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Identity and Lived Experience of Daughters of South Asian Immigrant Women in Halifax and Vancouver, Canada: an Exploratory Study

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Identity and Lived Experience of Daughters of South Asian Immigrant Women in Halifax and Vancouver, Canada: an Exploratory Study Identity and Lived Experience of Daughters of South Asian Immigrant Women in Halifax and Vancouver, Canada: An Exploratory Study by Helen Ralston, Ph.D. Professor Emerita of Sociology Saint Mary's University Halifax, Nova Scotia Canada B3H 3C3 Telephone: (1-902) 420-5878 Facsimile: (1-902) 420-5121 E-mail: [email protected] WORKING PAPER Helen Ralston, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada Identity and Lived Experience of Daughters of South Asian Immigrant Women Rome, May 1999 Prepared for International Migration and Ethnic Relations Conference “Youth in the Plural City: Individualized and Collectivized Identities” Norwegian Institute, Rome, May 25 to 28, 1999 © Helen Ralston May 1999 2 Helen Ralston, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada Identity and Lived Experience of Daughters of South Asian Immigrant Women Rome, May 1999 Abstract This paper is an exploratory study of identity and lived experience among second generation daughters of South Asian immigrant women whom I have previously interviewed in two metropolises of Canada: Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the east coast and Vancouver, British Columbia, on the west coast. My research addresses the following questions: (1) How do South Asian Canadian young women today identify and create a space for themselves as Canadians ? (2) How do they interact with other members of Canadian society and contribute to shaping its future? (3) How do they resist discrimination in a multicultural society? My research involves systematic qualitative case studies to uncover the intersecting race, gender and class “relations of ruling” in the social, economic and political structures and processes of society which impinge upon identity construction and the lived experience of the “new” second generation. It uses a feminist theoretical perspective. It brings together three important theoretical concerns, namely, (1) conceptualization of lived experience and its associated methodology; (2) theorizing on race, caste, class and gender interconnections; and (3) theories of identity construction. My objective is to show how these interact to produce identity and the specific lived experiences of the young women inside and outside the home. The intersecting of gender, ethnicity, race, caste and class relations is examined in four spheres of everyday life: (1) language, education and paid work experience; (2) family relations, sexual relations, dating and marriage; (3) identity construction, representation and resistance in a multicultural society; (4) cultural, religious, social and political organizational experience. In this initial stage of the project, a case study approach has been adopted. Data have been collected in face-to-face semi-structured interviews with samples of 15 to 29 year old daughters (8 in Halifax, 10 in Vancouver) of diverse backgrounds. 3 Helen Ralston, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada Identity and Lived Experience of Daughters of South Asian Immigrant Women Rome, May 1999 Introduction* This paper is an exploratory study of identity and lived experience among eighteen second generation daughters of South Asian immigrant women whom I have previously interviewed in two metropolises of Canada: Halifax, Nova Scotia, on the east coast and Vancouver, British Columbia, on the west coast. My research addresses the following questions: (1) How do South Asian Canadian young women today identify and create a space for themselves as Canadians ? (2) How do they interact with other members of Canadian society and contribute to shaping its future? (3) How do they resist discrimination in a multicultural society? Review of second generation immigrant youth research Canadian research which relates to second generation South Asian youth has focussed on issues of parental cultural dilemmas about socialization of children, especially in terms of different gender codes for relations with the opposite sex and dating (Basran 1993; Buchignani et al 1985; Ghosh 1981, 1983; Dhruvarajan 1993; Kurian 1988, 1991a, 1991b; Kurian and Ghosh 1983; Naidoo 1980; Siddique 1983); intergenerational conflict (Buchignani et al 1985; Kurian 1988, 1992; Sandhu 1980; Srinivas 1992; Vaidyanathan and Naidoo 1990; Wakil, Siddique, Wakil 1981); assimilation to Canadian society (Buchignani et al 1985; Buchignani 1987; Kurian 1989); and confusion about cultural identity (Sandhu 1980). Virtually all of this research has been from the standpoint of first generation immigrant parents. A few researchers (Kurian and Ghosh 1983) interviewed parents and children in the same family. Most studies described these aspects of settlement as “problems” for both immigrant parents and their passive, silent children. The exceptional qualitative research of Evelyn Nodwell (1993, 1994, 1997) adopted a different perspective and standpoint to describe how second generation Hindu Indo-Canadian youth in * I gratefully acknowledge funding for this research by a Saint Mary's University grant. I thank the interviewees for giving me time out of their busy personal schedules with no remuneration. I am indebted to Catherine Chandler, who processed all the original interview data with the mothers, for agreeing to work on this project. 