Representations of Multilingualism and Conceptions of Citizenship in an urban, globalized world

Abstract

Representations of multilingualism and monceptions of citizenship in an urban, globalized world In this article, I demonstrate how four self-identified multi-generational Italian Canadian youth socially construct their identities and invest in language learning while participating in a French teacher education program in Toronto, Canada. In doing so, I draw upon critical ethnography and discourse analysis (Fairclough, 1995), using multiple field methods to highlight the different conceptions of what being Canadian, multilingual and multicultural means to these youth and the ways in which they position themselves vis-à-vis the acquisition of French as official language. I furthermore illustrate how some of their lived social and linguistic practices problematize social categories and labels. This work acknowledges the creation of social spaces for overlapping identities, which could possibly challenge the status quo, crossing both societal and social borders in Canada and beyond.