swept across the country. What are the characteristics of this newly emerging society? In what ways is today's Iran different from, or similar to, the society that produced the 1979 revolution? What types of future can be imagined and/or expected for the country? How can sociology contribute to a deeper understanding of this transformation, beyond what mainstream journalism or social media can offer? These are the broad questions that this session aims to address.

In this session, panelists discuss how constructions of race and ethnicity proliferate in the Canadian context in response to multiculturalism politics, ongoing settler colonialism, anti-Black racism and struggles to address other forms of systemic racial and ethnic discrimination. This panel aims to bring awareness to the history and impact of racialization and ethnic categorizing in Canada while also bringing forth solutions for how Canada can be a more equitable nation, a place of belonging for everyone.

In this session, panelists discuss how race, ethnicity, and migrant integration experiences extend our understanding of racism, whiteness, racialization, culture, identity construction, and employment in Canada. Presentations from panelists include examinations of how marginalized identities are socially produced, how whiteness shapes Pakistani newcomers’ perceptions of ‘’Canadianness” (e.g. national identity, authenticity, belonging), how 'Hispanic' and 'Latinx' terms are fluid, and what multiculturalism and diversity mean to the Afghan diaspora and Francophone skilled migrants in Canada.

Since the global outbreak of COVID-19 in early 2020, assaults on individuals of Asian descent have increased in Canada and other western countries. This has led to the alarming resurgence of racialized “Yellow Peril” tropes in public discourse. Since the late 19th century, the term has become a pejorative metaphor depicting Chinese and other Asians as the threat and the non-white Other. Anti-Asian racism and its hateful rhetoric is evident in the COVID-19 pandemic, leading to the rise of both covert and overt forms of racialized violence, including microaggressions, discrimination and stigmatization, verbal and physical harassment, and others. This has led to negative social, economic, political and cultural impacts on Asian communities in Canada. Hence there is an urgent need to examine these issues from multiple theoretical perspectives and methodological approaches to effect positive social change, and to build a just, inclusive, and diverse society where people can flourish regardless of their backgrounds.

This session will examine cohesion, connection, and belonging within racial and ethnic communities and how these processes link to the ideology of whiteness, eurocentrism, and internalized racism, orientalism, and colonialism. Social and psychological connections within racial and ethnic communities are manifested in feelings and acts of association and disassociation (i.e. love and hate). Some group members carry a strong affinity to particular racial and ethnic identities and to co-ethnics while others carry the opposite thereby rejecting racial and ethnic affiliation. There are many who situate in-between, including those who may oscillate back and forth. Some degree of intra-ethnic divisions, contempt, and disdain characterize communities who find ways to distinguish subgroups internally by place of birth, culture, period of arrival, accent, language, dress, scent, social class, politics, etc. For example, between first and second generation migrants. We will explore the nature of these forms of affiliation and distinction and discuss the extent to which intra-group disassociations are rooted in racism – i.e. strategies of othering. How do everyday discourses and practices structure distinctions? What context shapes how group members navigate their identities and relationships with others in their own communities? In keeping with the Congress theme of challenging hate, we aim to highlight the ways in which people challenge and foster awareness of divisive ideas and stereotypes within their own communities in order to bring together their members, and also, to join across racialized and ethnicized communities. This session welcomes theoretical papers, literature reviews, and research that explore and explain these connections and disconnections while investigating dominant, pervasive, and universalized notions of race and superiority.