Franco-Ontarian Women and Multiple Positions of Identity and Belonging: a Study from Northern Ontario, Canada

Franco-Ontarian Women and Multiple Positions of Identity and Belonging: A Study from Northern Ontario, Canada

Jane H. Roberts

ABSTRACT: While Putnam’s communitarian conceptualization of social capital has signifi cantly infl uenced our understanding of community cohesion, the concept of social capital is highly contested. Questions have been raised about the ways in which agency and power operate in a community’s sense of connectedness. Within this critique, li le a ention has been paid to the conceptualization of cultural identity when framed in dominant constructions of social capital. This paper contends that Bourdieu’s critical perspective on social capital is be er placed to examine the complex relationships between multiple, confl icting and overlapping positions of cultural identity with a sense of belonging. In addition, a Bourdieurian analysis acknowledges that the dynamic relationships of habitus, capital and fi eld produce multiple identities associated with confl icting notions of connectedness which are contextually contingent. The paper argues that ethnography is best placed to off er a diff erent perspective to de-contextu- alized data, and supports any examination of identity and belonging as best viewed within the context in which such concepts develop and are situated.

KEYWORDS: belonging, cultural identity, ethnography, Franco-Ontarian, habitus, language, social capital

Introduction contested, not least because of its assumptions that communities are bounded and that social Exploring notions of identity in relation to a identities are stable and homogenous. Despite sense of belonging is a problematic undertak- these loaded assumptions there is a growing ing. Identity is multi-faceted and communi- willingness to use the parameters of Putnam’s ties are dynamic in their composition and conceptualization of social capital in order to contingent upon changing external relation- ‘measure’ the cohesion of a community at a ships with other social groups. The concept of point in time. When social surveys use such community cohesion and sense of belonging constructs, for example by asking about the to a bounded community are o en linked density of an individual’s social networks, through the communitarian concept of social their active participation in the collective life capital described by Putnam (1993) and have of the community and their ease in accessing been associated with improved health (See civic institutional resources (Putnam 1993), Wakeﬁ eld and Poland 2005 for a review of there is a risk of oversimplifying complex and the literature). Although seductive, Putnam’s multi-layered social behaviour with deleteri- dominant discourse of social capital is hotly ous consequences. The ‘snapshot’ picture of

Anthropology in Action, 16, 2 (2009): 63–77 © Berghahn Books and the Association for Anthropology in Action doi:10.3167/aia.2009.160206 AiA | Jane H. Roberts

one version of ‘a community’ may at best be tury onwards the widespread expansion of ag- fl eetingly representative or at worst mislead- riculture and exploitation of the land to create ing and result in health and social policy an emerging forestry industry became a pow- which ignores the ‘meanings, experiences and erful pull for French migration into Ontario. practices’ of minority communities (Gronseth Established Anglophone communities were and Oakley 2007). not always receptive to the infl ux of Franco- This paper presents a study conducted in phones and the communities remained divided the wake of a community health survey in On- (Allaire 2001). Westward migration continued tario which produced data suggesting that a with the transcontinental railway creating fur- higher number of Franco-Ontarians rated their ther employment opportunities alongside the sense of belonging as ‘poor’ when compared emerging mining industries of copper and to Anglophones of a similar age (Picard and nickel (idem). The segregated educational sys- Allaire 2005). The report and its interpretation tem which developed at the time revealed the were received with gloom by Franco-Ontarian fault lines between the socio-linguistic groups, community activists and providers of health and remains a theatre for the tension across the and social care who were increasingly ques- linguistic divides (Churchill 1984). French was tioning the integrity of ‘the Franco-Ontarian forbidden from usage in schools from 1885 community’ in Sudbury and who feared social and again reinforced in 1912 through further fragmentation. Did the survey data indicate a legislation, despite strong opposition. The ef- community in distress, manifest through low fects of the 1912 edict are still palpable in pres- self-ratings of health and well-being? How au- ent-day Canada as Franco-Ontarian students thentic was the report’s conclusion that Franco- were only off ered the possibility of secondary Ontarians felt more disconnected to each other school education as recently as 1968, with pro- than their Anglophone counterparts? In order vincial provision not a legal requirement until to address these concerns the study reported the 1970s (postgraduate education following here was designed to provide a contextual- later). The most recent Federal legislation pro- ized picture of contemporary Franco-Ontarian moting bilingual parity was in 2004. gendered perceptions of cultural identity and their relationship to notions of belonging and sense of community. Study Design

