Ethnic Pride In Canada

In a major destination country such as Canada, immigrants have a strong presence. Given this diverse and vibrant cultural diaspora that absorbs Canada, many immigrant communities have taken to celebrating their heritage to give them a position in such a multinational country. It is important to further explore how the constancy of a national identity can define a person's life and shape their actions. I further wish to investigate specifically how the Croatian diaspora understands themselves, in a search to define and claim their identity. To address this aim, I will be looking at how ethnic pride can be defined by language, following an in depth analysis of the identities of multiple diasporas.

Recognition of the idea that language is bound to culture and identity, has prompted research into how it is a means of enriching the environment of fellow citizens. The value of ethnic pride has been studied in a variety of languages, including Russian (Ryazanova-Clarke, 2015), Spanish (Cashman, 2009), Croatian (Winland, 2007) and English (Stiltz, 2015). Most of these studies report the use of language as a central concept in the national integrity discourse.
A large part in the reason that immigrants adopt the English language is because of background power injustices.
Immigrants may feel forced to learn English in order for them to succeed, creating a strong distaste for the language. Thus, English can threaten the dignity of speakers, perhaps because people care a lot about their heritage language, and strongly identify with it. Following this logic, many immigrants either have never fully mastered the English language or feel humiliation in having to learn it. (Stiltz, 2015; Winland,
2007).

Heritage language schools can result from this unwillingness to learn English, as immigrants try to restore the cultural values lost from having to assimilate to Canadian culture. There is a large effort on behalf of teachers and parents to preserve bilingual education for as many students as possible (Combs et al, 2005; Cashman, 2009; Winland, 2007). A related example is Croatian-Canadians taking advantage of heritage language programs to publicly celebrate their sense of being Croatian (Winland, 2007), which closely connects to a similar situation in Arizona, United States where spanish language pride can be traced to the efforts of creating dual-language immersion schools (Cashman, 2009). This ordinary aspect of language pride is as important as language maintenance, as it restores culture.

The aspect of honor in being a native speaker of a language clearly shown when the Russian Emperor Nikolas I, once said: ‘Where the Russian flag is raised, it will never be lowered’. After many years of academic research, Armen Airapetian, a member of the elite Izborsk Club stated that he has come to the conclusion that the “flag is the Russian language” (Izborskii Klub, 2014 as cited in Ryazanova-Clarke, 2015). One can see that language has become a tactical device for producing and reproducing a sense of national identity (Ryazanova-Clarke, 2015; Winland, 2007).

While there seems to be a recurring theme that compatriots feel that their home country is a strong nation, through my research I have found some disagreement. The conventional discourse that language is bound to culture and territory, has been insufficient and incomplete in relation to Russia. Transnational pride was demoted in value and status, even as demand grew for Russia to come together as one unifying nation under Putin’s rule. Eventually, the Russian language was relied upon, connected to the historical rounds of ‘mini-globalization’ rather than a deep symbol of identity. So, even with pride being linked to the demonstration of loyalty to the language, culture and state, the compatriot discourse combined this with the idea that one could expect profit from the fluency in Russian.

In a final analysis, we see through the research of others that the involuntary process of learning English has undignified immigrants in Canada, causing the diasporas to create their own heritage language schools. Through the creation of these bilingual schools, one can see the impact that language has on the importance of maintaining a connection to a prior home, and reaffirming their identity. However, a small debate can be made about the root of language being a sense of pride for immigrants. Is it simply because immigrants want to celebrate themselves and their heritage in such a pluralist country (Winland, 2007; Cashman, 2009)? Or is it because the profit one can expect from knowing the language can be used as a resource (Ryazanova-Clarke, 2015)? I hope to further explore the motives for language maintenance, and thus how it can manifest from a sense of strong ethnic pride. My aim continues to be exploring the Croatian diaspora to look at the connection between pride and the affect it has on one’s identity and the ability it has to shape people’s lives.