Multiculturalism as a negotiated citizenship: voices of second-generation Black Jamaicans

Abstract

ABSTRACT This study examines the lived experiences of second-generation Black Jamaicans and investigates how they interpret Canadian multiculturalism while navigating racism in their everyday lives. There is no dearth of research on multiculturalism in Canada. However, this article makes a fresh contribution to debates on multiculturalism by exploring how multiculturalism is understood and articulated as a claim-making process by a racialized group under lived citizenship framework. It extends the discussions on multiculturalism from a state-centered analysis to citizenship from below. Drawing from 22 interviews with second-generation Black Jamaicans, this study maintains that citizenship is a dynamic process through which research participants make claims to rights and belonging and negotiate their position vis-à-vis the state and other citizens to put the ideals of multiculturalism into practice.