Chapter Two: The Colonial Grid and Colonial Conditioning

Abstract: The image of the migrant is a political concept that signifies the beliefs created about people in motion related to place. The ‘migrant’ is understood through many tropes of expulsion, dispossession, and the illusive search for “a better life.” The newcomer, immigrant, refugee, asylum-seeker, displaced person or migrant is often imagined as a fixed category and objectified. Migration status and country of birth act as one of the axes of the colonial grid. The assemblage or convergence of these axes tells a counternarrative to the stranger. This chapter expands on the colonial grid and discusses the colonial difference(s) and colonial conditioning. Further, the case study method is introduced.

Key concepts: colonial grid, the colonial difference and colonial conditioning

Introduction

The colonial grid is produced locally and globally by the interplay of formal and informal structures in a society and is an outcome of colonial differences and colonial conditioning. People’s identities and day-to-day experiences exist on the colonial grid and are shaped by it. As people are on the move, so is their colonial grid. As people take their identities with them, they change, and so do their positions, belonging and worth. Different places, geographies and structures remake identity – we may belong in one place but not so much in another. Globalization at all levels impacts the systems of almost all societies across the globe, which play out at the local level – the Glocal (Carranza, 2018). Intentionally uneven, globalization opens new spaces for some, bringing about new connections while further marginalizing the Other. This ongoing marginalization is coloniality in action – favouring advancement in ways that are only accessible in the Global North.

The colonial grid refers to the following:

The direct and subtle, covert and overt ways people are organized along the lines of power and privilege in our psyches. Difference, from whiteness or maleness as an example, is originally structured on the boundaries between the colonizer/colonized and represents the hierarchal logic of race, gender, class, and abilities. It speaks to our ‘common sense, meaning-making process and people’s worth or lack thereof, which shapes how helpers, including social workers, perceive the intersections of race, gender, ethnicity, class, ability, and sexuality.

This interpretation of identity (and assessment of worth) shapes how we perceive and interact with people, locating their race, gender, ethnicity, class, ability, and sexuality – in terms of how we understand value and worth. The ways people are organized along the lines of power and privilege that organize the grid necessitates how they engage with their social world and the structural access or exclusion they may or may not encounter. The striations of the grid are the intentions of and maintain the goals of colonialism in the newly formed coloniality. The grid, in part, determines who is successful and allowed to rest, experience pleasure, and even grieve leaving their country of origin.

Due to the constant exposure and ways coloniality seeps into epistemology [knowledge and what we know] and ontology [how we know it], the colonial difference is incorporated into thoughts and meaning-making processes enacted in the day-to-day. What emerges is our ‘common sense’ and people’s ‘assigned’ orth or lack thereof (Carranza, 2016). Common sense is not neutral; it is the Western gaze embedded in our psyche. According to Matias and Aldern (2021), common sense wields its power through operations of invisibility and normalcy. Under the guise of the ordinary, this way of thinking goes undetected and unchecked. At one point, it was common sense to think that men were more intelligent than women. Common sense was reinforced in scientific and social science research in popular media (Dyer, 2007; Raty & Snellman, 1992). In this way, women’s worth was lower, which showed up in consideration of their skills, jobs, and pay. Being of less worth prevented women from belonging in specific spaces – management or doctor.

This analysis, while basic or dated in terms of social work discourse and white feminism(s), reveals something in the fluid nature of the colonial grid – race is not mentioned, only gender. The work of the feminist movement, now referred to as white feminism (Carglye, 2018), reified white as the dominant, with Othered identities as add-ons, such as disability and sexuality. As we see the movement of theory – Critical Race (2002) and Intersectionality (Crenshaw, 1992) evolving and influencing discourse, these ideas remain remnants and influence common sense. W.E.B Du Bois (1970) and later Ahmed (2009), along with many scholars of various disciplines, write that while people outside of the self-proclaimed dominant space have been critically engaging with whiteness for decades, it has only been moving towards the centre for a short time – since the late 1990s. While writing about race (DuBois, 1970), race and sexualities (Ahmed, 2009), disability and migration (El-Lahib, 2016) have reinforced the maintenance of colonial logics in people’s lives. The disabled body, for example, is not entirely white or the pinnacle of health – which structures entrance to and belonging in Canada (El-Lahib, 2016). (Re)making the immigrants/forced migrants as the stranger in these ways via country of origin, race, and disability fuels stealing, invasions, resource shortages and other narratives amidst encouraging ‘Canadians’ to want them to catch-up. This example is fruitful for analyzing the colonial grid – the systems and structures of immigration regulating who can enter, for how long and their status, with the narratives that influence common sense.