In order to explore Franco-Ontarian women’s Background constructions of identity and their relationship to notions of belonging, an ethnographic ap- Canada is considered to be created by three proach was chosen. Ethnography, a methodol- founding peoples: the First Nations or Aborigi- ogy at the heart of anthropology, foregrounds nal peoples, the Anglophone and the Franco- the importance of context when gathering phone immigrants. The Anglophones have data about the lived social worlds of people. always been the dominant group in terms of As Gronseth and Oakley write, ‘the power of numbers and political power. Contemporary anthropology (is) in revealing the deep signifi - Franco-Ontarians can trace their lineage as far cance of the emic layers of peoples’ lives; layers back as the late 1600s when French traders, mis- that in turn have a one-to-one relationship to sionaries and explorers sought to extend the their health and well-being’ (2007: 2). boundaries of the French empire and migrated The study was located in Sudbury, North- to the Americas. The majority of Francophones ern Ontario, a nickel mining and railway town se led in Quebec but from the nineteenth cen- with a population of 274,222 (2001 survey), 64 | Franco-Ontarian Women and Multiple Positions of Identity and Belonging | AiA amongst whom 18% consider themselves from 17 years to 71 years, with the modal age lo- Franco phone (see h p://ofa.gov.on.ca). Field- cated within the 45 to 55 years band. Interviews work was conducted from the only community- were conducted in French, audio-recorded based Francophone primary care, social and with consent and transcribed. educational centre, which is also linked to a The data gathering was informed by a network of other Francophone institutions. view that ethnography generates data which The majority of clients accessing services at is created rather than collected. Fabian writes the Centre are women. Like women the world of performative as opposed to informative eth- over who are seen as culture bearers Franco- nography where ‘data’ is generated through a Ontarian women have been described as hold- mutual enactment or performance between the ing a particular place in Canadian Franco- actors; he likens the role of ethnographer as ‘no phone culture, both perceived as experiencing longer that of questioner; … but a provider of multiple marginalities (Denis 2001) whilst at occasions, a catalyst in the weakest sense, and the same time considered to be actively pro- a producer in the strongest’ (1990: 6–7). The moting Francophone culture (Fox 1995). The role of the researcher within the dynamic dyad study sought to focus upon the perspectives of ethnographer and participant is discussed of women, although a mixed gendered picture below in the presentation of the study fi nd- was gathered during participant observation. ings. Furthermore, the data collection was en- A number of Francophone se ings featured riched and triangulated by accessing historical in the study and included a women’s refuge, a texts from a wide range of material resources drop-in health and social care clinic for home- including public records, organizational and less Francophone men and women, the medi- institutional reports, newspaper cu ings and cal school at Laurentienne University which archived material at the community Centre. actively promotes Francophonie (a term used For many of the women informal discussions o en to denote Francophone culture), and and the interviews began with their curiosity the only Francophone Further Education Col- about the purpose of the study and the re- lege in Sudbury. I was invited to a number of searcher’s own motivation for being involved social gatherings and civic occasions and was in such work. Time was spent at the beginning fortunate to coincide one month of fi eldwork of each discussion to explain how the study with the annual celebration of Francophonie in had come about and why I was interested in Sudbury. This off ers a particular window into exploring this subject. I am a bilingual but pre- public Franco-Ontarian culture and includes dominantly Anglophone British woman who theatre performances, le salon de lire (a festival practises as a General Practitioner (family phy- of Francophone literature) and gastronomic sician) in the U.K. I live in a bilingual (English/ events celebrating Franco-Ontarian cuisine. French-speaking) household where English In addition to participant observation the dominates. The resistance of my children to data collection was supported by a series of 21 speak any language other than the lingua franca one-to-one interviews, two paired interviews of their local community is fi rmly established and one focus group, all with women held at a in the family’s history. From a professional per- number of Francophone locations. The sample spective another vantage point is off ered. As a was pragmatic and used snowballing as a physician I have always worked in communi- technique (Kuzel 1999), with women recom- ties subject to high levels of deprivation and mending possible further contacts. Interviews marginalization and this provides another lens were conducted in a semi-structured, informal through which to interpret the experiences of manner in order to put the women at ease. The minority Franco-Ontarians living in contem- age range represented by the women spanned porary Canada.

