This thesis is interested in how intersections of gender, race, and class inform the social and self constructions of identity in the lives of second generation ethnic Canadian women. It is based on the assumption that the social incompatibility of ethnicity and Canadian identity impacts on their political behaviour, and their sense of themselves as Canadian citizens. The thesis is composed of a theoretical discussion of the relevant literature, and the empirical results of fifteen interviews with the subjects in question. It attempts to demonstrate that the specificity of the subjects' identities is not being acknowledged by mainstream discourses on ethnicity, citizenship, and feminism, which are either gender blind, or define all ethnic women as immigrant women. While recognizing the importance of research on immigrant women, I would argue that such a label is not all encompassing, and in fact, casts the debate in a particular fashion: by suggesting that the immigrant experience is the central focus in the intersection of race and ethnicity, it obscures the significance underlying the consistent linking of ethnicity with immigration. In my discussion of the shortcomings inherent in such approaches, I conclude that there is a need for better understanding of the multiplicity of ethnic women's experiences, through the development of broader and more inclusive theoretical frameworks that seek to understand and theorize these complexities, rather than essentializing them.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:uottawa.ca/oai:ruor.uottawa.ca:10393/9555 |
| Date | January 1996 |
| Creators | Rajiva, Mythili. |
| Contributors | Andrew, Caroline, |
| Publisher | University of Ottawa (Canada) |
| Source Sets | Université d’Ottawa |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis |
| Format | 211 p. |
Page generated in 0.012 seconds