Abstracts
Abstract
This paper is based on qualitative interviews undertaken with immigrant youth of African descent in Windsor, Ontario; it describes their sojourner lives across geographic borders and their final settlement in Windsor. The paper also offers narrations of the activities that enabled them to formulate friendships and the barriers and facilitators to the development of friendships across races. Critical findings reported in this paper reveal the ways that youth use resources in their travels to construct and negotiate their identities and to formulate new friendships. An important resource used by the majority of the youth was that of an imagined homeland, which consequently impacted on how they viewed and acted on the racial boundary critical in the formation of friendships in the Diaspora.
Résumé
Inspiré d’entrevues qualitatives faites auprès de jeunes de descendance africaine établis à Windsor en Ontario, cet article décrit leur périple migratoire à travers les frontières jusqu’à leur établissement en Ontario. Il relate également ce qui les a aidés à bâtir des liens amicaux ainsi que les obstacles et les éléments facilitateurs au développement d’amitiés interraciales. Des résultats importants soulevés dans cet article expliquent les manières dont les jeunes utilisent les ressources au cours du voyage migratoire pour construire et négocier leurs identités et établir de nouvelles amitiés. Il explore comment la majorité des jeunes créent un concept imaginaire de leur mère-patrie, influençant ainsi la façon dont ils perçoivent et agissent sur les frontières raciales fondamentales à la création d’amitiés au sein de la diaspora.
Download the article in PDF to read it.
Download
Appendices
Notes biographiques
S. Nombuso Dlamini is an Associate Professor in Education, University of Windsor, and holds the position of Research Leadership Chair. Her research is focused in the areas of socio-cultural studies in education, youth and identity politics, critical literacy and critical sociolinguistics, migration, and Diaspora studies. She is engaged in several youth projects in Canada and in the sub-Sahara. Nombuso is the author of Youth of the Nation, University of Toronto Press, and New directions in African Education, University of Calgary Press.
S. NOMBUSO DLAMINI est professeure associé à la Faculté des sciences de l’éducation, de Université Windsor où elle occupe le chaire de Recherch Leadership. Ses recherches ciblent les dimensions socioculturelles en éducation, les jeunes et les politiques identitaires, la lecture critique, la sociolinguistique critique, la migration et les diasporas. Elle est impliquée dans de multiples projets auprès des jeunes, au Canada et dans la région subsaharienne. Nombuso est l’auteure des ouvrages Youth of the Nation, publié aux Presses de l’Université de Toronto et New directions in African Education, publié aux Presses de l’Université de Calgary.
Barat Wolfe is a Ph.D. candidate in Applied Social Psychology at the University of Windsor. She received her M.A. in Human Kinetics from the University of Ottawa. Her current research interests include women’s health and health care paradigms, and qualitative methodologies. She has worked with diverse populations including women, youth, athletes, and chronic disease sufferers. Her work has recently been published in Quality of Life Research.
BARAT WOLFE est doctorante en psychologie sociale et appliquée à l’Université Windsor. Elle a complété ses études de maîtrise en sciences de l’activité physique à l’Université d’Ottawa. Ses intérêts de recherche actuels portent sur la santé des femmes, les paradigmes en soins de santé et la méthodologie des recherches qualitatives. Au cours des années, elle a travaillé avec une variété de populations incluant les femmes, les jeunes, les athlètes et les personnes souffrant de maladies chroniques. Ses travaux ont été récemment publiés dans le journal Quality of Life Research.
Uzo Anucha is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work, York University. Her scholarship, teaching and professional activity focuses on promoting equity and access for diverse communities within local, national and international contexts. Uzo conceptualizes her applied research scholarship as a community dialogue that must fully engage the community studied; consequently, she actively seeks to bridge the gap between knowledge production and knowledge use by translating and disseminating research findings to policy-makers and practitioners.
