…They have a different culture, a different life at home. As soon as they get out there, they are faced with a different world. When they walk across two worlds in one day, it is [very] hard….
When I think about some of the most difficult times in my life – the times that I wish I would have made better, more informed decisions – my adolescent years immediately come to mind. Adolescence is a difficult time, for anyone. Because adolescence is a tumultuous time in the lives of so many, there is a wealth of research covering it. One research team writes, “young people…are in the midst of a process of restructuring social relationships, of finding their place in society, and of making important choices for their future lives.” (Beyers and Cok 2008, 147). However, for the immigrant youth attempting to navigate these processes, the challenges are compounded by the potential for numerous contradictions between the culture of their parents and their homeland, and a variety of cultures that exist within American society. The challenges that these processes present to Ethiopian-American youth are of particular interest to me. Over the course of several weeks, I had the opportunity to get to know Metasebiya “Meti” Mulugeta, the Director of Youth Programs for the Ethiopian Mutual Community Association (ECMA), which operates the Ethiopian Community Center in Seattle. During this time, I learned how the ECMA, in concert with the greater Ethiopian community in Seattle, is creating spaces where its youth can be empowered to succeed, and providing essential services for parents within the Ethiopian community which allow them to successfully make the transition from the homeland to their new home in Seattle.
The Ethiopian Community Center (ECC) is located on Rainier Avenue South on the border of the Dunlap and Rainier Beach neighborhoods of South Seattle. The building – previously the home of a church – is well maintained, but not elegant. The property, including the large parking lot, is fenced and gated and the building’s windows are barred, presumably for security reasons. The interior of the building has a very professional, business-like appearance, while at the same time displaying the identity of its Ethiopian occupants. The walls are painted off-white and adorned with framed poster of varying sizes, displaying maps of Ethiopia and an assortment of historical and cultural facts.
As Pollock states, “Equity efforts treat all young people as equally and infinitely valuable” (202). This book has made me realize that first and foremost: We must get to know each of our students on a personal level. Every student has been shaped by their own personal life experiences. We must take this into consideration for all situations. In life, I have learned that there is a reason why people act the way that they do. When people seem to have a “chip on their shoulder”, they have usually faced many hardships in life. “The goal of all such questions is deeper learning about real, respected lives: to encourage educators to learn more about (and build on) young people’s experiences in various communities, to consider their own such experiences, to avoid any premature assumptions about a young person’s “cultural practices,” and to consider their own reactions to young people as extremely consequential.” (3995) was also another excerpt from the book that was extremely powerful for me. Everyone wants to be heard and understood. I feel that I owe it to each of my students to know their stories and help them navigate through the hard times. On the other hand, even though a student seems like he/she has it all together, I shouldn’t just assume that they do. I must be sure that these students are receiving the attention and tools needed to succeed,
The introduction to this article begins with a personal narrative about his own experiences as an African American teenage
In Lives in Limbo, Roberto G. Gonzales dissects the disastrous effects of US immigration policy on young Latina/os struggling in the often untouched, unnoticed, uncared for, American underbelly. Through a striking ethnography, Gonzalez examines 150 illuminating case-studies of young undocumented Latina/os, shedding light on their shared experience in the struggle for legitimacy in the United States - their lives, effectively, in limbo. He develops two major groups with which to classify the struggling youth: the college-goers, like Cesar, who received strong marks in high school and was able to land himself a spot within the UC system, and the early-exiters, like Silvia, who was unable to attend college, resigned to a paranoid life plagued
...ives. These differences are direct by-products of the countries the children live in. One group lives in a world of peace, the other group in war. Each group will grow up with the skills they need to survive their surroundings, but of they were tossed in the other relm they would not succeed.
Establishing an identity has been called one of the most important milestones of adolescent development (Ruffin, 2009). Additionally, a central part of identity development includes ethnic identity (ACT for Youth, 2002). While some teens search for cultural identity within a smaller community, others are trying to find their place in the majority culture. (Bucher and Hinton, 2010)The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian chronicles Junior’s journey to discovery of self. As with many developing teens, he finds himself spanning multiple identities and trying to figure out where he belongs. “Traveling between Reardan and Wellpinit, between the little white town and the reservation, I always felt like a stranger. I was half Indian in one place and half white in the other” (p.118). On the reservation, he was shunned for leaving to go to a white school. At Reardon, the only other Indian was the school mascot, leaving Junior to question his decision to attend school he felt he didn’t deserve. Teens grappling with bicultural identities can relate to Junior’s questions of belonging. Not only is Junior dealing with the struggle between white vs. Indian identities, but with smaller peer group identities as well. In Wellpinit, Junior is th...
