Persistence of ethnicity : a study of social and spatial boundaries on the eastern lower north shore, 1820-1970

• Main Author: Remiggi, Frank William
• Other Authors: Memorial University of Newfoundland. Dept. of Geography
• Format: Thesis
• Language: English
• Published: 1975
• Subjects: Ethnic groups; Ethnology > Quebec (Province); Canada; Newfoundland studies; University of Newfoundland
• Online Access: http://collections.mun.ca/cdm/ref/collection/theses2/id/255711

Thesis (M.A.)--Memorial University of Newfoundland, 1975. Geography Bibliography: leaves 152-161. -- Abstract in French and English. The study is concerned with the settlement history and social geography of the five eastern-most settlements of the Lover North Shore of Quebec. It focuses primarily on the social, spatial, and demographic evolution of the ethnic communities, including Francophone Catholics, Anglophone Catholics, and Anglophone Anglicans, which have been established there since the 1820s. The changing nature of the social and spatial boundaries which characterize inter-ethnic group relations on the Shore is examined, through analysis of the shifting roles of language and religion as the major criteria of ethnicity and ethnic group identity. Special attention is paid to marriage as the principal mechanism through which the ethnic composition of the Lower Shore is altered. -- The recent work of Frederik Barth is appraised as a major advancement in the field of ethnicity and, as such, is subsequently deployed as the basic theoretical framework of the study. Following the core analysis of the thesis, a concluding section reviews the concept of ethnicity as it pertains to the Lower North Shore, emphasizing the theme of persistence. It is contended that a need exists for an interdisciplinary approach between geographers and other social scientists in the study of ethnicity and ethnic social and spatial boundaries.