Understanding Portuguese-Canadian Civic Identity within

Multicultural and Cosmopolitan Contexts

Robert A. Kenedy, PhDAssociate Professor

Department of Sociology Faculty of Liberal Arts and

Professional Studies 124 Winters College

York University, Torontorkenedy@yorku.ca

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Background: Portuguese-Canadian Civic Identity and

Participation• In 2003, members of the Portuguese-

Canadian National Congress (PCNC) began considering more community participation as a strategy to confront the barriers for engagement in “civic life”.

• Focusing on Portuguese-Canadian youth, the PCNC launched the “Thinking Civically Project” as a two year initiative, from February 2005 to March 2007.

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Portuguese-Canadian Civic Identity and Participation

• The study was based on semi-structured individual interviews and focus groups of youth and community members who were part of the “Thinking Civically Project” as well as a comparison group of Portuguese-Canadian youth and others who work with them.

• So far we have interviewed 22 (Females n=16, Males n=6) students from the Thinking Civically Project and 15 (Females n=8, Males n=7) for the control group. The interviews were done in Ontario (n=22), Quebec (n=11), and Nova Scotia (n=5). Overall, 37 participants.

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Situational Identity and Portuguese-Canadian Youth

•We compared how Portuguese-Canadian youth who are part of the “Thinking Civically Project” differed from those who were not (control group) in terms:•Civic identity. •Civic participation (ethnic, local, municipal, provincial, national. etc.) .•National Citizenship(s).•Canadian multiculturalism and Quebec Interculturalism.•Cosmopolitanism.

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Portuguese-Canadian Civic Identity and Participation

• We also explored:• Liminality (i.e., “in-betweeness”).• Situational identity (i.e., belonging and roles).• Collective identity • Levels of activism. • Other demographics such as gender, education,

age, educational and occupational goals, parent’s demographics, etc.).

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What is Civic Identity and Political Participation?

•Civic identity is a social construction based on the level of civic engagement as it connects to other forms of social identity found in each individual (Kymlicka, 1989, 1997).

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•Global civic identity includes notions of cosmopolitan citizenship, as civic identity relates to a type of citizenship in terms of shared political values, although not necessarily cultural values (Meyer et al., 2003, 6) and overall cosmopolitanism (Vertovec and Cohen, 2002).

What is Civic Identity and Political Participation?

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Findings•Our preliminary findings seem to point to a connection between Portuguese-Canadian cultural identity and civic identity/participation among Portuguese-Canadian youth - both in a multicultural and global context (cosmopolitan).

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Findings: Local•All youth in the study group spoke of the importance of getting involved in projects and initiatives in order to promote civic participation in their communities.

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Findings: Provincial and National

• Portuguese-Canadian youth interviewed in for the study group in Québec tended to have a stronger identity connected to Québec nationalism.

• Those in Ontario study group were more focused on promoting a Luso-Canadian identity.

• Multiculturalism seem to be a factor in Ontario for the study group.

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Findings: Cosmopolitan• We also found that many Portuguese-

Canadian youth in the study group followed politics in Portugal and some voted in Portuguese elections.• They were more inclined than those in the control group to follow Portuguese politics through the internet, satellite TV, and other media sources.

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Findings and Conclusions

• Overall, Portuguese-Canadian youth from the study group in both provinces tend to be more active inside and outside their community than those in the comparison group.

• We are also exploring gender differences as our research suggests that the women were more active in terms of leadership roles in the Thinking Civically project.