Navigating Black Racial Identities: Literacy Insights from an Immigrant Family

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (13) ◽  
pp. 1-26
Author(s):  
Eliza G. Braden
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
After School ◽  
Immigrant Family ◽  
Black Immigrants ◽  
African Heritage ◽  
Black Immigrant ◽  
Literacy Workshop ◽  
The U.S

Background The increase in the number of Black immigrants and other immigrant populations has undoubtedly changed the landscape of educational spaces. In fact, in 2016, 8% of Blacks were second generation Americans. Although Black immigrants may share similar experiences to native born African Americans, there are markedly distinct cultural influences that shape their educational experiences. Both racialized and cultural experiences come to play a major role in how students experience schooling in the U.S. The relationship that Black immigrant families have with schools and teachers can impact immigrant children's well-being and inform teachers. Therefore, it is important that Black immigrant families and schools create lasting relationships grounded in a respect for language, culture, race, and county of origin. Purpose/Objective/Research Question I use the insights from discussions with one Black immigrant family from Senegal who participated in an after-school critical literacy workshop where relationships were built among parents, students, and educators. Although there is an extensive body of literature on Black immigrants in the U.S., this research will contribute to filling the gap concerning how Black immigrant parents can be supported in serving as agents of socialization as their children come to understand the way race functions in the United States and how other parents, teachers, and curricula can be informed through discussions with them. This study is guided by the following question: What can be learned about the role of an after-school critical literacy workshop in creating a space for a Senegalese immigrant family to engage in discussions with their children, other families, and teachers as they react to race and violence in the U.S.? Research Design/Data Collection and Analysis Throughout the course of the project, students’ participation was documented through field notes, research memos, and audio and video recordings of family workshop meetings. Classroom data in the form of children's writing samples, written response journaling, and visual responses (sketch to stretch) were also collected. The study included in-depth interviews with student participants at the conclusion of the workshop. Parents completed a survey to share their experiences. Data were uploaded to Dedoose to identify codes. Findings/Results Three themes refected how the critical literacy workshop enhanced the family's ability to prepare their children for a racialized society and inform other children, families, and teachers: (a) transnational literacies were important in building racial and heritage knowledge for the children, (b) children's literature and film opened spaces for conversation that allowed the family to inform other parents about racial injustices and the importance of African heritage pride and also informed the classroom teacher about the need for discussing colorism in his classroom, and (c) transnational literacies and talk about anti-Blackness occurred within a supportive environment. Conclusions/Implications When the after-school critical literacy workshop affirmed a Black immigrant family in their “Black thinking” and sociopolitical consciousness, they were able to articulate their feelings about racist acts and violence and the need for African heritage pride. Findings corroborate the studies that argue for the value of teaching about contemporary movements such as #BlackLivesMatter and the importance of honoring the voices of Black immigrant youth and families in curricular spaces.

Does Racism Discriminate? Racial and Ethnic Discrimination Among Nigerians and Jamaicans in Houston Texas

2021 ◽  
Vol 52 (8) ◽  
pp. 884-911
Author(s):  
Caralee Jones-Obeng
Keyword(s):  
Ethnic Discrimination ◽  
Black Immigrants ◽  
Racial Hierarchy ◽  
Black Immigrant ◽  
Caribbean Population ◽  
Racial And Ethnic Discrimination ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Depth Interviews ◽  
Scholarly Inquiry ◽  
The U.S

