(Re)Expressions of African/Caribbean Cultural Roots in Canada

Abstract

This qualitative article examines the importance of collectivism expressed by both newcomers and established Ghanaian and Jamaican immigrants in Canada. Toronto residents (N = 32) participated in structured face-to-face interviews consisting of 32 open-ended questions examining individualismcollectivism and cultural orientation. Results indicated that the majority of participants maintained a collectivistic cultural orientation, despite their length of residency in Canada, as a result of three major factors. First, participants' social networks facilitate the migration and adaptation of newcomers and thus perpetuate collectivistic principles. Second, as a symbol of identity, participants actively value and promote their collectivistic cultural attributes. Finally, participants' cultural collectivism encourages the establishment of highly interwoven transnational ties that reinforces collectivistic orientational interactions. The findings suggest that conscious engagement is a necessary component of collectivistic endeavors to actualize group goals.

Ethnic Museum Websites, Cultural Projection, and Self-Categorization Concepts

“…This holds with Hofstede's work, which documents the tendency for many Latin American cultures to be more collectivist than individualist, and aligns with studies on collectivism in African and AfricanAmerican culture (e.g., Chionesco, 2008;Hofstede, 2001). It also matched the goals of the museums as perceived by our respondents, to serve their communities with events and activities.…”

Parents’ Opinions of Mandatory Human Papillomavirus Vaccination: Does Ethnicity Matter?

“…Minority parents' arguments that mandatory vaccination would benefit both their children and other young women, and the concordance between choosing to vaccinate their own daughters and supporting mandates, suggest that many minority participants feel that interventions that benefit the individual will also benefit the group. Their views appear to reflect a community orientation linking personal and shared welfare that has previously been described among African-Americans (Baldwin 1990; Carson 2009), Latino-Americans (Greenfield 1994), Latin American nationals (Pedrotti 2009), and immigrants from the Caribbean and Africa (Chioneso 1998) as compared with more individualistic values among Caucasians.…”

Eastern Caribbean Physicians’ Responses to Providing HIV/AIDS Care in Resource-Limited Settings

“…This generosity is a reflection of the collectivist ethos and low powerdistance identified by Hofstede, 49 where Caribbean cultures tend to score high in collectivistic tendencies and low in power-distance orientation. 50 The Eastern Caribbean countries share similarities in culture, seen in political histories, idioms, and health system structure, which are maintained through traditions of inter-island mobility.…”