Newcomer Strategic Negotiations of Religious/Secular Identities and Spaces: Examining the Tension between Structure and Agency in Processes of Immigrant Settlement in Ottawa, Canada

Abstract

This research project proposes to examine the role of religious/secular identities and spaces in processes of newcomer settlement. By focusing on how newcomer participants performed socio-spatially contingent religious/secular identities and experienced religious/secular spaces fluidly, I shed light on the importance of these negotiations of identity and space as settlement strategy. I examined these settlement strategies through participants’ navigation of religious organizations and other spatial contexts such as the workplace, school and home. Informed by their individual agency, participants were shown to perform identities and experience different spaces in such a way as to address a variety of structural constraints and settlement challenges. This thesis research was conducted using a feminist geography framework, drawing on qualitative research methods. I relied on a mixed-methods approach, using participant observation, individual semi-structured interviews and mental maps to collect data. My data collection took place in Ottawa, focusing on the settlement experiences of 11 newcomers to the National Capital Region of Canada.