Shift in Masculine Status after Migration and Its Impact on Muslim Immigrant Men’s Integration in Canada
Date
2022-03
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Abstract
The involvement of some Muslim men in terrorist attacks and the so-called ‘honour killings’ since the 9/11 incident has generated a popular narrative in the West, in which Muslim immigrant men are viewed as unable or unwilling to integrate into Western societies due to the inconsistency they experience between the gender norms in their old and new countries. A corollary of this is another argument that Muslim immigrant men do experience an inconsistency between their lived experiences and expectations regarding their masculinity, and that this inconsistency manifests in the form of relationship conflicts in their private lives. However, scholars have overlooked Muslim men’s abilities to rid themselves of such inconsistencies and adapt to host society’s cultural gender norms. As such, this lack of knowledge has created an oversimplified image of Muslim men as individuals who are emotionally vulnerable and consistently choose to resist the idea of changing their attitudes after migration to Western countries. This research attempts to address this shortcoming. Using data from 33 semi-structured interviews with Afghan Muslim men in Canada, the results show that the participants are diverse in their reactions to Canadian societies’ liberal and egalitarian gender norms, despite coming from one of the world’s most conservative countries. The data reveal three typical responses to such conflicts – Traditionalist, Assimilationist, and Integrationist – and that their choice of any of these responses has a lot to do with their socioeconomic experiences in the broader society. These findings show a complex, multidimensional, evolving, and diverse process of cultural adaptation for Muslim men after migration, a process that is not adequately captured through a discussion of jurisprudential rulings. Specifically, I highlight a) the diversity of these Muslim men’s responses to their perceived conflicts between the gender norms in their old and new homes; b) the changing nature of those responses; and c) the significant impact of their broader socioeconomic experiences on the responses they adopt. The implications of these findings are discussed in light of the debates on political correctness and a new surge in the out-migration of Afghans to Western countries after the recent Taliban takeover.
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Keywords
Migration, Immigrant Integration, Muslim Minorities, Muslim Men, Muslim Masculinities, Canada
Citation
Akbary, S. H. (2022). Shift in masculine status after migration and its impact on Muslim immigrant men’s integration in Canada (Doctoral thesis, University of Calgary, Calgary, Canada). Retrieved from https://prism.ucalgary.ca.