Description
Book SynopsisImmigration, Diversity and Student Journeys to Higher Education presents an in-depth understanding of how immigrant students at a major public research university balanced keeping their family cultures alive and learning U.S. culture to get to college. A revitalized anthropological understanding of acculturation provides the theoretical framework for the book. The text builds its analysis using extensive quotes from the 160 immigrant students who participated in the 21 focus groups that form the core of this study. The students' families come from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe and Latin America, and reflect a wide diversity of experiences and insights into how these students successfully pursued higher education. A key theme of the book is the immigrant bargain, where students repay their parents' hard work and migration sacrifices by excelling in school. A large majority of the parents made clear that a major motivation for immigrating was so their children could hav
Trade Review
“This book, rich with intimate and insightful quotations and narratives from immigrant college students, unpacks the challenges that students from many different countries face, often with limited resources, in navigating multiple languages, cultural expectations and performances, and family and institutional demands. Written in accessible language, the concepts it unfolds—identity, language, culture, acculturation—are central to understanding and appreciating the complexities of the immigrant experience in higher education. A classic of its kind, the book offers a valuable theoretical, social, cultural and political contribution to the contemporary dialogues and diatribes around immigration, migration and the resilience of recent arrivals to the United States as they strive for success in American higher education.”—Jean J. Schensul, Senior Scientist and Founding Director of the Institute for Community Research in Hartford, CT, Adjunct Professor in the Department of Community Medicine at the University of Connecticut, and Editor and Author of The Ethnographer’s Toolkit
“Immigration, Diversity and Student Journeys to Higher Education offers a much needed and insightful account of the successful transition to university among immigrant students. The compelling analysis draws on the voices of students to highlight the powerful role of family, community, schools and the university context in shaping their paths to and experiences with higher education. College is now the ticket to upward mobility in the United States, and yet, we still know little about how the children of immigrants make this critical transition, along with the crucial identity and language shifts they encounter along the way. Peter J. Guarnaccia, an expert in immigrant cultural adaptation, has written a timely and important book.”—Vivian Louie, Professor of Urban Policy and Planning at Hunter College, Author of Compelled to Excel: Immigration, Education and Opportunity among Chinese Americans and Keeping the Immigrant Bargain: The Costs and Rewards of Success in America
Table of Contents
List of Figures – List of Tables – Alex Stepick: Foreword – Preface – Acknowledgments – Introduction: Why Are the Links Among Immigration, Acculturation and Educational Attainment Important? – Student Reflection: Growing up the "Filipino Way" – The Front Door as a Divider Between Two Worlds: Students’ Explorations of Their Ethnic Identities – Student Reflection: Growing Up Bilingual – The Balancing Act of Speaking Multiple Languages: The Intimate Connection of Language to Culture – Student Reflection: Only Through Education Shall Humanity Progress – We Are Family: The Dreams of Immigrant Parents – Student Reflection: A Complex Path to College – Applying to College: "I Had to Figure It All Out Myself" – Community Sources of Cultural and Social Capital: The Roles of Ethnic Schools and Student Cultural Organizations – Conclusion: Where Do We Go from Here? – Appendix A: Focus Group Guide – Appendix B: List of All Codes with Memos and Coding Trees – Index.
