Voices of Youth and Francophone Migrants in

Minority Contexts

An event of the Alberta Civil Liberties Research Centre (ACLRC), U Calgary, and partners: European Academy (EURAC), Bolzano-Bozen, Italy & Consortium for Peace Studies (CPS), U Calgary

Multiculturalism or Interculturalism? What are the Implications for Albertans and Canadians?

November 10-11, 2011, Calgary

Presentation by Dr. Yvonne Hébert, Professor, U Calgary

Presentation Plan

Policy Contexts Theoretical Framework Deeper analysis of several data sets

ResultsImplications for Social Policy

Policy ContextsFour types of multiculturalism:

Multi as ideology (prescriptive)Multi as sociological fact (description) Multi as set of intergroup dynamics (process)

Multi as policy (political perspective)Canadian Multiculturalism: policy, law

Multicultural RightsCanadian Charter of Rights and

Freedoms: Clause 27 on multicultural heritage: “This Charter shall be interpreted in a manner consistent with the preservation and enhancement of the multicultural heritage of Canadians.”

Critique: Static clause, little support for variability, fluidity, productivity, viability

Need to rethink policies for far more complex realities…

Multiplicities Instant global communication & ease of

travelMultiple attachments & extensive

knowledge of the worldStudents learn to accept & respect one

anotherChallenges remain: credentialing issue;

academic achievement and integration of children of immigrant origins

Canada is not keeping pace…

Challenges of Lived Experiences

Racial gap in labour market: racialized CanadiansExperience higher levels of unemployment, Earn less that non-racialized Canadian, More likely to live in poverty,More willing to work.

Comparisons between immigrants vs. native-born Canadians, in media and studies, create unfairly negative portraits

Human rights insufficient guarantees against exclusions in daily life

Theoretical Framework

Exploration of Four Concepts

Transculturalism

Glocal Spaces

Mobility of Mind, Body & Boundary

Cosmopolitanism

Defining Transculturation and Glocal Spaces Transculturation = phenomena of

converging & merging cultures, creating something new, thus in its new uses, takes on an emphasis on creativity & performativity that links past & present

Glocal Spaces = a local micro-space comprising spatial expressions and contextual symbols of globalisation

Defining Three MobilitiesMobility of MIND = ability to imagine oneself as an

other, as living in another place or time, being comfortable with multiple identifications; able to recognize, in their local surroundings, symbols which have international, transcultural and or global reference

Mobility of BODY for youth, especially second generation youth = an awareness of parents’ journeys as well as their own journey of moving across cultural and other spaces of interaction, developing complex attachment and identification in youth specific and friendly places

Mobility of BOUNDARIES for youth = recognizes moving across and beyond linguistic, cultural, religious, ethnic, racial spaces of interaction and boundaries, to take up new belongings in transcultural modes.

Cosmopolitanism: Four major theoretical approaches

Global ethical theory

Global political theory

Cultural theory of global community

Sociological theory

Defining Cosmopolitan Approaches

Conceptualising cosmopolitan subjectivities as capacities rests upon complex understandings of all humans as

being of equal moral standing, with responsibilities extended to all the

peoples of the world, and commitments to express these through

political action in the context of institutions with a global reach aligned towards equality, respect and recognition

Deeper Analyses for Greater

Understanding

Three Data SetsG2 Youth: Toronto, Winnipeg & CalgaryGraduates of Francophone Secondary

Schools in a Minority Context, enrolled in an Anglophone University

Francophone Migrants in a Minority Context, an Anglophone City in Western Canada

Creating broad & detailed portraits of new realities for greater understanding

Locality & Youth: Example 1When I visit my family in Ontario, I feel like I’m ‘home’

again. (Life Story, Chiquita, F, Mexican-Mennonite, Christian, C)

This is the place where I might be graduating and the love I have for some people that work for the school community... I wanted to make sure that you can see the cross and I kinda feel that that’s the prettiest part of our school that we have ’cause everything else is just either mangled, full of people or ugly itself because of spray paint or markers and crap like that. (Interview, Blue Flag Baron, M, Spanish, RC, T)

