CULTURAL IDENTITY AND HYBRIDITY IN “DIFFERENT SPACES”: RECENT IMMIGRANT STUDENTS NEGOTIATING SETTLEMENT AND UNIVERSITY IN ONTARIO, CANADA

This qualitative research explores cultural identity construction among recent immigrant students from Jamaica who live and attend universities in Ontario, Canada. It focuses on the experiences of identity construction when migration, settlement and university participation are considered. The research approached the complexities in the immigrant student identity through a hybrid conceptual lens. Through semi-structured interviews of 14 undergraduate students in universities in Ontario, multiple dimensions of identity and intersectional considerations were elucidated. The combined use of hermeneutic (interpretative) phenomenology with a critical component allowed for exploration of cultural identities as living with and through difference, by hybridity. Participants’ experiences of growing up in Jamaica, moving to Ontario and attending university were the general themes within which issues of social class, skin colour, language, race, nation of origin, stereotypes and discrimination were discussed. The findings suggest that participants construct their cultural identities through the intervening influences of parents, peers of similar cultural orientations, language, discourses of difference, nation of origin and aspirations. Of significance is the salience assigned to social class identification and its relation to speech and skin color in the origin country. Social class was not assigned the same meanings in the receiving nation. Participants maintained their nation of origin identification in Ontario, despite encounters of stigmatization and discrimination. This research finds evidence to suggest both resistance to essentialist views of Jamaicans and beliefs in an essence of Jamaican-ness. The study concludes that students’ interactions in and outside of university are complexly negotiated and thus, their identities are multiply constructed. The study makes recommendations for partnerships among policy makers, universities, and settlement agencies to provide appropriate resources to assist recent immigrant students in their educational journey.Ph.D