"Not just francophone": The hybridity of minority francophone youths in Canada

Abstract

Minority francophone youths in Canada are expected to carry the future of francophone communities but they are also attracted by the opportunities available within the dominant (Anglo-Canadian, North American) cultures. In the face of these assimilative pressures, regional and provincial francophone organizations in Ontario, Alberta and the maritime provinces sponsor annual summer games bringing together adolescents for a "French" weekend of sporting and cultural activities. The purpose of this ethnographic study of the Alberta Francophone Games, the Jeux de l’Acadie and the Jeux franco-ontariens is to further explore how minority francophone youths construct and express their identity. The analysis reveals that a sizeable proportion of participants reproduce it as a component of a hybrid identity. Hybridity in this context refers to teenagers’ integration of once distinct francophone and anglophone cultural identities into a new mélange. Indeed, through interviews, drawings and questionnaires, adolescents give meaning to their sense of self and define themselves as "not just francophone."