Isaku Kawamura is a fourth year Sociology Honours student whose research interests include migration, integration, labour markets and citizenship. He is currently working under the supervision of Professor Jennifer Berdahl to investigate the impacts of accents on immigrants’ labour market experiences in Vancouver.
We spoke to Kawamura about his Honours research project.
Sociology Honours student Isaku Kawamura
Sociology Honours student Isaku Kawamura
What was your project about? What are the main take-aways from your work?
My project is about the experiences of immigrants working in Vancouver, focusing on how non-native accents may shape their experiences in the Canadian labour market. Early results indicate that non-native accents may function as a marker of “foreignness’ and is a mechanism for negative differential treatment in the labour market. I am beginning to see how accents intersects with, and functions in similar ways with other well-known markers such as race, class and gender.
How did you get interested in this topic?
Since coming to Canada as an international student, English has been my biggest concern. Living in a different county and speaking a different language changed my life. As a non-native speaker, I have always felt a barrier, arising not only from my English skills but also from my accent. I feel that it negatively impacted my integration experiences and sense of belonging. Many immigrants I have met also struggled with English (and accents) in both their private life and workplace, and indicated that it affected their settlement processes. I was intrigued to find Gillian Creese’s work which disclosed that non-standard accents limited opportunities available to African immigrants in the Canadian job market. I realized that my private troubles were part of a bigger social problem, and decided to investigate it more broadly, with the aim of introducing the Asian experience to the conversation.
“I am beginning to see how accents intersects with, and functions in similar ways with other well-known markers such as race, class and gender.”
What was the most difficult part of this learning journey? What was most satisfying?
The most difficult part of this learning journey concerns the limited time to complete the project. We, honours students, only have 9 months to learn how to and complete an advanced research project. In particular, students who want to collect interview data from the target population only have 2 to 3 months to collect data. Because of my limited time and social capital with immigrants’ network, I struggled to make connections that would have made my project moved at a faster pace. However, through grit, determination and the support of the honours team, I have been able to pull through.
What skills did you develop or strengthen as a result of this project?
I really learnt how to be brave and enhanced my social skills since taking honours. I became less afraid of making mistakes, and this allowed me to interact with peers and interview subjects. I also enhanced my communications skills, whether it is listening interviewees or my fellow honours peers share their experiences.
“I realized that my private troubles were part of a bigger social problem, and decided to investigate it more broadly, with the aim of introducing the Asian experience to the conversation.”
What was your experience working with peers and Sociology faculty on this project?
I made many strong connections with other Honours students in this program. In my regular classes, even though I made friends, I felt disconnected from them after finishing a term. However, because honours class is a yearlong course and we always have the same members, I begin to make a more lasting and trustful relationship with them. In addition, the honours instructional team has been extremely supportive. My supervisor, Dr. Berdahl has also supported me at every step of the journey. I could not have made it this far without her patience and kind support.
