TURNING CANADIAN – PROCESSING IMMIGRANT IDENTITIES
TURNING CANADIAN – PROCESSING IMMIGRANT IDENTITIES

Summary/Abstract: The paper deals with the processes of integration in Canadian society as represented by three different contemporary ethnic authors – Sharon Bala (The Boat People), Tea Mutonji (Shut up You’re Pretty) and Souvankham Thammavongsa (How to Pronounce Knife), all somewhat translating their transgenerational experiences as immigrants into their works. The negotiation of identities, in their respective works, happens at the margins of the Canadian society – the integral position of the immigrant individual whose marginalized status prescribes the performatives pertaining to class, race and gender. The commodification of this status underscores the shifting nature of Canadianness – as perceived by the margins and the center. The problematics of immigrant identity, its otherness and conditions of integration are represented in a highly ironic and postmodern manner, highlighting the issue of hypocritical enforcement of liberal policies in western societies.

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