Project Summary

Displacement and migration involve enormous changes. How these changes are absorbed or become part of a continuing personal struggle differs for individuals, depending on  one's circumstances and ideological orientation.  Religious involvement also affects this process in powerful ways.  We are particularly interested in the ways in which social class, gender, and religious commitments affect an individual's experience when he or she is forced to move.

In addition to these social and economic factors, the challenge to traditional ideas presented by migration is often experienced differently by women and men. That is, once the reality of exile and the need to adjust has been established, migration may present itself as a positive experience for many women, particularly younger women, who find an opportunity to break from the extended family.  Therefore, gender may have a big effect on what new migrants experience in the new country and how they feel about the country they still think of as home.  But, gender differences in coping with displacement are often linked to the greater difficulty men encounter in adjusting to a  new society and in finding satisfying work, where every aspect of life seems to conspire against the migrant man's authority, dignity and sense of self worth. 

One of the main hypotheses of this study is that under pressures of a rapid, often difficult, social and cultural transformation, changing gender dynamics in the new country can lead, in time, to a new understanding among partners -- or, alternatively, to heightened struggle, and even in some cases to domestic violence, with severely damaging effects, particularly for women and children.

Culturally, when family understandings collapse, this process may be accompanied by an effort to find religious justification for gender inequality. Then, a connection can be seen between difficulties in the new country, the efforts of conservative men to reclaim the dominance they once enjoyed in their countries of origin, and the energetic revival in the diaspora of conservative religious practice and belief.

Uniting these perspectives which cut across factors of class, gender and religion, provides us with the challenge of understanding intimate processes, including changes in sexuality and personal identities, in a context which takes into account economic, social and political movements and constraints.  The aim is to get a fuller view of individual migratory experience and of migrant families as complex social units.

Theoretically, the study intends to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of the diaspora concept and to help identify those aspects of migratory experience which shatter or reinforce a group's attachment to its vision of the homeland, affecting its readiness to adapt to a new country.

It is hoped that the research findings will assist migrant communities in identifying problems and opportunities involved in the process of maintaining a distinctive culture while making a positive contribution to the larger community.  Within Canada, the study may also help policy makers at federal, provincial and municipal levels, to design and implement programs which promote harmonious relations between migrant communities and the host country.

In particular, the project should be useful in challenging stereotypical ideas which portray Muslim diaspora as alien and strange and cloud the actual differences which exist among individuals, driving people to embrace the very notion of 'culture' with which they are labeled.   A surer, factual understanding of the realities of diasporic life should help break the hold of these distorting and harmful ideas.

Project Matrix

Included in the matrix are variables related to respondent's situation in country of origin and situation in new (or host) country, and socioeconomic indicators in new country. These are provided in Matrix, showing cases studied. (For the larger Project Matrix Diagram, please click here)