Security and race have historically been entangled in the politics of nation-building, whereby national security discourses have constructed the ‘public’ whom it should protect as ‘white’ while demonizing persons of colour as a threat to that public. In the current war against terrorism, these racialized discourses, underwritten by a colonial logic, have materialized through the symbolic and literal displacement of Muslim persons. Under this imperative of national security, both existing and novel legislations have either been suspended, contorted, or implemented to be used against Muslims, or anyone who visibly appears Muslim. Security certificates are one of such judicial tools. This thesis seeks to explore the experiences of securitization, analyzing how this legislation strips the subjects of the security certificate program of their legal rights and social connectedness. To explore this, I interviewed three of the five men from the ‘Secret Trial Five’ cases and some of their family members. I investigate how securitization manifests in the lives of those who have been securitized, exploring the practices that are used to maintain and reinforce the othering and the displacement of Muslim populations.

This thesis examines the legal case of Inouye Kanao, a second-generation Japanese Canadian who was executed for high treason in August 1947 in Hong Kong. In this thesis, I trace not only Inouye's legal case, but also his early life, the broader political context, diplomatic correspondence, and other war crimes cases. By employing race-thinking and Critical Race Theory as theoretical frameworks, I consider the role of race and racism and aim to better understand its influence on Inouye's legal case. In doing so, this thesis challenges previous narratives and misinformation about Inouye. I conclude that racism was a significant factor that affected all aspects of Inouye's case, resulting in an unjust execution that did not reflect the crimes. Ultimately, Inouye was executed not because of his actions but because he was racialized as a treacherous and cruel Japanese Canadian. / Graduate

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Ce mémoire vise à comprendre comment les personnes de minorité vietnamienne de deuxième génération au Québec négocient leur rapport au groupe majoritaire au prisme de leur expérience socioscolaire. Cette recherche part du constat d’un écart entre l’image de la communauté vietnamienne au Québec comme une minorité modèle, c’est-à-dire un groupe minoritaire qui a connu une intégration réussie, et la présence d’une barrière entre le « nous » vietnamien et le « eux » québécois. Je m’intéresse ainsi à saisir ces tensions sous l’angle de rapports majoritaires-minoritaires. Deux concepts principaux ont été mobilisés pour rendre compte de ces négociations : celui de la blanchité et de la racialisation. Les concepts des frontières ethniques et de l’identification ont aussi été retenus dans le but de comprendre comment ces négociations s’articulent au processus d’identification de cette population. Cette recherche qualitative se base sur treize entretiens semi-dirigés et sur une analyse thématique de ceux-ci. Les résultats de la recherche montrent des négociations avec la blanchité et le vécu d’expériences de racialisation dans les interactions avec les acteurs significatifs de la sphère scolaire, tels que les pairs et le personnel enseignant. La blanchité est principalement vécue comme une norme imposée et inatteignable pour les personnes racialisées. Les témoignages des jeunes Vietnamien·ne·s soulignent par ailleurs la racialisation des personnes asiatiques comme étant à la fois des minorités modèles et des éternel·le·s étranger·ère·s. De plus, les récits des participant·e·s mettent en évidence les processus d’exclusion, d’infériorisation et de hiérarchisation auxquels font face les personnes de minorité vietnamienne de deuxième génération au Québec. Ces processus s’articulent également au processus d’identification des participant·e·s et limitent leur choix d’identification. Ces négociations affectent aussi la manière dont les personnes de minorité vietnamienne de deuxième génération appréhendent la culture vietnamienne et la culture québécoise. / This master’s thesis aims to understand how second-generation Vietnamese people in Quebec negotiate their relationship with the majority group through the lens of their socio-educational experience. This research begins with the observation that there is a gap between the image of the Vietnamese community in Quebec as a model minority, that is, a minority group that has successfully integrated, and the presence of a barrier between the Vietnamese “us” and the Quebec “them.” I am interested in understanding these tensions and will be examining them through the lens of majority-minority relations. Two main concepts have been mobilized to examine these negotiations: whiteness and racialization. The concepts of ethnic boundaries and identification were also used in order to understand how these negotiations relate to the identification process of this population. This qualitative research is based on thirteen semi-structured interviews and a thematic analysis of them. The research results show negotiations with whiteness and lived experiences of racialization in the participants’ interactions with key actors in the educational sphere, such as peers and teachers. Whiteness is primarily experienced as an imposed and unattainable norm for racialized individuals. The participants’ stories also highlight the racialization of Asian people as both model minorities and perpetual foreigners. In addition, the participants' narratives bring to light the processes of exclusion, inferiorization and hierarchization faced by second-generation Vietnamese people in Quebec. These processes are also articulated in the participants' identification process and limit their choices of identification. These negotiations also affect the way in which second-generation Vietnamese people view Vietnamese culture and Quebec culture.

In this thesis, I have studied the United Nations concluding observations on Sweden in relation to international human rights obligations. Specifically, in regards to the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (ICERD) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC).  The Committee on the Rights of the Child have, in their Concluding Observations from 2023, expressed a deep concern about continued racism and discrimination of many children in Sweden. Meanwhile, the Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has recommended Sweden to take immediate measures for the purpose of eliminating all forms of racial discrimination.  In terms of critical analysis, the aim of this thesis has been to study how the Swedish state's international human rights obligations for the purpose of eliminating racial discrimination relates to the implementation of children's rights according to the principle of non-discrimination. According to my study, it is necessary for the Swedish state to promote and respect the human dignity inherent in every child, to be able to guarantee every child within the jurisdiction the rights under the CRC. A central example is the child's right to education in alignment with general human rights principles. Therefore, it is required for the state to prevent the normalization of racism in Sweden, in accordance with the international human rights obligations under the ICERD. This includes, for example, the prohibition of racist organizations in national law, for the purpose of eliminating racist hate speech, and the elimination of racial profiling by national law enforcement. Many children's living conditions and access to the rights under the CRC are affected by racism in several ways, through structural and everyday racism, when they themselves are exposed to racism and when people in their close surroundings experience racism. This has led me to the conclusion that active and immediate measures by the Swedish state, for the purpose of eliminating racial discrimination, are necessary for the possibility of guaranteeing the children who are victims of racism their rights in alignment with the CRC.