新作坊

Building a multicultural coalition: promoting participation in civic society among ethnic minority communities

摘要：

To manoeuvre around participant fear, the Community Animators were careful to use specific and well-thought-out recruitment strategies. Introducing the idea of the project at a community event or a community meeting was commonly employed as a recruitment strategy. Community Animators utilized terms such as "social justice" or "equity" rather than "policy" and "politics." The workshops were framed as social events, with Community Animators extending an invitation for food and "to chat about common issues." One outlined how delicately she handled the recruitment process: The unease with politics was inextricably linked to an unclear understanding of the meaning of/or association with the concept of participation. Many participants came from one-party regimes where democratic "voting" really did not exist; if the country was to be a democracy, there was only one party and "voting" was artificial or a hoax. In our Canadian political context we invite "participation"; however, for many participants the act of "participating" was incomprehensible or unknowable. One coalition member described his understanding of "participation" in this way: [Freyss Fox] (2006) suggested different strategies must be employed to promote political engagement among minority groups, especially among groups coming from authoritarian political regimes. Community Animators were aware of this reluctance to participate due to fear of "politics," and the language used in dialogue with the community reflected this. An effective strategy included utilizing culturally appropriate language to ease participants' fears about participating in the project. Specifically, Community Animators refrained from using the words "political" or "politics" and used phrases such as "community action" or "community work" instead. Rather than attempting to change participant perceptions of political participation, they waited until they had captured the interest of the community and then "broke the news" of the political nature of the project. This kind of log maintains that as soon as something is depoliticized, even if this merely occurs at the level of naming practices, fear surrounding the issue may be removed, rendering it safe for discussion. Governments must be aware of this fear and how it might influence participation. Awareness must be awarded to the language which is used in dialogue with ethnic minority communities.