This Article Full Text (PDF) References Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Alert me to new issues of the journal Add to Saved Citations Download to citation manager Request Permissions Request Reprints Add to My Marked Citations Citing Articles Citing Articles via Google Scholar Google Scholar Articles by Abu-Laban, Y. Articles by Garber, J. A. Search for Related Content Social Bookmarking                   What's this?

The Construction of the Geography of Immigration as a Policy Problem

The United States and Canada Compared

University of Alberta

Judith A. Garber

University of Alberta

The release of 2000 U.S. Census and 2001 Canadian Census data sparked significant interest in immigrant dispersal outside major urban centers. This article analyze show the meaning of immigration settlement patterns is socially constructed by using a comparative textual analysis of newspaper coverage of census findings as well as government documents and think tank studies. The authors argue that in Canada, immigration settlement is interpreted as a national policy problem necessitating federal state intervention, whereas presentations in U.S. print media construct immigration settlement as the outcome of choices made by individual immigrants and, thus, as local policy problems. In each case, construction of immigrant dispersal draws on national mythologies and omits alternative interpretations of the geography of immigrant settlement.

Key Words: immigration • migration • census • United States • Canada • social construction • media • policy • cities • towns

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    Technorati    What's this?