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The data gathered throughout the project dividual and a collective identity has a pivotal was analysed in an inductive process as themes importance. Women’s accounts of their Fran- and key issues emerged from the rich descrip- cophone identity, almost without exception, tions and multi-sourced data. Using an itera- began and ended with the role of the French tive process, an interconnecting framework of language. Comments such as ‘I was raised theoretical explanations evolved based on the in a culture which is transmi ed through its empirical data and was mapped to established language’ (spoken by a 44-year-old mother theories. This is presented as a narrative in and experienced social care worker) and ‘For the extended section below which presents me, to be Francophone is to consider my lan- the fi ndings and discussion together. In addi- guage, my culture, my heritage. It is who I am, tion, refl exivity has long been recognized as ‘a my identity. Beyond all that I am, I am fi rstly central element of ethnographic work’ (Reeves, Francophone’ (from a 39–year-old mother and Kuper and Hodges 2008) and the narrative pre- university administrator) illustrate this over- sented refl ects the intertwined product of my arching fi nding. Such expressions epitomize position and the creation of material through the instinctive responses made to questions the dynamic ethnographic process. of cultural identity. Language was presented as the ‘lifeblood’, the heart of Francophonie, in contrast to English being ‘a language of the The Multiple Currencies of Language head’, and it was viewed as ‘a gi ’ from previ- ous generations; a link to ancestral heritage. The very defi nition of ‘Francophone’ is prob- However, identity is elusive and evades pin- lematic in Ontario as it has become such a ning down both to ‘insiders’ and ‘outsiders’. plastic term covering a multitude of positions; A 21-year-old student and mother who had from using French as the primary language to recently moved from Quebec asked, ‘What a passive understanding based on belonging does being Francophone mean to me? It’s to a family with French-speaking relatives. As how I was born! It’s all I know!’ Similarly, such it is impossible and unhelpful to general- concepts of identity are fl uid and tacit. Cog- ize but one useful observation is that the ma- nitive constructions of identity are ‘cultural jority of women under the age of 45 (who cite in nature’ and ‘need to be seen as ma ers of French as their mother tongue) are bilingual, conscience … as a consequence, access to and in contrast to older women for whom French understanding of them by outsiders may be is typically their primary language and who profoundly problematic’ writes Cohen (2000: express discomfort and diffi culty expressing 2) in a volume inspired by the work of Barth themselves in English. All the women featured (1969). Teasing out what is natural from what in the study were born into Francophone is culturally constructed has been a central households and their comments reveal the theme of anthropology, with theorists such plurality of how language is used and inter- as Strathern (1992) proposing that nature and preted. The research fi ndings are presented in culture act simultaneously rather than there relation to Bourdieu’s interrelated concepts of being a ‘universalism or particularism’ (Gron- habitus, fi eld and capital and are supported by seth and Oakley (2007: 2). Barth’s (ibid.) semi- verbatim quotations from study informants. nal writings on identity and boundaries were ground breaking and set the scene for later critical theorists, notably Bourdieu whose de- Language and Habitus velopment of habitus is informed by Barth’s For Francophone women the role of the French position (Bourdieu 1977). Barth contended that language in defi ning one’s sense of both an in- ethnic identity was contingent on the circum- 66 | Franco-Ontarian Women and Multiple Positions of Identity and Belonging | AiA stances and relative positions of others: ‘the fi elds as social spaces within which actors and substance of ethnicity responds to the nature institutions operate (1977). The boundaries of of the boundary’ (Cohen 2000: 3). His concep- such fi elds are created in response to exchanges tualization of identity ‘built on the qualita- of interchangeable forms of capital which are tive diff erences between cognitive categories underpinned by dynamic power relationships; and “lived experience” and on the processes these relationships are predicated on move- through which they are reconciled’ (Barth 2000). ment between the actors within the fi eld and This position is explored by Lakoff (1987), who also outside of the bounded space. ‘Individu- describes how our cognitive maps develop out als and institutions, based on their habitus, of a set of rich and unfolding ‘kinesthetic im- are positioned and position themselves in a age schemas or pa erns that constantly recur fi eld’ (Samuelson and Steff an 2004). Structural in our everyday bodily experiences’ (1987: 21). inequality, oppression and limited access to These ideas were further developed by Bour- resources and capital will determine the fi elds dieu, whose concept of habitus sought to bridge in which the identity is socially constructed the external, social world with the internal and enacted. This study found that there world. Habitus are cognitive structures or in- were fi elds of particular importance to Franco- ternalized schemes, present from birth, through phone women with regard to their lived social which people ‘perceive, understand, appreci- worlds. In summary, these were the domestic ate and evaluate the social world’ (Ritzer and arena; the worlds of education and employ- Goodman 2003). Bourdieu’s concepts describe ment; health (experiences of and health-seek- a dialectical relationship between the objective ing behaviour) and civic life. Below, each fi eld and external world and the internal subjective is mapped to Bourdieu’s theory of practice world. It is through practice that the habitus which links his concepts of habitus, fi eld and is created and as a result of practice that the capital. social world is created (1977). ‘Practices are not In Bourdieu’s critique of the construction objectively determined, nor are they the prod- and organization of socially mediated lives, uct of free will’ (Ritzer and Goodman 2003: habitus and fi elds are interrelated to capital, 517) and as a result they confer a practical logic a notion he suggests which should be under- or ‘common sense’ which is not always easy stood as a kind of power or as the ‘energy of to articulate. Hence, when women were asked social physics’ and not simply in traditional to describe Francophonie or their thoughts on terms of economics (1977). Bourdieu identifi ed Francophone identity it was o en diffi cult for four forms of capital: economic, social, cultural them to articulate their social worlds, which and symbolic, although other anthropologists are o en more about lived and embodied ex- have added bodily capital to this classifi ca- periences than they are cognitive constructs. tion (Wacquant 1995, Meinert 2004). Economic capital is to be considered as the accumulation of diff erent forms of material wealth whilst Identity, Belonging and Bourdieu social capital is the sum of existing or potential Interconnected with habitus is Bourdieu no- resources the individual or a group disposes tion of fi eld which refers to a network of social of based on its network of formal and informal relations rather than a structure but which are relationships (Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992: diff erent to Putnam’s social capital networks, 104–105). Cultural capital refers to ‘owner- since these relations ‘exist apart from individ- ship’ of information, including intellectual ual consciousness and will’, and are played out and artistic and legitimate knowledge; sym- on ‘a type of competitive market place’ (Ritzer bolic capital is related to one’s honour and and Goodman 2003: 522). Bourdieu described prestige. Positions in a fi eld are determined

| 67 AiA | Jane H. Roberts

by the kinds and quantities of capital pos- them. Also for Francophone families religious sessed, either by the group or the individual celebrations are important and keep the family and revealed through habitus. Applying this united. theoretical structure to the study showed that Anglophones were described as ‘looking in’, expressions of identity coupled with a sense of o en covetously, as indicated in the following belonging, when narrated by Franco-Ontarian statement from a 55-year-old grandmother who women, depended entirely on the context in loved to entertain, ‘I think a lot of Anglophones which they found themselves and their posi- envy the Franco-Ontarian way of doing things. tion within the respective fi eld. I have o en heard said, “you Francophones really know how to have a good time, how to have fun, how to enjoy food …”’. Language, Identity and the Home The collegiality and the centrality of food The data revealed the domestic arena to be of observed during fi eldwork suggested an accu- primordial importance. Women described the mulation of cultural capital occurring at these home as the space where they are most likely events which bolstered women’s sense of be- to feel at ease and to express their Franco- longing, reduced feelings of isolation and was phone identity. A young, 21-year-old woman an investment in social capital. The women working as a youth worker and living with derived great pleasure from shared occasions her parents and siblings said, ‘At home we which celebrated Francophonie, o en through are French. We all speak in French together’, the consumption of traditional Franco-Ontar- juxtaposed against the Franglais which is o en ian cuisine, which symbolized an agrarian heard in mixed se ings even where Franco- past built on farming and the timber industry. phones predominate. There was a strong sense Fam ily and religious celebrations off ered an of conviviality and unity in gatherings of fam- enhancement of social capital through an en- ily and close friends, indicated in the follow- richment of social relationships, they accrued ing example spoken by a 42-year-old mother cultural capital in both keeping alive past folk of two teenagers who said, ‘When we meet traditions and reinforcing French as a present- there is a feeling of belonging and the family day language and they contributed to sym- is important, the unity within the family and bolic capital through valorizing Francophonie also the loyalty to each other we share. And as a legitimate social activity of which one when I say “family” I’m not just referring to could be proud. blood lines’. Social gatherings, be they intimate family, Language, Identity, Education and Work community or religious (Catholic) celebrations were conducted in French and associated with With regard to education, which was viewed joy and warmth as evoked in the words of a by the participants as a preparation for work 39-year-old working mother who was part of a in the adult world rather than as an end in it- large extended family self, a sense of ambivalence emerged in which French was seen both as an advantage but also and then we’re all si ing around the table, sing- an encumbrance, depending on the context in ing until I don’t know what time, the kids as which it was spoken. Iniquitous provision of well. It’s all my generation who gather at my education has blighted Francophones since the place, my cousins, and it’s us who organize the music and the singing. We try to encourage the early twentieth century and was only begun to aunts and uncles to join in because they used to be addressed in the late 1960s with the limited do the same for us when we were li le. Now we provision of further education. A 42-year-old try and continue the traditions and keep hold of health worker who trained in nursing in an 68 | Franco-Ontarian Women and Multiple Positions of Identity and Belonging | AiA

