Negotiating "Brown": Youth Identity Formations in the Greater Toronto Area

This study problematizes the notion of a Canadian identity that is constructed within the framework of liberal multiculturalism. The primary goal of this study is to explore how a racial identity of "Brown" is conceptualized, expressed, and negotiated in the Euro- centered White space of schools. To do this, I interview five 1.5-generation immigrant youth from the Greater Toronto Area who self-identify as "Brown."This study finds that "Brown" is a fluid, multi-layered identity that is expressed differently in different contexts. Further, "Brown" youth use the identifier of "Brown" as a way to make space for their identities because "Brown" experiences are silenced in the Black/White binary in which racial conversations take place. Moreover, this study finds that although "Brown" youth encounter racism in school, they rationalize these acts. Finally, "Brown" youth invoke the hyphenated identities of "Brown-Canadian" and "South Asian-Canadian" to navigate the contradiction of being "Brown" and being "Canadian."M.A