Abstract
Canada targets between 250,000 and 300,000 new permanent residents every year. Immigration and translocation confer new forms of identity and citizenship on those who have crossed national boundaries. The idea of being a citizen of a nation-state is gradually being replaced by global transnational citizenship that broadens the immigrant’s sense of being and belonging. Transnational citizenship results from multiple identities emerging from effects of globalization and transnationalism. Some ethnic immigrants maintain their cultural identities by creating ethnic enclaves particularly in large cities like Toronto, Montreal, and Vancouver. These ethnic enclaves are socio-cultural spaces for the groups to remain culturally ‘distinct’ from the dominant Canadian society. The question that this chapter seeks to explore and answer is whether ethnic enclaves are forms of resistance to mainstream culture and social integration. There is no clear and conclusive answer to this question. While one may be persuaded to answer in the affirmative, some immigrants choose to live in an ethnic enclave because of social, cultural, political, and economic marginalization due to racism and discrimination. Ethnic enclaves are a coping strategy and mechanism for accessing social and economic support.
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Shizha, E. (2019). Transnationalism and Ethnic Enclaves Among Immigrants: Resistance to Canadianization?. In: Kariwo, M., Asadi, N., El Bouhali, C. (eds) Interrogating Models of Diversity within a Multicultural Environment. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03913-4_7
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