As a result of more racially inclusive immigration policies in the U.S., the African and Caribbean population has increased. Thus far, scholarly inquiry on Black immigrants have focused on their incorporation into the racial hierarchy, their experiences with racism, and their relationships with African Americans. While beneficial, these studies overlook the impact of ethnic discrimination for Black immigrants. Although all individuals of African descent share similar racialized experiences in the U.S., I hypothesize that diverse Black immigrant groups endure unique discriminatory experiences because of their ethnic identities. Thus, through in-depth interviews with 27 Nigerian and 20 Jamaican respondents, this paper explores Black immigrants’ experiences with racial and ethnic discrimination. I found that, regardless of ethnic background, 80% of my Nigerian and Jamaican respondents encountered racism. In contrast, ethnic discrimination varied between my Nigerian and Jamaican respondents. My Nigerian respondents were more likely to report their encounters with ethnic discrimination. These experiences ranged from being accused of internet scamming to being mocked for having an accent. On the other hand, not only were my Jamaican respondents less likely to report ethnic discrimination, but they were also more likely to see their ethnicity as an advantage.

Silencing Invisibility: Toward a Framework for Black Immigrant Literacies

2020 ◽  
Vol 122 (13) ◽  
pp. 1-42
Author(s):  
Patriann Smith
Keyword(s):  
Social Adjustment ◽  
Immigrant Youth ◽  
Black Americans ◽  
The United States ◽  
Black American ◽  
Black Immigrants ◽  
Black Immigrant ◽  
Racial Literacy ◽  
The U.S

Purpose In this conceptual essay used to introduce the special issue titled “Clarifying the Role of Race in the Literacies of Black Immigrant Youth,” I argue for centralizing race in research that examines Englishes and literacies of the largely invisible population of Black immigrant youth in the United States. My rationale for this argument is based largely on the increasingly divisive rhetoric surrounding Black immigrants and Black Americans, exacerbated by current racial tensions and further amplified amidst a politicized landscape and COVID-19. This rhetoric has erupted from often implicit and negative connotations associated with Black immigrants as a “new model minority” when compared with their “underperforming” Black American counterparts and evolved into the use of dichotomous intraracial ideologies that continue to pit one subgroup against the other. Beyond this, race continues to be present as a key part of conversations in the Englishes and literacies of Black American students. And the notion of race, as seen through constructs such as “critical race theory,” “racial literacy,” “linguistic racism,” and “a raciolinguistic perspective,” remains central to the conversations about how Black Americans’ language and literacy use is understood and evaluated in U.S. schools. Yet, we know little about how Black immigrant literacies and Englishes refect racial tensions that affect literacy instruction and assessment because data surrounding their academic performance across the U.S., more often than not, remains subsumed within the data of Black students overall. As they are immigrants of color who are subjected to similar forms of linguistic and racial discrimination often faced by Black American youth, and who also often undergo tremendous difficulty in adjusting to the cultural and linguistic differences faced in the U.S., why is race not central to the distinct, varied, and unique Englishes and literacies of Black immigrant youth? Theoretical Perspectives To address this gap in the field, I examine affordances from the lenses of diaspora literacy, transnational literacy, and racial literacy, which hold promise for understanding how to foreground race in the literacies of predominantly English-speaking Black immigrant youth. I demonstrate how each of these lenses, as applied to the literacies of the invisible population of Black youth, allows for partial understandings regarding these students> enactment of literacies based on their Englishes and semiotic resources. In turn, I illustrate how these lenses can work together to clarify the role of race in Black immigrant literacies. Implications Based on these discussions, I present the framework of Black immigrant literacies to assist researchers, practitioners, and parents who wish to better understand and support Black immigrant youth. I invite researchers who work with populations that include Black immigrant youth to consider how race, when central to research and teaching surrounding the literacies and Englishes of these youth, can provide opportunities for them to thrive beyond the perceptions of them as “academic prodigies” while also facilitating relationships with their Black American peers. I invite teachers to consider ways of viewing Black immigrant literacies that foster a sense of community between these youth and their Black American peers as well as ways of engaging their literacies in classrooms that allow them to demonstrate how they function as language architects beyond performance on literacy assessments. I invite parents to provide spaces beyond school contexts where Black immigrant youth can use their literacies for social adjustment. Through this essay, it is expected that the dominant population can gain further insights into the nuances that exist within the Black population and be cognizant of these nuances when engaging with Black immigrant youth.