Anglophone college said with frustration, ‘I Franco-Ontarian young people were pre- grew up on the outskirts of Sudbury. My par- sented as being at the periphery of both lan- ents have always spoken French at home and guages and doubly disempowered, since many I went to all Francophone schools until post- felt they lacked mastery of either language; in secondary level because at the time it was not contrast to certain Anglophone counterparts available. The choices were very limited for 16 a ending French Immersion schools who years plus ... I think that situation made a real viewed the acquisition of bilingualism through impact. …’ formal education as a distinct advantage in Franco-Ontarian women who had been edu- employment. Similarly, for women older than cated in Anglophone schools held unhappy 50 years of age, a clear theme of disadvantage memories of being ridiculed and not surpris- emerged. An inability to express oneself with ingly found it diffi cult to be positive of their ease in the language of the work place le Francophone ancestry as adults. An unem- many older women feeling marginalized, and ployed 32-year-old woman living alone and some expressed frustration that the Health struggling with mental health problems said, and Community Centre was unwilling to of- ‘At school they said we breed like rabbits and fer courses in English. The Centre promoted it’s “disgusting”. We used to get punished French as the only language of expression in at school for speaking in French so I always order to counter the peripheral position of thought it was a bad thing to do.’ French in almost all other public se ings and Women who were bilingual actively chose as such refused to off er English classes to users to be identifi ed as either French or English of the Centre since that would have violated its speaking, in terms of their education and their raison d’etre. opportunities for employment, and thus saw This snapshot of the multiple ways in which their bilingualism as an asset. Young people, language was viewed by a diverse community, however, appeared much more ambivalent infl uenced by the gender, age, educational with English accepted as the global language background and se ing of the speaker, dem- and French considered only advantageous if onstrates the complexity of allocating a score it was standardized and ‘good French’ and to being Francophone, as one might in a ques- not the ‘hybridized version’ typically spoken tionnaire. Younger Francophones expressed a by Franco-Ontarians – as indicated by a 55- sentiment of isolation in feeling both discon- year-old not in paid employment who said, nected from their mother tongue and less than ‘Here we use many more anglicized phrases. fl uent in French and yet not seen as entirely In Quebec their French is be er than ours be- Anglophone, hence not fully accepted as a cause here its two French words, one English.’ member of ‘the Anglophone community’. For This sentiment is supported by a 42-year-old older bilingual women their linguistic skills community health worker who supervised were viewed as cultural capital with the pos- Francophone students on placements: sibility of increasing their economic capital through greater or be er job opportunities. We need to stop being so obsessed with (the However, for many the rhetoric of bilingual- purity) of the language, it’s very frustrating for ism being an advantage was challenged by a young people. They wonder why go to a French college when all through secondary school you restricted economic climate. Finally, for exclu- were grilled constantly for not speaking good sive Francophone speakers there was a sense enough French. It’s much easier in English. Why of marginalization and exclusion from eco- go through the hassle? And the job market is in nomic activity which compromised their sense English too! Hence, many of our youth see no of cultural integrity and although it promoted importance in it. Francophone solidarity it was associated with

