Ventriloquism: The Central Role of an Immigrant’s Own Group Members in Negotiating Ambiguity in Identity

Abstract

Situated at the crossroads of cultures, an immigrant’s identity is filled with ambiguity. Humans frequently make use of intolerant strategies (e.g. prejudice) to construct clarity artificially out of an ambiguous identity. Although the locus of intolerance is often associated with the dominant group, complementing Verkuyten and de Wolf’s (2002) focus on minority group members, it is argued here that immigrants themselves can be sources of immigrant-oriented intolerance. In explanation of this in-group prejudice, the metaphor of ventriloquism is offered, showing how immigrants may assign the intolerance they feel for their own ambiguity to the ambiguity in fellow group members, in order to clarify (artificially) their own identity.