They can learn to say my name

Redistributing Responsibility for Integrating Immigrants to Canada

Bibliographic Data

ID3650879
AuthorsKaren Pennesi (corresponding author)
Year2017
Volume58
Issue1
Pages46-59
Publication date2017-05-05
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueAnthropologica (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0254-9212 • E-ISSN: 2224-6428
PublisherUniversity of Toronto Press (PUBLISHER • CA)
DOI10.3138/anth.581.a03
OpenAlexW2433821999
LanguageEN
Citations received6
References cited10

Newcomers to Canada whose names index identities other than "white" and "English" face pressure to alter their names to facilitate integration. Some immigrants oppose the forces of conformity and refuse to assimilate their names. In interviews, they explain this stance using discourses of agency centring on a belief in true names, a moral obligation to get names right, and a need for a strong self. Focusing on ideologies of identity and language in their meta-agentive discourses, I argue that the act of immigrants keeping their ethnic names is a political move to redistribute responsibility for the integration of newcomers into the host society

Aesthetics · Agency (philosophy) · Conformity · Ethnic group · Face (sociological concept) · Identity (music) · Ideology · Immigration · Obligation · Political science · Politics · Social science · Sociology · Gender Studies · Jewish and Middle Eastern Studies · Law · Migration, Refugees, and Integration · Names, Identity, and Discrimination Research

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