When structures and systems have a clear link to colonization or an extension of (coloniality), this is sometimes easier to identify in some spaces but remains challenging to dismantle (Blackstock, 2009). One reason for this difficulty is related to the co-construction and maintenance of systems that marginalize and organize Canada – education as linked to healthcare, for example. Child protection has been named as a refashioning of residential schools for Indigenous people (Blackstock, 2017), disciplining “the poor” (Jeffrey, 2005) and enforcing assimilation for immigrants/forced migrants (Carranza, 2022). Some families may not have contact with Child Protection, but other families, predominantly Indigenous and Black families, are more likely to; these systems exert powerful control over parents and caregivers. These systems influence how parenting is regulated and what is considered “good” parenting in Canada (Carranza, 2022). The complexity of child protection/welfare is unparalleled; this example highlights how formal structures form an axis on the colonial grid and seep into ‘common sense.’ For caring for children, research has found that ‘common sense values’ is based on the model of the white heteronormative family, age and gender-appropriate behaviours and discipline measures were established during colonialism (Carranza, 2022).

Identities are race(d) and gender(ed) through processes that act as if whiteness is the standard, natural order of the world as if it is common sense (Matias & Aldern, 2020). Operationally, ‘common sense’ allows privilege and power to go undetected, masking inequalities and marginalization. White men in leadership positions have been normalized. Colonization and modernity created both leadership, or the idea of a hierarchy, and the pursuit of “moving up” or progress, in the image of whiteness and maleness to ensure they seemed better suited to the role; this is the rationale that covers up the well-worn pathway of coloniality that brought them there (Carranza et al., 2023). These processes establish the identity that the stranger is different from—the colonial difference.

The Colonial Difference and Identity: The colonial difference refers to our collective memory and trauma due to historical oppression and privilege, the resulting wounds, and how these play out in daily life. This difference is structured initially on the boundaries between the colonizer/colonized and is a representation of the hierarchal logic of race. This difference is ranked via ethnicity, shade, gender, class, ability, and others, which are patterned on this difference (Carranza, 2016). How are these concepts central in forming an identity as a “migrant,” “forced migrant, “immigrant,” “asylum seeker,” or “refugee” – when coming from countries of the Global South?

For example, what is known under the colonial moniker – Latin America and the Caribbean are united by what Mingolo (2000) has called the colonial difference. That is an attempt to forge a geography arranged along the axis of exclusion – the violent enforcement of capitalism race logics that hinge on a gender binary. This colonial arrangement attempts to enforce the axis of the colonial grid at the glocal level – where the global meets the local. Despite the end of colonialism, this difference mirrors the colonizer/colonized binary and lives in the collective memory of the Global North – enforced in the South. Historical privilege is cloaked in invisibility, and it informs collective memory, resulting in these injuries being wounds that played out in daily lives. What has emerged from this global design of stratification is the occupation of the “self” or the “Other” – the colonizer/colonized. This binary is never neat.

Colonial Conditioning: Refers to the psychological, conscious and subconscious responses to historically privilege(d) and marginalize(d) contours of the colonial grid within a specific geography at the intersections of the glocal. Further, it relates to individual interpretations of identities – informed by the colonial relationship. Colonial conditioning references how people respond both consciously and unconsciously to and maintain the ideologies of colonialism and colonial identities. Each of us, depending on our axis on the colonial grid, experiences identities based on the colonial difference. There are processes or steps taken to translate contemporary identities (i.e. race and gender) to make meaning, by which people are conditioning us in areas ranging from school to media.

This meaning-making refers to how the “receiver” or viewer perceives the specific position of a person based upon the assemblage of their identity along the colonial grid. The ‘colonial condition’ – speaks to how we are programmed to perceive people based on our location and theirs. The internalized understanding of who is of ‘worth’ and what is valued is embedded in the mind. It is a conditioning that creates an inferior understanding of whiteness or the Global North/Western culture. It can manifest as a rejection of ways of being associated with the Global South and a preference for anything from the West – including customs, cultures and dress that is considered appropriate. How and where people are located is organized by ongoing coloniality, which affects day-to-day life and, in turn, structures social, economic (including labour) and political status. These positions are not stable or fixed and shift depending on the context and system. Under the coloniality of power, identities are continually conditioned to replicate the colonial relationship.