UZO ANUCHA est professeure associé à l’École de travail social de l’Université York. Ses activités professionnelles, enseignantes et de recherche portent sur la promotion de l’équité et de l’accès de diverses communautés au sein des contextes locaux, nationaux et internationaux. Uzo conçoit ses recherches appliquées comme un dialogue devant engager activement la communauté sous étude. Par conséquent, elle cherche à créer un pont entre la production et l’utilisation des savoirs en vulgarisant et rendant accessible ses résultats de recherche aux décideurs politiques et aux professionnels.
Miu Chung Yan is an Associate Professor at the School of Social Work, University of British Columbia and the leader of Settlement, Integration and Welcoming Domain of the Metropolis British Columbia. He has led and participated in a number of studies on the settlement and integration needs of newcomers to Canada and on how youth, both local and foreign born, from immigrant families enter into the job market. He has also been teaching courses on cross-cultural and racial social work practice particularly in terms of working with newcomers to Canada.
MIU CHUNG YAN est professeur associé à l’École de travail social de l’Université de la Colombie-Britannique et directeur de l’établissement, de l’intégration et de l’accueil de l’Association Metropolis de la Colombie-Britannique. Il a dirigé et participé à de nombreuses études sur l’établissement et les besoins d’intégration des immigrants au Canada et à la manière dont les jeunes issus de familles d’immigrants, nés au Canada ou à l’étranger, intègrent le marché du travail. Il a également enseigné des cours sur les pratiques de travail social dans un contexte interculturel et interracial, ciblant particulièrement l’approche à préconiser avec les Néo-canadiens récemment immigrés.
References
- Bannerji, H. (2000). Projects of hegemony: Subaltern studies’ resolution of the women’s question. Economic and Political Weekly 35(11), 902-20.
- Beyene, W. (2000). Settlement services and needs assessment for Ethiopian newcomers in Toronto. Ethiopian Association, Toronto.
- Bhabha, H. (1994). The location of culture. New York: Routledge.
- Bhatia, S., & Ram, A. (2001). Locating the dialogical self in the age of transnational migrations, border crossings and diasporas. Culture & Psychology, 7, 297-309.
- Bourdieu, P. (1986). The forms of capital. In J.G. Richardson (Ed.), Handbook of theory and research for the sociology of education. (pp. 241-258). Connecticut: Greenwood Press, Inc.
- Clifford, J. (1994). Diasporas. Cultural Anthropology, 9, 302-338.
- Cohen, R. (1996). Diasporas and the nation-state: From victims to challengers. International Affairs, 72(3), 507-520.
- Dei, G. J. S. (1997). Race and the production of identity in the schooling experiences of African-Canadian youth. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 18(2), 241-257.
- Dei, G. J. S., & James, I. M. (1998). ‘Becoming Black’: African-Canadian youth and the politics of negotiating racial and racialised identities. Race Ethnicity and Education, 1(1), 91-108.
- Dlamini, S. N. (1995). These lions speak Zulu too. Trans/forms, 2(1), 67-87.
- Dlamini S. N. (2005). Youth and identity politics in SouthjAfrica, 1990-94. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
- Dlamini S. N (2006). Inkumbulo as remembering, communing and praxis: Retelling the stories of transformation and learning. International and Education, 36(1), 32-45.
- Dlamini, S. N & Anucha, U. (2005). Intergenerational links of youth from African communities in Windsor. Unpublished research project. Windsor, Ontario: University of Windsor & SSHRC.
- Fasenfest, D., Booza, J., & Metzger, K. (2004). Living together: A new look at racial and ethnic integration in metropolitan neighborhoods, 1990- 2000. Report to the Center on Urban and Metropolitan Policy, April 2004. Washington, DC: The Brookings Institution.
- Gall, M. D., Borg, W. R., & Gall, J. P. (1996). Educational research. (6th ed.). White Plains, New York: Longman.
- Goodson, I. (1992). Studying teacher’s lives. New York: Teacher’s College Press Columbia University.
- Hall, S. (1990). Ethnicity, identity and difference. Radical America. 23(4), 9-20.
- Hall, S. (1996). Who needs identity? In S. Hall & P. du Gay (Eds.), Questions of cultural identity. (pp. 1-17). London: Sage.
