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“Tell Me What I Need to Know”: South Asian Women, Social Capital and Settlement

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Abstract

This paper reports on the findings of in-depth interviews with 50 South Asian immigrant women in Toronto regarding their settlement needs and the role of social capital in meeting these needs. The main findings discussed in this paper relate to the emergence of information as the most important settlement need and the ways in which information and orientation were obtained. Participants were found to rely on informal networks of friends and relatives as the most exhaustive and specific source of information and orientation.

Résumé

Cet article fait état des résultats d’entrevues en profondeur auprès de 50 immigrantes de l’Asie méridionale vivant à Toronto. Les entrevues portaient sur leurs besoins en matière d’établissement et le rôle que joue le capital social pour répondre à ces besoins. Les résultats évoqués dans cet article portent sur l’émergence de l’information comme le besoin le plus important en matière d’établissement, et sur les moyens par lesquels l’information et l’orientation ont été obtenues. Nous avons trouvé que les réseaux informels d’amis et de parenté constituaient la source d’information et d’orientation la plus exhaustive et précise pour les immigrantes.

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  1. Office of the Dean, Faculty of Community Services, Ryerson University, 350 Victoria Street, Toronto, ON, Canada, M5B 2K3

    Usha George & Ferzana Chaze

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  1. Usha George
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  2. Ferzana Chaze
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Correspondence to Ferzana Chaze.

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George, U., Chaze, F. “Tell Me What I Need to Know”: South Asian Women, Social Capital and Settlement. Int. Migration & Integration 10, 265–282 (2009). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12134-009-0102-3

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