Understanding Filipino Immigrants’ Lived Experiences of Leisure and its Roles in Identity in Times of Un/Underemployment

Filipino immigrants’ lived experiences of leisure, identity, and un/underemployment remain understudied. Since recent immigrants are more likely than others to be un/underemployed, experiences of identity are relevant to this population. Identities negotiated throughout un/underemployment may be reconstructed through leisure. This hermeneutic phenomenological study (rooted in social constructivism) aimed to understand Filipino immigrants’ lived experiences of leisure and its roles in identity in times of un/underemployment. Seven Filipino immigrants living in Halifax, Nova Scotia were interviewed individually via Zoom and data analysis was guided by van Manen’s (2016) principles for hermeneutic phenomenological thematic analysis. Findings demonstrate how participants had intact identities amidst un/underemployment and that leisure reinforced their identities through the development of different aspects of their identities. This study contributes to our theoretical understanding of leisure’s role in immigrants’ identities, can help inform service and practice within leisure and immigration, and provides insights about the methodological implications of researcher reflexivity.