In this article, I map out the foundational context and procedural dynamics through which the normative status of the white male trucker is achieved and maintained in the British Columbia-based long haul trucking industry. I pay particular attention to the dehumanizing racism and masculine subordination directed toward South Asian truckers. Drawing on ethnographic data, I socially and historically situate these dynamics in relation to Canadian national mythologies, practices of nation building, and the neoliberal organization of trucking labor. To provide a richly detailed analysis of precisely how these narrative dynamics shape hierarchies of race and mobility in the industry, I examine a pervasive, racializing story among white truckers concerning workplace politics and practices of excretion.
Amie McLean is a PhD candidate in sociology at Simon Fraser University. Her Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada–funded doctoral research examines gendered and racialized power relations in the British Columbia-based long haul trucking industry. Her research interests include critical race feminism, ethnography, critical automobility studies, labor, (neo)colonialism, neoliberalism, and qualitative methods. She has published on colonialism, resistance, and Indigenous postsecondary education in Mobilizations, Protests, and Engagements: Canadian Perspectives on Social Movements. E-mail: amie_mclean@sfu.ca