The University as a Neoliberal and Colonizing Institute: A Spatial Case Study Analysis of the Invisible Fence Between York University and the Jane and Finch Neighbourhood in the City of Toronto

Abstract

Jane and Finch is notoriously known in the City of Toronto as a high profile “Priority Neighbourhood” characterized by poverty, crime, and violence yet it is situated in close proximity to York University, a place of higher learning characterized by modernism, order, multiculturalism, and innovation. Using a spatial analysis, the first half of the chapter traces the social, cultural, and historical development of Jane and Finch and York University, contrasting the rapid development and expansion of York University in relation to the slow growth and deteriorating living conditions of Jane and Finch. The second half of the chapter explores the racialization of physical and social differences between York University and Jane and Finch, particularly how interlocking systems of domination produce, maintain, and (re)produce an invisible fence that constitutes York University as a civilized space and Jane and Finch as a spectacle of violence and terror. Overall, this chapter argues that the university as an extension of the State participates in the neoliberal and colonizing project of constructing York University as a safe place of higher learning at the expense of social marginalization, stigmatization, and exclusion to the Jane and Finch community and Othering of its residents. By racialization of Jane and Finch and Othering of immigrants and visible minorities, York University masks its own violence and protects and privileges Whiteness.

A more extensive version of this chapter was initially published in the Journal of Critical Race Inquiry in March 2017. A preliminary draft of this chapter was presented at the OISE 15th Annual Dean’s Graduate Student Research Conference on March 7, 2015, in Toronto, Canada. Thanks to Dr. Sherene Razack for introducing me to the concept of spatial analysis .