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Abstracts and Bios

Robert A. Kenedy, Department of Sociology, York University, Toronto
rkenedy@yorku.ca

Diana Reis, Department of Sociology, University of Ottawa
reis@yorku.ca

This study explores identity and resettlement issues among Angolan Lusophone(Portuguese speaking) women of colour in Toronto. It chronicles the various methodological realities of interviewing 11 women in Portuguese and English. The variables that were explored include identity, resettlement, gender, race, religiosity, and other related aspects. Participants identified the process of immigration and settlement as the “voyage of their lives” and reported having to confront a variety of issues in the mainstream Canadian and Portuguese-Canadian communities of Toronto, Canada. Racism was particularly noteworthy for these women who were coping with many other challenges of resettlement. Generally, these women felt they experienced different treatment then other Lusophone women and coped with resettlement and identity issues in unique ways that melded their Angolan and newly acquired Canadian identities.