Twelfth International Conference on The Inclusive Museum

Abstract

Women’s international migration has been on the rise over decades. This paper introduces the findings of a qualitative study, with sixty-one participants, exploring the intersection of women’s immigration, integration, and mental health in Canada. In partnership with various NGOs and grass root organizations, Community-Based Participatory Research informed the study design. Coloniality of power and borderland theories informed the data analysis. Coloniality of power is understood as a system of contemporary relations that continue to be shaped by power structures rooted in ancient regimes such as colonialism. Grounded Theory analysis indicates, not only, the gendered aspect of immigration, but also signals to the imaginary colonial matrix of race, as an organizing principle established during colonial times, significantly impacting the participants’ integration. Participants reported that they encounter multiple borders in their integration paths, which change according to the institutions and the actors involved at the time; some are more evident than others; others are full with tension and nuances. Collectively, these individual acts encompass a systematic exclusionary border preventing their full economic and social integration. Coming to terms with it, their ongoing acts of resistance in maneuvering and standing up to such borders impact their overall mental health and wellbeing.