Transculturality, Recognition Theory, and the Shaping of Migrant Identities in the Canadian Immigrant Ecclesial Context

Transculturalism has been discussed mainly from specific cultural, ethnic, and sociopolitical perspectives. This essay will enrich the current discussion by exploring a philosophical theory of transculturality. The essay argues that recognition theory provides a comprehensive framework to further explain the ‘mechanism’ by which the transcultural process shapes migrant identities. Recognition theory assists us in evaluating what might be considered as a positive or successful, rather than a negative or unsuccessful, transcultural process. In addition to exploring the theoretical basis transculturalism, statistical data and lived examples from Canadian immigrant churches are used to show how the proposed theory aligns with actual lived experience.