Race, Ethnicity, Indigenous Peoples and Politics

L19(a) - Migration, Identity, and the Contours of Political Participation

Date: Jun 5 | Time: 01:45pm to 03:15pm | Location:

Chair/Président/Présidente : Roshan A. Jahangeer (York University)

Discussant/Commentateur/Commentatrice : Celia Romulus (University of Ottawa)

The Politics of Belonging and the Igbo Ethnic Group Agitation for Equitable Political Representation in Nigeria: Tola Odubajo (University of Lagos/University of Johannesburg)
Abstract: The Igbo ethnic group treaded the dangerous terrain of a civil-war with Nigeria between 1967 and 1970. The consequences of the fratricidal war still haunt the group in Nigeria’s political representation architecture. Inadvertently, the post civil-war relationship between the Federal Government and the Igbo group has stretched the sensitive connection between “belonging’’ and ‘’representation’’ in a heterogeneous state beyond the limits. Using three of the arguably most critical areas of political representation as case-study (office of the president, and composition of the Federal Executive Council; number of federating units; composition of the national parliament), related data indicates the Igbo ethnic group has been consistently short-changed in Nigeria’s political representation dynamics. A dominant theme in the literature is that the inequitable pattern of political representation impacts on the Igbo group’s sense of belonging in Nigeria. Consequently, a cross-section of the Igbo group continues to agitate for self-determination, and eventual dismemberment from Nigeria. This research seeks answers to the following questions: 1. Why is the Igbo ethnic group deprived of equitable political representation? 2. How will the Igbo ethnic group benefit from equitable political representation? 3. What lessons can Nigeria learn from Canada in the area of equitable political representation? This research will adopt Yuval-Davis (2006) analytical framework of the politics of belonging, to explain the imperativeness of entrenching a sense of belonging for Nigeria’s ethnic groups. The data for the research will be gathered from secondary sources, and both the descriptive and analytical approaches will be deployed for interpretation and explanation.

“We Have Awakened from Slumber!”: The Political and Gendered Dimensions of Uyghur Identity in Canada Post-2017: Maihemuti Dil Dilimulati (Concordia University), Kimberley Manning (Concordia University)
Abstract: This study discusses the political voices of Uyghur immigrants in Canada against the backdrop of intensified state oppression in the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region (XUAR) of China since 2017. Utilizing a survey of 113 (n=113) first-generation adult Uyghur immigrants and in-depth interviews with twenty of them (ten men and ten women) (n=20), the research uncovers a significant politicization within this diaspora over the past seven years. Grounded in theoretical perspectives such as diaspora formation, conflict deterritorialization (Féron & Voytiv, 2022), and decolonization theories by Fanon (1961) and Mignolo (2011, 2021), the study provides fresh insights into the growing political agency and resilience of Uyghurs in Canada, particularly among women, in response to escalating state violence in XUAR. More specifically, this study identifies the increased political activism among the Canadian Uyghur diaspora as a product of their ‘deterritorialization’ of ‘the conflict’ in their homeland, where state violence targeting Uyghurs has reached alarming levels in the recent past. This activism also reflects this group’s decolonial efforts and renewed transnational identity, where their connection to their homeland drives their actions in Canada. Moreover, the research sheds light on how these diaspora members, especially women, negotiate their political agency in the face of the global rise of Islamophobia, demonstrating the complexity of their decolonial experiences as a racialized Muslim group in both China and Canada. Their struggle extends beyond mere survival; it is also about asserting their identity and place as a free nation, a vital aspect of their decolonization journey.

The Circulation of Money and the Politics of Responsibility of Vietnamese Canadian Refugee Women: Annie Chau (University of Toronto), Abigail Bakan (University of Toronto)
Abstract: In this paper, I trace the politics of belonging and responsibility of Vietnamese Canadian refugee women through the circulation of their money back ‘home’. I argue that their monetary ties articulate complex notions of belonging and responsibility to their fallen nation, South Vietnam and to the Vietnamese who remain in a Vietnam reunified under communism. In life story interviews with Vietnamese Canadian refugee women conducted in 2024, the women share a variety of reasons they distribute their money back to Vietnam – to assist family who stayed behind, to donate to activist and charitable groups supporting imprisoned and impoverished Vietnamese, and to make transnational business contributing to the bourgeoning economy of Vietnam. These activities indicate an endurance of responsibility that Vietnamese Canadian refugee women have to their motherland, contra a more fleeting responsibility of nation-states that were involved in the making of war in and exile from Vietnam. Drawing on Anderson’s (1985) imagined community, what national community people belong or long to belong to communicates in part the national community they also feel responsible to. Applying this to diasporic Vietnamese women illuminates the pulls toward and pushes against a troubled homeland. Their articulations of belonging and responsibility to the nation of their exile and to the nation of their youth (a nation that is indeed imagined as it no longer exists) shows how people persist in their longing to belong outside nation-state recognition. Unlike people’s responsibilities, nation-states’ responsibilities of war and exile have genuflected under the present demands of global neoliberalism.

Diasporas and the Politics of Belonging: Examining the Digital Landscape of International Student Activism: Eleyan Sawafta (University of Alberta)
Abstract: This paper investigates how international students in Canadian universities navigate digital activism within a specific space that purports to offer "freedom of expression" but may also be vulnerable to censorship and scrutiny. Taking the period from October 2023 to October 2024 as the focus, this paper examines key incidents at the University of Ottawa, University of Toronto, McGill University and University of Alberta stemming from activism in relation to protesting the war in Gaza. These incidents are tracked through media, as well as statements from civil society, student organizations, and university of officials. Combined they highlight the tensions international students experience due to surveillance, as well as varying institutional responses to their activism. For international students—a politically marginalized and loosely organized diaspora—these challenges are particularly pronounced, impacting their ability to foster solidarity and a sense of belonging. In tracing and understanding the activism of students, this paper adopts a non-Western theoretical framework on social movements. Specifically drawing on Asef Bayat's innovative concept of a "social non-movement" and the notion of everyday resistance—where activism is characterized by non-collective actors and dispersed, informal, and unorganized actions—this study analyzes how digital spaces facilitate both identity formation and resistance for international students. This paper employs digital ethnography, interviews, and critical discourse analysis (using Voyant Tools) to explore international students’ digital activism, analyzing their online engagement, personal experiences, and institutional statements to understand surveillance and belonging in Canadian universities.