Sonja Aicha van der Putten
WPS 2024/1
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Abstract
Many young adult women aged 19-30 years old from refugee backgrounds have missed out on formative years of education because of war and displacement. The factors that influence the ability of young adult women from refugee backgrounds to access higher education in Canada are impacted by three key factors: time and expectations, resource availability, and community. This study used a constructivist lens to analyze data collected from interviews and focus groups. The findings suggest that the time available to pursue higher education is directly related to the resources young adult women from refugee backgrounds have available to them upon resettlement. Further, the experiences these women have getting involved in their new communities and the social networks they are able to build for themselves are significant factors in determining their ability to pursue higher education in Canada.
KEYWORDS: refugees; women; education; aspirations
Keith Banting, Michael Donnelly, Marc Helbling, Andrea Lawlor, Rahsaan Maxwell, Angela X. Ocampo, Mireille Paquet, Margaret Peters, Richard Traunmüller, Paul Vierus and Conrad Ziller
This publication is based on the proceedings of the workshop, “Public Views of Immigration and Diversity: Causes and Consequences for Policy,” held at the Centre for Migration Studies, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, May 17-18, 2022.
WPS 2023/5
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At a glance
Questions about immigration – how many should be allowed to come, who should be allowed to come, and on what terms – cut to the core of what political communities are about. In democratic societies, political elites mobilize public sentiment to gain office, and they depend on public support to stay there and, ultimately, make policy. In what follows, we present, in condensed form, the findings of a May 2022 workshop generously supported by the Konrad-Adenauer-Stiftung. For this workshop, titled, “Public Views of Immigration and Diversity: Causes and Consequences for Policy,” we assembled a group of leading scholars of public opinion to present cutting-edge work describing what people in modern, immigrant-receiving countries think about immigrants and immigration, why they think it, and how knowing the answers to these questions shapes the policy-making process. In addition, we asked these scholars to reflect on how their work, considered holistically, informs broader relationships between researchers, media, the punditocracy, and the political class.
Andisheh Ghaderi and Antje Ziethen
WPS 2023/4
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Abstract
The working paper presents the methodology as well as preliminary results and visualizations of a digital humanities project that explores transatlantic migration in African literature through a computing and cartographic approach. At its current stage, the study encompasses 26 texts (out of 70) – written in English, French, Portuguese, and Arabic – from across the African continent that deal with migration to Brazil, Canada, and the US. Mapping geographic and socioeconomic data collected from a larger corpus is a powerful tool to reveal both the multi-sited nature of African writing produced by flows and circulations and the multidimensional experience of migration represented in the novels – voluntary or involuntary, indirect or direct. Moreover, it allows to draw conclusions in terms of migration corridors, clusters, flows, transit routes, and gender ratio. The results are showcased using the digital storytelling tool ArcGIS StoryMaps in order to promote open and inclusive forms of scholarly production. This mapping project is the first of its kind and aims to reinvigorate the field of comparative African Literature. Ultimately, the objective is to contribute to the decolonization of the Digital Humanities (DH) by applying its tools to African Studies.
Atieh Razavi Yekta, Suzanne Huot, and Heather O’Brien
WPS 2023/3
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Abstract
Emerging Canadian data indicate that immigrants are more likely to participate in the platform economy compared to Canadian-born people. We conducted an instrumental case study with Persian Instagram creators in Metro Vancouver, Canada, to understand their motivations for and experiences of engaging in this type of gig work. Platform work, also known as gig work, refers to paid work organized around “gigs” (i.e., projects or tasks), and is facilitated through digital platforms that workers engage in on a term-limited basis without being formally employed by a particular organization. Methods included content analysis of Instagram policies and community guidelines and in-depth interviews with five Persian Instagram creators. Data collection is ongoing. Preliminary findings reveal how creators navigate the influence of Instagram algorithms through crafting an authentic online persona, deploying consistent content creation strategies, and empowering self-continuity as they experience occupational transitions following migration. Building on these findings, we develop a discussion that enriches our understanding of how these immigrant creators turned engagement metrics into strategies to grow, sustain, and build a career in Canada through Instagram.
KEYWORDS: immigration; platform economy; gig work; Instagram; creators; algorithms; Persian community, qualitative research
Sameena Karim Jamal, Alison Taylor, and Catalina Bobadilla Sandoval
WPS 2023/2
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Abstract
This paper explores international students’ orientations to employability as evidenced in their descriptions of term-time work. Undergraduate students who work often face pressures related to juggling studies and employment. We argue that international students are likely to face additional pressures related to higher education costs and the desire to open doors to migration within a context of ever-changing rules and regulations. This paper draws on Bourdieu’s analogy of “playing the game” and scholarly work on employability to analyze narratives from diverse international students who strategize to develop and revalorize capitals to enhance their employability with the aim of securing a brighter future. We argue that the onus of enhancing employability does not lie solely with individual students but is rather a responsibility to be shared at different levels. Building on the work of other scholars, we offer recommendations that may contribute to enhancing the international student experience.
