Archives: migration

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Becoming Migration Researchers: Disquieting Borders with Auto-Ethnography

An introduction to "Migration Stories" by Laura Bisaillon What do five Canadian women with kinship ties to Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the Philippines, and Vietnam have in common? Quite a lot, as it turns out. In this special collection, contemporary experiences with human movement and circulation across borders, both material and conceptual, are... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

From Vietnam to Canada: Exploring through Photographs, Footprints and Fingertips

In July 2017, my family and I returned to Vietnam, thirteen years after our last visit. Duong Bui, my father, took my younger brother, Allan, and I to visit his childhood home. He lived there from birth until he escaped Vietnam after the Vietnam War. Like many others, he became a refugee and made his way to Canada, in search of better... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Language Past, Present and Future: Being Memon, Expressing Life in Kutchi

In this paper, I highlight the significance of language as a key feature supporting cultural and community practices. Starting with my ethnic community, Memon, and the language we speak, Kutchi, I argue that it is important for us to find ways to preserve. Currently, it is only an oral language. Without an official script, I am concerned that this... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

From Asia to North America: Praying Here, There, and Everywhere

This paper aims to explore social belonging for Muslims and Muslim immigrants in North America using the object of a janamaz (prayer mat). I argue that in the face of rising intolerance and an inherent ‘othering’ of Muslims embedded in legal structures and social awareness, being backed by a community creates a sense of social belonging that... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

Growing up in a Bengali Kitchen

In this paper, I share how as an immigrant in Canada, I felt detached from my home country of Bangladesh in my early years due to a desire to assimilate into dominant Canadian culture. As I grew older, I actively sought a connection to cultivate my ‘Bengaliness’ by holding onto Bengali food customs and practices. I use my personal narratives... More

Sunday, September 1, 2019

A Song for my Mother: No Turning Back

In this essay, I contest ideas and representations about migrants as “vulnerable” and “other” from a presumed “us”. I argue that migrants are strong figures who deal with uncertainties over which they have little control. I have composed a music composition entitled No Turning Back. This analyses features my mother’s migration to... More

Monday, August 12, 2019

ALiGN researchers participate in the Forced Migration Training camp in Nairobi

ALiGN is proud to announce that, thanks to its partnership with LERRN: the Local Engagement Refugee Research Network at Carleton University, two of our writers and researchers, Kathy Dobson and Ghadah Alrasheed, have been invited to participate in the annual "Forced Migration Training" camp at the Kenya School of Government in Nairobi at the... More

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