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vulnerability and created tension. This could had been worried about her two-year-old son’s be seen at an individual level but also within symptoms, including his persistent vomiting: centres of Francophone life where the decision She (the nurse) was saying to me that my English not to promote English language courses has was good enough and to try and I kept repeat- disadvantaged those women with the least ing that it was too diffi cult for me and that I was cultural and symbolic capital. unable to say exactly what I wanted to say until fi nally a er one hour I managed to get hold of a French speaker. She (Anglophone nurse) wasn’t Language, Identity and Health understanding what I was saying and so I just stopped speaking in English. I said, “I’ve tried The fi eld of health and its relationship to long enough now, it’s your turn to make an eff ort French and Francophone identity is complex. and help me.” She just didn’t get it. The backdrop of limited provision of healthcare to any Sudbury resident (with up to a third This young woman expressed a frustration that of residents unable to register with a family whilst her English was technically adequate the doctor [personal communication]) meant that nurse seemed not to recognize or acknowledge expressing a preference to consult in French her anxiety for her son and she felt unable to was subsumed as ‘unrealistic’ and women felt transmit the depth of her concern using a lan- uncomfortable declaring their choice to speak guage that was not her mother tongue. with a Francophone healthcare provider. A 59- The data pertaining to encounters around year-old Franco-Ontarian community activist health and health-seeking behaviour sits with and grandmother explained: Bourdieu’s notion of habitus and how embodied dispositions including the style of The question of fi ghting to have a Francophone communication, body language and tacit un- doctor is rather one of fi ghting to have access to derstanding are shared between social groups any doctor. With a Francophone doctor you can who inhabit overlapping social worlds from go further but the truth is that we have to be satisfi ed with what we have. We are not used to infancy. The mirroring seen between two peo- always having what we would like. ple talking who share a common history arises at an unconscious level, although the women That said, women viewed the quality of in this study were able to articulate the isola- Francophone consultations as superior to An- tion they felt when communicating with an glophone consultations owing to the subtlety Anglophone health professional who might of language, the vitality of tacit communica- be understanding the gist of the problem but tion which occurs at a non-verbal level using were missing the nuances and the quality of gestures and mirroring facial expressions and the associated suff ering and worry. Technical the diff erent styles of communicating – as mastery of a language might suffi ce for non- revealed in the words of a 49-year-old offi ce emotive problems but when ill-heath was at worker: ‘You can say so much more in your stake there was a shortfall in the quality and mother tongue and if its a Francophone doctor depth of the interactions across a language you know that they are going to understand barrier. Given the structural constraints, the you.’ women felt impelled to accept their lot but For women whose English has been deemed expressed a much deeper sense of identity adequate by an Anglophone healthcare practi- and belonging when discussing health prob- tioner there was another layer of complexity as lems within the Francophone community. This they dismissed technical competence for qual- quality of comprehension seemed to transcend ity of interpersonal communication. This is the inevitable class diff erences which com- manifest in the words of a young mother who monly arise between physicians and their 70 | Franco-Ontarian Women and Multiple Positions of Identity and Belonging | AiA minority patient populations and appeared to employee referred to a recent community arise from shared experiences of being raised meeting which was set up to explore the pos- in Francophone households; a fi nding consis- sible outcomes of a new Francophone second- tent with Bourdieu’s notion of habitus. ary school, and said, ‘The education authority had organized this meeting but then it was Language, Identity and Civic Life used as a means for venting anti-Francophone comments. … This negative anti-Francophone An unequivocal view of the marginal role of a feeling is still very much alive in the commu- Franco-Ontarian presence in civic and public nity and it’s very sad to see it’. life emerged from the ethnographic data. This In the political arena bilingualism off ered was epitomized in two o quoted examples no advantage; rather a Franco-Ontarian iden- of civic exclusion: the refusal of the Sudbury tity was a conspicuous disadvantage. Political civic authorities to permit the Franco-Ontarian success required submerging a Franco-Ontar- fl ag to be on permanent display and the public ian identity congruent with the prevailing po- display of Sudbury’s symbolic ‘nickel coin’ ac- litical rhetoric of assimilation, exemplifi ed in companied by an English translation only. The the words of a 47-year-old healthcare worker, example of the fl ag was felt to be particularly ‘The policy of assimilation has been very, very contentious as the fl ag had been designed by strong. There has been nothing positive in the local Franco-Ontarian academics and activists system to promote Francophonie’. This policy based at the bilingual Laurentienne University underpins past and present political positions but was only allowed to be displayed for one and although the Federal stance is to promote week annually each September. A Quebecoise equality amongst linguistic groups the lived mother of fi ve who was an active member of reality has been that for Franco-Ontarians to the Francophone community in Sudbury at- live in harmony they must ‘keep their head tested that down’ and not cause trouble by challenging the community has been split up and divided the status quo. For those who refused to adopt because there is not always pride or a sense of this position there was an open-ended ba le belonging. Take the fl ag for instance – what does ahead, described in the words of a 48-year-old it mean? We cannot come together without a mother and Senior Manager in Health and fl ag. The fl ag would mark our sense of belong- Social Care as ‘To be Francophone is to choose ing, so without it …. to either swim every day or jump in the Anglo- Franco-Ontarian women in the study felt phone boat and be carried along’. that their ability to eff ect change at a provin- For many in the study this decision was cial political level was compromised by the infl uenced by age, a period of refl ection and derogatory stereotypes commonly associated the extent to which one could access diff er- with Franco-Ontarian life in Sudbury, as sum- ent forms of capital. The passion and tenacity marized in the words of a 54-year-old grand- required are illustrated below by a 47-year-old mother and social care manager: ‘At best we Francophone healthcare worker whose own are viewed as a nuisance, at worst we are life story described periods of confl ict centred second or third class citizens who are trouble- on determining the primary language of the makers’. Any public requests for improved household. She says, ‘I have become more services in French are seen as being met with and more Francophone (with age) … I have derision or hostility, which was felt to com- returned to my origins, I am proud of them pound the position of ‘inferiority’ and margin- and I want them to survive. So for me it is a alization Franco-Ontarians felt they occupied question of survival and of resisting assimila- in Sudbury society. A 39-year-old university tion, and I hope that future generations of my