I like my house. There are a lot of memories in my house, like family gatherings there – and friends come over. It is a good place for me because I like it. Good times, yeah, like having a bbq with my family there. I also like being with friends in my school and going to class. (Interview, 4Lyfe, M, Portuguese, Christian, T)

Locality & Youth: Example 2

This is my room at my Grand mom’s house. It is where I sleep at my grandma’s house, very pink, welcoming. I do my homework and study here. My grand mom teaches me life lessons or wisdom (Photoscape, Unicorn, F, Jamaican/Antiguan/Canadian, RC, W)

Youth’s Mobility of MindExample 1

A multi-coloured floral lei is “the best way to express myself as a cultural individual living with so many different ethnicities in Canada” (Cultural Collage in shape of shoebox, Rubber Duckie, F, Filipina, RC, W)

Youth Mobility of MindExample 2

This place, I just do nothing and just think of the problems of the worlds

(Photo of front of school, Photoscape, Capt Crack, M, White/Redneck/Blackfoot, & sometimes Romanian)

Mobility of Mind: Example 3

“This place is important

to me because it is one of

the first popular Filipino

restaurants in my

neighbourhood. I have a

lot of good memories

here. This photo

represents good friends

and my culture.”

Image 11: Photoscape

(Rubber Duckie, F,

Filipina, RC, W)

Mobility of Body, Examples 1 & 2

“I have traveled to the Desert… I love it and feel relaxed. I could hope for knowledge or enlightenment, but I don’t really expect anything” (Urban mapping, Gonzo, M, Canadian, C)

“Where I live, I am very relaxed and the places that I have traveled (to), I am filled with energy and ready to go exploring” (My life story, Unicorn, F, Jamaican/Antiguan/ Canadian, RC, W)

Mobility of Body, Example 3

“I like the fact that I am Portuguese and I like to watch and play soccer. At 17, I am more mature and responsible in Portugal. I love listening and dancing to Portuguese music. I spend time and have fun.”

(4Lyfe, M, Christian, To)

Mobility of Boundaries: Example 1

I am proud to be Canadian because it accepts me in its country, especially since I am not from here. It accepted me for being Lebanese (LueRue, F, Syrian, Christian, C)

Mobility of Boundaries:Example 2

“My computer in my bedroom is important ‘cause internet makes everything accessible…

Referring to Lebanon/Syria/Middle East: “I think that the whole area is one and it will always be one, no matter whatever is going on… we will always be one language, same culture, same people, like I can say, I am Lebanese, I am Syrian, I am Jordanian, because they are all my people, they are all one” (LueRue, F, Syrian, Christian, C)

Mobility of Boundaries Example 3

“I found it interesting, the old culture clashing with the new culture”

in referring to petroglyphs in US national park juxtaposed with modern media images (Capt Crack, M, White/ Redneck/ Blackfoot/+Romanian, no religion, C)

Mobility of Boundaries: Example 4

I’m in favour of multiculturalism because we are all multiculturals. My parents were immigrants and I wouldn’t be here if they didn’t immigrate and I like how we are all difference – something interesting” (Gelato, M, Italian, RC, T)

Mobility of Boundaries: Example 5

“yeah, well, my Indian friend showed me there, and just, I don’t usually get anything from there, it’s just ‘cuz he goes there and it showed like – it just goes to show – and then beside it there are different cultures. There’s like an Italian store down the street and a Portuguese store and it just shows all the different cultures” (Gelato, M, RC, To)

Mobility of Boundaries:Example 6

“At my school, no one cares what colour skin you are, or what religion you are. When I met my friends, that’s not the question I asked them or they asked me. If you’re going for a job, I don’t think people look at skin colour here ’cause everyone’s from a different culture, a different country, no one here is original Canadian, so no one is original Canadian, very few people, so...

