P. R. Grant & L. M. McMullen, University of Saskatchewan,
Canada
K. A. Noels, University of Alberta, Canada.
Abstract: Three immigrant organizations identified leaders from local cultural groups who are first generation immigrants. Qualitative interviews with these community stakeholders explored the nature and function of the respondents' Canadian and cultural identities and their attitudes toward multiculturalism. The 15 women and 10 men interviewed ranged in age from 24 to 57 years and had emigrated to Canada as adults. All respondents spoke English quite well and 17 of the 25 (68%) were Canadian citizens. Two independent coders conducted a thematic content analysis of the tape recorded interviews that had been transcribed into approximately 120 pages of text. Correspondence among the themes generated in these analyses was examined by a third coder and, through a series of meetings, agreement on the final themes was reached. Then, themes emerging across questions were identified. The results give a rich portrayal of how these immigrant leaders felt about their heritage culture and their Canadian culture and how they had had to adapt to the Canadian way of life. For example, a strong theme to emerge from the interviews was that white Canadians do not understand or appreciate the traditional cultural values and traditions of immigrants, particularly non-white immigrants. And, in some instances, this lack of understanding was linked to racism and, by implication, to a lack of support for multiculturalism. These results are discussed from the perspective of Social Identity Theory and Social Representation Theory.
Funded by a grant from the Prairie Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Integration (Metropolis Consortium).
This poster was presented at the Seventh European Congress of Psychology, July, 2001 in London, England. Direct requests for reprints and other information on this research program to Dr. Peter R. Grant, Psychology Department, University of Saskatchewan, 9 Campus Drive, Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada, S7N 5A5. E-mail: grant@sask.usask.ca
The hallmark of a multicultural society is its desire to foster the strong and continuing identification of its peoples with their diverse cultural heritages while, at the same time, maintaining and strengthening their national identity. This is certainly the goal of the 1988 Canadian Multiculturalism. Act. Indeed, the desire is for Canadians to incorporate multiculturalism. into their national identity. For example, the second multiculturalism policy of the Act (3. 1 b) states, "recognize and promote the understanding that multiculturalism is a fundamental characteristic of the Canadian heritage and identity." That is, Canadians are encouraged to identify with and share their cultural practices with one another in an atmosphere of mutual tolerance and respect (Berry, 1984, 1990; Berry & Kalin, 1995). However, such tolerance and respect are not easily achieved. Indeed, it has been necessary to expand multicultural policy "to include the combatting of prejudice and discrimination" (Esses & Gardner, 1996, p. 148).
From an intergroup relations perspective, the presence of prejudice and discrimination among different cultural groups within a multicultural society is hardly surprising. After all, such groups may be in a conflict of interest with other groups in society (Campbell, 1965; Sherif, 1966). Further, even in the absence of such conflicts of interest, Social Identity theory (SIT) (Tajfel & Turner, 1986; Hogg & Abrams, 1990) suggests that Canadians holding a strong and continuing identification with one cultural group may hold prejudiced attitudes toward and will discriminate against members of other cultural groups because of fundamental intergroup differences in values, ideologies, and normative practices. Thus, it becomes crucial to understand the complex nature of cultural and national identity and how they are intertwined as aspects of the self in order to be able to predict when a person with a strong cultural identity, will support rather than oppose multiculturalism. It is this question in the context of the recent theoretical developments and empirical findings derived from SIT that stimulated this study.
It is only relatively recently that researchers in the SIT tradition have turned their attention to the content and the function of national and cultural identifications as they relate to one another. This research direction was stimulated in part by ideas from Social Representation theory (SRT) which complement the SIT approach. Essentially, social representations are conventional knowledge bases that are shared by all members of a particular group and which enable them to interpret their world in a meaningful way (Breakwell, 1993). This conventional knowledge is not the same as scientific knowledge in that it is based upon what people believe to be correct within a particular culture at a particular time; the representation defines what is "factual" from what is "opinion" for that group (Moscovici, 1988). Two functions of social representations are of particular interest here: First, they allow group members to communicate with one another about the nature of their social reality and their identity with one another; and, second, they serve as a behavioural (normative) guide for ingroup members prescribing and proscribing conduct toward each other and toward members of other cultural groups (Moscovici & Hewstone, 1983).