Superb Intentions and U.S. Policy Constraints

2010 ◽  
Vol 53 (2) ◽  
pp. 16-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
David S. Wiley
Keyword(s):  
Secondary School ◽  
Global Education ◽  
Environmental Disaster ◽  
Debt Burden ◽  
African Heritage ◽  
Economic Collapse ◽  
Second Year ◽  
Global Identities ◽  
Commander In Chief ◽  
The U.S

Barack Obama's election was an extraordinary event in American and world history, but already in his second year as president, the luster and the popularity of the Obama administration has faded, even among many who mobilized to elect him. In addition to righting two wars, Obama is attempting to fix a broken health care system in the context of a nationally contentious electorate and Congress. He also is coping with a mounting debt burden from seeking to recover from an economic collapse and public anger at an environmental disaster of mega proportions, requiring him to rein in the banks and corporations that were unleashed from public regulation during the Reagan, Bush, and Clinton years. In addition, he is commander-in-chief of the U.S. military and its rapidly expanding U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM).This was an administration elected on “hope for change.” Indeed, Obama's election raised expectations across the U.S. and throughout Africa that a man of African heritage, indeed a global person, could be and had been elected. This quintessentially optimistic, intelligent, and gifted American is the product of a Kenyan father and an internationally engaged mother, a multicultural childhood, and a global education as graduate of a private secondary school and elite American universities, and he has been pinned simultaneously with American, biracial, African American, African, and even global identities (see Zeleza 2009).

“It's Different Here”: Complicating Concepts of College Knowledge and First Generation through an Immigrant Lens

2018 ◽  
Vol 120 (11) ◽  
pp. 1-36
Author(s):  
Chrystal A. George Mwangi
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
College Preparation ◽  
First Generation ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
The United States ◽  
College Knowledge ◽  
K 12 ◽  
First Generation To College ◽  
College Educated ◽  
The U.S

Background/Context Children of immigrants are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. child population, and these children are increasingly entering the U.S. educational pipeline and seeking access to college. Gaining access to college in the United States requires college knowledge. Yet, obtaining college knowledge can be difficult for immigrant families, who may lack familiarity with the U.S. education system. Although one third of all immigrants possess a college degree, many earned their degree abroad or in the United States as international students and/or adult learners. Therefore, the children of college-educated immigrants may be the first in their family to seek access to college via the U.S. K–12 system. Purpose/Objective/Research Question/Focus of Study This study explores how African immigrant multigenerational families engage in college preparation. All families had at least one parent who had attained a college degree. In each family, the college-educated parent(s) either received their degree abroad or received their degree in the United States as an international student or adult returning student. The research questions are: How do immigrant families explain navigating the college-going process when their children are first in the family to prepare for college via the U.S. K–12 system? How do immigrant families describe their level of comfort with college preparation when their children are first in the family to prepare for college via the U.S. K–12 system? Research Design A qualitative, multiple case design was used. Findings/Results The findings demonstrate that although the children in this study were not first generation to college in a traditional sense, they experienced many of the same challenges. For the families in this study, the parents possessed institutionalized capital but often lacked what emerged as “U.S.-based college knowledge,” which impacted their experience with the college choice process. Conclusions/Recommendations Families’ lack of familiarity with the U.S. college preparation process (college testing, academic tracking, cost of college/financial aid) leads to a call for complicating concepts of “college knowledge” and “first generation” to college in a globalized society.

