Western University Scholarship@Western Anthropology Publications Anthropology Department 2016 'They can learn to say my name': Redistributing Responsibility for Integrating Immigrants to Canada Karen E. Pennesi University of Western Ontario, [email protected] Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/anthropub Part of the Anthropological Linguistics and Sociolinguistics Commons, Critical and Cultural Studies Commons, Gender, Race, Sexuality, and Ethnicity in Communication Commons, International and Intercultural Communication Commons, and the Linguistic Anthropology Commons Citation of this paper: Pennesi, Karen E., "'They can learn to say my name': Redistributing Responsibility for Integrating Immigrants to Canada" (2016). Anthropology Publications. 59. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/anthropub/59 ´7KH\FDQOHDUQWRVD\P\QDPHµ5HGLVWULEXWLQJ5HVSRQVLELOLW\IRU,QWHJUDWLQJ ,PPLJUDQWVWR&DQDGD .DUHQ3HQQHVL $QWKURSRORJLFD9ROXPH1XPEHUSS $UWLFOH 3XEOLVKHGE\8QLYHUVLW\RI7RURQWR3UHVV )RUDGGLWLRQDOLQIRUPDWLRQDERXWWKLVDUWLFOH KWWSVPXVHMKXHGXDUWLFOH Access provided by Western Ontario, Univ of (15 Jul 2016 19:30 GMT) ‘‘They can learn to say my name’’: Redistributing Responsibility for Integrating Immigrants to Canada Karen Pennesi University of Western Ontario Names as Stance Objects in Meta-Agentive Discourse about Integration t is no longer sufficient merely to allow newcomers Ito participate in the dominant society. The goal of socially inclusive policies is to enable all members to Abstract: Newcomers to Canada whose names index identities engage in the creation and transformation of society other than ‘‘white’’ and ‘‘English’’ face pressure to alter their (Omidvar and Richmond 2003). By choosing not to names to facilitate integration. Some immigrants oppose the assimilate their names in English-dominant contexts, forces of conformity and refuse to assimilate their names. In some immigrants to London, Ontario, unsettle national interviews, they explain this stance using discourses of agency discourses in which immigrants as moral subjects are centring on a belief in true names, a moral obligation to get names right, and a need for a strong self. Focusing on ideolo- expected to integrate into Canadian society. Attending gies of identity and language in their meta-agentive discourses, to discourses of agency, I examine how immigrants chal- I argue that the act of immigrants keeping their ethnic names lenge the ideology of integration by making members of is a political move to redistribute responsibility for the integra- the host society responsible for learning how to pro- tion of newcomers into the host society. nounce, spell, and make sense of unfamiliar names. This Keywords: identity, names, immigration, multiculturalism, study adds to anthropological studies of naming, show- ideologies, discourse analysis ing how names do more than merely label referents or index social categories. Names are stance objects that Re´sume´ : Les nouveaux-arrive´s ayant des noms qui sont lie´s immigrants use to articulate their understandings of aux identite´s autre que ‘‘blanc’’ ou ‘‘anglais’’ se sentent oblige´s agency. They actively politicise the treatment of their d’alte´rer leur noms, pour faciliter leur inte´gration dans la names as they negotiate their position in particular societe´ canadienne. Certains immigrants dans cette´ etude s’op- interactions and within society more broadly. posent aux forces de la conformite´ et refusent d’assimiler leurs Personal names carry multiple social meanings that noms. Au cours des entrevues faites pour ce projet, ces immi- grants expliquent leurs position a` l’aide de discours d’agentivite´ may associate a particular name with a language, gen- centre´e sur une croyance dans les noms vrais, une obligation der, age range, ethnicity, socio-economic status, marital morale pour l’usage correct des noms, et la ne´cessite´ pour une status, religion, or kin group. These categorical asso- forte conception de soi. J’analyse les ide´ologies de l’identite´ et ciations adhere to names through historical use and ´ de la langue dans les discours meta-agentif des immigrants, et contribute to the formation of the name bearer’s social je soutiens qu’en gardant leurs noms ethniques, ils posent un geste politique qui a comme but la redistribution de la respon- identity through processes of continual repetition (Pina- sabilite´ pour l’inte´gration des nouveaux arrive´s aux membres Cabral 2015). Anthropological studies find that names de la socie´te´ d’accueil. are always embedded in social relations and that they play a powerful role in social life: ‘‘names ‘do’ as well as Mots-cle´s:identite´, noms, immigration, multiculturalisme, ide´ologies, analyse de discours ‘say’ things’’ (Vom Bruck and Bodenhorn 2006:5). Betsy Rymes (1999:163) argues that names must be considered in terms of social and historical context, noting that ‘‘[h]ow we get them, who says them, how they are used, and in what context they are spoken are inseparable from a human being’s social identity.’’ 