A recent study by Cirmirella (1997) illustrates this theoretical approach. This study examined how British and Italian students construed their national identity and their identity with the European Union using a quantitative measure of identity strength. Then, qualitative open-ended questions were asked about these identities as well as about the integration of their country with others within the European Community. The results showed that the strength of national identification was the same in Britain as in Italy. However, strength of national identity was associated with less support for European integration for the British, but not the Italian students. The qualitative themes that emerged from these two samples were quite different: the Italians felt that their European identity was compatible with their national identity, whereas the British saw them as incompatible and viewed European integration as a threat to their culture. Thus, the qualitative nature of national identity was different in the two countries even though the strength of this identification was equal.
The present study is part of a research program which builds on this innovative research approach. Using qualitative interviews, first generation immigrants were asked about the nature and functions of their Canadian and cultural identities, the relationship between these two identities in the context of important cultural norms and values, and their attitudes toward multiculturalism. The respondents were leaders within their local cultural community and were carefully selected to represent the diversity of Saskatoon's immigrant population.
Staff and board members of three local immigrant organizations who had given their support to the research program identified first generation immigrants who had become leaders in their local cultural community. In addition, interviewees were asked to name other first generation immigrants who are leaders within their cultural community (snowballing). In all, 27 of the 33 people named through this process were contacted and 25 (92.6%) of these agreed to be interviewed.
The interviews were conducted by two psychology graduate students (one male and one female) in the Applied Social Psychology graduate program at the University of Saskatchewan. As part of their program of studies these students have training and experience in how to conduct a qualitative interview. They received 6 hours of additional training specific to the interviews for this study.
Potential participants were contacted by an interviewer with a request for an interview which usually took place in their home. Upon arrival, the participant signed a consent form in which, after receiving assurances of confidentiality, they agreed that the interview could be tape recorded. Five or 20% of the interviewees did not wish the interview to be tape recorded. Instead, the interviewer recorded their responses as detailed written notes. The interviews averaged a little over an hour in length (range 30 to 90 minutes).
The interview schedule contained 29 open-ended question organized into three major sections. The first and largest section explored the meaning of the interviewee's Canadian and cultural identities and the positive and negative feelings and emotions associated with each. The second section went on to explore the ways in which the interviewees had become accustomed to and integrated into the Canadian way-of-life. This section also identified perceived barriers to full acceptance of immigrants as Canadians. The third section of the interview examined the interviewee's views on multiculturalism. and Canada's multicultural policy. After answering these open-ended questions, the interviewees responded to some basic demographic questions contained in the final brief section of the interview schedule.
The interviewers transcribed the tape-recording of the first 15 interviews using a word processor (Microsoft Word). These transcriptions were then collated into one large text file and the information in this file was rearranged to create a master file of responses to each question. This master file was returned to the interviewers who independently sorted the responses to each question into themes, referring back to the original tape recordings where necessary. Statements from at least three interviewees had to be categorized together before they could be identified as a theme. Other statements were placed in a miscellaneous category.
After this task had been completed, a third coder read through the themes created by each interviewer looking for and recording agreements and disagreements between them. This coder created a new master file that listed the themes associated with each question and the statements that fell into these themes. The number of times the interviewer agreed was noted as well as the number of statements placed under the theme by the male coder (decided arbitrarily). For example if both interviewers agreed that five statements formed a theme and if the male interviewer placed seven statements into that theme, the third coder recorded (5/7) against the theme's title. In several lengthy meetings, the three coders discussed the themes and resolved the disagreements between the interviewers. On rare occasion, these disagreements could not be resolved and, in this situation, the judgment of the person son who had conducted the interview prevailed.
By this time, the interviewers had transcribed the remaining ten interviews and the text for these interviews were integrated into the master file by the third coder using the decided-upon themes wherever possible. This process also resulted in the third coder identifying several new themes which emerged from the larger pool of statements in the miscellaneous category. Thus, a final series of meetings were held to discuss and decide upon the categorization of the statements of all the interviewees in response to each question into themes and the naming of these themes.
