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ANUSHRAY SINGH
population. Brampton, ON and Surrey, BC are two cities which can be taken
as examples when we talk about First Space in the context of South Asia and
minority studies: about 44% and 32.8% of their population have South Asian
origination. Observing the discourses in these two cities — we see its cultures,
economics, politics and social structures make major reference to South Asian
cultures. These cities have a tangible migrant network (a home away from
home for many of its South Asian residents) which enable people with similar
cultural and linguistic backgrounds to find each other and share necessary
knowledge and resources.” They are often the initial cultural points for many
first-generation immigrants from South Asia and inevitably attract businesses,
services and socio-cultural organizations catering for this demographic.
Thriving First Space(s) around the Anglophone West pose a problem for
migrant integration. Some arguments suggest Canadian “multiculturalism,”
is an encouragement for minority and majority communities to co-exist
alongside rather than with each other. On the other hand, they are seen as
an important process in minority mobilization, helping build social capital,
invariably boosting transnational South Asian and Canadian economies. The
prosperity of First Space creates economic mobility for new migrants, it also
creates alternative labour markets: a development of the co-ethnic network,
where learning the language, culture and social skills of their host country isn’t
necessary. South Asian immigrants in Canada (first-generation often seclude
within their co-ethnic communities) maintain an “economic” relationship
with the mainstream host society. They rely on “transnational” networks of
mass-media for its cultural propagation over an integrative network with the
mainstream Canadian host culture. These mass-media networks are often
maintained imports from the Mumbai based Hindi film industry and, in
the Canadian context, these are also from the Punjab based music industry,
reflecting transnational Indian-Canadian identities: a mainstream pastiche of
“Non-resident Indians” who find economic prosperity in “Videsh” (Canada) but
are unable to culturally integrate, thus maintaining a long-distance national
identity resonating with one’s “Desh” (South Asian homeland).
Second Space
This place is seen through Oldenburg’s classification of Work. It is a place
where you travel away from home to engage in activities of commerce and
economics. In this context, through the eyes of the South Asian diasporic
Douglas S. Massey, Why Does Immigration Occur? A Theoretical Synthesis, in Charles
Hirschman - Philip Kasinitz — Josh DeWind (eds.), The Handbook of International
Migration: The American Experience, New York, Russell Sage Foundation, 1999.
Alejandro Portes, and Jensen Leif, Disproving the Enclave Hypothesis: Reply, American
Sociological Review, Vol. 57, No. 3 (1992), 418-420.
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