Belonging to Quebec and English Canada as Muslims: The Perspectives of the Highly Educated Uyghur Immigrants

Abstract

Following the rise of Islamophobia, Muslims in the West have been experiencing increasingly challenging identity dilemmas. Canada is not an exception. This article, at the intersection of Critical Race Theory and post-colonial perspectives, analyzes the narratives of 13 highly educated Uyghur Muslim immigrants living in Quebec and some English provinces of Canada. Their stories show that many of them have become subject to multiple identity dilemmas common to other Muslim diaspora groups, while also facing some challenges unique to their own background. This article further highlights the Uyghur’s experiences through a new angle: they all appear to have developed an us/Muslim immigrant vs. them/white Canadians’ dichotomy. In the province of Quebec, their narratives reveal “oppositional consciousness” against the dominant white Quebecers, which is quite political, while in English provinces they may see their Muslim identity more as “oppositional culture” against the white English Canadians, which is much less political.