For this poster presentation, the final question-by question themes were organized into larger, cross-question themes by the senior author (Grant) using relevant cross-cultural and intergroup relations literature. This classification is currently being discussed with the other authors and our graduate students and, therefore, the classification scheme presented in this poster is provisional. (Write to the first author for copies of the final superordinate themes that are decided upon as well as future publications and presentations.)
Sample Size: 25 first generation immigrants (identified as leaders in their cultural community).
Citizenship (N = 23): 68% Canadian; 16% landed immigrant.
Country of Origin: Africa -- Eritrea, Kenya, Sudan; Asia -- Bangladesh, China, Hong Kong, India, Laos, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Taiwan; Central America -- El Salvador; Europe -Bosnia, Germany, Holland,; Middle East -- Iraq, United Arab Emirates.
Religion: 15 Christian (7 Catholic); 5 non-Christian; 5 no religion.
Language: The language of their parents was not English in all cases. For 96% (24), the language of their parents was their own first language.
Friends: 43.3% are first and second generation immigrants; 53.7% other Canadians.
Age: 43.0 years (Range: 24 to 57 years).
Age Emigrated to Canada: 30.4 years (Range: 18 to 47 years; One came as a child). Gender: 60% women.
Length of Interview: 67 minutes (Range: 45 to 90 minutes).
Date of Interview: 60% the last 2 months of 1999; 40% the first 3 months of 2000)
Consistent with the main purpose of the interviews, the first open-ended question asked, "What does it mean to you to be a Canadian?". Two major types of themes emerged from the responses to this and subsequent questions: the advantages immigrants gained by coming to Canada from their country of origin and the symbolic meaning and pride in being Canadian. These superordinate themes are discussed below.
To these leaders in their local immigrant communities, the instrumental meaning of being Canadian meant a serious civic responsibility to their new country as illustrated by the three dominant and interrelated themes: Participating in Canadian Society (5/8) "we are part of this society, we are inside this society, we work in this society", Citizenship and Living the Canadian Code of life (4/6), "It means a lot to be a Canadian, To be a Canadian means be a citizen, do what citizens do, pay my tax, important community work ... just to be, you know, citizen.", and Privileges and Rights of Being a Canadian Citizen (3/4). "I have all the rights to be Canadian. Well for vote. I have all right to vote for any parties."
Different instrumental type themes emerged to the more emotionally charged question, "What things about Canada and the Canadian people make you feel proud to be Canadian?". Here the main theme was that Canadians are Peace Loving (9/13), "So all I know is Canada is a peace country and always you are looking for peace and I hope it stay like that." and that they protected Freedom and Civil Liberties (7/12), "Independence mostly. You live in this country, you are free to talk .... you have freedom of speech .... freedom of independence".
Two smaller emergent themes to this question also had an instrumental component. Canada Welcomes Immigrants (314), "So that's the great thing. I always thought that Canada is very open-minded, eager to accept immigrants" and Canadians have a Charitable Reputation at home and abroad (3/4), "Their generosity ... yes, they are very generous. Like in helping other countries". Similar themes stressing acceptance (7/8), "1 think the first thing is actually my neighbours. They are really great. I actually don't feel I belong yet. But they make me feel welcome" and security, (4/5) "...here I feel secure. I know if I get a problem I can go to the police" were obtained in response to the question, "What is it about Canada and the Canadian way of life that makes you feel that you belong here?"
Together, these themes suggest that the instrumental aspect of being Canadian for first generation immigrants takes the form of opportunities for greater material gain, peace, security and civil liberties) and that this can be fostered by a caring and welcoming Canadian local community.
In our view the instrumental themes identified above also have considerable symbolic meaning for immigrants. Clearly, Canada's international reputation is one that stresses the peace keeping and peace making abilities of the Canadian people and their concern with individual freedom and civil rights. In addition, many interviewees (6/9) stated that they were proud of being Canadian because it is a multicultural society, "I like the idea that there's so many different cultures living side by side without feeling that we don't belong." And because they feel Canada welcomes immigrants (3/4), "So that's the great thing. I always thought that Canada is very open-minded, eager to accept immigrants".
