Over time, the Italian community has become an integral part of Canada's ethnic mosaic. However, to what 'ethnic' cost has this integration occurred? This thesis looks at issues of ethnic retention among successive generations of Italian families living in Montreal. Focus is placed on three fundamental questions: (a) How did the Italian community change through generations? (b) Are the young generations displaying signs of symbolic ethnicity? and (c) How can the ethnic identity of Italians in Montreal be defined in 2005? Drawing on Herbert Gans' symbolic ethnicity approach, the initial hypothesis suggests that socio-economic upgrade spurs an ethnic consciousness founded on cultural symbols rather than on cultural values. Through ethnographic-based interviews, data was collected on 60 individuals grouped into 20 Italian families. Based on in-depth intergenerational comparisons between grandparents, parents and youth, results seem to confirm that young Italians reflect a pattern of symbolic ethnicity.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.83175 |
| Date | January 2005 |
| Creators | De Martinis, Lucio |
| Publisher | McGill University |
| Source Sets | Library and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Coverage | Master of Arts (Department of Geography.) |
| Rights | All items in eScholarship@McGill are protected by copyright with all rights reserved unless otherwise indicated. |
| Relation | alephsysno: 002270785, proquestno: AAIMR22591, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest. |
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