CITIZENSHIP LEARNING AND POLITICAL PARTICIPATION OF IMMIGRANTS: THE CASE OF LATIN AMERICANS IN TORONTO by Jorge Ginieniewicz A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of Adult Education, Community Development and Counselling Psychology Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto © Copyright by Jorge Ginieniewicz 2008 Library and Bibliotheque et 1*1 Archives Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de I'edition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44831-1 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-44831-1 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non­ L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives and Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by par telecommunication ou par Plntemet, prefer, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans loan, distribute and sell theses le monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, worldwide, for commercial or non­ sur support microforme, papier, electronique commercial purposes, in microform, et/ou autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. 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Canada Abstract Citizenship Learning and Political Participation of Immigrants: The Case of Latin Americans in Toronto Doctor of Philosophy 2008 Jorge Ginieniewicz Department of Adult Education, Community Development and Counselling Psychology Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Toronto This research project applies qualitative and quantitative techniques to empirically analyze the civic and political participation of a group of Latin American immigrants in the city of Toronto, Canada. The study, which included interviews with 100 adult immigrants to Toronto and focus groups, addressed two main dimensions. The first of which being the differences in the type and intensity of the participatory levels between the home and host societies and the second being the civic and political learning processes generated as a consequence of emigrating from Latin America to Canada. Using Bourdieu's and Putnam's conceptualizations on social capital, I explored the ability of this group of immigrants to exchange the cultural, social and political capital brought from their home countries in the Canadian political system. More specifically, my research analyzed the factors that enable and inhibit the political participation of Latin American Canadians, paying particular ii attention to the differences that occur in the fields of grassroots and electoral politics. Although community networks and previous political experience promote political involvement, several obstacles, such as limited command of English, discrimination and an insufficient knowledge of the Canadian political system seriously undermine the chances of Latin Americans to attain higher political participatory levels. Interestingly, the results also show that these barriers become more visible in electoral rather than in grassroots politics. The findings also suggest that several immigrants underwent a variety of civic and political transformative learning processes, many of which led them to challenge and question old assumptions and values. Moreover, participating in the Canadian political system proved to be significant to modify immigrants' stance towards the political scene in their home countries. New experiences, interaction with other cultures and the possibility of examining facts from a distant perspective, motivated many immigrants to re-assess the political situation in their countries of origin as well as develop intense transnational political, cultural and solidarity activities. in Acknowledgements First and foremost, I am grateful to my supervisor, Professor Daniel Schugurensky, who has been supportive of me completing my doctoral studies. He has helped me throughout the whole dissertation process and we have always had an ongoing, stimulating and enriching dialogue. I am also particularly thankful to the other two members of my committee, Professors Jack Quarter and Reva Joshee, who played a key role with their insightful and thoughtful comments and ideas. In addition, I am thankful to the external reviewer, Professor Joel Westheimer, who provided me with invaluable comments as well as inspiring suggestions. I wish to acknowledge all the participants who took part in this research: without them, this dissertation would not have been possible. From the bottom of my heart I want to thank my lovely wife, Vanesa, for her unconditional support during this journey. I am also grateful to my little Ludmila who, without knowing it, gave me the strength to finish this manuscript. This work is based on research from a project funded by the Social Sciences Research Council (SSFfRC) for which Daniel Schugurensky was principal investigator: Lifelong citizenship education, immigration and social cohesion: examining civic change among Latin Americans in Canada. I want to acknowledge the kind permission of Springer Science and Business Media to include in this dissertation parts of an article entitled "The Scope of Political Participation". I am the only author of this article that was published in the Journal of International Migration and Integration, volume 8, number 3, September 2007 (pp. 327- iv 345). The article is also available through Springer online publications www, springerlink. com I want to acknowledge the kind permission of Taylor and Francis to include in this dissertation parts of a preprint of an article whose final and definitive form has been published in the London Review of Education©Copyright Taylor & Francis; London Review of Education is available online www.informaworld.com. The article is entitled "Citizenship Learning and Political Participation: the Case of Latin American- Canadians". I am the only author of this article that was published in 2008 in the London Review of Education, number 6, issue 1 (pp. 69-83). V Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Table of Contents vi List of Tables xii List of Appendices xiii Introduction 1 Organization of the Dissertation 5 Chapter 1: Setting Up the Context and the Research Questions 8 Overview 8 Demographic Context and Historical Background 8 Socio-Economic Status of Latin Americans in Toronto 11 The Research Topic: Exploring the Political Participation of Latin Americans in Toronto 14 Rationale for Research Themes 16 Changes and Differences in Political Participation 16 Differences between Grassroots and Electoral Politics, and Socio-Demographic Factors 20 The Learning Dimension of Political Participation 20 Research Questions 21 VI Chapter 2: Conceptual Framework: Networking, Participation and Political Learning 23 Overview 23 Migratory Movements 23 Social Capital 26 The influence of Social Capital on the Migratory Phenomena 31 The Scope of Political Participation 34 Electoral Politics 35 Grassroots Politics 39 Socio-Demographic Indicators and Political Participation 41 Socio-Economic Status and Political Participation 41 Gender, Age and Political Participation 44 Psychological Factors and Political Participation 46 The Educative Dimension of Political Participation 47 Informal Learning and Citizenship Education 48 Informal Learning and Socialization: Values, Attitudes and Practices. 51 Citizenship Education and Immigration 52 Self-Directed Citizenship Education: A Look at Canada 55 Summary 57 Chapter 3: What Do We Know So Far? Prior Research on the Political Participation of Immigrants 59 Overview 59 Canada and Its Multicultural Model: Accomplishments and Challenges 59 Political Participation of Immigrant Minorities in Multicultural Societies 64 Political Participation of Latin Americans in the US 65 Political Participation of Immigrants in Canada 67 Political Participation of Immigrants in Toronto 71 Political Participation of Latin Americans in Canada 74 Summary 76 Chapter 4: Methodology, Research Sample, and Research Design 78 Overview 78 Research Design 78 Research Instruments and Measures 79 Participants 80 Data Collection 84 Summary 85 Chapter 5: Continuities and Discontinuities in Political Participation 86 Overview 86 Levels of Participation 86 Political Participation in Country of Origin 87 Political Participation in Canada 88 Descendant, "Stable" and Ascendant Cases 90 Types of Participation 92 Voting, Campaigning, Demonstrating and Writing Letters