Negotiating Belongingness in the Third Space by Exploring the Case of 1.5G Uyghur-Canadians from China

Abstract

The purpose of this exploratory research is to determine how 1.5 generation (1.5G) Uyghur youths negotiate their belongingness in the face of contradicting value systems and norms in the country of settlement. It situates the experiences of 1.5G immigrants in a transnational context and aims to contribute to literature on (1) immigrant experiences, (2) identity and belonging, and (3) Uyghur-Canadians. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with Uyghur-Canadians who were born in East Turkestan (Xinjiang), China, and immigrated to Canada between the ages of 6 to 12. Using an adaptation of the Biographical Narrative Interpretive Method, the research study captures the lived experiences of participants and how they create meaning(s) in their identities.

Using Yuval Davis’s and Antonsich’s framework for the study of belonging and Elder’s conceptualization of linked lives and social ties, three common themes emerged across all participant answers: (1) experiencing life in alignment with first-generation immigrant parents in the country of settlement while differing in the understanding and interpretation of these experiences, (2) the sociocultural context in the experience of belonging, and (3) undergoing constant challenge of re-establishing authority over the negotiation of boundary of acceptable and unacceptable values and behaviors on one’s own terms. These themes are essentially the determinants that influence decisions that are made during the process of negotiating contrasting values systems and norms in the Third Space – the space of transculturation where cultural transformation takes place.