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lineage will also continue to be Francophone, tity, language, state and the global context as and bilingual.’ (1) the traditional position with Francophones The process of assimilation accords with as Founding peoples and French integral to Bourdieu’s concept of symbolic violence, de- their identity; (2) the modern discourse where fi ned as ‘violence which is exercised upon a so- Francophone identity asserts a right to access cial agent with his or her complicity’ (Bourdieu certain resources and is supported by legisla- and Waquant 1992: 167). Bourdieu’s critique tion and (3) the ‘globalized discourse which that the educational system is the major site for sees language practice and identities as part of symbolic violence to be perpetrated conforms the economic domain’ (Roy 2005). This study to the Franco-Ontarian experience without ex- found evidence of women constructing their ception. Through the powerful covert political identities with regard to all three positions, process of both assimilation and an educational with the primary discourse contingent upon system which was eff ectively closed to Franco- the context. The earlier discussion around the phones beyond junior school until the 1970s, advantage of French in the workplace dem- with opportunities for higher education trailing onstrated that there is an equivocal view of even later, Francophones were both excluded French as a commodity since its parameters from active participation and subject to the im- are rigidly defi ned by others. That is to say the position of the language and symbolic system global market determines how it wants French of those in power. The oppression this process to be spoken and consideration of its cultural engenders is articulated in the frustration of associations are dismissed as irrelevant. As the woman quoted in the paragraph above who the global market in spheres such as tourism has lived under the weight of assimilation all develops, Franco-Canadian identity is further her life and its a endant devaluation of Fran- moderated (Roy 2005). The study data showed cophone communities. Whilst Bourdieu has that the women constructed their identities by actively supported the emancipation of people calling upon any or all of the discourses Heller from this form of violence it is o en achieved and Lebrie articulate, depending on the context through resistance, which again is embodied in which they fi nd themselves. This behaviour in the words of the woman above who has be- is largely unconscious and is a manifestation come increasingly pro-active in asserting her of ‘the logic of practice’ (Bourdieu 1990), and Francophone identity. Resistance occurs at the is described by Robbins, a Bourdieu scholar, as boundaries of fi elds – boundaries which are ‘polythetic – a practical logic (that) is capable themselves dynamic according to shi ing loci of sustaining a multiplicity of confused and of capital. The politics of assimilation has acted logically contradictory) meanings because the as a stranglehold on Francophonie but has also over-riding context of its operation is practi- kindled the spark of resistance and cultural cal’ (1991: 112). Identities change according to pride in certain sections of the Francophone what works for the individual actors and this communities who draw on their Francophone can occur at an unconscious level, propelled origins as a source of symbolic capital. This phe- by the need to deal with the demands of ev- nomenon is discussed further below in relation eryday life. to the dynamic tension which arises out of the relationship between the two linguistic groups. Multiple Communities across a Linguistic Divide In teasing apart how a concept as fl uid as iden- Language and Capital tity is socially constructed, it is also imperative Heller and Lebrie (2003) summarize the three to explore the social context from which it de- dominant discourses on Franco-Canadian iden- velops. This involves debunking the myth that 72 | Franco-Ontarian Women and Multiple Positions of Identity and Belonging | AiA there is only one Francophone community. majority and sought to shape the objective Many women rejected the essentialist position structures which constitute the structural con- of one homogenous community and talked in straints on which everyday life is enacted. terms of multiple communities with an im- How ever, a Bourdieurian analysis suggests plicit sense of hierarchy, which dates from that power shi s through exchanges of capi- historical socio-economic stratifi cation when tal, movements which are contingent on the a Francophone ‘elite’ were pitched against a context or fi eld and ‘shaped by histories and ‘peasantry’. Global changes in pa erns of mi- experiences of domination and resistance’ gration and socio-economic processes have re- (Wakefi eld and Poland 2005: 2825). sulted in a diversifi ed picture, which is sum- The relationship between the two socio- marized by a 52-year-old healthcare worker linguistic groups is played out in diff erent who had lived all her life in Sudbury: fi elds, with the boundaries of these spaces less an indication of territorial boundaries than I think that it’s a mixed community, there is not one Francophone community in Sudbury. There a refl ection of the underlying tension which is the group such as myself who assert their the groups mirror within their own respective rights, at both a personal and family level and notions of identity. Collective identities o en also with regard to our education. Then there are arise as much out of opposition to an exter- the assimilated Francophones who have prob- nally perceived identity as they do out of inter- lems switching from one language to another nal perceptions. Paine, conducting fi eldwork and struggle to communicate in French. There are Francophones who come from abroad with in Australia (2000), describes the refractory re- a diff erent reality and who are o en disadvan- lationship between diff erent ethnic groups liv- taged from the point of accessing services. And ing in close proximity, in which the identity of then there is the community who have worked one group is mediated by its perception of the very hard to develop our services (in education identity of the other. The women in this study and health). Finally, I think, there is the cultural spoke of a strong sense of hostility and disre- community who celebrate St Jean … spect from ‘Anglophones’, which infl uenced This summary illuminates the diff erences their own view of themselves. For example, the in social capital which exist between groups view that Franco-Ontarians are seen by Anglo- and shows how it is problematic to assume phones as ‘scroungers and complainers’ was an internally cohesive, bounded group as in counterpoised with a fi erce sense of pride and Putnam’s development of social capital, since self-reliance. However, the intergroup tension it is usually illusory. The social groups listed could also be subtle and expressed more o en above have very li le in common in terms of as indiff erence, with a familiar retort from An- ‘shared norms, networks of reciprocity and glophones being, ‘What’s the problem?’ This trust between members’ (Putnam 1993) and dominant discourse, which refused to see that yet to the outsider may be viewed, wrongly, there was a basis to Francophone discontent, as a ‘homogenous Francophone community’. sought to undermine their sense of struggle Movement might occur between sub-groups by denying that there was ‘a problem’ which but a dynamic relationship between external needed to be addressed. This position was structural constraints and individual capital given credence by the long policy of assimila- limits entry into other social sub-groups of ‘the tion which had resulted in many Francophones Francophone community’. switching to speaking English exclusively and To this picture one can add the backdrop of in some cited examples changing their fam- Anglo–Francophone relationships on which ily names to anglicized versions. A number notions of identity and belonging are enacted. of participants described this phenomenon as Anglophones have always been the dominant ‘The invisible Franco-Ontarian’ and some who

