Come from away: Community, region, and tradition in Newfoundland expatriate identity

• Main Author: Thorne, Cory W
• Format: Text
• Language: English
• Published: ScholarlyCommons 2004
• Subjects: Folklore|Urban planning|Area planning & development|Music; Canada; Newfoundland
• Online Access: https://repository.upenn.edu/dissertations/AAI3152115

In Newfoundland expatriate communities, identity means creating and gaining cultural power through a variety of images and practices in everyday life; it is about the formation of distinction within a homogenous whole and the use of this distinction in the creation of a sense of place—of belonging. Through this study of Newfoundland communities in the United States and Canada, I expand on theories of critical regionalism while focusing on an immigrant community that spans a variety of geographic spaces. Critical regionalist theory is used to analyze the role of civic commons in the development and maintenance of sustainable communities. On demonstrating the relation between local and non-local power structures, with a concentration on power and community in the suburban-style landscape, I argue that Newfoundland expatriate associations provide a version of commons that supports community within physical settings that discourage such forms of social development. This is largely achieved through the popularization of folklore as a marker of Newfoundland identity in Newfoundland, and the manipulation of tradition within non-traditional settings. I argue that Newfoundlanders use tradition to create livable spaces within the North American suburb.