Reproducing Home: Arab Women s Experiences of Canada

Childbirth is more than the physical reproduction of the family, for it also functions as social production, in the reproduction of cultural values and belief systems (Franklin Ragoné, 1998; Jordan, 1993). As such, the rituals associated with pregnancy, birth and the post-partum period symbolize ideologies of gender, healing, and religion as well as forming individual and group identities. We suggest that the process of reproduction may also be fertile ground for the study of the interplay between acculturation and maintenance of migrants traditions and belief systems. Acculturation is defined here as the process whereby immigrants who are members of minority communities incorporate and practice traditions of the dominant group (Berry, 1980; Snowden Hines, 1999). Of course this process is mitigated by actual and perceived opportunities for integration, as well as intergroup heterogeneity (e.g. variations based on individual behaviors, characteristics, etc.), with respect to both the migrant and dominant cultures and communities (Rudmin Ahmadzadeh, 2001; Vega Rumbaut, 1991). Furthermore, the process of acculturation is not unilateral, for migrant communities also influence and contribute to the dominant group s socio-cultural beliefs and practices (Phillips, 2005)