| 73 AiA | Jane H. Roberts

were mothers described their pain and sad- than relying on objective measures of social ness as their adult children chose to deny their capital which assume an essentialist version Franco heritage through active resistance or a of communities and deny the importance and passive rejection, which saw them speaking shi ing role of context. Here the fi ndings only in English and dissociating themselves mirror work by Popay et al. (2003), who dem- from collective expressions of Francophonie. onstrate that lay understandings of health This mixed picture of Francophone identity inequalities contrast sharply when the subject makes it diffi cult to categorize positions and is explored using either a survey or in-depth also complicates outsider responses as mir- interviews. ‘Diff erent methodologies provide rored by the range of Anglophone reactions diff erent and not necessarily complimentary from hostility to indiff erence. understandings of lay perspectives’ (2003: 1). However, because power exchanges are The fi ndings also indicate the need for policy dynamic there is a bi-directional movement makers to examine critically how data, which from putative centres of power to the edges is to be used to inform policy, is gathered. and back which needs to be taken into account The immersion into Franco-Ontarian life when exploring notions of cultural identity which the period of fi eldwork provided al- and a sense of belonging. Fernandez (1991) lowed not only for observations to be made has contributed to our understanding of the on a continual basis but also for the develop- confusion surrounding polarities of centre and ment of relationships between myself and the periphery by arguing that these two positions study participants. The initial curiosity of why are co-dependent, and suggesting that one a British family doctor would want to study needs to travel to the fringes of knowledge Francophone women and their notions of cul- to understand and refl ect on what is known tural identity was a good starting point but it ‘centrally’. This view aff ords Franco-Ontarian needed to move from centre stage in order for women a greater sense of agency when enacted the performative aspect of data creation and within specifi c fi elds. By allowing women the collection to occur. Postmodernism has made spaces to accrue specifi c forms of capital, a explicit the socially constructed nature of all more complex picture of identity, community data and as in any other ethnography there and loci of power emerges which challenges is interplay between the researcher and the the dominant discourse that it is the Anglo- study participants in which all are social actors phones who determine the grand narrative’s and data analysis is an iterative, interpretative conclusion. So, although the Franco-Ontarian process infl uenced by the nature and quality of women’s voice was li le heard in spheres of the social interactions. local government, in contrast, the strong sense The study might have been further enriched of collegiality and commensality seen at Fran- by exploring the perspectives of Anglo-Ontar- cophone social gatherings was the envy of ians in Sudbury, whose position is represented Anglophones. vicariously. Anglo-Ontarians were accused of preventing Franco-Ontarians from fulfi lling their potential in terms of economic, social Conclusion and cultural capital by preventing them from ‘taking their rightful place’. This idiom was a This paper demonstrates that examining the frequent refrain and forms the title of an inspi- dynamic constructions of social identity Franco- rational anthem used in Francophone gather- Ontarian women use in association with no- ings. The perception that they were seen as tions of belonging is enriched by applying ‘second or third class citizens’ was widespread an ethnographic approach to the study rather and endlessly frustrating for the women; but 74 | Franco-Ontarian Women and Multiple Positions of Identity and Belonging | AiA there was a consensus that organized resis- se le in Ontario and learn English as an adult tance was not an option and education off ered said: ’Our Francophonie is the fi re within the best hope for changing a itudes, through which inspires us. With a sense of pride we can greater co-operation across the socio-linguis- achieve much … it will take a lot to extinguish tic divide. Despite this measured response, a that pride. There are maybe times when it does recurring metaphor was one of a continual not burn so bright or needs a li le stoking to ‘struggle’ or ba le to achieve their desired sta- regain its brilliance …’. tus as equal and be able to express their Fran- In conclusion, representations of cultural cophonie, as asserted by a 19-year-old student identities and notions of belonging are com- who was passionate about her Francophone plex, dynamic and contextually contingent. heritage but at the same time aware of persist- Their study requires examining the historico- ing inequalities. She declares: ‘The struggle socio-economic confl ation of structures out must continue as we have not yet fi nished our of which they have grown, and recognizing fi ght for the right to be Francophone’. There the limits upon agency which structural con- was li le sense of a beleaguered people but straints can impose. Although fl uid and open more a notion of strong cultural pride and to ‘playing the game’ (Bourdieu 1990), iden- connectedness which was at times bolstered tities are not negotiable in terms of capital, and at others compromised, depending on the which is accrued in relation to an individual’s fi eld of action. The fl uidity of identity forma- or group’s habitus and its relationship to the tion is recognized in Bourdieu’s use of strategy fi eld. Analysing cultural identities and how (1990), which refers to ‘the interaction between they impact on one’s connectedness to a com- the dispositions of the habitus and the con- munity calls upon a methodology as textured straints and possibilities which are the reality and rich as refl exive ethnography, rather than of any given fi eld’ (Jenkins 1992: 83). Women a more positivist utilitarian approach to cap- made daily decisions about the shape and sig- turing data based on Putnam’s concept of nifi cance of their Franco-Ontarian identity and social capital. Using a mixed methodological how much they were prepared to or able to in- approach, it is possible to produce a ‘thick’ vest in its manifestation, according to the con- (Geertz 1973) and triangulated account of text in which they found themselves and with identity and belonging as it ebbs and fl ows in reference to what had previously worked in a relation to boundary, proximity to other social similar situation. This pragmatic response sits groups and the impact of these factors on habi- at the heart of the logic of practice (Bourdieu tus, capital and fi eld. 1990). Whilst strategies depend on the positions of agents in the fi eld, they are not necessarily premeditated or following conscious Acknowledgements rules (Bourdieu and Wacquant 1992: 101) Despite its multiple ‘currencies’ and the I would like to thank the study participants fact that speaking French was a disadvantage and the staff at Centre de Sante Communitaire in many social situations, being actively Fran- de Sudbury, especially France Gelinas and Lor- cophone emerged as the richest source of sym- raine LeBlanc. Danielle Barbes-Rodriguez at bolic capital Franco-Ontarians could possess. the Northern Ontario School of Medicine was It was their greatest link to the past, which also key to the realisation of the project, along was honoured, and the ‘glue’ which bound with many others. I am indebted to the incisive them together to maintain a strong sense of intellectual engagement of Dr Megan Warin, connectedness. A 54-year-old who had moved for her critique of earlier dra s and to the con- from Quebec when her children were small to structive feedback from anonymous review-

