1. Objectifs

Intentions :
« This study reexamines the Quebecois migration [between 1870 and 1930] using a gendered lens of analysis; it seeks to understand both how gender shaped the process of relocation for the migrants, and how the migrants’ understandings of gender changed throughout the migration process. » (p. iv)

Questions/Hypothèses :
« How did the process of migration alter understanding of gender for the Quebecois migrants? How did their understandings of gender help to shape the migration experience? » (p. 14)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
« This study utilizes statistical analysis of federal census data […] from 1870-1930. » (p. 14) It also uses « [...] six computerized databases which contain all recorded French-Canadian-ancestry individuals, as well as the non-French-Canadian household members with whom they sometimes lived, in Lewistown, Maine and Worcester, Massachusetts for the census years 1880, 1900, and 1920. » (p. 15) Illustrated French-language newspapers published by migrants themselves of both sexes were also revised for this study.

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique et analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

« Precipitated by economic crises in Quebec, migration often disrupted migrants’ gendered patterns of living. In Lewiston and other textile centers, women and children were often more employable than men. This reality weakened the traditional justification for men’s familial authority by precluding men from supporting their families single-handedly; it also increased the likelihood of women’s choosing to live outside the traditional prescribed role of wife-mother, much to community leaders’ chagrin. In contrast, while employment opportunities were greater for men in Worchester’s diversified industrialized economy, the relative shortage of French-Canadian-ancestry women made it more difficult for some men to marry ’canadienne’ wives, with whom the could establish culturally French Canadian families. Responding to these challenges, male community leaders created a new form of masculine authority and identity. Focusing on community instead of individuals, and relationship to the community at large rather than just ties to one’s own family, this new male identity was simultaneously both ’fully American’ and ’fully French Canadian’. Meanwhile, communities continued to define female migrants primarily through relationship to others (i.e. as wives and mothers). This study adds to the growing body of scholarship that seeks to establish historical precedents for transnational identities, which many scholars maintain are only a recent phenomenon. It also breaks new ground by highlighting that transnational identity formation is a sex-specific and gender-differentiated process. » (p. iv)