Where to Draw Lines? Othering and Immigrants

Somewhere between reading through the color lines, that criss-cross through time and nations, described by Foner[i], and the folkloric “cultural problems” described by Li[ii] that prevent immigrants “successful” integration into Canadian society, I realized that the research project I was about to embark on at Gordon Neighbourhood House would involve laying down similar “lines” of some variety.

In part, this stems from my hypothesis that the basis of the Senior Needs Assessment Survey that I am helping coordinate and conduct are based on assumptions specific to a culturally specific demographic. One main objective of the Needs Assessment Survey (NAS) is to identify the extent and variety of housing issues affecting seniors in the West End of Vancouver. The original draft of this quantitative survey involved questions about seniors’ abilities to “age in place,” meaning aspects of their lives that aid or prevent them from living happy healthy lives in a permanent residence. This phrase was not familiar to me, but understood by the three members of the NAS panel working in or studying gerontology (the study of aging), as well as the West End Seniors Community Planning Table, who identified the need for the survey.

This is an excerpt of the initial outline of my research idea that I sent to my fellow NAS panel members a week ago:

Through interviews with immigrant seniors, I hope to determine whether such terms are understood and valued to the same extent, and to gain a clearer picture of housing issues as experienced by immigrant seniors. The data that comes out of quantitative reports is often interpreted according to the reader’s own values. Definitions of “home” or “aging in place” may have different values attached to them. My intention would be to complement the data collected through the surveys by adding snapshots of the diverse experiences and perspectives of seniors relating to this issue.

While the “immigrant” in IVEFS can apply to a wide array of those individuals I have come into contact with during my time at Gordon House, in the formative stages of my research design process I have assumed those worthy of being interviewed to be coming from a society at least somewhat different from “mainstream” Canadian, American, or English speaking European societies, and in many cases racially different from the main “white” populations described by Foner. The probable result of such criteria would not be a biased selection of “foreign-looking” immigrant seniors like those in the folkloric immigrant definition outlined by Li, but “foreign sounding” immigrant seniors.

My original assumptions and rationales for selecting “foreign sounding” immigrant seniors are as follows:

1. Immigrant seniors from England, Ireland etc. would have similar values surrounding home and social policies, due to a circulation of ideas and sharing of cultural origins within the English language (it would not surprise me if this were false)
2. Non-native English speakers might be more likely to have trouble dealing with landlords and may not be familiar with avenues of legal recourse
3. Those coming from different cultural backgrounds are more likely to have different ideas, experiences, and values surrounding home and housing

My worry is that my criteria for selecting interviewees depends, to a large extent, on measures of “otherness.” Before finalizing my project proposal I will need to decide whether or not my approach will help by identifying assumptions in the NAS or simply survey to overwrite “foreign looking” immigrant seniors with “foreign sounding” experiences.