“Better lives”: The transgenerational positioning of social mobility in the South Asian Canadian diaspora

SynopsisWithin the Canadian South Asian diaspora, family/work dynamics highlight the transgenerational nature of class status, social mobility and occupational identity. I draw upon feminist research on migration to analyze qualitative interviews that I conducted with South Asian Canadian girls and women between the ages of 16 and 34. Using narrative as a method, I mine subjects' stories for traces of identity work around familial occupational status, exploring how migration as “ordinary trauma” affects generations in diasporic families. I also look at how a diasporic context creates shifting gender norms, whereby South Asian fathers sometimes come to view daughters not only as future wives and/or mothers of the collective, but also as potential workers who might either maintain or even raise family class status.

► Transgenerational family/work dynamics within the Canadian South Asian diaspora ► Effects of familial labor market struggles on second generation daughters ► The ordinary trauma of migration for families and individuals ► Diasporic fathers' pride in daughters as labor market success stories