Mutual Perceptions and Interethnic Strategies among French, Italian, and Haitian Adolescents of a Multiethnic School in Montreal

Abstract

Processes through which interethnic relations and identity are constructed in a natural situation were studied among French, Italian, and Haitian adolescents of a multiethnic high school in Montreal. Grounded theory was the methodology chosen to study how the microsocial and macrosocial contexts influence the development of attitudes and strategies of individuals and groups. The research was conducted mainly through interviews of groups offriends (n = 4 to 6) of the same ethnic origin, gender, and age. The sample (N = 169) was almost equally distributed among gender, age groups (12 to 13, 14 to 15, and 16 to 17 years old), and the three most important ethnic groups of the school (58 French, 53 Italians, 58 Haitians). A marked evolution in attitudes and strategies was noted from the first to the fifth year of high school in all groups. The dominant taboo concerning ethnic differences noted among the 12-and 13-year-olds burst into an open celebration of these differences during the third year of high school to end on a sharp division between subgroups open or closed to ethnic differences in the fifth year of high school. A diversity of positions were to be found within each ethnic group. Gender and social class seemed to play different roles within each ethnic group in determining attitudes and strategies.

Ethnic and national identity among second‐generation immigrant adolescents in France: The role of social context and family

“…Social networks and friendships are assumed to be associated with cultural (ethnic and national) identity and social interaction may provide an avenue by which ethnicity is experienced and explored (Laperrière, Compère, D’Khissy, Dolce, & Fleurant, 1994). Phinney, Romero, Nava, and Huang (2001) have observed that interaction with peers from one's own ethnic group predicts ethnic identity, while parental cultural maintenance has only an indirect effect through adolescent ethnic language proficiency.…”

Focusing on children and youth: The role of social capital in educational outcomes in the context of immigration and diversity

“…In the same multi-ethnic schools, class differences mitigate citizen efficacy, for although young people share the same general view of society across social classes, lower-class youth feel more constricted and less enabled to participate in broader societal discourses and activities than middle-class youth (Laperri6re & Dumont,in press). Yet again, gender and social class in the same schools also played differential roles in each ethnic group in determining attitudes and strategies toward diversity (Laperri6re, Comp6re, D'Khissy, Dolce, & Fleurant, 1994). The 12-13-year-olds share Revue de I'integratiou et de la migration internationale 237 tt f2BERT, SHIRLEY SUN, and KOWCH a dominant taboo on the topic of diversity, whereas the 14-15-year-olds celebrate it, and among the 16-17-year-olds sharp divisions are reported between subgroups that are open or closed to ethnic differences in the fifth year of high school.…”