Mexican-American Parents Using Critical Literacy to Address Climate Change

2018 ◽  
pp. 187-208
Author(s):  
Rosa RiVera Furumoto
Keyword(s):  
Children's Literature ◽  
Critical Literacy ◽  
Social Action ◽  
Mexican American ◽  
Environmental Science ◽  
Children’S Literature ◽  
After School ◽  
Literacy Strategies ◽  
Parent Leaders ◽  
And Mathematics

This chapter is an in-depth examination of a critical literacy project implemented by immigrant Mexican-American parent leaders that employed culturally relevant Latina/o and Native American children's literature to create dialogue and promote social action focused on environmental concerns. The Good Heart Chicana/o and Native Science after-school enrichment project was held weekly in elementary schools in the San Fernando Valley. Critical pedagogy served as the conceptual framework and informed the critical literacy strategies. Creative dialogue questions based on the children's literature promoted social action among children and families. Hands-on activities deepened the families' connection to environmental science, technology, engineering, art, and mathematics (E-STEAM) content and careers. Children's interest in science and nature increased. Parent leaders grew in their leadership and ability to address environmental issues in communities.

Transcending the Challenge at the Library

2019 ◽  
pp. 186-204
Author(s):  
Denise Dávila ◽  
Yunying Xu
Keyword(s):  
Public Libraries ◽  
Immigrant Families ◽  
Development Programs ◽  
New Latino Diaspora ◽  
Education Services ◽  
Social Narratives ◽  
American Society ◽  
Families First ◽  
The U.S

One of the greatest challenges immigrant families face in local communities is the harmful quality of mainstream deficit perspectives about immigration. This chapter focuses on a group of Latinx immigrant families' first experiences with local public libraries' education services within the New Latino Diaspora of the U.S. Southeast, which has been the migratory destination of many immigrant families in the last two decades. It discusses a study that interrogates the efficacy of two acclaimed literacy development programs, Every Child Ready to Read and Prime Time Preschool. These programs were facilitated by public libraries in the state of Georgia and attended by Latinx immigrant families with young children. The study findings illustrate how the families' engagement in the programs disrupted injurious social narratives that privilege whiteness and inhibit the recognition of Latinx immigrants as members of local U.S. communities and mainstream American society.

From Marketing Education in a Developing Country to a U.S. Master's and/or Doctoral Degree in Marketing

2018 ◽  
pp. 850-859
Author(s):  
Matt Elbeck
Keyword(s):  
Saudi Arabia ◽  
Developing Country ◽  
Foreign Students ◽  
Cultural Influences ◽  
Doctoral Degree ◽  
Cultural Dimensions ◽  
Marketing Education ◽  
Secondary Sources ◽  
Perception Of Time ◽  
The U.S

This chapter outlines the pathway to advanced marketing education by students in a developing country. We begin by contrasting the similarities and differences in undergraduate marketing education in Saudi Arabia versus the U.S. The analysis includes the typical markers of language and access to secondary sources, and culture-specific differences in the perception of time and various cultural influences using Hofstede's cultural dimensions. This is followed with a description of the pathway students from Saudi Arabia take to pursue a Master's and/or Doctorate in marketing in the U.S. The chapter concludes with the unique insight - unlike a sizeable number of foreign students in the U.S., most students from Saudi Arabia return to Saudi Arabia and in so doing stem the ‘brain drain' so many other countries face when their brightest head to the U.S. for advanced study.

Using Digital Technologies in the 21st Century Classroom

2021 ◽  
pp. 109-134
Author(s):  
Carol-Ann Lane
Keyword(s):  
Critical Literacy ◽  
After School ◽  
Video Gaming ◽  
Potential Contribution ◽  
Learning Spaces ◽  
Video Club ◽  
21St Century Classroom ◽  
Problem Solving Strategies ◽  
Complex Forms

Scholars have acknowledged the potential contribution of video gaming to complex forms of learning, identifying links between gaming and engagement, experiential learning spaces, problem-solving, strategies, transliteracy reflectivity, critical literacy, and metacognitive thinking. Using a multiliteracies lens, this multi-case study examined the experiences of four boys engaged with video gaming in two different contexts: a community centre and an after-school video club. In this chapter, the author describes how these four boys developed their multimodal ways of learning by engaging with visual perspectives of video games.

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