Drawing insight from ethnic studies along with cultural and human geography, the main focus of this thesis is to identify the cultural survival mechanisms of immigrants by using as a case study the framework of the Greek-Canadian unbounded ethnic community in South Florida. Greek- Canadians, being a twice-migrant group, first in Canada and later in the United States, reflect the challenges contemporary immigrants face in order to maintain their ethnic culture in this increasingly transnational environment. In the past few years, researchers have examined the impact of the spatial concentration of immigrants in large metropolitan areas with little attention centered on ethnic communities that lack geographic propinquity. In order to uncover the cultural survival mechanisms of this immigrant group, this study suggests looking beyond the traditional model. This new model of ethnic community is called `Culturescape.' This contemporary ethnic community not only meets the needs of immigrants but also aids their cultural maintenance and preservation. The use of the realism-structuration framework enables a multi-method research approach in order to examine beyond the level of events and to explore the mechanisms that generate the creation of unbounded ethnic communities. This study combines a number of sources that have been collected over a three-year period. Multiple indepth interviews with Greek immigrants were conducted not only in South Florida but in Montreal as well. Additionally, an on- line structured survey open to all selfidentified Greeks in South Florida was conducted. Field notes from many ethnic events as well as official documents and the Internet were utilized. This research reveals that Greek-Canadians constructed their culturescape as a strategy to maintain and practice their ethnic culture. Their culturescape functions as a traditional geographically bounded ethnic community; however, it is a reflection of contemporary global conditions. Based on this case-study, geographic setting does matter because it structures the way cultures evolve. When immigrants move to a new setting, a two-way process of cultural exchange inevitably takes place. Hence, the Greek-Canadian culturescape is as unique as the setting that creates it. / Geography / D.Litt. et Phil. (Geography)

Focusing on Montreal Italian social networks, this thesis examines the ideological nature of ethnicity, and its functioning in political processes in urban Quebec. The ideological dynamics of ethnicity are revealed in the process of the creation and re-creation of belief in "Italian family", as a distinctive 'Italian' culture. This first separates Italians into different families and regional groups of paesani, but then brilliantly unites Italians into one group according to necessity. In political processes, various Italian associations and presidents are connected to formal politics through the mediation of Italian political brokers. The extensive construction of suburban residences created Italian economic elites and affected other sectors of the economy. Significantly, Italians attempt to keep business within Italian networks. This 'nationalistic' aspect of networks aims to maximize interests within the group. Such dynamic Italian politico-economic networks extend to the further level of formal politics in which federalist Liberals and separatist Parti Quebecois are principal rivals.

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As research into acculturation increases, two competing models have emerged. The unidimensional model posits that heritage and host culture identifications have an inverse relationship, whereas the bidimensional model proposes that the two identifications are orthogonal. In the first study we compared these models in 164 Chinese-Canadian students, and found that the two dimensions were viable and had a distinct pattern of non-inverse correlations with aspects of personality. These findings remained after controlling for basic demographic characteristics. In the second study, we compared the two models in a sample of 157 Chinese-Canadian students, and again found that the two dimensions were viable and had a distinct pattern of non-inverse correlations with self-construal and psychosocial adjustment. The findings for adjustment remained after controlling for extraversion and neuroticism. We argue that, for both conceptual and empirical reasons, the bidimensional model is a more useful conceptualization of acculturation. Implications of these findings are discussed.

This work focuses on the efforts of Montreal's Irish Catholics to maintain a cohesive ethnic community throughout the nineteenth century, and on the vital role that the national parish played in this process. The early community directed its attention towards institution building centred around Saint Patrick's church, which had been built for the use of Irish Catholics in the 1840s. Following the dismemberment of the extensive parish of Notre-Dame and the erection of smaller Irish national parishes in the early 1870s, greater emphasis was placed on the creation of a wide variety of parish societies. By discouraging participation in Irish national societies that refused to submit to clerical authority, and by effectively fusing religious and national identification, the clergy ensured the success of parish-based organisation. Broader associations embracing the various Irish-Catholic parish societies were established, and participation in the Saint Patrick's day procession inscribed these affiliations in space. It will be demonstrated that the territorial and social evolution of parishes were intimately connected.

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Property ownership and occupational change are used to understand the social and economic organization of the Chinese community in Montreal. These data can be understood with a model of the lineage mode of production, situated within an ethnically defined dual economy. / Original immigration data show distinct patterns for Eastern Canada, and the independence of migration from Canadian legislation. The history of Chinese property ownership reveals encapsulated, long term tenure with transfers related to life cycle crises rather than market conditions. Chinese occupations are highly concentrated in service sector specialities which support domestic production units. The Chinese community is present throughout the Island of Montreal, while Chinatown contains some specialized institutions rather than being a ghetto. / Current demographic changes may jeopardize the future of secondary Chinese centers such as Montreal, in favor of larger centers such as Toronto and Vancouver.

Présenté à l'origine comme thèse (de maîtrise de l'auteur--Université de Montréal), 1989. / Titre de l'écran-titre (visionné le 10 octobre 2008). In Canadian electronic library (RCDR / ICN). Description based on print version record. Comprend des réf. bibliogr.: v. 1, p. 234-246.

The present thesis is a study of the women involved in the Anglican mission to the Japanese Canadians between 1903 and 1957. Drawing on a variety of primary source documents housed in the Anglican church archives in Toronto and Vancouver, as well as information gathered in interviews with three former missionaries, the study aims to determine who these women were, what their work consisted of, their reasons for choosing to work among Japanese Canadians, and what effects their efforts had, not specifically on the intended recipients, but on the women themselves. The thesis argues that much of the success of the mission, as measured by the number of Japanese Canadians who utilized its facilities and programmes, is due to the high level of involvement of local women. Until the World War II evacuation of Japanese Canadians from the coast of British Columbia, the mission's main facilities were located in Vancouver. In 1917 a male-dominated governing board took over the work, and attempted to 'professionalize' the mission during the interwar period. Still, of the over fifty middle-class Anglo-Canadian women, the majority were drawn from the local community, and a further seventeen Japanese Canadian women, originally from the mission's clientele, became involved in the work. A number of these women were employed as lay workers, and those who had the requisite training were engaged as professional missionaries, but more than half of the workers worked as volunteers. Work in the mission offered an attractive outlet through which these women channelled their energy, skills, and humanitarian propensities. It allowed Anglo-Canadian women to take on a public role while upholding contemporary notions concerning appropriate behaviour for their sex, "race" and class, while the Japanese Canadian workers gained the acceptance and esteem of their Occidental colleagues, and access to a respectable occupation at a time when they had few options to choose from. Thus by creating and largely maintaining the mission, a number of Anglican women, working within the confines of the maternal feminist ideology, built a sphere for themselves which encouraged their personal growth. / Education, Faculty of / Graduate