The study contributes to the growing body of research that examines the meanings and practices of literacy in community settings. While the study sheds some light on the history of community-based literacy learning, it is also a project in rhetorical analysis. It traces the influence of public discourse and beliefs about literacy on the teaching of English to non-native speakers, focusing on the Progressive Era (1890-1920), a time of major social and educational change. Turn-of-the-century educators and members of the public believed that literacy was in a state of decline, and immigrants were often blamed. Public debate about literacy was marked by an acute sense of crisis exacerbated by economic unease and rapid social and political change. In this atmosphere of change and anxiety, the public called on English teachers to assimilate immigrants by bringing them in line with cultural norms, teaching them patriotism, and preparing them to be efficient workers. In response to public pressure, some educators embraced a vision of a monolingual society and adopted a pedagogy of assimilation. As Americanization programs emerged in large numbers in the 1910s, the goals and curricula often reflected this vision. However, not all educators embraced the assimilation model. Some educators and immigrant writers argued for the need for a pedagogy rooted in students' community lives and individual needs, with the potential to contribute toward a more democratic society for all.

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This is an examination of how conjugality acts as an access point for Canadian citizenship. The conjugal family unit — married or common-law — continues to be privileged in Canadian law and policy; this is especially evident in immigration policy and practice. Family class immigration continues to be a steady source of immigrants for Canada, spousal/partner sponsorship being the primary type of family reunification. In order to control access, a strict understanding of conjugality is used to distinguish between legitimate and illegitimate families. When it comes to family class immigration, it is not simply a case of individuals sponsoring individuals; it is about the state producing and maintaining the ideal family unit through the provision of citizenship. My analysis proceeds in two main parts. First, I engage with mainstream Canadian citizenship theory — focusing specifically on the work of Will Kymlicka and Rita Dhamoon — and analyze its focus on the individual citizen. Moreover, I examine how the state’s asymmetrical treatment of conjugality has created two versions of the conjugal family — the inside family (families within Canadian borders) and the outside family (families outside Canadian borders). Second, I explore the state’s reliance on conjugal relationships in their assessment of potential immigrants and refugees in three areas of immigration policy — the assessment of sexual minority refugee claimants, the assessment of common-law couples seeking sponsorship, and the government’s current crackdown on marriage fraud. Combined, these examples speak to the Canadian state’s vested interest in privileging the conjugal family unit; furthermore, they highlight how the inconsistent and often ambiguous treatment of conjugality undermines its effectiveness as the primary mode of identification in family class immigration. In summary, this dissertation integrates families into a body of scholarship that has ignored the role that one’s personal relationships plays in the provision of state access. / Thesis (Ph.D, Political Studies) -- Queen's University, 2013-03-06 20:33:38.518

