Political Ideology and Heritage Language Development in a Chilean Exile Community: A Multiple Case Study

Our current understanding of Spanish heritage language development (HLD) in the English-speaking world is largely restricted to non-refugee Hispanic groups in the United States (Potowski & Rothman, 2011). The present thesis addresses this gap by probing the relationship between the leftist political ideologies and "refugee culture" upon which Edmonton's Chilean community was founded in the 1970s, and the HLD of four of its now-adult children. Data for this exploratory, qualitative, multiple case study were collected from a background questionnaire and two semi-structured interviews with each participant. The main finding was that participants' identification with the community's prevailing political ideologies had a strong effect on their attitudes towards their ethnic heritage, community involvement, and Spanish use as adults. This study contributes to our understanding of Spanish HLD in Canada, and in refugee contexts that have a decidedly political history.