Colonial conditioning in the Global North is considered common sense. Matías and Aldern (2021) posit that common sense wields its power through operations of invisibility and normalcy. Operationally, ‘common sense’ allows privilege and power to go undetected, masking inequalities and marginalization. At one point, it was common sense to think that men were more intelligent than women. This superiority was reinforced in research, both scientific and social science (Dyer, 1997; Raty & Snellman, 1992). In this way, women’s worth was considered lower in skilled jobs, and pay – reflected in their placement on the colonial grid. This ascription of gender prevented women from belonging in specific spaces – management or the medical field. One persistent example is that racialized women, including immigrants/forced migrants are usually not considered leaders (Carranza et al., 2023) and have their belonging constantly challenged in academic spaces (Carranza, 2022).

How these thoughts manifest in tangible outcomes can be seen in behaviours, responses and engagement with people, communities and systems. If we think about our ways of being – making ourselves smaller or softer (often for women, femmes), less loud, or in any way of remaking ourselves as palatable – it is related to colonial conditioning. Masculinities and those identifying may feel/think they need to align with codes of manhood valued in the Global North to fit in and not reproduce stereotypes. Oftentimes, people engage with these roles to fulfill expectations, reduce visibility, and stay safe. Maintaining the colonial relationship. Two of the key concepts that showcase the colonial grid are starting over and experiences of marginalization.

Starting over: Lack of foreign credential recognition/Canadian Experience. The discussion of the lack of foreign credential recognition goes beyond the individual experience of starting over and navigating a new labour market. It is one of the central organizing principles for the colonial grid in Canada. Labour market exclusion hinders re-settlement beyond the economic implications to consequences for citizenship, housing and family functioning. It also maintains Canada’s position in the Globalized economy as a place of privilege, marginalizing education and experience in the Global South – demanding people have Canadian Experience in employment and education.

Discrimination, Marginalization and navigating the myths of newcomers: The idea that people came to Canada to ‘steal jobs’ is a myth experienced by newcomers, as they themselves clearly articulate the struggle to find even survival-based employment. Canadian citizens are noted to be misinformed about the reasons for migration and the processes encountered upon arrival. Forming views on newcomers based on outdated and incorrect misinformation contributes to marginalization and discrimination, leading ‘regular’ Canadians to engage in racism.

Another example is the protestant work ethic. This method of labour has been galvanized in the Global North, and it emphasizes that diligence, discipline, and frugality result from a person’s subscription to the values espoused by the Protestant faith. While there has been a move away from this religion, it remains a capitalist expectation to ‘work hard’ and ‘forgo rest’ in favour of financial accumulation. This, too, is a part of colonial conditioning.

Colonial conditioning is a learned process that influences thoughts and, in turn, how people interact. This thinking shifts but is reinforced over time. As a learning process, it can be undone and is often the focus of decolonial work and critical theories. One way to do so is by examining case studies using the theoretical frameworks of Coloniality of Power, Coloniality of Gender and the colonial grid.

Background: Why Case Studies?

The social work encounter is uniquely political and promises to work towards social justice (Kovach, 2015). Macias (2015) reminds us, when doing and working towards social justice, that the best place to start is in the materiality of our lives – our position on the colonial grid – the historical, political, and economic conditions that situate us. Heron (2005) indicates that we must all get uncomfortable examining inequality as we live and work at the juncture of history and socio-political structures that sustain these systems and structures of the ideal body. In this way, we are implicated in social relations (Macias, 2015).

Case studies provide unique insights into both unique and everyday situations from afar. This method allows the reader/learner to critically engage with the scenario while understanding their lens and position on the colonial grid. One of the benefits of case studies is the capacity to explain phenomena and how they emerge in the day–to–day, seek patterns, and make sense of this reality.

The case studies in this book are from my work as a practicing social worker/therapist, researcher, and Professor. I represent discounted knowledge from a marginalized standpoint, entering academia, acting as a therapist, doing research, and working in a leadership role in the community. Elsewhere (Carranza, 2021), I have written about navigating the colonial grid in the classroom. In the social work classroom, whiteness’ invisibility makes this analysis challenging, especially for a profession built on tropes of helping and kindness, which is the subtext of teaching. Privilege and whiteness are made visible by the responses to strangeness when encountered. Using reflexivity and story-telling (albeit brief) methods combined with coloniality, I present case studies to learn and challenge the colonial conditioning embedded in the social work encounter.

