Re-negotiating minority status in a context of immigration: a case study of Berber families living in Montreal
While it is true that migration tends to prompt a re-negotiation of identity referents, it is also true that this negotiation often takes place in a context of minority relations. This re-negotiation is often analysed from the point of view of post-migratory experiences, but it is also worthwhile to resituate the analysis further in time and space. It is important to look towards the past because identity is, in part, constructed in the minority-majority relations already existent in the country of origin. At the same time, identity referents, and their trans-generational transmission, are also part of the cultural baggage that individuals carry with them in the migratory process, across geographic space. The experience of being a minority in the country of origin thus contributes to the re-negotiation of identity referents in the country of migration. This is the case of the Berber families that we met in a recent study on the transmission of values in recent immigrant families from North Africa. Minorities in their country of origin with respect to the Muslim-Arab community, these families are also minorities in Quebec where they are labelled as ‘immigrants’ and often assimilated in the larger categories of ‘Arabs’ or ‘North Africans’. Confronted with these globalising labels, the families develop strategies aimed at reaffirming their Berber identity. Through the analysis of family narratives, we explore these renegotiations of identity, comparing representations of Berber-Arab relations historically situated in pre-migratory experiences and representations of their status as immigrants in Quebec.