Conceptions of Political Participation among Recent Latin-American Newcomers to Canada: A Phenomenographic Examination


Neyda Long
St. Thomas University, US
 

Although the integration of newcomers into receiving societies, including Canada, has tacitly recognized the full spectrum of participation and belonging, including its economic, social and political dimensions, research has paid little attention to factors influencing how immigrants assume the rights and responsibilities of a political character. In this research, the understanding of the concept of political participation held by newcomers of Latin American origin to Canada was mapped. The relevance of the work lies in the view that this prior knowledge plays a significant role in how newcomers adjust to political activity in the new society. The research employed a phenomenographic method and data was generated from 70 individuals from 30 families. The findings revealed that the participants attach considerable importance to political participation whether through conventional electoral politics or through which they interpret the concept of political participation. Among these filters are components related to emotional commitments, community involvement, social action, freedom of conscience, the power to make a difference and identification with Canada. The findings show that the filters serve in different ways to channel the preferred forms of political engagement.

 

Introduction

Canada is a country that has been forged by waves of immigration. In the first half of the twentieth century, the majority of these immigrants came from white European countries. In the 1960s, immigration laws were changed and new waves of immigrants arrived from non-white countries in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Central and South America.

Time and Space
Table 1:  Immigrants by place of birth and Period of Immigration

Logan (1991) reports that between 1980-1989, the proportion of immigrants from Latin American countries rose to 11 percent of all immigrants to Canada while the proportions from both the United Kingdom and Western Europe fell to about 3 percent. Table 1 shows these overall changes and indicates a considerable shift away from the patterns that characterized early immigrants who were white Europeans. As the character of the immigrant population has changed, the concern for their capacity to integrate not just economically but also socially has grown

The issue was addressed to some extent in the early 1970s with the abandonment of the long-standing principle of “Anglo-conformity@ and the introduction of the policy of multiculturalism (Kymlicka, 1998, 2000). New immigrants, because of racial background, ethnicity, religion and language, could not simply assimilate and become invisible, indistinguishable from other Canadians, even over two or three generations. The policy of multiculturalism began in the 1970s as a unique Canadian experiment to facilitate social integration and has since become since “the dominant trend in Western democracies@ (Kymlicka, 2000, p.2).

 

A diversity of beliefs and cultures began to interact within Canada. This new situation created the need for new immigration laws, the most recent of which is Bill C-33. Under this new law, the federal government will accept newcomers based on their education, language skills, and capabilities of contributing to the economic life of Canada. Elinor Caplan, former Minister of Citizenship and Immigration, reported that the purpose of the legislation was to increase the probability of a swift integration of newcomers into the Canadian society, with an emphasis on economic integration.

 

Canadian research on political integration is scant and little is known about how newcomers can be encouraged to become active participants in Canadian politics. “Research has demonstrated that widespread informed and effective [political] participation is the hallmark of democracy@ (Mishler & Clarke, 1990, p.158). The lack of research means that there is little understanding of the process of integration that newcomers experience as they encounter new political ideas. This research gathered data about the variety of concepts developed by newcomers when they encounter diverse, Canadian political ideas and activities.

 

The purpose of this research, therefore, was to generate a comprehensive description of the understanding that immigrants, both parents and children, have of the concept of political participation. This required comparing variations in their conceptions and describing the breadth and depth of the understandings that they hold. While this problem holds for all immigrants, this research focuses on Spanish-speaking immigrants from the countries of Latin America. The study sample consisted of newcomers living in the Maritime Provinces, and were identified using a snowball sampling technique.
 

Main Question
 

What are the qualitatively different conceptions used by recent newcomers of Latin American origin to understand the nature of political participation in Canada?

