Migrant Women: Transnational/Transcultural Identities across Borders in Canadian Female Writing

For the migrant female subject who finds herself in a predominantly anglophone nation such as Canada, the presence of her own ethnic group can act as an important mediator in the process of reconstructing a personal identity. In her search for individualization and freedom, she is often faced with conflicting tensions, both within and without the collective dimensions of her ethnic enclave, which result from predefined roles that are either proposed or imposed.The paper presents an analysis of (multi)linguistic, (multi)cultural and (trans)national identities in the writings of Jane Urquhart, Alice Munro, Janice Kulyk Keefer and Genni Gunn. These women have presented a diverse but at the same time similar concern for issues regarding place/landscape, immigration/migration, integration/segregation and identity/ambiguity.