The Identity Question for African Youth

Theoretical Framework

The immigrant identity is one that is negotiated and reconstructed in the market place of varied cultural encounters. It is developed amid the confluence of the host majority and other newcomers; an occurrence generally seen as in-group and out-group contact (Berry, 1990). This is because the immigrants come with cultural and social positions that may be different from the host country. To explain the subtle negotiation out of which an identity is developed, scholars have employed several constructs to describe the various variables. This section explores four of the major theoretical approaches that shape the literature.

Berry’s (1990) acculturation model describes a process through which immigrants change as a result of the contact of a new culture. In this model, the immigrant’s own culture begins to experience acculturative changes due to the forces in the host culture. This model yields four major constructs of acculturation. For integration strategy, individuals form positive relations with the other ethnic groups or the dominant culture and this is accompanied by maintenance of the ethnic identity and traditions. The adverse correlate is the assimilation strategy where individuals do not desire to retain their ethnic identity and adopt the dominant culture. When individuals have a strong identification with their own culture and avoid contact with other groups, the separation strategy is defined. Finally, when individuals lose cultural and psychological contact with their own ethnic group and the host or dominant society then marginalization is the outcome (Berry, 1990).

While Berry’s (1990) acculturation model has its merits, Deaux (2000) argues that there must be a psychological analysis of the relationship between the host national identities and that of the immigrant to allow room for other constructs. According to Deaux, lack of flexibility in Berry’s model renders it static. In their study, Arends-Tóth and van de Vijver (2004) conclude that the acculturation models looked at society in general without studying specific situations and settings.

Berry’s (1990) acculturation model may yield some pointers in assessing how African youth reconstruct their identity in the new culture, the practicality of it may not be forceful since it has not been tested in such specific immigrant group.

Social identity theory is another concept that has been used to study immigrant identity behavior. Social identity theory posits “groups will react to insecure social identity by searching for enhanced group distinctiveness” (Tajfel & Turner, 1986, p. 22). When immigrants come into contact with the new or host culture, they compare and try to find commonalities between the two in attempt to construct their own identity. While there may be similar elements in both cultures, there arise certain incongruities. The perceived inconsistencies sometimes create suspicion and insecurities for the immigrant, which further creates questions about their own cultural identity and that of the host culture (Cinnirella, 1997). This is what Grant (2007, p. 7) refers to as “identity-differentiation.” Social identity theory further argues that the identity differentiation becomes stronger for the immigrant when there is a suspect of threat and insecurity. First, the description of the theory has shown that social identity theory is broad. Second, it was initially designed to test the relationship of in-group predisposition as opposed to development of one’s social identity (Chryssochoou, 2000; Crisp & Hewstone, 2000; Deaux, 1996). Further, Grant (p. 5) argues, “the development of a national identification is a Self-categorization process.”

The self-categorization theory has been employed to analyze the relationship between the immigrants’ cultural identity and the host identity (Turner, Hogg, Oakes, Reicher, & Wetherell, 1987). This theory describes how the immigrant gradually defines his or her identity. Self-categorization theory asserts self-introspection in relation to the out-group taxonomy. In this process, the individual instinctively views himself or herself as an object and can categorize himself or herself in aversion to other social out-groups or categories (Turner et al., 1987; Wyer, 2010). Individuals in this category perceive themselves as salient and distinct thereby focusing on their individualities. The characteristics of the in-group actually become the lens through which the individual represents himself or herself (Smith & Henry, 1996). In their recent study, Knowles and Gardner (2008) note that when there is social rejection individuals would more likely recoil to their in-group.

Segmented assimilation theory stresses that there are more pathways of integrating into the American society and the idea of becoming American does not necessarily adds to one’s identity (Bankston & Zhou, 1997). One major tenet of this theory is that assimilation results in varied consequences for the immigrant. Three variables presented in the research are (a) by immigrant group, (b) by ethnic group to whom immigrants integrate, and (c) by differences among individual immigrants (Xie & Greenman, 2011).

Self-categorization and segmented assimilation appear to be dynamic and give room to analyzing other social identity phenomena; therefore, for this article both conceptual foundations would be employed in looking at how the African immigrant youth constructs new identity and adopt the new host culture without losing the ethnic culture.

Literature Review

The construction of identity of the immigrant has generated more discussion in the research literature. The identities they construct in their migration experiences are fluid and complex. The review of literature looked at how African immigrants maintain their identity while adopting elements of the new host culture of the United States.

