1997/98 PCERII Funded Research Abstract

Research Title: Religion as Place: Autonomous Integration and the Construction of Community by Deracinated People

Research Team: Dr. Alison Hayford (University of Regina) - Principal Investigator

Research Domain(s):   Social

This study will examine one or more religious centres developed by deracinated people (immigrants) in a medium size (180,000) city where the numbers of immigrants are too small to allow for the development of ethnic neighbourhoods. The purpose of the study is to examine the ways in which religion and the creation of religious centres are forms of autonomous integration for deracinated people - that is, to study the ways in which people achieve both maintenance of cultural identity and involvement in the institutions, cultures, and other aspects of the larger society. Religion can be a moral and geographic space which provides a centre of social identity, and the creation of religious centres can be central to the construction of community. This is particularly the case where there is no other geographic definition of community (i.e., ethnic neighbourhoods). As institutions, religious centres become part of larger social institutional structures and practices. When deracinated people create and maintain religious centres, they not only create spaces for the expression of cultural distinctiveness, they also achieve a degree of integration with the new society.