 

Sub-Questions:

 

1. Do these conceptions vary between parents and their children?

 

2. Do these conceptions vary according to age and/or gender?

 

3. Do these conceptions vary according to the nature of the political regimes experienced in the country of origin?

 

A central concept of this study was the nature of political participation. Pateman (1970) writes that participation fosters a sense of belonging and creates and develops the necessary skills for participation. Political participation allows individuals to interact with decision-makers, promote changes within the political system, and increase their sense of self-esteem and feelings of empowerment.

 

Gender differences were discussed as possible elements that could influence the participation pattern of Latin American newcomers. Hardy-Fanta (1993) describes women as having a tendency to create networks of interaction within the community and to serve as bridges between the decision makers and the people in general. Women are often a force to mobilize the community thereby having a direct impact on the daily lives of people.

 

Political participation in Canada tends to be elitist (Mishler & Clarke, 1990). Canada=s parliamentary system has had the effect of informally restricting participation of the citizenry to the passive act of voting. Covert barriers within the structure of political parties often create barriers to the participation of visible minorities in leadership roles. Minority newcomers do not want to be isolated from mainstream political participation; rather they seek full integration into the Canadian political system. In the present research, participants were drawn from the following Maritimes communities: Truro, Bedford, Dartmouth, Halifax in the province of Nova Scotia and from Fredericton, Moncton, Saint John, St. Stephen form the Province of New Brunswick. It is important to point out that the present research aims to find out whether or not participants from the Maritimes provinces seek full integration in the Canadian political system as Mishler and Clarke, stated.

 

The nature of prior knowledge is another central concept in this study. Prior knowledge, or the meanings, values and skills developed in previous work, family, community, cultural and educational experiences, provide the individual with naïve, self-defined Theories@ about how society works. The resulting concepts allow individuals to explain the nature of events to themselves and to make sense of the world around them. The participants in this study were asked to draw on both prior knowledge and current experiences to describe their conceptions of political participation.

 

Research Method
 

 

The research approach used in the study was phenomenographic in nature (Marton, 1981). Phenomenography deals with how people experience and conceptualize reality. The essential purpose of this study was to describe how Latin American newcomers understand the experience of political participation in Canada. Individuals= conceptualizations are the result of their prior knowledge about political participation from their countries of origin and their political experiences in Canada.

 

The Phenomenographic Method
 

 

Rene Descartes asserted ACogito ergo sum@ (I think, therefore I am) and Marton (1996) responds ACognosco ergo sum@ (I experience, therefore I exist). Phenomenography deals with how people experience and conceptualize reality. Marton (1996) summarizes the nature of phenomenography as follows: Phenomenography is a research method for mapping the qualitatively different ways in which people experience, conceptualize, perceive, and understand various aspects of, and phenomena in, the world around them. (p.31)

 

Renström (1988) suggests that the essence of the phenomenographic method lies in the verbal statement which, he says, should be studied in two ways: “As it is@ and in terms of Athe meaning it expresses@ . The verbal statement displays, at least in part, how someone has conceptualized something and through skilful questioning, it can provide a vivid rendering of such conceptualizations. The conceptualizations themselves are a product of the interaction of the psychological world of the individual and the outside world that is encountered.  

 

According to Svensson and Theman (1984), phenomenographic research is ontological because it is concerned with the nature of human-world relations and epistemological because it asserts that the human being is the creator of knowledge. Renström (1988) uses a metaphor to describe the nature of phenomenography. Each statement, he says, represents an individual=s conception of the phenomenon being discussed. The conceptions of a phenomenon held by different people also vary. Individual conceptions that are qualitatively alike are grouped into categories of description (Marton, 1996). The goal of phenomenographic research is to identify individual conceptions; then to combine individual conceptions into categories of description.

 

The results of phenomenographic research are reported in terms of categories of description and the relationships or themes among them. Marton (1984) asserts:

 

It is essential to realize that a scientific system can be seen as sedimentation of ways of thinking, or put in more general terms, of man-world relations. Traces of societies of the past as well as different physical, regulative and scientific ways in which we think or have thought about the world around us. Society embodies conceptions. (p.65) Ashworth and Lucas (1998) they indicate that the results in phenomenographic research are presented in a form of categories of description and that these categories are organized in structured typologies or themes.