People come to the United States from all over the world with a different culture and adapted to their own perceptions of living. However, even though we live in a diverse country it is still difficult for everyone to adapt because our ways are not the same as the country of others. It is the most difficult for children to accommodate into new environments during development and as immigrant parents there isn’t much they could do either to help because they have to learn of the new ways themselves. There are some in some cases where you would rarely see a girl
In his book Lives in Limbo, author Roberto Gonzales explores undocumented student’s experiences through interviews and data retrieval. In U.S. dominant culture, the transition from adolescence to adulthood is believed to entail moving from full-time schooling to full-time work and from financial dependence to financial independence, living independently, getting married, and starting a family of one’s own. (Gonzales, 2015, 95) For undocumented youth, the transition to adulthood is more complicated, and as they leave adolescence, they enter the condition of illegality. Laws aimed at narrowing the rights of those unlawfully in the United States prevent these youths from participating in key adult rites of
Appiah, Kwame Anthony. “Race, Culture, Identity: Misunderstood Connections.” Ways of Reading: An Anthology for Writers. Ed. David Bartholomae and Anthony Petrosky. 9th ed. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2011. 101-131. Print.
This stage of my adolescent life was very memorable. This was the time when my life was becoming more complicated as I struggled to find my own racial identity, and constantly questioning myself, “Who am I?” “Where do I belong?” while facing the pressure of “fitting in” as a biracial teen in prejudicial Asian society.
The goal of this research is to find out why the immigrant students have to face more challenges in the level of education they achieve, the high level poverty that they face in their daily lives and all the confusing networks they have around them which they have no clue of how to utilize it. Also, the research focusses on the fewer resources immigrant students have while achieving their goals. The research question is important as it does affect all immigrant students and their respective families and not limited just to the immigrant. I am sure many families move to a different country to achieve better education and to make a brighter future for themselves and their loved ones. These families come with so much hope and faith, but in return they are bombarded with so much confusing information that it’s very easy for them to get lost and give up. At last, children are the future and if from being they don’t have the correct resources then how will they achieve their goals.
Orellana, M. F. (2009). Translating childhoods: Immigrant youth, language, and culture. New Brunswick, NJ: Rutgers University Press.
Orozco, Graciela L. "Understanding the Culture of Low-Income Immigrant Latino Parents: Key to Involvement." The School Community Journal 1st ser. 18 (2008): 21-37. Web. .
This story is a small image of what generally happens to an a child of an immigrant family. Among many immigrant families, younger family members tend to adapt to the culture faster than members of older generations. Members of the older generation may dislike the influence that American culture has on the younger members. On the other hand, the younger generation may view their elders as too set in their views and beliefs. Because of this, arguments can occur and can create divides among family
As we go about our daily lives in the beautiful country of Canada which we have been blessed to live in, it has become normal to see a woman who wears the hijab walking down the street, or a Black family driving on the highway, or an Indian man wearing a suit and tie heading into the office. Canada’s cultural diversity is something which makes the country so special to live in, and instances where we see people of different cultures is increasing everyday. Many of the newcomers who arrive from overseas into Canada are families, with children and youth ready to begin their new life filled with opportunity here in Canada. However, youth who settle in Canada with their families aren’t exempted from the trials and tribulations youth face. In fact,
African American people have been oppressed for hundreds of years. Slavery was a significant time period when African/African American individuals endured massive oppression, which refers to the feeling of being deprived of their human rights and dignity (Reed, 2016). Knowing that my ancestors had to conceal their feelings along with their cultural values, makes me feel more entitled to express my ethnic identity as an African American woman. My ethnic identity has increase my sense of belongingness because it gives me the ability to share and live amongst individuals with the same physical appearance and in some cases, the same obstacles. Society has placed its’ social norms on modern day women, which allows men to make more for the same labor, or that stop successful women from achieving their goals by installing the glass ceiling. However, there is a higher increase of risk for African American women, such as decrease in the male head of household, along with urbanization. Which caused African American women to work long hours that resulted in a devastating shift in the family structure (Reed, 2016). Past, present and current experiences of African American women is why my ethnic identity is so important to me, because it is used as a constant reminder of the struggles that I have to overcome for my daughter and the generation after