Content area
Abstract
This thesis attempts to contest hegemonic representations of globalizations, putting forth alternative visions which highlight the implications of transnational migrations for Euro-American metropolises. It is contended that, when complemented by an ethic of marginality, materialist feminist theories provide the instruments with which to critique dominant interpretations and generate subaltern narratives. Discourses of/on globalizations are then constructed by analyzing transnational migratory and capital movements, both of which shape North Atlantic urban zones into nodes where power and heterogeneity intertwine. To illustrate this Toronto is examined as the main Canadian contender for global city status; three tales involving immigrants of colour in specific micro-sites emphasize how relations of domination are secured and tactics of resistance are deployed. Finally, the transformations of various forms of identity (those of the subject, the community/nation, and the city) are evaluated in light of a politics of hybridity enacted by subordinate forces.