- James, C. (2000). Experiencing difference. Halifax, Nova Scotia: Fernwood Publishing.
- James, D. C. (1997). Coping with a new society: The unique psychosocial problems of immigrant youth. Journal of School Health, 67(3), 98-102.
- Kilbride, K., Anisef, P., Baichman-Anisef, E., & Khattar, R. (2001). Between Two Worlds: The Experiences and Concerns of Immigrant Youth in Ontario. CERIS Project Report. {570}Retrieved August 24, 2005 from http://ceris.metropolis.net/Virtual%20Library/other/kilbride2.html
- King, T. (1998). Cultural resource laws and practice: An introductory guide. Walnut Creek, California: AltaMira Press.
- Lincoln, Y. S. (1995). Emerging criteria for quality in qualitative interpretive research. Qualitative Inquiry, 1(3), 275-289.
- Massaquoi, N. (2004). An African child becomes a Black Canadian feminist: Oscillating identities in the Black Diaspora. Canadian Woman Studies, 23(2) 140-4.
- Panossian, R. (1998a). Between ambivalence and intrusion: politics and identity in Armenia – diaspora relations, Diaspora 7, 149-96.
- Panossian, R. (1998b). The Armenians: Conflicting identities and the politics of division. In C. King & N. J. Melvin, (Eds.), Nations abroad: Diaspora politics and international relations in the former Soviet Union (pp. 79–102). Boulder, CO: Westview Press.
- People for Education (2005). Public education in Ontario’s cities. People for Education: Toronto, ON. Retrieved Feb 1, 2006 from http://www.peopleforeducation.com/tracking/topic/urbanreport.pdf
- Premdas, R. R. (2004). Diaspora and its discontents: A Caribbean fragment in Toronto in quest of cultural recognition and political empowerment. Ethnic and Racial Studies, 27(4), 544-64.
- Putnam, R. (1993). The prosperous community: social capital and public life. The American Prospect, 13, 35-42.
- Putnam, R. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community, New York: Simon and Schuster.
- Radhakrishnan, R. (1996). Diasporic mediations: Between home and location. Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.
- Rex, J. (1995). Multiculturalism in Europe and America. Nations and Nationalism, 1(2), 243-56.
- Richardson, L. (1990). Narrative and sociology. Journal of Contemporary Ethnography, 19(1), 116-35.
- Ristock, J., & Grieger, L. (1996). Joining together against violence: An agenda for collaborative action. Toronto: Canadian Mental Health Association.
- Said, E. W. (1978). Orientalism. New York: Random House.
- Seale, C. (1999). Quality in qualitative research. Qualitative Inquiry, 5(4), 465-478.
- Seat, R. (1997). The integration of immigrants into Canadian society - A new experience from FSA Toronto, Toronto: International Association for Public Participation – Participation in Turbulent Times. September 8-10, 1997.
- Sharir, I. (2002). Chinese Immigrant Youth in Vancouver, Canada: An Examination of Acculturation, Adjustment, and Intergenerational Conflict. Unpublished Ph.D. Dissertation. University of Windsor, Canada.
- Simon, R., Rosenberg, S., & Eppert, C., (Eds). (2000). Between Hope and Despair: Pedagogy and the Remembrance of Historical Trauma. Lanham, MD.: Rowman & Littlefield.
- Sorenson, J. (1990). Opposition, exile and identity: The Eritrean case. Journal of Refugee Studies, 3(4). 298-319.
- Statistics Canada. (2005). 2001 Census of Canada. Retrieved January 31, 2006 from http://www12.statcan.ca/english/census/index.cfm
- Strauss, A. & Corbin, J. (1998). Basics of qualitative research: Techniques for developing grounded theory. Thousand Oaks: Sage.
- Sugrue, B. (1995). A theory-based framework for assessing domain-specific problem-solving ability. Educational Measurement, 14, 29-36.
- Vervotec, S. (1999). Three meanings of Diaspora. Diaspora: A Journal of Transnational Studies, 7(2), 277-300.
- Walcott, R. (2003). Black like who? Writing Black Canada. Toronto, ON: Insomniac Press.