Years of work with Indigenous communities in archaeology inspired me to turn the lens on myself. Through ethnography, I was able to understand my role as an immigrant in Canadian-Indigenous discourse.

Overview

Institution University of Waterloo

Program Master of Arts in Public Issues Anthropology

Topic Immigrant experience and Indigenous-Settler relations

Title Ruptures in Canada’s Nationalist Narrative: Situating Toronto’s Former-Yugoslav Immigrants in the Indigenous-Settler Context

Timeline  September 2015 to January 2017

Location In-person in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada

Shifting the Lens

As an anthropologist, it can be difficult to explain how broad the study of humans can really be. Before my life in User Experience research, I practiced biological anthropology by studying human diversity and analyzing human crania. I worked in archaeology for several years, in Ontario and abroad, on sites ranging from 100 to 500 thousand years old.

I had always been interested in what makes us both different and unique as people, but it wasn’t until I began working with local Indigenous communities on sites of their cultural heritage that I began asking the social questions that emerged from that curiosity.

As I learned more about Indigenous discourse in Canada, I began to question what kind of role I play in it as an immigrant living in one of the most diverse cities in North America. I wondered how much the Former-Yugoslav community in Toronto perceived Indigenous North Americans, and how those perceptions might be informed by their unique lived experiences before and after arriving in Canada. I decided to enrol in a Master’s program and use techniques of cultural anthropology like ethnography to investigate. You can read the details of my study below.

The Challenge

• Fill the gap in academic literature on relations between immigrants and Indigenous communities in Canada

• Gain clarity on how different immigrant communities form their perceptions of Indigenous peoples, and how this impacts their views on Canada, Canadians, and their own self identities

• Fill a gap in the literature on Former-Yugoslav communities in North America

• Conduct Experiential studies via ethnographic interviews and elements of auto-ethnography to investigate complex themes of identity and colonialism

The Approach

Research goals

• Understand how Former-Yugoslav expats form their perceptions of self-identity, Canadian identity, and Indigenous identity

• Discover relationships they may have with the Canadian state, Canadians, and with Indigenous peoples

• Investigate the history of Canada’s relationship with its citizens, immigrants, and Indigenous peoples

Methods and recruitment

• Extensive literature review in all relevant fields of study

• Semi-structured ethnographic interviews and some participant observation in participants’ homes, and elements of auto-ethnography

• Spoke with 10 Yugoslav expats of the 90’s diaspora in Toronto of varying ages, ethnic backgrounds and genders, recording data in Serbo-Croatian and English

The Results

• Determined that Former-Yugoslav’s self-identities as Canadians are impacted by their relationship with Indigenous media, stereotypes, and peoples

• Produced and defended a 41-page Master’s thesis with in-depth discussions on stereotypes of Indigenous peoples, on two conflicting traditions of Canadian identity, and on the Former-Yugoslav lived experience in this discourse

• Generated 3 quasi-personas based on attitudinal data from participants, and other characteristics of their lived experience

• Wrote a blog post summarizing the thesis to make it accessible and available to research participants and to the general public

1
Major Discovery

41
Pages of Analysis

3
Quasi-Personas

1
Accessible Article

Impact

This study filled a gap in the academic literature on the position that immigrants, specifically Former-Yugoslavs, have in the discourse of Indigenous-Settler relations. Since it was posted, the thesis paper has been download more than 1,000 times. The participants in the project also had an opportunity to learn more about the study by accessing the academic article and blog post. Some have also continued to delve into the complexity of the topic on their own.

On a personal note, this study equipped me with the opportunity to apply all of ethnographic theoretical and methodological training I’ve had over the years. To be able explore any topic in this depth is very satisfying, let alone to apply it to a topic that has such personal significance. This study was foundational in my work as a researcher.

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