Religion and post-migration aspirations: Ethiopian migrants in Canada

ABSTRACT

This paper explores the ways in which, as part of their settlement process, Ethiopian immigrants in Canada (1) draw on religious beliefs, practices, and communities; (2) how they employ the teachings of their faith to advance their well-being; and (3) how these practices pattern their resilience and frame how they articulate – and the methods by which they ultimately achieve – their post-migration aspirations. Findings underscore how religion fashions transnational belonging that allows them to maintain multi-stranded social relations, and how this in turn shapes, maintains, and informs their post-migratory lives. The paper concludes with a discussion of the implications for social work practice.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethiopian
• settlement
• religion
• well-being
• transnationalism

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. The landscape of Ethiopian migration has changed from being one that was born out of conflict to one that is mainly driven by economic considerations. With international migration increasing over the past two decades, this landscape has also become increasingly complex. This complexity is largely the result of the “‘feminization of migration,’ the emergence of Ethiopian villages as an important source of low skilled labour for the international labour market and the intensification of skilled migration” (Adugna, 2019, p. 8), all of which encompass the country’s migration terrain. Recent data puts the population of the Ethiopian diaspora at over 3 million, with migrants mainly concentrated in North America, the Middle East, and Europe.

2. All participant names have been changed for the sake of anonymity.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the LA&PS Minor Research Grant.