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Ambiguous immigrants? Examining the changing status of the E nglish in N ew Z ealand
Author(s) -
Pearson David
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
nations and nationalism
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.655
H-Index - 44
eISSN - 1469-8129
pISSN - 1354-5078
DOI - 10.1111/nana.12042
Subject(s) - immigration , ambiguity , ethnic group , sociology , identity (music) , social psychology , psychology , political science , anthropology , computer science , law , physics , acoustics , programming language
Drawing on a qualitative interview‐based study of E nglish migrants in N ew Z ealand, this article examines, if and how, overseas migration triggers national sentiments that were previously relatively amorphous in their country of origin. In those cases where this occurs, it analyses the diverse and contextual orientations migrants display, and discusses the empirical and analytic challenges posed when seeking to conceptualise a category of persons that have been described as ‘ambiguous immigrants’. The study concludes that research on this ambiguity contributes to debates about the relationship between dominant ethnicity and national identity while highlighting the simplicities of many concepts used to describe and analyse ‘the E nglish’.