Applying Semiotics & Systematic Visual-Textual Analysis to Racialized Transnational Carer Employees’ Arts-Based Data

Abstract

Due to increased migration and global aging, transnational caregiving plays an increasingly significant role in supporting work-family integration in Canadian society. Yet, there is limited research exploring racialized transnational carer employees’ (R TCEs’) experiences in Canada. TCEs are immigrants working in paid employment in Canada and providing unpaid care to family and/or friends across nations. This unpaid care can include emotional, physical and/or financial support. The data for this article were drawn from a larger study that examined R TCEs’ experience using arts-based and qualitative inquiry. Seventeen participants (male = 10, female = 7, other = 0) provided an art piece (e.g. poem, artifact, photograph, and drawing) as well as a written or verbal description of their piece’s meaning. This paper applies a semiotic framework and “Systematic Visual-Textual Analysis” to triangulate our analysis of participant art pieces and the meaning they gave to these creative products. Our analysis illustrates the multi-dimensional experience of transnational carer employees in Canada, through the common and overlapping symbolism of transition, care, love, and motivation. The research provides a cross-cultural, nuanced, and wholistic perspective on transnational care by R TCEs in Canada, while taking a novel analytical approach that allows for the systemic application of semiotics to arts-based analysis. Our findings have the potential to inform the implementation and content of caregiving supports in Canadian workplaces, post-secondary institutions, and medical care, as well as the application of semiotics and systematic visual-textual analysis in social science.