Ethnic Identity and Acculturation of Mexican, Mongolian, and Russian Immigrant Students in an Urban Setting

Purpose This study aims to investigate the linkage of identity of new and veteran immigrant students of the Ethiopian community in Israel, by examining their attitudes to children’s literature books written simultaneously in Hebrew and Amharic. The data were collected using focus groups of Ethiopian students attending a teacher training college. The main findings revealed that they referred to two major types of identity: one type is an unreconciled identity, characterized by defiance, which seeks to minimize the visibility of one’s ethnic group within the main culture and tries to adopt the hegemonic identity, whereas the other type of identity contains the original ethnic identity and – in contrast to the first type – tries to reconcile it with the hegemonic culture. Design/methodology/approach This is a qualitative study, which emphasis was on participants’ attitudes, beliefs and perceptions (Kalka, 2003). The goals of the research were to examine identity perceptions of students of the Beta Israel community, as they are exposed to bilingual literary works in Hebrew and Amharic. Findings The main findings revealed that they referred to two major types of identity: one type is an unreconciled identity, characterized by defiance, which seeks to minimize the visibility of one’s ethnic group within the main culture and tries to adopt the hegemonic identity, whereas the other type of identity contains the original ethnic identity and – in contrast to the first type – tries to reconcile it with the hegemonic culture. Research limitations/implications This paper has shed light on an important subject and it would be worthwhile to continue the study using other methodologies. Practical implications This paper contributes to the structuring of a cultural code that serves to organize social meaning and establish individuals’ identity. Social implications This awareness enriches the basis of their own values and allows them to enrich their attitude to their future pupils, for example, to recognize the value of local culture versus that of the immigrants’ place of origin, and to develop an understanding and acceptance of the diversity in the classroom. As they take part in building a multicultural Israeli education framework, dealing with identity patterns is also the key to their own integration in society. Originality/value The originality of the study lies in the usage of two new concepts – unreconciled and reconciled – as referring to the immigrants’ identities.

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Examining Ethnicity: The Context of Mizos in Bengaluru

Sociological Bulletin ◽

10.1177/0038022917751977 ◽

2018 ◽

Vol 67 (1) ◽

pp. 51-66

Author(s):

D. V. Kumar

Keyword(s):

Ethnic Identity ◽

Urban Setting ◽

Urban Context ◽

Keen Interest ◽

Ethnic Consciousness ◽

Satisfactory Manner

The continued salience of ethnic consciousness even in an urban setting evokes keen interest among the scholars. Why is that despite being located in an apparently urban context, ethnic identity continues to be dominant is the question that has not been adequately theorised. This article seeks to engage with this question. The excessive dependence on the primordialist or instrumentalist approach to explain the salience of ethnicity has increasingly been questioned. Neither approach alone would enable us to have a proper grasp of the issue of ethnic identity. This article makes use of the oppositional approach which seeks to combine both these approaches and explain the salience of ethnic identity in a more satisfactory manner. The fieldwork has been conducted among the Mizos living in Bengaluru.

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Caribbean Immigrant Youths’ Ethnic Identity and Academic Achievement: The Role of Academic Beliefs

Youth & Society ◽

10.1177/0044118x20981382 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 0044118X2098138

Author(s):

Naila A. Smith ◽

Barbara Thelamour ◽

Margaret X. Booth

Keyword(s):

Academic Achievement ◽

Ethnic Identity ◽

Academic Success ◽

Self Efficacy ◽

Second Generation ◽

Immigrant Students ◽

Academic Aspirations ◽

Hispanic Caribbean ◽

Academic Beliefs ◽

Academic Self Efficacy

Ethnic identity (EI) can facilitate racially and ethnically marginalized youths’ academic achievement but the mediating process by which it exerts its influence is unclear. This study examines how EI is associated with academic achievement through academic beliefs in a sample of Caribbean first and second generation immigrant adolescents whose identities are connected to cultural groups outside of the U.S. Youth ( N = 128; 12–18 years old, M = 16.32, SD = 1.81; 69.3% second generation; 58.6% Black) reported on their EI affirmation and belonging and EI achievement, academic self-efficacy, academic aspirations, and grades. Results of our serial mediation model showed that stronger EI achievement was associated with higher academic self-efficacy and in turn higher academic aspirations, and higher grades. These findings offer potential targets (i.e., academic self-beliefs) for supporting the academic success of Black and Hispanic Caribbean immigrant students and have implications for their boosting educational outcomes.

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Immigration Status and College Students’ Psychosocial Well-Being

Educational Researcher ◽

10.3102/0013189x20962470 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 0013189X2096247

Author(s):

Germán A. Cadenas ◽

H. Kenny Nienhusser

Keyword(s):

Mental Health ◽

College Students ◽

Ethnic Identity ◽

Immigrant Students ◽

Health Anxiety ◽

Well Being ◽

Immigration Status ◽

Permanent Residency ◽

Anxiety Depression ◽

Academic Year

Differences in psychosocial well-being were examined between college students with abject immigration status (i.e., undocumented, other temporary documentation), students with permanent status (i.e., U.S. citizenship, permanent residency), and students with visas using a set of one-way analyses of variance (ANOVAs). The data were collected from 76 institutions participating in the Healthy Minds Study during the 2018–2019 academic year. Measures of psychosocial well-being included positive mental health, anxiety, depression, discrimination, campus inclusion, and ethnic identity. Results revealed that on all measures, except ethnic identity, students with abject immigration status experienced worse well-being than other students, and these differences were statistically significant. Findings have implications for strengthening campus supports for immigrant students in response to their psychosocial well-being needs.

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