Hyphenated Individuals: Contextual, Composite, and Core Identities

• In Event: 549 - Section on International Migration Refereed Roundtable Session and Business Meeting
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 17. Ethnic Identities and Boundary Movements

Abstract

In Europe and North America, there is growing interest in studying how immigrants and their descendants are incorporating into their country of settlement. Hyphenated identities, such as African-American or Indo-Canadians, provide a lens through which scholars can examine how individuals make sense of their multiple identities. Yet, it is not clear how individuals make sense of this category. What does it mean to have a hyphenated identity? How are the different components that comprise a hyphenated identity related to each other? While previous research tends to focus on case studies of one ethnic group, my work compares four ethnic groups in Canada. Drawing from interviews (N=61), I assess the conditions through which a hybrid identity emerges and is enacted. My findings show that there are a variety of ways in which individuals can come to combine their various identities. I create three categories of identity expression: contextual (when multiple identities are separate but interrelated), composite (when multiple identities are blended into one), and core (when one part of their identity is at the forefront while the other part is implicitly understood). Contextual, composite, and core identities capture the complexities involved in negotiating and navigating the hyphen. This research highlights the context-dependent nature of identity, the ways that new identities are created, and how identities are related to larger issues of political climate in a country. How individuals make sense of their hybrid identities speak to greater questions on social inclusion/exclusion and what it means to live in an interconnected world.

Author

• Mabel Ho, University of British Columbia