Project Overview
Contrary to the expectations of social scientists that religious
practices and identities will fade, and, perhaps, disappear, with
the triumph of modern science and technology, the influence of
religion has expanded dramatically across the globe, due, in part,
to such secular global processes as multinational capital flows,
cross-border migration, and increased electronic mediation—ironically,
some of the very forces that were expected to eradicate religion.
One would be hard pressed now to find any geopolitical conflict,
inter/national tension, or cultural war that has no religious undertones. However,
while studies of transnational migration have increased considerably
over the past decade or so, little research attention, as yet,
has been devoted to the role of religion in transnationalism, at
least in the Canadian context. It is this gap in the literature
that prompted the Ghanaian Immigrants Religious Transnationalism (GIRT)
project which seeks to examine the cross-border religious practices
and identities of Ghanaian immigrants in the Greater Toronto Area
(GTA). The study has five main objectives, which are to:
- examine the ways in which Ghanaian immigrants in Toronto live
their religious lives across borders
- explore how these immigrants use religious symbols, icons, and
ideas toassert their allegiance and sense of belonging to both
Ghana and Canada;
-
analyze how the transnational activities of these immigrants relate
to, overlapwith, and differ from other kinds of transnational practices
they pursue;
- analyze the institutional and organizational contexts in which
Ghanaian immigrants in Toronto enact their transnational religious
practices and identities; and
- highlight the role of the nation-state (i.e., Canada and Ghana)
and global cultures and institutions in shaping the nature and
contours of religious transnationalism among Ghanaian immigrants
in Toronto.
With the aid of data procured through participant observation, a survey,
and interviews, the project hopes to advance our empirical and theoretical
understanding of how transnational religious practices and identities
are created, and, ultimately, sustained. The project is distinctive
in its use of dialectics; its focus on religion, in counterpoint to
the prevailing emphasis on economic transnationalism; and in its analysis
of an African immigrant group in Canada—a group that has received,
arguably, the scantiest research attention in the emergent transnational
scholarship. By simultaneously focusing on the role of individuals,
religious organizations, and the state, the project will contribute
to our understanding of the complex relationships between individual
action (or human agency) and institutional structures in the production
of religious identities across borders. The study of transnationalism
is important beyond the fact that the phenomenon remains a vital part
of the lives of immigrants; it also matters because it has a bearing
on future immigration flows, return migration, and immigrants’ integration
into Canadian society—thus, transnationalism matters even to
those who are not involved personally. The focus on religion is equally
important, as religious identities and linkages now represent both
the best and the worst of global social processes, from philanthropism
in disaster relief to fundamentalist terrorism. That is not all: the
study will also challenge our existing notions of citizenship, national
allegiance, ethnicity, and identity, with such ideas as subjectivity,
plurality, mobility, hybridity, and dual-citizenship. With these theoretical
subversions in mind, policy makers, community leaders, social scientists,
governments and non-governmental organizations would better understand
the settlement and adaptation strategies of contemporary immigrants
from Africa in general, and Ghana in particular.
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