(Mina, F, Sri Lankan, RC, T)

Façade of Globalisation: Beneath is Uneasiness…

Shy and uncertain, Malcolm X is uncomfortable, quiet and lonely in new places...

His friends provide him with a level of comfort and acceptance as they engage in many activities. Full of self-doubt, he shops infrequently, centers his activities on his home area, where he lives, where his friends live, where he attends school…

He writes of Canada’s role in environmental issues as needing to protect its own environment and to act as role model for the rest of the world (Interviews & Written Responses, Malcolm X, M, Filipino, RC, W)

Façade of Globalisation: Racism & Media

“…multiculturalism is great, but even if you educate them, there will always be someone who will teach their children to fear and hate. And it will be forever, we will never be a non-racist world…”

“There is no culture, it is all media and corporations vying for business. Religions don’t really contribute to culture anymore. Everybody is following the same culture which is advertisements…. Jewellery is hip hop’s hold on culture… and you are defined by what kind of car you drive…

(Interviews, Capt Crack, M, White/Redneck/Blackfoot, no religion, C)

Façade of Globalisation: The Shoppers

“I feel glamour and happy, sophisticated clothing shop, I consider it to be ‘my’ store.” When I shop for jewellery, “I feel like I am on clouds, a breathless scene” (In her Photoscape, she lists 11 different stores; Educ 07, F Filipina, RC, W)

Façade of Globalisation: The ShoppersUnicorn shops for

clothes five times a month. Her cultural collage shows three computers, two cell phones, nine items of jewellery, six games, chocolate bars, as well as fashionable women and men. (Unicorn, F, Jamaican/Antiguan/Canadian, RC, W)

Façade of Globalisation:

Angst of Second Generation… Uncertainty about which country is hers,

Canada or Vietnam which she has never visited (Interview, Barbie, F, C)

“When I visit my family in Ontario, I feel like I’m home again. Well, I went to Mexico and felt shy because I did not know my cousins. When I went to France, I was so happy because I love it there. When I first moved to Calgary, I felt scared and nervous (Life Story, Chiquita, F, C)

Others feel like tourists and foreigners in other countries despite extensive travel and prefer places close to home

Some do not revel in adventure or change, do not know what to expect in new situations and feel uncomfortable…

InterpretationsSecond generation youth…

Have strong attachments to home & schoolsCan for the most part, imagine themselves

as Canadians and see themselves on a journey of life, moving within youth-specific and youth-friendly places

Are able to think, imagine and try out cultural identifications as part of integration process;

Mobility of body and boundaries, more difficult

Take up the role of shopper with gustoMay be critical of globalisation and

multiculturalism

Cosmopolitan Capacities

Capacity of openness, of moral obligation towards an Other

Obligation to family members in countries of origin

Provision of support to new arrivals, community members and identified needs

Awareness of positioning of self within Francophonie as full-fledged citizen, meritorious of linguistic, cultural, socio-educational rights

Awareness of need to better understand one another in order to live well together

Capacity for relational attachment to locality of origin or another

Gradual nature of localisationLearning stories of places, locations & processes

of community life in new environmentsGetting to know & attaching to local institutions,

events, placesDeveloping social networks locally and

maintaining global connectionsIntegrative processes continue over generationDeveloping positive relational attachments to

markers of localisation

Capacity of recognition of the relativity of one’s milieu, culture or identityProcesses of negotiating transcultural worlds

brings realisation that one could live elsewhereSearch for broader horizons, new ideas & ways of

becomingNeed for strong leadership for political change for

attention to linguistic policy and practices in cities and regions other than QuébecFor migrants, cultural maintenance in diasporaBlending of local, former & new cultures

Open to other practices & positionings for greater meaning of lives

Capacity to integrate into a new milieuAcceptance of different cultures and values,

feeling good in strange circumstances Learning how to live comfortably with multiple

attachments, how to be effective, to be well grounded in local/global environments

Process of transcultural creativity sits at heart of process of integration in new society

Exquisitely difficult barriers : lg fluency; non-recognition of credentials; racial wage gap

Capacity to interconnect, establish & maintain mutual relationships

Sentiments of belonging to origins & as new Canadians:

1.Love & knowledge of one’s origins2.Openness, adaptation & independence with a

panoply of belongings3.Public valuing of good image & values of one’s

good image of country or region of origin4.Resistance to negative images and discourses5.Will to retain cultural & linguistic events, to weave

transcultural identifications in transparent process of creativity

6.Possibilities of being better understoodAll this articulated through cultural markers...

