Great Expectations: Perspectives of Young West African Immigrant Men Transitioning to the Canadian Labour Market Without
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Great Expectations: Perspectives of Young West African Immigrant Men Transitioning to the Canadian Labour Market Without Postsecondary Education Stacey Wilson-Forsberg 1 & Oliver Masakure 1,2 & Edward Shizha 3 & Ginette Lafrenière 4 & Magnus Mfoafo-M’Carthy 4 # Springer Nature B.V. 2019
Abstract This article employs a life course perspective to examine the life experiences— expectations, disappointments and second chances—of young men from West African immigrant families who did not complete postsecondary education. Specifically, it demonstrates the discrepancy between the education and career expectations that parents have for their sons and the men’s own expectations as they transitioned from high school to the labour market. Based on a larger qualitative study of the postsecondary education decisions of male African immigrant youth in Southern Ontario, Canada, the article highlights the life stories of 20 young men in Toronto who transitioned to adulthood in economically vulnerable families. The findings demonstrate that the young men took a non-linear path to the labour market. Keywords African immigrant youth . Transition to postsecondary education . Transition to
labour market . Parental expectations . Second chances . Life course perspective
Introduction Charles Dickens’ Great Expectations is a novel of hope and heartbreak, mistakes and second chances, loyalty and betrayal, social class and poverty (Dickens 1964 edition). Although set * Stacey Wilson-Forsberg [email protected]
1
Human Rights and Human Diversity, Wilfrid Laurier University, 130 Grand River Hall, 73 George Street, Brantford, ON N3T 2Y3, Canada
2
Business Technology Management, Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, Canada
3
Youth and Children’s Studies, Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, Canada
4
Social Work, Wilfrid Laurier University, Brantford, Canada
Wilson-Forsberg S. et al.
in a different historical and social context, the struggle of youth to find who they really are and who they are meant to be is something that is common through the years and across continents. Young people face this tension daily, and, not unlike the character of Pip, their experiences play out in familial relationships as they transition into adulthood. Among other decisions over the life course, young people have to consider how they will support themselves and their families as adults and, in doing so, they must decide whether to pursue postsecondary education (PSE) or take an alternate route to a fulfilling career. This path can often become encumbered by familial pressures. This is especially relevant to racialized immigrant youth, who, upon arriving in Canada, must adjust to a new culture, discrimination, an unfamiliar school environment and often a different language. These pressures are heightened by the motivation to make their parents proud of the sacrifices they made by immigrating to a new country. On average, immigrants tend to be better educated than non-immigrant Canadians, an outcome that is at least partly due to Canada’s immig
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