Making the Invisible, Visible: Reimagining Immigrant Mental Health Through the Stories of Latinx Women

This dissertation describes a community-based qualitative study called ¿Nos Escuchan? (Can You Hear Us?). I conducted this study in Spanish with 14 cis immigrant women from Latin America, in partnership with the Center for Spanish Speaking Peoples in Toronto. I used a critical mental health approach to listen to the stories of Latinx women, to examine the impact of migration on wellbeing. My objective was to explore ways of understanding immigrant mental health outside of colonialist biomedical approaches. I utilized a methodology that I developed for this study (Postcolonial Narrative Inquiry), which is a new approach to narrative inquiry. As methods, I incorporated virtual story circles, metaphorical drawings, and individual interviews, alongside a collaborative podcast, as a knowledge translation tool. The research process centered around an opportunity to build community: participants gathered virtually over the course of six weeks, collectively sharing migration stories.In Chapter 1, I provide a background on immigrant women’s mental health in Canada, the need for critical mental health approaches, and an overview of the study. In Chapter 2, I describe Postcolonial Narrative Inquiry, which utilizes four central components (Deep Seeing, Deep Listening, Deep Hearing, and Deep Feeling) and several concrete tools to contribute to epistemic justice. In Chapter 3, I explore the intersections of four macro elements that impact women’s mental health, and their origins in colonialism, capitalism, and patriarchy. I examine how new language (eg. migratory grief or performing strength) can validate experiences and ground distress within power structures. In Chapter 4, I use a desire-based analysis to examine migration as a process of transformation, and the simultaneous joy and struggle the women experienced in the areas of identity, stability, safety, and community. I step outside of binary analyses to explore the women's complex and non-linear pathways, and the importance of structural supports, in order for all women to “transform” post-migration. In Chapter 5, I reflect on how this dissertation contributes to epistemic justice in its disruption of dominant narratives, its legitimization of new language, and its emphasis on community-building as validation and healing in the face of migratory distress.

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