Conflicting perceptions of education in Canada: the perspectives of well-educated Muslim Uyghur immigrants

ABSTRACT

This paper discusses how some well-educated Muslim Uyghur immigrants position themselves in relation to the education systems in Canada. The findings reveal that, on the one hand, these immigrants view education in Canada as very empowering, reflecting the long existing discourse of Orientalism. Their special background as a deeply oppressed Muslim group in China seems to have only added to this position. On the other hand, they have started to see some disempowering aspects of Canadian education that have the potential to sabotage Uyghur identity and culture, while realizing the values and importance of their own community cultural wealth for maintaining and strengthening their collective identity. Put differently, their admiration is also accompanied by their resistance to the same knowledge systems, foregrounding their own religious and cultural wealth. Many of them defy the Euro-centric nationalism and secular liberalism, some manifesting their agency at a more political level.

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank Dr. Ratna Ghosh at McGill University for her careful read of this article and her insightful feedback.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Correction Statement

This article has been republished with minor changes. These changes do not impact the academic content of the article.

Notes

¹ This refers to the skilled immigrants who obtained at least a post-secondary level of education before immigrating to Canada. These immigrants came to Canada through Federal (and Quebec) Skilled Worker Programs.

² Quiet Revolution (French: Révolution tranquille) in the 1960s refers to the movement to end (a) English domination, and (b) the authority of the Catholic Church in all aspects of society. During the rapid secularization movement that followed in Quebec in that period, the Roman Catholic Church lost control of the provincial education and healthcare sectors. These sectors began to be directly regulated by the government. French-Canadians in Québec also adopted the new name ‘Québécois’, distinguishing themselves from the people of France as well as the English-speaking Canadians. For more information, see Dickinson, J. & Young, B. (2003). A short history of Quebec. Montreal: McGill-Queen’s University Press.

³ These two independent states were East Turkistan Islamic Republic (1933–1934) and East Turkistan Republic (1944–1949). For more information see Bovingdon, G. (2010). The Uyghurs: Strangers in their own land. New York: Columbia University Press.

⁴ Azat said in Uyghur “Ata-anilar wä balilar billä ukhlishi keräk”, literally meaning “Parents and children should sleep together.”. Yet, this does not imply sex or pedophilia. He highlighted this very popular and normal Uyghur cultural behavior, challenging the implications of the same behavior in Canada.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by Fonds de Recherche du Québec - Société et Culture (FRQSC).

Notes on contributors

Dilmurat Mahmut

Dilmurat Mahmut (Maihemuti Dilimulati) is a PhD Candidate in the Faculty of Education at McGill University. His research interests include Muslim identity in the West, religion and education, education and violent extremism, and immigrant/refugee integration in Canada and beyond. Currently, he is studying Uyghur immigrants’ identity reconstruction experiences in Quebec and English Canada. He is part of Preventing Extremism through Educational Research (PEER) group at McGill University.