The Construction of a Segmented Hybrid Identity Among One-and-a-Half-Generation and Second-Generation Indo-Caribbean and African Caribbean Canadians

Abstract

Using data from life history interviews collected from a 2000 Centre of Excellence for Research on Immigration and Settlement–funded research project, this article examines the role that family, the community, and the environment have played in the identity formation of one-and-a-half-generation and second-generation Indo-Caribbean and African Caribbean Canadians. Findings from this research suggest that ethnic identity formation in Canada for young people involves a fluid and complex interplay of culture, environment, and community. Ethnic identity for this particular group is a dynamic, situational, and changing process. The experiences of ethnicity are also shaped largely by rules and practices in past and present relationships. For one-and-a-half-generation and second-generation Caribbean Canadians, this process may be understood as a stage in the immigration life cycle, a stage characterized by constant shifting and assembling of new hybridized identities, ones that are based primarily on physical appearance and closeness to the dominant group in terms of social and cultural capital.