 

Phenomenographic Interview
 

An important technique in the data collection, according to Bruce (1994) and Kvale (1995), is the phenomenographic interview. It aims to understand and to seek variations in participants= experiences or their understanding of the problem in question. The purpose is to unveil variations in the how and what aspects of each participant=s experiences. The phenomenographic interview should elicit the qualitatively different conceptions of the phenomenon being studied as these are experienced or understood by the interviewee.
 

Bruce (1994) states that the qualitative interview is one of the most widely used strategies for data gathering in phenomenographic research. Kvale (1995) points out that the phenomenographic interview is characterized by the following features:

 

* The interview is centred in the interviewee=s life world.
* The participant=s understanding of the phenomenon being studied is sought during the interview process.
* The researcher should hold no preconceived ideas about the phenomenon during the process to elaborate the qualitative descriptions of the participant=s life-world.
* The phenomenographic interview is focused on certain themes.
* The questions are open ended.
* The interview should be as positive and interpersonal as possible.

Semi-projective techniques
 

The interview process used in this study involved a semi-projective data collection technique. Projective techniques were first employed by Rorschach (as cited in Darley,Glucksberg & Kindall, 1996) in clinical psychology and psychiatric settings. Subjects were shown drawings of pictures or inkblots onto which they could “Project” their own interpretations, feelings and ideas.

 

It has its roots in the early works of Rorschach (1884-1922) who created a series of inkblots, which were used to unearth the internal psychological processes of the individual. Murray (as cited in Darley, Glucksberg & Kindal, 1996) developed the Thematic Apperception Test (TAT). His goal was to find out how people interact with one another. The test used a series of ambiguous photographs and asked the participant to develop a story from the pictures. After a rigorous codification process, the clinician was able to identify basic themes underlying the concepts and perceptions of the individual=s inner world. The semi-projective technique is somewhat more constrained. The technique used in this study was semi-projective in the sense that it used pictures to help participants talk about the experience of political participation in Canada. The pictures illustrated various forms of political participation in Canada.

 

Semi-projective techniques allowed maintaining the objectivity in this research. The present technique allowed newcomers to express their opinions without pre-judgement. A phenomenographic interview, using a semi-projective technique, was conducted with each participant. Each participant was asked to select one picture from each of four sets of sets of two or three different pictures and was then asked open-ended questions related to their perceptions about the political activity depicted. The pictures were classified as depicting grassroots or electoral politics and public or private activities. These four categories were combined to form a typology divided into four quadrants and the pictures selected to illustrate these quadrants. Figure 1 portrays how the pictures were classified in the typology..

 

The pictures selected were as follows 

 

1. This picture portrays a citizen making a presentation to a public meeting on behalf of a community group and represents grassroots politics and public participation.
2. This picture portrays a group of citizens volunteering at a local food bank and represents grassroots politics and private participation.
3. This picture portrays citizens signing a petition and represents grassroots politics and private participation.
4. This picture portrays citizens cooking hamburgers for a fund-raising drive to support a local reading program and represents grassroots politics and public participation.
5. This picture portrays citizens making a public protest to end child poverty in Canada and represents grassroots politics and public participation.
6. This picture portrays an act of protest from a single citizen. He is shown throwing a pie at an elected representative, the Prime Minister of Canada. The picture represents electoral politics and public participation.
7. This picture portrays the act of voting in Canada, the most common mode of participation in electoral politics. The picture represents electoral politics and private participation.
8. This picture, a graphic drawing, portrays the voting sequence in Canada. The picture represents electoral politics and private participation.
9. This picture portrays citizens attending a party rally during a Federal election campaign. The picture represents electoral politics and public participation.
10. This picture portrays a mass mobilization of citizens at a rally on behalf of Canadian unity held in Montreal, Quebec during the referendum campaign in 1995. The picture represents electoral politics and public participation.