The research literature on the immigrants’ identities yields limited studies, which are important for developing knowledge on African immigrant identity. For example, in his study of 403 immigrants, from which 34% are Africans, Grant (2007) looked at how these immigrants integrate in the Canadian society with its related barriers of discrimination. This qualitative study employed social identity theory to test two hypotheses. The first hypothesis was that immigrants would identify themselves as Canadians if there were less prejudice toward the cultural group. On the other hand, if the immigrants perceive strong cultural group bias, then they would identify with their cultural group. The study indicated that immigrants identified with the host country in two ways: (a) because there was less bias toward their cultural group they identified more with the host country. Further, over time, the immigrants were immersed in the host country socially and economically and therefore identified themselves as Canadians; and (b) similarly the respondents showed a strong identification with their own cultural group indicating that while they identified with the host cultural identity, they did not jettison their own ethnic identity (Grant, 2007). The findings provide evidence to support the policies to fight racism and to promote identification with both ethnic culture and the host culture.

Contrary to this notion, Sánchez-Pardo (2011) argued that due to uncertain nature of the immigrants’ life, it might be difficult for them to adopt a particular mode of identification. The study reviewed the narratives of migrant African writers based in Spain. Sánchez-Pardo concluded that although the immigrants are sojourning in a particular country, they perceive themselves as in transit and therefore have ambivalent identity.

Studying the Cape Verdean community in Boston, through ethnological analysis, Gibau (2005) postulates that general conceptualizations of immigrants’ identity do not fit diasporic identity because inherent in the African immigrants community are the amalgam of cultures and multiple identities. This argument projects the notion that transnational movements are the results of diasporic identities. Borrowing from Laguerre’s (1988) idea of diasporic nationalism, Gibau (p. 534) maintains that the African immigrants’ notion of identity is impregnated with transnational attachment; therefore, the identity is forged through an “imagined community,” which captures the memory of home and origin.

In their study, Fenster and Vizel (2007) analyzed whether or not Africans in Tel-Aviv equated their identity with their sense of belonging. The research employed social identity analysis in examining the varied practices of the African immigrants at labor communities in Tel-Aviv to determine how they developed of their identity. The study indicated that one may construct a sense of belongingness to place but that would in no way correlate to the person’s identity. Rather, their identities were developed based on their imagined communities of Africans and of Christians. This conclusion agrees with Gibau (2005), indicating a different mode of identity development that has not received much discussion in the research literature.

Killian and Johnson (2006) conducted a qualitative study of North African women in France. They interviewed first-generation immigrant Muslim women in France, trying to determine how they navigate their identity. This qualitative study revealed, contrary to Grant’s (2007) multiculturalism mode observed among Ethiopian youth in Canada, that these women in France used “not-me” or disidentification process, an idea theorized by Stone (1962) to develop their identity.

As shown in the study, these women experienced racial stereotypes and labeling, and they juxtaposed how they perceived themselves with the label others, especially the French society, imposed on them. This resulted in their refusal to see themselves as immigrants. Killian and Johnson (2006) concluded that poor treatment of immigrants, with racial labeling forces immigrants to refuse the social category that is imposed on them. They may reside in a country permanently and yet would not admit that they are immigrants.

Kibour (2001) looked at how development of identities influences depression. The study used racial identity development model by Cross (1971, 1978, 1980), and a corresponding instrument, Racial Identity Attitude Scale designed by Parham and Helms (1981) to evaluate the relationship between identity development and depression. The racial identity development that was initially designed to assess the experience of the Negro to Black experience has five stages including preencounter, encounter, immersion/emersion, internalization, and internalization commitment. Kibour described the process as continuum as opposed to hierarchical. At the preencounter stage the individual, who came from majority homogeneous group and reduced to minority in the new contact group, resort to projecting personal identity through the lens of religion instead of race. When the individual awakens to self-consciousness of his or her race, from an encounter then there is the encounter stage. When a person orients and admits his or her Blackness and begins to relate to the labeling and stereotyping, it is the immersion/emersion stage. Internalization stage is when the person adopts affirmative affinity to Black identity. The fifth stage describes the individual’s development of ideologies and openness as Black. For his study, Kibour used the first four stages.

To understand the Ethiopian psychological conceptualization, Kibour (2001) employed triple quandary theory (Boykin, 1986), and dual imbroglio theory (Kibour, 2001), which complement each other. The triple quandary theory describes three personality types: mainstream, minority, and Black fundamental to African American identity and the dual imbroglio theory analysis the African and the African American identities. The dual imgroglio asserts that the immigrant comes with ethnic culture and then immerse with into the host culture. The duality is forged at the confluence of the two cultures.

Kibour (2001) concludes that refusal to embrace one’s racial identity contributes to depression systematology. It does not matter whether or not the individual has linearly integrated into the new host culture. Further, the study indicated that the Ethiopians chose African American over Europeans as their preferred group. Near to this conclusion is Killian and Johnson’s (2006) findings that while one may refuse to be referred to as immigrant, the resistances would only help in a group setting, but the individual still wrestle with the negative stereotypical effects of the label. The immigrant would develop positive self-esteem and better coping mechanisms by accepting status and rehabilitate than to distance him or herself.

