Gillian Creese. The New African Diaspora in Vancouver: Migration, Exclusion, and Belonging.
Hira-Friesen, Parvinder
Gillian Creese. The New African Diaspora in Vancouver: Migration,
Exclusion, and Belonging. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2011.
285 pp. Notes. Bibliography. Index. $27.95 sc.
Gillian Creese delivers a comprehensive and timely account of
newcomer experiences within Canadian cities. By highlighting members of
the sub-Saharan African community residing in Vancouver, Creese offers
the reader a rare glimpse into the lives of a diverse group of
immigrants as they negotiate their environment for the purpose of
community building and belonging. She claims that this sense of
belonging is negotiated in "neighbourhoods, workplaces, schools,
shops and street corners" (9). However, the author affirms the
presence of marginalization and social exclusion among many of the
newcomers. Hence, states Creese, current Canadian "migration
reflects diversity; yet, where someone comes from continues to affect
settlement experiences in Canada" (5). As a result, individuals
with varying national origins adopt new identities as
"African" and henceforth actively engage in creating a new,
place-based "African community."
Documenting the experiences of immigrants from countries in
sub-Saharan Africa, Creese provides a comprehensive examination of
newcomer experiences as they navigate the greater Vancouver area in
terms of language, work and belonging. Gillian Creese offers the reader
a thorough analysis of interviews with sixty-one women and men from
twenty-one African countries. Chapter by chapter the author illustrates
how exclusionary encounters faced by these newcomers are not limited to
daily living but also labour markets and housing practices.
In Chapter one, the author introduces the reader to the study and
provides an overview of the methodology and sample. Accordingly, this
study consists of interviews with sixty-one women and men who migrated
from sub-Saharan Africa who, at the time of the study, were living in
the greater Vancouver area. Employing Bourdieu's concept of
"linguistic capital," the following chapter delves into an
area of contention experienced by many newcomers. This is especially
discernible among immigrants who arrived in Canada since the revisions
to the Canadian immigration act in 1967 allowed non-European immigrants
to enter. By linking accents to competency, Creese demonstrates the
prevalence of "accent discrimination" among Canadian
employers.
Creese further develops her central argument of how sub-Saharan
Africans put sue community building within the context of
Vancouver's marginalization and social exclusion milieu in the
following two chapters. She highlights Canadian labour markets and lack
of foreign credential recognition as subjugating tools and products of
immigration policies based on ideologies of British and western European
racial superiority. Since economic integration is a key component of
successful integration of immigrants to Canada, newcomer employability
is central to many forms of inclusion. With the onset of non-European
immigrants, the labour force has become fragmented and work has become
precarious. Therefore, "the position of immigrants of colour, and
in particular of immigrant women who are already marginalized in the
gendered labour market, has considerably worsened ... " (63).
Creese asserts that not only are these newcomers stripped of linguistic
capital but also must contend with loss of human capital as their
education and experience from their home countries is not recognized by
Canadian employers. She further indicates that "deskilling" of
workers is inevitable as foreign educational credentials are not
acknowledged by Canadian companies and immigrants are forced to use
their hands rather than their minds to make a living.
In Chapter five, Creese examines how the immigrants of this study
negotiate gender roles within the context of families and settlement.
She states that family and employment were central to settlement
experiences among the participants. As many families faced challenges of
raising children in Vancouver, they felt particularly vulnerable without
their extended family members to help with child rearing.
The last two chapters are dedicated to identity formation and
belonging practices. Creese examines the concept of "becoming
black" as practised by both African adults and children. Even
though adults and children may not agree on the influences of youth
culture, argues Creese, they are both equally susceptible to "a
social imaginary where they are already constructed, imagined and
positioned through hegemonic discourses of Blackness and practices of
White privilege" (193). Lack of employment and other forms of
exclusion has led members of the study to claim they do not feel truly
"Canadian" but rather have a sense of "partial
belonging." Nevertheless, as Creese asserts, this uncertainty has
not dissuaded these respondents from actively engaging in "creating
a local African community in Vancouver" (209).
Creese's impressive examination of how newcomers negotiate
marginalization in place and space in their host countries adds to the
expansive immigrant integration literature. A minor shortcoming of this
book is the grouping of immigrants and refugees for this study. Given
that the author acknowledged the differences between the two groups, she
still continues to group them as one faction. Since immigrating to a
country is a choice and refugees do not have preferences of countries,
the experiences among the two factions are notably different. I believe
how the two negotiate their new surroundings is markedly different.
Nevertheless, this book is extremely informative and lends itself to
bring to the forefront a critical investigation of present-day immigrant
experiences. As such, this volume will appeal to academics, especially
students interested in immigrant integration, race and ethnicity.
Parvinder Hira-Friesen
Department of Sociology, University of Calgary
