How have Tamils and other South Asians in Montreal been differently affected by the Francophone/Anglophone "two solitudes," depending on their national origin, class, and other factors?
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Sonia Das argues that one’s linguistic self-identification is shaped by the exposure they received over their trajectory. Her work reveals how “the choice to speak standard and nonstandard varieties of French, Tamil, and English hinges not only on personal prospects for social and geographic mobility, but also on one’s divided loyalty to anglophones and francophones.” (Das, 62)
In the second century B.C.E., Tamil speakers of South Indian and Northern Sri Lankan origin traveled between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka, establishing themselves as high-class bankers and traders. Thus, they belonged to the most-affluent caste in those regions. Nineteenth and twentieth century Tamils, however, were no strangers to persecution. As opposed to their higher-class Brahmin counterparts, Tamil migrants were shipped to the British colonies where they faced countless trials and tribulations. Away from home, these indentured laborers were segregated from professionals of the same ethnicity. Meanwhile in India, Dalit Tamils emigrating from Tamil Nadu faced a similar reality as they were shunned from more lucrative opportunities by Tamil Brahmins. On the other hand, ‘anglophile’ Tamil Brahmins possessed the means to educate their children in private Delhi English schools. Fast forward, this trend persists in the diaspora as the group continues to focus on learning English as it “represents power and superiority.” (72) There is a colonial nostalgia attached to upper-class’ affinity for English. In India, Tamil Brahmins were not othered and did not endure bodily displacement from the majority of society, but instead benefited from social and economic mobility due to their favored caste. Even during colonialism, the Brown man was more esteemed if he was a Brahmin and was the first to benefit from the new ‘opportunities’ British rulers created. Consequently, their internalized white English supremacy is upheld in present-day Quebec through their choice of having “English as their lingua franca and [developing] only rudimentary knowledge of the civic language, Québécois French.” (69)
Lower class and lower caste status Sri Lankan migrants do not have access to the same financial resources and social network as Indian and/or higher caste Tamils. These restrictions are somewhat alleviated in places such as “Little Jaffna” in Montreal, whose inhabitants draw on their community, shared tools and resources, and social cohesion shaped by their collectivist culture. As one Tamil migrant says, “Wherever there are enough Tamils, there is a Tamil nation.” (64) When the author interviewed Pavalan, a middle Sri Lankan Tamil man, he expressed his disgust with professionals of his own ethnicity “who “show off” their English competence in front of less privileged, monolingual folk like his parents who, having had a harder time joining the middle class, [...] attach their family’s aspirations of social mobility to their children’s success, which, in Québec, depends largely on them learning both English and French well.” (79) Not only do Québécois Sri Lankan Tamils learn French for future success, but they do so in spite of the higher class. In the diasporic context, Brahmins can no longer easily assert their dominance over other groups of Tamils. Now freed from the shackles of the South Asian status quo, lower-class Tamils arm themselves with their knowledge of French and well-rounded-education to one-up their historic oppressor.
In a word, the complex experiences of South Asians in Montreal, particularly Tamils, reveal a web of divided loyalties and strategic linguistic mobility. For lower-class and/or Sri Lankan Tamils, casting a wider net across English, French, and their native tongue serves as a means to navigate and go beyond national and class-related divides. This has allowed the group to strive for and achieve greater social and economic mobility within Montreal’s unique linguistic landscape.