46 / Karen Pennesi Anthropologica 58 (2016) 46–59 Investigating how agency is exercised and con- understanding, to assist ethnic minorities in fully partic- strained in naming practices furthers the development ipating in society, and to foster cultural identities. The of what Valerie Alia (2007) calls ‘‘political onomastics,’’ inclusive aims of the multiculturalism policy have devel- which takes into account the power relations involved oped in response to the increased racial, linguistic, and in defining and influencing people’s understandings of, cultural diversity among newcomers to Canada since experiences with, and attitudes toward their own names the implementation in 1967 of immigrant admission and those of others. I focus on what Laura Ahearn criteria related to occupational skills (Abu-Laban 1998). (2012:284) calls ‘‘meta-agentive discourse,’’ analysing Currently, over 20 percent of the population in Canada how immigrants talk about their own agency, ‘‘their is foreign born (Citizenship and Immigration Canada own actions and others’ actions, how they attribute 2014a), with the top source countries in the past decade responsibility for events, how they describe their own being in Asia and the Middle East (Citizenship and Im- and others’ decision-making processes.’’ Through this migration Canada 2014b). meta-agentive discourse, immigrants explain their re- While multiculturalism is now seen by younger sponses to constraints on their capacity to name them- Canadians as a defining feature of Canadian culture selves in the Canadian context and on their capacity to (Hyman, Meinhard, and Shields 2011), the policy and influence how others treat their names. In their talk the concept are controversial (Bissoondath 1994; Malik about names and naming, immigrants make explicit and 2007). A substantial body of literature documents how challenge the assimilationist ideologies about language ‘‘multiculturalism policy, despite its ideals, has not led and identity that underpin national discourses surround- to valued recognition and participation for minority com- ing immigration and multiculturalism. Their naming munities’’ (Saloojee 2003:18). In economic terms, Ratna choices can thus be seen as small political acts moving Omidvar and Ted Richmond (2003) observe that immi- toward social transformation. grants to Canada since the 1990s have experienced The concept of stance is useful in analysing how greater rates of poverty and underemployment than names are convergence points for ideas about person- preceding generations of newcomers despite being hood and language ideologies – beliefs and feelings more highly educated and skilled. They argue that this about languages, linguistic forms, and language users observation is largely explained by racism and preju- (Schieffelin, Woolard, and Kroskrity 1998). John Du dice, noting that visible minorities have the highest rates Bois (2007:163) defines stance as a communicative act of poverty among immigrants. Frances Henry and Carol ‘‘of simultaneously evaluating objects, positioning sub- Tator (2000) describe the situation as ‘‘democratic racism’’: jects (self and others), and aligning with other subjects, pervasive racism within a society that has a commitment with respect to any salient dimension of the socio-cultural to the ideology of democratic liberalism. This inequality field.’’ The analysis that follows shows how names work is also manifest in the treatment of immigrant names. as stance objects that are evaluated in the meta-agentive The stances people take on immigrants maintaining discourse of immigrants who position themselves in or changing their ‘‘ethnic’’ names are often expressed alignment or non-alignment with others in relation to using two discourses tied to multiculturalism currently their sense of belonging, their responsibilities as immi- circulating in Canada: diversity and integration. In the grants and Canadian-born citizens, their institutional first discourse, immigrants are central elements of constraints, and their identity formation. Through their diversity in Canada’s multicultural identity. Immigrants naming choices and in their talk about the treatment enrich the collective culture of Canada by contributing of names, interviewees take a stance against name new ways of thinking and behaving, along with different assimilation. foods, art forms, and fashions. ‘‘Ethnic names,’’ or those originating from a language other than English or Multiculturalism, Immigration, and French, are seen as representations