KEYWORDS: international students, employability, immigration, Canada, Bourdieu, capital
Anne-Cécile Delaisse & Gaoheng Zhang
WPS 2023/1
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Abstract
International students’ engagement with different cultures has received increased scholarly attention. The literature tends to either celebrate students’ cosmopolitanism and transnationalism or highlight their difficulties “adapting” in their receiving countries. In the former case, cultural differences tend to be considered irrelevant, whereas in the latter case, cultural differences are taken for granted and foregrounded as central to students’ experiences. In this paper, we examine students’ own perceptions and engagement with their sending and receiving countries’ cultures through the notion of distance, which is gleaned from mobilities studies. We draw from 20 online, in-depth interviews with Vietnamese international students based in Vancouver and Paris. Our analysis highlights how students construct or deconstruct notions of distance between Vietnam and their receiving countries, and also between themselves and each of these countries (i.e., their sending and receiving countries). First, we examine how students cultivate a sense of cultural proximity to their (geographically distant) countries of destination, through their predeparture engagement with these countries’ language or media. Second, we address students’ rapport with French and Canadian societies while residing in those countries, highlighting how ethno-racial diversity in the receiving contexts shapes students’ perceptions of distance at various levels as well as their strategies to address these perceived distances. Finally, we discuss students’ sense of proximity to or distance from Vietnamese culture while studying in France and Canada and how these constructions can be related to a specific form of cosmopolitanism. We argue that the notion of distance helps foster a nuanced and critical understanding of international students’ mobilities, transculturality, and cosmopolitanism.
KEYWORDS: International education, cosmopolitanism, mobilities, transculturality, transnationalism
Lisa Ruth Brunner & Guofang Li
WPS 2022/4
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Abstract
In higher education-migration, or edugration, immigrant-dependent countries attempt to retain international post-secondary students as ‘skilled’ foreign workers and ‘ideal’ economic immigrants. However, higher education’s role as an immigrant selection actor in this process has been largely overlooked. In this paper, we use Bourdieu’s conception of capital to consider the relationship between Canadian (1) higher education institutions’ international student admission criteria, and (2) criteria of key economic immigrant programs which subsequently target these pre-selected international students. Our findings indicate a misalignment between the two selection processes, highlighting a potentially exploitative and relatively unregulated policy arena governing international students as they attempt to acquire the necessary capital to qualify for permanent residency.
KEYWORDS: higher education, international students, economic immigration, capital, edugration
Hongxia Shan, Elena Ignatovich, Siyi Cheng, Agnes d’Entremont and Thomas Tannert
WPS 2022/3
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Abstract
Higher education institutions in Canada have witnessed a surge in the number of international students and mature immigrant students. Research has established a positive correlation between attending higher institutions and immigrant and international students’ labour market outcomes. It is, however, not known how attending higher education may have worked to advance people’s professional careers. Neither do we know how the increasing number of students with migratory experiences may have impacted higher education and professions in terms of knowledge and practice. Drawing on a qualitative study with immigrants with engineering backgrounds who attended postgraduate studies in Canada, this paper provides some insights into these questions. In particular, it sheds light on the unique position that postgraduate studies occupy in the life trajectories of the respondents, the ways in which they benefited from the programs, as well as the impacts they brought to the engineering profession. Special attention is paid to the features of postgraduate programs that enabled the respondents to expand both their professional and life opportunities and the existing knowledge and practices within the engineering profession. Theoretically, the study benefits from a practice-based conception of immigrant as “distinctive knowledge practitioners”. Empirically, the study brings together life history research and situational analysis.
KEYWORDS: postgraduate studies, immigrants, engineering, international students, life history, situational analysis
Lucy Warrington & Benjamin Bryce
WPS 2022/2
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Abstract
The internment of Japanese Canadians during the Second World War has been a muchresearched topic, and it has become more present in Canadian public memory thanks to the active efforts of Japanese Canadians since the 1970s to seek redress from the Federal Government. This article seeks to add to this discussion the importance of recognizing the range of carceral experiences in Canada during the war. Both academic research and popular memory of Japanese Canadian “internment” often unconsciously promote uniformity in prisoners’ experiences. This obscures the gendered nature of wartime incarceration and discourse. Men and women were often separated; only male Japanese Canadians were sent to Ontario road camps. Age and class were also crucial in forming carceral sites, as only young men were sent to road camps, and wealthier Nisei could afford to live in ghost towns in the BC interior to avoid forced labour, underlining how the degrees of immobility depended on one’s affluence. Despite the popular perception that road camps were voluntary, the Canadian-born men labelled “enemy aliens” were nonetheless imprisoned.
KEYWORDS: enemy aliens; Japanese internment; carceral sites; Nisei; Schreiber-Jackfish road camp
Manlin Cai & Yue Qian
WPS 2022/1
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Abstract
In light of the growing racialized immigrant population in Canada and advances in dating technologies, this study examines Chinese immigrants’ partner preferences and partner selection processes through the lens of online dating. We draw on in-depth interviews with 31 Chinese immigrants who have used online dating services in Metro Vancouver to search for different-sex partners. Chinese immigrant online daters show strong preferences for dating Chinese. They emphasize permanent residency status and similarity in age at arrival when evaluating potential partners. Given their preferences, Chinese immigrants strategically choose the dating platforms they primarily use. Men exhibit higher selectivity in their preferences and choices of platforms. Notably, platforms catering to Chinese users create “digital enclaves” where Chinese immigrant daters congregate. The findings illuminate the intersection of race, gender, immigrant status, and age at arrival in shaping divergent experiences of partner selection and immigrant integration in the digital era.
KEYWORDS: integration, Chinese, gender, immigration, partner selection, online dating