Abstract
This study examined how 15 Ethiopian-Canadian immigrants define and express their post-migration intentions. Specifically, this paper explores how the linguistic and cultural features embedded in language inform their return-thinking process. This paper contributes to emerging scholarship that expands the dominant conceptualization of language and migration to include a focus on how language becomes integral to the experience of migration through beliefs and value systems. Particularly, this paper argues that it is essential to recognize the multifaceted nature of migration, language, identity, and transnationalism and to recognize how migrants’ agency in straddling two distinct societies shapes their return-thinking process.
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This study was supported by Minor Research Grant (LA&PS Council).
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Goitom, M. Discourses of Migration and Belonging: How Language Shapes the Return-Thinking Processes of Ethiopians in Canada. Clin Soc Work J 47, 394–405 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-019-00700-8
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10615-019-00700-8