Later in the interview, these immigrant leaders were asked, "What factors help immigrants to become integrated into the Canadian way of life?" Some of the more frequent responses to this question were Learning English (9/10), "the other thing is just the language issue. You know, if you can feel you can communicate with the majority of the population then you feel like a part or that you belong so that's another issue."; Creating Social Network that included Canadian Friends and Families (7/12), "Get a Canadian partner .... buy a house in a Canadian neighborhood .... I think that really helps ... get into a neighborhood ... become a volunteer in an organization"; Learning Canadian Customs (6/8), "Try to learn the Canadian's way of style or whatever. And just see how they are talking and try to talk like that"; and, as the last quote also implies, Joining Community Agencies, Groups, School, and Churches (6/13).
While the interviewees saw the obvious benefits associated with becoming Canadian and were clearly proud of their new country and its culture, they also were very much aware of barriers to their full acceptance into this land of opportunity. The most common of these was difficulty with the English language. For example, when asked, "What factors prevent immigrants from becoming integrated into the Canadian way of life?", the most common theme to emerge was Language and Accent Barriers (14/15), "For first generation, that's what I'm saying before, if you have a language barrier, you cannot speak English, how can I talk to you?"
Another theme to emerge was Qualifications Not Being Recognized (5/9), "Sometimes, everything you did overseas or in your other country are not recognized here... very often it isn't. That kind of lags you, harnpers you to just go on the labour market and say, Hello, here I am'... there's a loss there." And, for a few Unemployment and Poor Employment Opportunities (3/4) was also identified as a barrier.
Discrimination also emerged as a theme in response to several questions regarding barriers to full integration by immigrants. For example, Racism and Discrimination (5/6) was identified as a theme in response to the question, "What things, if any, about Canada and the Canadian people make you feel ashamed of being Canadian?" Similarly, this theme was identified as a factor that made some people (5/6) in this sample feel like they do not belong in Canada. Other similar responses made up a cluster of smaller themes which identified Canada as a primarily European country (2/3) in which immigrants of colour are not fully accepted (3/3), "Even though if I stay here for ten years and say I am a Canadian, seeing me, people won't say that I'm a Canadian. They can say that she does not belong to Canadian. Just looking my face or whatever, looking my appearance or whatever." As well, the way Canadians Aboriginal people are treated was a source of shame for some interviewees (3/3) "...seeing the Aboriginal people as being left out. Like they've been locked out from our society, the way we live."
Several questions were asked to probe the similarities and differences between Canadian culture and the interviewee's heritage culture and the compatibility of these two cultures. There were very few common themes identified by large numbers of respondents which, given that they emigrated from many different countries, is to be expected. However, there was considerable agreement that the people from both Canada and their country of origin are friendly and neighbourly (4/10) and that, in general, the peoples of both countries hold Values and Beliefs (that) are Compatible (6/9).
Responses to questions about cultural incompatibilities revealed that some interviewees felt that Certain Family Values, especially about Children, are Different (5/5) and that the Education System is Different (4/4). These were the only themes to emerge in response to the question, "Explain how your Canadian beliefs and values and your heritage culture's beliefs and values are incompatible with one another." Other cultural differences that were not seen as incompatibilities were Canada has a Higher Standard of Living (5/6), the Weather (5/5), and the Government and Politics are Different (4/4).
In the third section of the interview, respondents evaluated Canada's multicultural policy positively, although four interviewees felt that there was room for improvement. When asked "What do you understand is the intent behind Canada's multicultural policy?", three main themes dominated the responses. First, the interviewees' felt that multiculturalism was designed to Celebrate Diversity - Immigrants Keep and Express Own Cultural Identity (5/7). "Allows immigrants to have their own culture. Because most people in Canada have an immigrant heritage. So this is why they have the policy -- to satisfy grants so that they don't have to copy other cultures --- based on freedom." Second, the policy Encourages People to Live in Harmony and Encourages Equity (4/7). "1 think it's just to demonstrate that Canada is made up of really very varied and many different cultures. And demonstrating that Canada actually accepts, promotes, and respects all this kind of cultural diverse experiences, values, you name it." A third theme identified by fewer interviewees was that the policy Allows Immigrants to Share Knowledge and Strengthen Canada (2/4). "It's intent is, you know, to maintain the cultural mosaic ... So it's in the same spirit that people --- it's more interesting in a way --- people can share and can feel that they can be a contribution to the wider society, still maintaining their own individuality. I think that's it -- there's a beauty about that."