La présente recherche porte sur l’histoire du Regroupement ethnoculturel de parents francophones de l’Ontario (REPFO), un organisme de la communauté ethnoculturelle francophone dont le mandat consiste à représenter les parents dans leurs relations avec les autorités scolaires de la ville d’Ottawa, au Canada. Nous nous proposons d’explorer le contexte historique de l’arrivée des immigrantes et immigrants francophones venus d’Afrique et d’analyser leur intégration dans le milieu francophone minoritaire en Ontario. Plus spécifiquement, cette thèse explore l’histoire du REPFO depuis la fin des années 1990 jusqu’en 2010. Le cadre théorique sur lequel se base notre étude s’inspire des idées de Charles Taylor sur le besoin de reconnaissance égalitaire dans une société démocratique et multiculturelle ainsi que sur les complexités du phénomène de l’intégration d’une minorité au sein d’une autre minorité. Notre recherche nous conduit à aborder quatre questions de recherche. Dans un premier temps, nous analysons le discours public au sujet de l’intégration des nouveaux arrivants ethnoculturels francophones. Cela nous amène, dans un deuxième temps, à une analyse des perceptions des représentants du REPFO au sujet du système scolaire contrôlé par les Franco-Ontariens. Nous considérons, par la suite, les différentes tentatives de rapprochement du REPFO auprès des instances éducatives des communautés d’accueil. Pour finir, nous nous penchons sur les implications sociales, politiques et idéologiques de la reconnaissance (ou son absence) des francophones issus de minorités ethnoculturelles dans le processus de leur intégration aux communautés d’accueil franco-ontariennes. Si les élèves sont au coeur de ce processus d’intégration, il convient de souligner que les parents sont également impliqués, dans la mesure où ils sont amenés à jouer un rôle clé dans la gouvernance scolaire des écoles de leurs enfants. Nous concluons par une réflexion sur le conflit, d’une part, entre la valeur de l’apport démographique de l’immigration et, d’autre part, par les difficultés liées à un certain écart entre les référents identitaires collectifs des communautés franco-ontariennes et de ceux des des francophones issus de minorités ethnoculturelles. / This thesis looks at the history of an organized group in the Francophone ethnocultural community which claims to represent parents in their interactions with the school authorities in the city of Ottawa, Canada. To be more specific, the research looks at the origin and development of the Regroupement ethnoculturel de parents francophones de l’Ontario, the REPFO, during its short 10 year history. Since the 1990's, there has been an influx of Francophone African immigrants who strive to integrate into the minority French-language community in Ontario. The theoretical framework begins with the ideas of Charles Taylor regarding the vital human need for recognition in a truly democratic and multicultural society as well as the complexities of minorities integrating into minorities. The thesis examines the topic through four thematic questions. The first question explores public discourse on the subject of the integration of ethnocultural Francophones. This leads to the second question which analyses the perceptions of the main people behind the REPFO regarding the Franco-Ontarian school system. The third question explores the various efforts by the REPFO to integrate the school system of the host community and the final question seeks to understand the social, political and ideological implications of the recognition (or the absence thereof) of those ethnocultural Francophones by the host Franco-Ontarian community. The integration of immigrants into the school system not only relates to the children, but also to the parents who are challenged to play an active role in school governance. The conclusion highlights the conflict between the demographic advantages of the influx of immigrants versus the complexity arising from issues of collective identity by the host community as well as on the part of the immigrants.

The coloured population in Britain tend to settle in her main ports and form distinct social groupings. Their origin and development are similar in most cases. The core of these settlements was established by coloured seamen and their population grew by gradual increases during normal periods and by large influxes of various categories of coloured men, resulting from two world wars. The groups also increased in size and were stabilized by miscegenation between the immigrants and white women or British born coloured women. Only during the last twenty-five years has interest been aroused in sociological studies of this section of the British population. Little's survey of the Cardiff Negro community is the first comprehensive study of its kind in the United Kingdom. Since then, studies have been made by Richmond, Silberman and Spice; and others are in progress. Little traced the historical development of colour prejudice in Britain from 1660 A.D. to the present time. He pointed out the social and cultural factors giving rise to these attitudes, and how they operate against coloured people resident in Britain to-day. Silberman and Spice made a study of the relationship between coloured and white children in six Liverpool schools by applying the 'Friendship and Rejection' psychological tests. From the results obtained, they concluded that prejudice is not generally experienced by mixed racial groups of children. Richmond was concerned with the adjustment and assimilation of West Indian workers into British society. He calls his investigation a case history study based mainly on records of individual case files and other reports and documents. A number of interviews were also made. He has shown how economic insecurity and 'stereotype' influence racial prejudice. His main thesis, however, is to show the correlation between the high degree of skill in the West Indian worker and his adjustment to British society. The relevance of these studies to the problem of social integration is obvious. As Little has shown, colour prejudice is one of the principal obstacles to the assimilation of coloured minorities into British society. His work is a major contribution to the field of race relations as it establishes a base from which other racial problems may be investigated. Richmond's research is concerned with one category of coloured people only, that is, selected West Indians who were skilled men. The data is of value to this study for purposes of comparison with the adjustment of other categories and groups of coloured persons, such as workers who are unskilled or are of other ethnic groups. The findings of Silberman and Spice would have been more convincing had the data been more adequate. Nevertheless, the study sheds light on an important aspect of race relations. These studies, with the exception of the last mentioned, are concerned primarily with Negroes. The Moslem population had still to be examined.

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