“Where are you from?” Racialization, belonging and identity among second-generation African-Canadians

Abstract

This paper explores how the query “where are you from” is central to processes of racialization in Canada, and how such encounters shape identities and belonging among second-generation African-Canadians. The study is based on qualitative interviews with young men and women whose parents migrated from countries in sub-Saharan Africa, who are racialized as black, and who grew up in metro Vancouver. Although the second-generation embodies the usual markings of local accents and place-based knowledge, other residents frequently question their origins in the belief they cannot be local. These interactions make it clear that the presence of a black body is seen as out of place rather than at home and shapes negotiation of identities as Canadian, African and black.

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