We disrupt narratives of race and coloniality by telling and learning from these stories. We then resist the silencing effects of whiteness and the visibilization of racialized experiences. Each case represents the stranger – which has implications for learning and working in the area of immigration. By making visible the nuanced day-to-day practices of the colonial grid, we explore how our identities are taken for granted as teaching tools or illuminated within the logics of whiteness as “an exemplar.” Our expectations of a particular experience – in this case, the social work encounters – are structured through colonial conditioning in a fundamentally different way based on our assemblages of gender, sexual orientation, and race identity.

To position myself and provide context and nuance to the following case exemplars – I am a member of the Central American diaspora. My identity has historically been a site to know and control – as the Other, the stranger, and the colonial migrant. As a woman in the Central American diaspora, I am connected to the legacy of the “third world,” poverty, gender-based oppression, and violence filter the ways that I am seen and engaged with. Within these complexities, I, a racialized female professor, occupy spaces at the margins and the center, which animates the interwoven nature of identities along the colonial grid. As I negotiate this identity – that has access to some privilege, I embody the colonial narratives of my gender and race, which serves to unsettle coloniality. My voice is not represented in mainstream social work, from the classroom to community development work. I teach and challenge historical and current knowledge(s) by questioning and explaining whose voices are represented and who have been excluded when using these practice approaches. Our ongoing colonial conditioning influences my engagement with people as a practicing social worker. In these case studies, we can trace the governing technologies of the social work encounter. These themes work as ways to respond and determine what needs to be done, which codifies how ‘we’ engage in all encounters as social workers. Over time, these operating methods become regulatory, a well-worn pathway – the ‘right’ way to think and act.

Case: Luca

Some guiding questions:

How do you understand the colonial grid in Luca’s narrative?

How would you name and describe your (as the helpers) position on the grid and Luca’s?

What are the historical factors at play?

Luca came to Canada from a country in Africa (name withheld for confidentiality). The political turmoil in his country and his affiliation with a political group forced him to flee his country and seek asylum in a neighbouring country, leaving behind his wife and three sons. Due to the extensive networks of such political groups, his life was threatened while in the refugee camp. Once again, he found himself running for his life further away from his family. What he thought would be temporary turned into a permanent state of liminality. While in Europe, he moved from country to country, living in various refugee camps, as he remained afraid his enemies would find him again. After 13 years, he made his way to Canada. He was able to sponsor his family after three years. However, the family reunification was not as smooth and easy as he had hoped for. He had not realized he was not the same man, husband and father that his family remembers. His children were now teenagers, and his wife was not the same woman he remembered.

While living in various refugee camps, he learned Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, French and Turkish. He worked as a translator for a settlement organization and became highly respected as a leader in his community. He stated that his wife did not like the time he spent with community members. He reported that during his time away from the family, he learned to look after himself and live independently, which she intensely did not like. His culinary skills developed quite well. So did his abilities to keep a household running. He reported that his wife accused him of ‘not being a man a more’. He reported finding himself feeling lost and not knowing how to respond to her.

He added that he felt very stressed due to his home situation and because he was passed down for permanent employment very often. He was still determining the reasons. His reference letters were strong. So, was his performance. He worried about his accent, as one of the professionals he provided translation services to complained to the agency that his “accent was too heavy and it was difficult to understand him.” He noted that since then, his assignments have decreased. He is now worried that he will not be able to provide for his family. To remedy the situation, he was working very hard to “drop” it. He was attending some enunciation classes at a local college.

Conclusion:

The axis of the colonial grid suggests a grand narrative of the ‘proper’ way to live, love and flourish in Canada and the Global North. Established during colonization, the colonial grid provides insights into who can more freely and be accepted in various spaces. Reflexivity, social location and unpacking our identity serve to acknowledge privilege and develop new ways to navigate the spaces of the Other. Coloniality and the making of the colonial grid force us to confront the historical logics of race and gender and where it has placed us today.

The next chapter provides an exemplar of placing oneself on the colonial grid. Haleemah Shah explores how a critical part of fulfilling our roles as social workers is engaging in continuous self-reflection, learning, and locating ourselves in the contexts of our work and environments. Especially in a profession where whiteness has been and continues to be an organizing principle, understanding the colonial processes that permeate present-day practice is a necessary part of entering social workspaces and approaching interactions with other practitioners and service users.