Indo-Canadian Youth Identity and Belonging in Greater Vancouver
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“MY KIND OF BROWN”: INDO-CANADIAN YOUTH IDENTITY AND BELONGING IN GREATER VANCOUVER by Widyarini Sumartojo M.A., Ohio State University, 2001 B.A., University of Texas at Austin, 1997 DISSERTATION SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in the Department of Geography Faculty of Environment © Widyarini Sumartojo 2012 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Spring 2012 All rights reserved. However, in accordance with the Copyright Act of Canada, this work may be reproduced, without authorization, under the conditions for "Fair Dealing." Therefore, limited reproduction of this work for the purposes of private study, research, criticism, review and news reporting is likely to be in accordance with the law, particularly if cited appropriately. APPROVAL Name: Widyarini Sumartojo Degree: Doctor of Philosophy Title of Thesis: “My Kind of Brown”: Indo-Canadian Youth Identity and Belonging in Greater Vancouver Examining Committee: Chair: Valorie Crooks, Associate Professor Eugene J. McCann Senior Supervisor Associate Professor Nicholas K. Blomley Supervisor Professor and Chair of Department Jennifer Hyndman Supervisor Professor, Departments of Social Science and Geography York University Kirsten E. McAllister Internal Examiner Associate Professor School of Communication Margaret Walton-Roberts External Examiner Associate Professor, Department of Geography and Environmental Studies Wilfrid Laurier University Date Defended: April 10, 2012 ii Partial Copyright Licence Ethics Statement The author, whose name appears on the title page of this work, has obtained, for the research described in this work, either: a. human research ethics approval from the Simon Fraser University Office of Research Ethics, or b. advance approval of the animal care protocol from the University Animal Care Committee of Simon Fraser University; or has conducted the research c. as a co-investigator, collaborator or research assistant in a research project approved in advance, or d. as a member of a course approved in advance for minimal risk human research, by the Office of Research Ethics. A copy of the approval letter has been filed at the Theses Office of the University Library at the time of submission of this thesis or project. The original application for approval and letter of approval are filed with the relevant offices. Inquiries may be directed to those authorities. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada update Spring 2010 ABSTRACT Since the mid-1990s, more than 100 Indo-Canadian - or South Asian - men under the age of 30 have been murdered in Greater Vancouver. Generally described as “gang-” or “drug-related,” these murders and related criminal incidents have easily lent themselves to sensationalism. As a result, the image of groups of young Indo-Canadian men engaged in various violent and criminal activities has become increasingly prevalent. This has been reinforced by perceptions of them as lacking a strong ‘sense of belonging.’ In this project, I explore notions of belonging and not belonging in relation to Indo-Canadian youth violence and criminality. I focus on how news media, various state institutions, and community organizations have related youth violence to the notion that youth lack a strong sense of belonging, as well as how discourses about, and responses to, youth violence have affected young Indo-Canadians’ understandings of their own identities, ethnocultural difference, and multiculturalism. I frame my discussion in terms of three socio-spatial binaries that have become central to discourses about Indo- Canadian youth violence and criminality. First, I discuss discourses that position ‘immigrant culture’ in opposition to ‘non-immigrant culture,’ a key element of which is the idea of ‘culture clash,’ particularly over gender norms. Second, I examine conceptualizations of society as consisting of discrete, ‘bounded’ ethnocultural ‘communities,’ such that ‘ethnic’ stands in opposition to ‘mainstream.’ I point out the racialization of these boundaries, as reflected through discourses about ‘Brownness’ among young Indo-Canadians. Third, I discuss discourses of belonging and not belonging, in which youth are characterized as alienated from either an ethnic ‘community’ or wider society, leaving them in a supposed state of poor or misdirected moral development. I argue that these socio-spatial binaries have been challenged, contradicted, and made ambiguous, even as they have been deployed as dichotomies with distinct poles. Therefore, I also discuss the slippages, gaps, and contradictions that destabilize them. Keywords: social geography, Indo-Canadians, belonging, youth gangs, second generation, identity iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my senior supervisor, Eugene McCann, for his dedicated supervision, intellectual guidance, and patient friendship, over the course of both of my graduate degrees. I am truly grateful to have had a mentor of such professional and personal integrity. I would also like to thank my committee members: Nick Blomley, for his apt questioning and equally apt, warm words of encouragement; and Jennifer Hyndman, for her consistent enthusiasm and critical insights into the process, product, and meaning of conducting research. In addition, I would like to thank my two external reviewers, Kirsten McAllister and Margaret Walton-Roberts, for their analytical expertise, deft suggestions, and generous, supportive critique. My thanks also go to all research participants and Metropolis BC, as well as Minelle Mahtani for her thoughtful comments on an earlier draft of my dissertation. In addition, I would like to thank my partner, Ray Wangen, for his emotional support, tireless humour, and much needed perspective on the ‘big picture,’ as well as the many friends and colleagues who have supported and challenged me, and enriched my academic life, including, among others: Julia Affolderbach, Lisa Brunner, Veronica Crossa, Alistair Fraser, Dawn Hoogeveen, Mark Kear, Robert Lidstone, Sarah Paynter, Jesse Proudfoot, and Cristina Temenos. Finally, my thanks go to my sister and brother-in-law, Shanti Sumartojo and Ben Wellings, and, above all, to my parents, Jojok and Esther Sumartojo. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval ........................................................................................................................... ii Abstract ........................................................................................................................... iii Acknowledgements ....................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ............................................................................................................ v List of Figures ............................................................................................................... vii List of Tables ................................................................................................................ viii Chapter 1: Introduction .................................................................................................. 1 Research Objectives and Questions ............................................................................ 3 Research Questions ................................................................................................ 6 Clarification of Terminology ..................................................................................... 7 Data Sources ................................................................................................................ 9 Chapter Structure ....................................................................................................... 10 Chapter 2: Second Generation Youth Identity............................................................ 13 Immigrant Identity Formation ...................................................................................... 13 Assimilationist Theory ............................................................................................ 14 Cultural Pluralist Approaches ................................................................................. 17 Transnationalism .................................................................................................... 20 Ethnic Youth Gangs ............................................................................................... 22 New Directions and Canada’s New Second Generation ............................................ 24 Spatializing Identity and the Body .............................................................................. 26 Belonging 27 Chapter 3: Canadian Diversity: Immigration and Multiculturalism .......................... 30 National Trends: Immigration, Visible Minorities and Policy ....................................... 31 Canadian Multiculturalism: Legislative Framework .................................................... 34 Canadian Multiculturalism: Theories and Debates ..................................................... 36 Actually Existing Multiculturalism ................................................................................ 43 Geographies of Actually Existing Multiculturalism: Multicultural Canadian Cities ..................................................................................................... 45 Chapter 4: Empirical Context and Methods ................................................................ 51 Diversity and Immigration in Greater Vancouver .......................................................