4 Helen Ralston, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada Identity and Lived Experience of Daughters of South Asian Immigrant Women Rome, May 1999 Vancouver, British Columbia, were active agents in construction of their identity and integration of Indian culture into their lives. Vijaya Joshi (1995), in Melbourne, Australia, and Sonal Pathak (1997), in Atlantic Canada, chose a similar perspective in their research among their peers. Recently, Randal Tonks and Arnand Paranjpe (1999) presented results of their research in Vancouver with immigrant and Canadian born youth which dealt with their attitudes towards multiculturalism and national identity. In Britain, also, much of the research has emphasized socialization, intergenerational conflict and the “problem” of second generation South Asians being “caught between two cultures.” A few researchers (cf. Stopes-Roe and Cochrane 1989) explored both first and second generation experience of family life. For more than twenty years, some British feminist scholars have critiqued this approach, adopted the standpoint of the second generation (cf. Ballard 1978, 1979; Brah 1978, 1987, 1996; Drury 1991), and emphasized their agency in creating, challenging and contesting lived experience, power relations, and identity construction (Brah 1987, 1996; Drury 1991; Puar 1994; Trivedi 1984). In the United States, there has been a number of quantitative studies dealing with “survival” and “growth and adaptation” of the “new” second generation, the offspring of post-1965 new immigrants to the United States — Asians, Hispanics and Blacks (Portes 1993, 1994, 1996). Using US census data and adopting the economic sociology of immigration approach to immigration (Portes 1995a), studies have focussed on what Portes (1993, 1995b) refers to as “segmented assimilation” to describe diverse possible outcomes of “adaptation” to American society. Some studies have combined census data analysis, ethnographic and survey research (Fernández-Kelly and Schauffler 1994; Portes 1995b; Zhou and Bankston 1998) to investigate segmented assimilation among specific ethnic immigrant children. Issues such as household demographics, social and economic circumstances (Jensen and Chitose 1994); language and bilingualism (Portes and Schauffler 1994); educational progress (Portes and MacLeod 1996) have been the focus of attention. 5 Helen Ralston, Saint Mary's University, Halifax, Canada Identity and Lived Experience of Daughters of South Asian Immigrant Women Rome, May 1999 Theoretical approach of the study My research involves systematic qualitative case studies from the standpoint of the daughters (not their parents) to uncover the intersecting race, gender and class “relations of ruling”—in Dorothy Smith's (1987) terms—in the social, economic and political structures and processes of society which impinge upon identity construction and the lived experience of the “new” second generation. It uses a feminist perspective. It brings together three important theoretical concerns, namely, (1) conceptualization of lived experience and its associated methodology; (2) theorizing on the interconnectedness of race, caste, class and gender as social constructions; and (3) theories of identity construction. My objective is to show how these interact to produce identity and the specific lived experiences of the young women inside and outside the home. The intersecting of gender, ethnicity, race, caste and class relations is examined in four spheres of everyday life: (1) language of communication, education and paid work experience; (2) family relations, relations with boys, dating and marriage; (3) identity construction, representation and resistance in a multicultural society; (4) cultural, religious, social and political organizational experience. Taking the standpoint of second generation daughters, and following Dorothy Smith (1987, 1992) and Roxana Ng (1981, 1984, 1986, 1989, 1993a, 1993b), “lived experience” is conceptualized as the practical activities of everyday life—what actually happens, what people do—rather than as “perceived experience.” Smith's sociological inquiry begins with a woman, “the knower who is actually located; she is active…at work…, … hook(ed) into extended social relations linking her activities to those of other people and in ways beyond her knowing” (1992:91). Smith's goal is to
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