Following these general questions, the interviewees were asked to comment on immigrants that fit into Berry's (1984, 1990) two dimensional scheme that can be used to characterize four types of immigrants in terms of whether or not they identify with Canadian culture and their heritage culture. Specifically, the interviewees were asked, "What are your views on immigrants who wish to become Canadian while maintaining the cultural customs, values, and traditions of their country of origin?" -the ideal (integrative) immigrant type encouraged in our multicultural society. Three themes emerged in response to this question: It's Important not to forget Who You Are and "ere You Come From (6/7), it's Alright to Retain the Customs and Traditions of Homeland (515), and It's Possible to Manage Both Home and Canadian Beliefs, Values and Traditions (4/4).
This ideal of a multicultural immigrant was contrasted with the assimilation and the segregation immigrant types to whom the interviewees did not respond to as positively. When asked, "What are your views on immigrants who choose to become Canadians and forget the cultural customs, values, and traditions of their country of origin?", two related themes emerged: Forgetting is a Bad Idea: Be Proud of Heritage and who you are (8/10) and Immigrants shouldn't forget: Take the Good and Leave the bad from any country (3/4). Similarly, when asked "What are your views on immigrants who retain their loyalty to their country of origin, who retain their cultural customs, values, and traditions, and who do not wish to become Canadian?", It's Important to be a Full Participating Member of Society (7/13) was the main theme to emerge. A sizable number of interviewees also expressed the view that It's not my place to Judge (9/10 and 3/7) when asked about these immigrant types.
This sample of leaders from the local immigrant community of a Canadian prairie city was very varied in that they emigrated from many countries from around the world. By virtue of their community involvement, these people have demonstrated their ability to adapt successfully to the Canadian-way-of-life in spite of having to learn a new language and new cultural norms, while penetrating a very different job market. Therefore, their opinions, while not representative of the immigrant population, are likely to carry great force within their local cultural community. It is for this reason that the results of this study are particularly instructive.
It is stating the obvious to say that many immigrants come to Canada to better their life circumstances and to gain new freedoms and civil liberties within a secure and stable political environment. Thus, it comes as no surprise that these instrumental elements are, for them, an important part of the meaning of being Canadian. Nevertheless, these elements also have great symbolic value and seem to reflect a passionate belief in eradicating prejudice and discrimination against all peoples. That is, the results suggest that support for multiculturalism among immigrants is motivated by a strong desire to overcome long standing injustices that were often personally experienced in the country from which they emigrated. Further, prejudice and discrimination in Canada, particularly against people of colour and Aboriginal peoples, was a dominant theme in response to a question asking respondents when they feel ashamed of being Canadian.
Themes emerging in response to later questions suggest that this social representation of multiculturalism does not include the segregation of different cultural groups within Canadian society, nor does it include the loss of important beliefs and practices that are integral to their heritage culture. That is, the representation of multiculturalism held by these immigrant leaders accurately mirrors the intent of the Canadian government when crafting the Multiculturalisin Act. From the perspective of SIT, the results suggest that one important reason why these first generation immigrants identify with Canada is because its multicultural policy promotes, maintains, and sustains strong societal opposition to ingroup bias - a natural and pervasive tendency for ingroup members to favour their own group over others. In addition, this policy makes it clear that cultural diversity defines the Canadian identity, thus including very different peoples within one superordinate national group, allowing immigrants to be included into the Canadian "ingroup" as soon as they arrive. Clearly the hope, but not the social reality of these immigrant leaders is that one day this social policy will be more effective in preventing prejudice and discrimination being directed toward immigrants so that they can be accepted more fully as Canadians in their own right.