 

Time and Space
Figure 1:  Immigrants by place of birth and Period of Immigration

 

Participants
 

The participating families were selected using two major criteria: 1) each family was of Latin American origin and had immigrated to Canada from South or Central America, and 2) each family included at least one adolescent (12-15 years) or youth (16-20 years) and one parent willing to be interviewed. Potential participants were contacted by a phone call in Spanish. The study was explained and an interview date was set with those willing to participate. The interview with each family member lasted an average of 45 to 60 minutes.

 

Time and Space
Table 2:  Participants by Age and Gender

 

Thirty (30) families were selected and 70 people were interviewed B 19 adolescents (12-15 years), 19 youth (16-20 years), and 32 adult parents (see table 2). The participants were living in four cities in New Brunswick B Fredericton, Saint John, Moncton and St. Stephen B and four cities in Nova Scotia B Halifax, Dartmouth, Truro and Bedford. Families had been residing in Canada for varying periods ranging from one year to more than 25 years. Families equally represented refugees and independent immigrants. The countries of origin were: Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Dominica Republic, El Salvador, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Perú and Venezuela. For data analysis purposes, the participating families were divided into two groups , democratic and non-democratic, based on the political system in place in their country of origin at the time of their departure.

 

Each interview was taped. Interviews conducted in English were transcribed directly. Interviews conducted in Spanish were transcribed in Spanish and then translated into English. The interview transcriptions were divided into utterances. Those related with political participation were selected and coded using the NVIVO7 software. A sample of six families was selected to formulate the coding system. Once a saturation level had been reached and no new codes were being developed, the researcher coded the interviews for the remaining 24 families.

 

Each utterance was assigned a code; some were assigned up to three codes. Codes were clustered into categories of description. Each category was a discrete set, which had as little overlap with other categories as possible. A label for a category was selected to be both descriptive and inclusive of the variations within the category.

 

FINDINGS
 

The categories of description or dimensions of political participation were then used to answer the main research question and each of the sub-questions. The answers to these questions were provided in narrative form and included illustrative examples from the interview data. Categories of description that were recurrent across the participants used to identify themes. Themes are more inclusive than the categories of description. Seven categories of description were identified to answer the research questions and the three sub-questions. Emotions, Community participation, Social action dimension, Electoral politics, Freedom of conscience, Power to make a difference and Identifying self with Canada.

 

What are the qualitatively different conceptions used by recent newcomers of Latin American to understand the nature of political participation in Canada?
 

The categories of descriptions portray the qualitative variations of the conceptions about political participation in Canada held by Latin-American newcomers.

   

 

Emotions. Political participation generates a wide range of emotions. Positive emotions were related to charitable actions and voting. These actions generated emotions of pride and a sense of empowerment. The participants perceived that their actions generated positive changes in their community. Negative emotions were generated from memories of repression in their home country and by an awareness of social injustice both in Canada and in elsewhere.

 

 

Social action.This category related to concepts of social inequality and a sense of unfairness about the unequal distribution of resources and wealth. Working for change to achieve social justice within a community was perceived as an important activity for all participants. Such activities included letter writing, discussing ideas with government representatives, signing petitions and engaging in peaceful protests. Violent protests were perceived as immature and as an ineffective means for reaching goals.

Electoral politics.Voting was the main participatory activity in electoral politics. Participants expressed a wide variety of reasons why they should vote. Some participants indicated that, through their ballots, their opinions would be heard. Several participants discussed the concept of political leadership ranging from running for office to providing leadership for community activities. Some participants did not clearly report whether or not they would like to run for office in Canada. Some young participants expressed leadership activities as an ideal or a possibility. No one described authoritarian attitudes toward the community and people.

