Romancing 'the Rock': problematizing notions of welcoming immigrants and cultural diversification amidst strong Newfoundland identity structures

Jackson, Stephen O. (2014) Romancing 'the Rock': problematizing notions of welcoming immigrants and cultural diversification amidst strong Newfoundland identity structures. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

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Abstract

Using Critical Discourse Analysis in a critical realist framework, I review the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador’s immigration strategy, CBC programming on immigrants, and the Lanier Phillips story. I explore how notions of the ‘true Newfoundlander’, ‘newcomers’ and ‘settlement’ are constructed. The contexts in which real or manipulated foundational myths of the Newfoundland experience are constructed often shows ‘Newfoundland culture’ as both a business and an often prescribed series of character traits and way of life developed in reaction to certain constructs of the ‘outsider’. Current narrow definitions of ‘economic’, ‘social’ and ‘cultural’ development, combined with homogenizing terms of ‘uniqueness’ and the persistent myth that all patriots who move away do so reluctantly, place immigrants in exoticized and marginalized positions whose ‘welcome’ may be limited and dependent on their ability to assimilate and act as proponents of these constructed images. This is offered as one reason why many immigrants may move, alongside non-immigrants, for reasons other than economic. This thesis illustrates a need for deeper study into the immigrant experience and a more emancipated discussion of how new people can be allowed to participate productively, justly and equitably in this province.

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