Join SNID for a talk by Dr. Geraldino Polanco!

Employers in the bottom rungs of the Canadian labour market are benefitting from a global economy that capitalizes on people’s dreams. Profit-driven actors leverage sentiments–in the form of desires and dreams–to encourage migrants to engage in labour migration. Drawing from multi-sited, ethnographic field research conducted in the Philippines, Mexico and western Canada, I show how the ideas and imaginations associated with Canada, in concert with activities on the part of sending and receiving states, shape desires amongst migrants to pursue the promises they associate with the Canadian dream. The Canadian dream acts as a powerful cultural force drawing migrants to Canada.

Geraldina Polanco is an Assistant Professor of Labour Studies and Sociology at McMaster University. Dr. Polanco’s scholarship is situated at the intersection of migration and work. She has published in venues like Third World Quarterly (2016), Identities: Global Studies in Culture and Power (2017), and Journal of International Migration and Integration (2016), contributing to knowledge in the areas of citizenship studies, work and employment, globalization, and gender and ethnic relations. She is currently completing a monograph on fast food labour migration, under contract with the University of Toronto press.