Freedom of conscience.Both parents and children expressed the importance of following ideals, such as helping others, and making personal choices, such as participating in the community and electoral activities. Parents encouraged their children, and the adolescents and youth encouraged their peers, to “Follow your heart”. Parents reported that they would encourage their children to vote in Canadian elections, even if they, the parents, had no plans to vote themselves. The youth participants would encourage their friends to vote based on informed choices. Power to make a difference: A high percentage of participants perceived that their vote, their volunteering efforts, and their participation in protest marches, would generate positive changes within the fabric of the community. Participating in order to benefit others provided the individual with a sense of empowerment

Identifying self with Canada.Several participants spoke about their identification with Canada. Responses in this category can be considered as part of a continuum. At one end are participants who clearly considered Canada as being their adopted country; at the other end are participants who have detached themselves from the affairs of Canada. The issue of identifying oneself with Canada was not without concerns about making friends with Canadians and encountering negative biases and stereotypes.

Do these conceptions vary between parents and their children?
 

* One hundred percent of parents youths and adolescents agreed that positive emotions are associated with political participation in Canada.
* The members of 12 families, of the 30 participant families agreed that negative emotions were related to their awareness of social injustice.
* The members of 19 families agreed that helping other people is the best reason to participate in community activities. These parents reported that they deliberately teach and encourage the younger members of their family to share with the needy. Some also described their experiences of poverty in their countries of origin.
* The members of 24 families agreed that dissension should be expressed through non-violent methods. Parents were very strong in their beliefs that protest should be made within the boundaries of the law. Both parents and youth mentioned that violence and illegal forms of protest are not viable means for achieving positive results.
* Voting constituted the most widely used form of participation in electoral politics. The members of 25 families agreed that voting is a productive and useful means for solving country=s problems.
* The members of all families agreed that it is paramount to follow your heart, hazlo de corazón, in determining how one will participate in Canadian politics. Parents consistently reported that they allow their younger family members to follow their own ideals in the political arena, even though parents may disagree. Parents reported using their own resources to help their younger family members to develop programs to help others in need.
* The members of 20 families agree in their perception that their civic participation can make a difference and produce positive changes. Actions such as volunteering and voting are key elements in their perceived ability to change a situation for the better. They perceive that their civic participation in the form of writing letters and peaceful protests are powerful tools in creating awareness of public issues and allow their voices to be heard. Participants consider that acceptable forms of action lie in signing petitions, writing letters and using the media as a channel of information; and that such discourses will encourage governments to change policies and to improve the standard of living of citizens.
* The members of only two families discussed Canadian issues. In discussing some issues they tried to learn from each other, often holding differing opinions. Parents were more explicit regarding difficulties of fitting into Canada and of feeling accepted. Only one youth member mentioned experiencing a sense of difference because his minority status. Parents in other families did not appear to teach their younger family members about Canadian issues.

Do these conceptions vary according to age and gender?
 

* All participants of both genders and in all three age groups reported that political participation generates feelings of satisfaction, self-fulfilment and self-realization. The fact that a participant was able to help someone generated feelings of pride, happiness and a sense of general well being. Negative feelings were associated with the awareness of social injustice.
* The majority of youth participants reported that they expected to volunteer or already had volunteered in their local community centres and in school settings.
* The majority of youth participants expressed willingness to vote. Males reported that they expected to vote more often than females. One of the reasons for not voting was a concern about not being well informed. This female participant thought it was be better to not vote than to vote for the wrong candidate.
* All participants considered that it is important to follow your own ideals. The parents would encourage and support their children to give them time to learn their own preferences and follow their own ideals. Parents are supportive in helping their children to follow their dreams and their desire to help others. Youth and adolescents would be very supportive of their friends, would encourage them to follow their ideals and do whatever they consider is the best course of action in order to help people in need.
* More than a half of participants from both genders and from the three age groups who were aware of the Canadian unity issue thought that Canada should remain united as a country. Some participants considered that all Canadian citizens should work to keep Canada together. However, less than a quarter of participants discussed their sense of belonging to Canada

 

Do these conceptions vary according to the nature of the political regimes experienced in the country of origin?
 

