Negotiated Cultural Identity and Belonging of Self-Identified Indo-Guyanese Immigrant Women

Abstract

This dissertation examines how young, self-identified Indo-Guyanese women who immigrated to Southwestern Ontario in the 1970s negotiate cultural identity and belonging. Utilizing a bio-ethnographic bricolage narrative methodology, the study explores the impact of postcolonial diaspora and social displacement on these women’s experiences within the third space or borderlands. Grounded in relativist ontology and constructivist epistemology, storytelling serves as the primary data collection method through a critical theory lens. Interviews with 12 participants were analyzed thematically and reflexively, revealing how participants construct meaning and navigate cultural identities. The analysis, conducted through feminist, decolonial, and trauma-informed perspectives, offers insights into psychological homelessness resulting from otherness. Considering the dual migrations across continents, the study employs a bricolage approach, integrating theological, epistemological, and psychological perspectives to understand generational implications and cultural straddling. As philosopher John O\u27Donohue (2002) expressed, the hunger to belong is at the heart of our nature (p. xxi). This research resonates with those exploring the generational effects of negotiated cultural identity and aims to document these lived experiences for future generations, emphasizing the preservation of diasporic cultural heritage