{"id":91,"date":"2025-09-19T16:05:48","date_gmt":"2025-09-19T23:05:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/?page_id=91"},"modified":"2025-11-10T17:48:02","modified_gmt":"2025-11-11T00:48:02","slug":"project-overview","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/project-overview\/","title":{"rendered":"Project Overview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This project is part of a broader examination<\/a> of the meaning of citizenship in Canada. It explores citizenship narratives and how people think about those narratives, with a focus on the relationship between citizenship and Truth and Reconciliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What is citizenship?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We begin with the premise that citizenship is more than legal status. Citizenship also represents a collective identity that is imagined through, and reproduced by, state-sponsored narratives of nationhood and belonging.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Narratives of citizenship are taught and reinforced by various institutions throughout one\u2019s life. For newcomers, cultural orientation, language classes, and citizenship study guides and tests play a key role in conveying these narratives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Government-sponsored narratives of citizenship often differ from lived experience. They can obscure inequities in access and belonging. They can also foster a selective form of patriotism that overlooks historical realities like colonialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

What does citizenship mean for newcomers to Canada?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Working in partnership with two Vancouver-based immigrant-serving organizations (MOSAIC<\/a> and YMCA BC<\/a>), we recruited newcomers who had previously participated in citizenship-related classes or programs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Participants shared their insights through photo narratives. We incorporated data from a survey, participant-generated photos and written reflections, and paired interviews.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Research Question<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

How do newcomers learn, interpret, and engage with narratives of citizenship in Canada?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Photo taken outside a citizenship test preparation class offered by YMCA BC at Vancouver Community College (January 2025)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Contact<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Lisa Brunner<\/strong>, Project Manager and UBC Centre for Migration Studies Postdoctoral Research Fellow
lisa.brunner@ubc.ca<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This project is part of a broader examination of the meaning of citizenship in Canada. It explores citizenship narratives and how people think about those narratives, with a focus on the relationship between citizenship and Truth and Reconciliation. What is citizenship? We begin with the premise that citizenship is more than legal status. Citizenship also represents a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":104947,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-91","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/104947"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=91"}],"version-history":[{"count":30,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":620,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/91\/revisions\/620"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.ubc.ca\/citizenship\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=91"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}