Abstract

This paper unpacks 20 Vietnamese-Canadians’ sentiments of indifference toward or opposition to Canada’s resettlement of Syrian refugees. I argue that participants center their understanding of ‘refugee’ around their diasporic journeys on boats to memorialize their visceral suffering and to position themselves as deserving of entry into Canada atop a hierarchy of legitimacy. In doing so, participants police ‘refugee’ as an identity category to reassert themselves as refugees and Syrians as migrants, thus constructing Vietnamese refugees’ pathways to citizenship as more legitimate. This article highlights how refugees’ self-understandings may be relational and evolve as new arrivals hold the same identity.

摘要

本文揭示了 20 名越南裔加拿大人对加拿大重新安置叙利亚难民的冷漠或反对情绪。我认为，参与者将他们对“难民”的理解集中在他们在船上的流散旅程上，以纪念他们内心的痛苦，并将自己定位为在合法性等级之上值得进入加拿大。在这样做的过程中，参与者将“难民”作为一种身份类别来维护自己作为难民和叙利亚人作为移民的身份，从而使越南难民获得公民身份的途径更加合法。这篇文章强调了难民的自我理解如何是相互关联的，并随着新来的人拥有相同的身份而演变。