Ethnic and Racial Self-Identifications of Second-Generation Canadians of African and Caribbean Heritage

Abstract

This study investigated how second-generation Canadian youth of African and Caribbean heritage constructed racial, ethnic, and national identities and categories. Twenty-two participants aged 13 to 18 years of East and West African, and Caribbean background, were recruited from communities in the Greater Toronto Area to participate in four discussion groups. Discourse analysis was used to demonstrate the fluidity and negotiability of racial and ethnic identities and categories. Participants constructed the category of “Black” using historical, social, and descriptive references and in support of their identifications or lack thereof with this category. Categories associated with “ethnicity” and nationality were also constructed to support participants’ identifications, with some contradictory representations. Disagreements over category constructions were also present. The study highlights the performative, as opposed to cognitive, features of identities. It also brings attention to how flexible the characterizations of racial and ethnic labels can be and argues for researcher consideration of this flexibility in relation to their participants and to the social contexts of their research. Implications for research in Canadian contexts are also discussed.