Capacity of living between two entities or in multiplicityDeveloping relational & positional agilityRequirement for considerable flexibility of mindPositive benefits of societal diversity, favourable to

intercommunity, international relationsOpening to living in diasporas, in duality, in

multiplicityInteractive relations involving de-ethnicisation, de-

localisation, de-colonialisation in society and in politics of daily life

Strengths of CosmopolitanismCapable of representing complex repertoires of

allegiance, identity and interestCapable of interpreting interactive processes of

de-nationalisation & re-nationalisation, de-ethnicisation & re-ethnicisation, de-localisation & re-localisation

in societies and policiesCapable of conceptualising ideas & data of

intertwined transnational constellations as multiplicity of global phenomena

Social Policy

Implications

Social Policy Implications: Second Generation

Political and national identifications secureMultiple cultural identifications may be

difficult to manage and balanceTravel to other cities & countries not

sufficient to reflect upon the experience and to develop a balanced view of life

Many see Canadian identity as that of a prolific & frequent consumer which becomes their core identification

Even with adult support, this is a larger problem than second generation youth

Advantages of Cosmopolitan ApproachRest upon complex understandings of equal

moral standings, of civic, political, economic, geographical, social and political commitments to all humans in the world

Given situated analysis, necessary to consider real space, connections, imaginaries inherent in cosmopolitan experiences

Perspectives go well beyond boundaries & bondages of nation-state & of permissive multiculturalism

Subtle, sophisticated understandings of our era’s key question: How shall we live together?

Moving Beyond Multiculturalism Policy: Four CriteriaInteractivityFluidity/variabilityProductivityViability

InteractivityRelational & positional subtleties merge

well with awareness of living in duality & multiplicity

Feeling of belonging to a larger world better represents & analyzes the experiences & views of the participants

Appreciation of cultural markers part of establishment & maintenance of mutual relationships, of interconnections with similar persons

Fluidity and VariabilityTravels of youth not the same as migration

of people from many countries, from city to city

Reconstitution of everyday life & its profound meanings far from easy

Establishment of local ties while maintaining international networks of connections & exchanges

Uncertainties of integrative processes within a multicultural bilingual society

Productivity‘Art of living in multiplicity’ possible for those

in minority contexts and those who migrate there

Importance of localisationNecessity of a critical cosmopolitanism, raising

relativity of choices for a subsequent lifeNecessity of collaborative horizontal

governance at all levels, given world-wide uncertainty, highly interdependent states

Important to weave new universal motifs with local issues, finely etched in detailed human experiences, needs and hopes

ViabilityRealities of migrants’ and minorities’

lives are reflected in cosmopolitan variability

Multiplicity of newcomers brings new understandings of transnational constellations within the current flow of possibilities

Not limited to intercultural activityTruly valuable social approach to

citizenship

ReferencesHÉBERT, Y. 2010. Rethinking Integration as

Cosmopolitan Subjectivities: From migrant to minority to citizen of the World. Evidence from la francophonie de Calgary. Prairie Metropolis Centre. Prairie Metropolis Centre Working Papers, WP10-10. http://pmc.metropolis.net/frameset_e_html

HÉBERT, Y., WILKINSON, L. A. & M. A. ALI, (2008) Second Generation Youth in Canada, Mobilities and Identifications: Relevance to Citizenship Education, Brock Education, 17, 1: 50-70, http: //www3.ed.brocku.ca/ojs/index.php/brocked/issue/view/34

Voices of Youth and Francophone Migrants in

Minority Contexts