 

* All participants reported positive emotions because of civic involvement. Positive emotions constituted an integral part of civic participation regardless of the political status of the country of origin.
* All participants expressed negative emotions when they became aware of social injustice. Participants from democratic countries appear to have been more open to speak about social injustice those from non-democratic countries.
* All groups were more interested in helping others than in helping the community; slightly more participants from non-democratic countries more interested in helping others than were those from democratic countries.
* Participants from non-democratic countries were more likely to accept non-violent demonstrations as a form of protest while participants from democratic countries were more likely to accept dialogue as a form of protest.
* Participants from both-democratic and non-democratic countries perceived that voting is important. There is a slight tendency for participants from non-democratic countries to view leadership roles as an important means for participating in electoral politics.
* All participants were of the opinion that political participation should be a matter of following one=s heart or The Spanish translation “hazlo de corazón.” This expression means that it is paramount to follow your own ideals. Ideals are connected with passion and emotions. Political opinions are always expressed with high emotional content. Therefore, political participation has strong emotional connotations. Participants’ adolescents have a sense of purpose when they are able to express their opinions and they feel allowed to convey their ideals into positive action.
* Participants from non-democratic countries were more likely, than those from democratic countries; believed that their political participation would make a difference in their community.
* Among adults, Three of 17 those from democratic countries and two of 15 of those from non-democratic countries experienced a sense of belonging in Canada; eight of 17 of those from democratic countries and ten of 15 of those from non-democratic countries had sufficient and accurate knowledge about Canada.
* Among youth, only one in ten of those from democratic countries and none of those from non-democratic countries experienced a sense of belonging in Canada. Three of ten of those from democratic countries and six of nine of those from non-democratic countries had sufficient and accurate knowledge about Canada.
* Among adolescents, none from either type of country experienced a sense of belonging in Canada; three of ten of those from democratic countries and one of nine of those from non-democratic countries had sufficient and accurate knowledge about Canada.
* While the data are insufficient to generalize, more participants from democratic countries experienced a sense of belonging in Canada, and more adults and youth from non-democratic countries were aware of Canadian unity issues.

 

Themes
 

 

Eisner (1991) describes themes as “Those recurring messages construed from the events observed@ (p.189). Themes are iterations that occur across the data. They are explicit or implicit verbal expressions within the interviews.

 

 

Themes convey the basic variations in the recurring experiences and conceptions of the participants (DeSantis & Ugarriza, 2000). However, not all categories of description are themes. Themes represented recurrent and prevalent central ideas that emerged from the interviews. Two basic themes were identified: (1) forms of political participation, and (2) the affective dimension of participation. Figure 3 illustrates the relationship among the themes.

 

 

Forms of participation were subdivided into conventional and un-conventional forms of political participation. This nomenclature is used by Torney-Purta, Lehmann, Oswald and Schulz (2001) and it is viewed in this study as similar to the terms Agrass-roots politics@ and the Aelectoral politics@ proposed by Hardy-Fanta (1993). Voting was the most preferred form of conventional political participation; volunteering in the community was the most preferred form of unconventional political participation.The affective dimension was subdivided into four groups: positive and negative emotions, the power to make a difference, freedom of conscience and a sense of belonging to Canada. Latin-Americans perceive themselves as passionate about political participation.  

CONCLUSIONS
 

School-based activities could become the training ground for volunteer activities by extending an invitation to participate not only to students but also to their parents. In most cases, newcomer parents have been involved in volunteer activities in their home countries and they are often eager to become agents of change in their new country. Their command of English or French will improve through their involvement in community activities. Participants in this study expressed their desire to participate in school activities and to develop new friendships with members of the host society. Schools and volunteer organizations could extend an invitation to newcomers to become involved in their volunteer activities. The study being reported here found that participants would like to be more involved but language barriers and social distance hamper their efforts to become involved within the community.

 

 

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