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ers. This research was supported by an Eric Fox, C. (1995), ‘On Maintaining a Francophone Gambrill Memorial Fund travel scholarship. Identity in Cohoes, NY’, The French Review 69, no. 2: 264–274. Geertz, C. (1973), The Interpretation of Cultures Jane H. Roberts is a General Practitioner in the (New York: Basic Books). northeast of England and a senior clinical lecturer Gronseth, A. S. and Oakely, R. (2007), ‘Introduc- in primary care at the University of Sunderland. tion: Ethnographic Humanism-migrant Experi- Her clinical and research interests centre on the ences in the Quest for Well-being’, Anthropology impact of institutionalised poverty on health and in Action 14, no. 1 and 2: 1-11. the community-based care of young people with Heller, M. and Lebrie, N. (eds.) (2003), Discours et identities. La francitie Canadienne entre modernite mental health problems, particularly depressive et mondialisation (Cortil-Wodon, Brussels: Proxi- disorders. She holds an MSc in Medical Anthro- mites Editions Modulaires Europeenes). pology and continues to be inspired by the insights Jenkins, R. (1992), Pierre Bourdieu (Routledge, Lon- anthropology off ers. don and New York). Kuzel, A. J. (1999), ‘Sampling in Qualitative In- quiry’, in: Doing Qualitative Research, 2nd ed., References (eds.) F. Crabtree and W. L. Miller (Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage), 33-45. Allaire, G. (2001), La francophonie Canadienne: Lakoff , G. (1987), Women, Fire and Dangerous Things Portraits. Collection Francophonies (Sudbury, (Chicago: Chicago University Press). Canada: Prise de Parole). Meinert, L. (2004), ‘Resources for Health in Uganda: Barth, F. (ed.) (1969), Ethnic Groups and Boundaries Bourdieu’s Concepts of Capital and Habitus’, (London: Allen and Unwin). Anthropology and Medicine 11, no. 1: 11–26. ——— (2000), ‘Boundaries and Connections’, in: Paine, R. (2000), ‘Aboriginality, Authenticity and Signifying Identities: Anthropological Perspectives the Se ler World’, in: Signifying Identitites: on Boundaries and Contested Values, (ed.) A. Co- Anthropological Perspectives on Boundaries and hen (London: Routledge), 17-36. Contested Values, (ed.) A. Cohen (London: Rout- Bourdieu, P. (1977), Outline of a Theory of Practice ledge), 77-103. (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press). Picard, L. and Allaire, G. (eds.) (2005), Second ——— (1990), The Logic of Practice (Stanford, CA: Report on the Health of Francophones in Ontario: Stanford University Press). Public Health Research, Education and Development Bourdieu, P. and Waquant, L. (1992), An Invitation Programme (Ontario: Institut Franco-Ontarian, to Refl exive Sociology (Chicago: University of Laurentian University). Chicago Press). Popay, J., Benne , S., Thomas, C., Williams, G., Churchill, S. (1984), ‘Franco-Ontarian Education: Gatrell, A. and Bostock, L. (2003), ‘Beyond ‘Beer, From Persecuted Minority to Tolerated Nui- Fags, Egg and Chips’? Exploring Lay Under- sance’, in: The House that Ryerson Built, (eds.) standing of Social Inequalities in Health’, Sociol- H. Oliver, M. Holmes and I. Winchester (To- ogy of Health and Illness 25, no. 1: 1–23. ronto: OISE Press), 75–87. Putnam, R. (1993), Making Democracy Work: Civic Cohen, A. (ed.) (2000), Signifying Identities: Anthro- Traditions in Modern Italy (Princeton, NJ: Prince- pological Perspectives on Boundaries and Contested ton University Press). Values (London: Routledge). Reeves, S., Kuper, A. and Hodges, B. A. (2008), Denis, A. (2001), ‘Multiple Identities … Multiple ‘Qualitative Research Methodologies: Ethnogra- Marginalities: Franco-Ontarian Feminism’, Gen- phy’, British Medical Journal 337: 512–514. der and Society 15, no. 3: 453–467. Ritzer, G. and Goodman, D. (2003), Sociological Fabian, J. (1990), Power and Performance: Ethno- Theory (New York: McGraw Hill). graphic Explorations through Proverbial Wisdom Robbins, D. (1991), The Work of Pierre Bourdieu and Theater in Shaba, Zaire (Madison, WI: Uni- (Boulder, CO: Westview Press). versity of Wisconsin Press). Roy, S. (2005), ‘Language and Globalized Dis- Fernandez, J. W. (1991), Beyond Metaphor: The course: Two Case Studies of Francophone Mi- Theory of Tropes in Anthropology (Stanford, CA: norities in Canada’, Estudios de socioliguistica 6, Stanford University Press). no. 2: 243–268.

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