RESETTLEMENT WITHOUT THE SUPPORT OF AN ETHNOCULTURAL COMMUNITY

The purpose of this phenomenological study is to describe the lived experience of immigrating to a region where there is no ethnocultural community of one's culture. Twenty culturally isolated immigrants to Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, of different ethnic origins were interviewed in depth about their resettlement experience: the Giorgi modification of the phenomenological method was used to analyse these data. The findings suggest that being a culturally isolated immigrant entails a sense of discontinuity between the past and the present and produces a period of heightened sensitivity to others. Informants felt propelled from their country into an alien environment and were suddenly immersed into a new culture. Their emotional energies were directed towards getting a foothold in their new society. This was a highly stressful process that was both encouraged and discouraged by pervasive thoughts of the future which permeated the participants' existence.