While other scholarly works have sought to using processes such as biculturalism (Sánchez-Pardo, 2011), imagined communities (Fenster & Vizel, 2007; Gibau, 2005), multiculturalism (Grant, 2007), not-me, or disidentification (Killian & Johnson, 2006; Stone, 1962) to describe the identity development process of African immigrants, Guenther, Pendaz, and Songora Makene (2011) studied Eastern African immigrants using interviews and intersectionality theory as a framework to explore how they construct their identities, giving the complex and systemic oppression in acculturation. The study brought to fore that Eastern African immigrants refuse to be seen as African Americans. Rather, they use nationalism, ethnicity, and religion to distance themselves from African Americans. Adherence to religion provided a demarcation from African Americans, risking latent marginalization. Further, transnationalism did not appeal to Eastern Africans since they do not intend to return to their native country.

Küver (2009) joins the discussion through discourse analysis of interview of Sierra Leonean, on a framework of reconstructive analytical scrutiny of other works. The analysis indicated that even though immigrants construct their identities from varied collections of incidents, strict expansive attributions play a major role (Küver, 2009). Young, Spigner, Farwell, and Stubblefield (2006) saw identity development from their focus group study, in two fronts. First, community served as the locus of identity development. Community provided a fertile ground to celebrate achievements and nurture desires. Second, immigrant youth find themselves in cultural ambivalence. Sargent and Larchanche-Kim (2006) show that circumstances alter cases. They studied through surveys, African immigrants from Mali who are trapped in the varied legalities of France’s immigration system, from a qualitative perspective. It emerged that transnationalism, varied local conditions, gender, and strict immigrations affect the African immigrants’ identity. The immigrant has ambivalent identity giving their preferred status. Hunt (2002, p. 147) postulates that religion aids the African immigrants in forging their identity. This develops through divergent and “innovatory mode of Pentecostalism.” From his qualitative study through interviews among African immigrants in Britain, Hunt concludes that for the immigrant, religion is the bastion that brings together the distinctive nationality, ethnicity, social standing, gender, and age to provide meaning and identity. Cruz (2010) joins the discourse, from autoethnographic perspective, reflecting through seven poems, that the African immigrant’s identity emerges through micro negotiations of biculturalism delineating from level of power and different societal discourses.

Application of different methods and frameworks is paramount to understanding identities of immigrants. One-size-fit-all notion does not afford congruent method of studying different people with different backgrounds. Through the lens of ethnography Ibrahim (2008) studied francophone African immigrant youth who were in French language school in Ontario, Canada. Ibrahim argued that one is not born Black but rather, a person becomes Black. Blackness in the Western world is a symbolism of what one wears, the language the person speaks, certain mannerisms, dressing, style of hairdo, and experiential. These youth were not Black in Africa (Ibrahim, 2004). For Ibrahim (2008), one can define blackness in the context multiplicity of race. In reference to identity, Ibrahim borrowed the idea of “production” from Hall (1990 p. 247), maintaining that one conceives of identity as an ongoing process that gestates at convergence of oneself and the other. The tension between old self and the new self renders a third space of an ambivalent identity for “there is simultaneity, parallelism and dialogism.”

Tangentially, Saraiva (2008), from her study of immigrants from Guinea-Bissau argues that religion, among other forms, might be the vehicle that connects the cultural commonalities of home and host country, and provides arena to reconstruct their identities in the host country.

The review of literature yielded some findings. One thread that runs through all the study is that an immigrant’s self-concept as he or she develops a new identity is often in the face of racism. Immigrants initially resist the racial classification that they find in the host country and resort to their ethnic identity and nationalism. It came to fore in the review that identity is not static or fixed but ongoing incessant negotiation depending on the context and setting where the immigrant is situated (Cruz, 2010; Hunt, 2002; Ibrahim, 2008; Killian & Johnson, 2006; Sargent & Larchanche-Kim, 2006). Further, one specific method may not be the best vehicle to study this phenomenon. The conceptual framework and the method would produce best results contingent upon the setting and process.

Whereas other ethnic groups may acculturate through specific process, researchers may not lump African immigrants into one category, for different countries in Africa have diverse cultures, with in-groups such as tribes and clans, with specific emphasis on strict family attachment, religiosity, and strong attachment to one’s ethnic group.

Practical Application

As an ongoing phenomenon, immigration has and would be major source of growth to the U.S. population. Passel (2011) asserts that the trend of immigration among children and youth of immigrants contribute tremendously to the population of United States, that by 2050, this group would make up to 82% of the total growth.

The varied background of African immigrants’ projects varied challenges for their survival in the host country. For the younger generation, majority of their challenges and roadblocks lie in obtaining proper education which would positively influence the upward social and economic mobility.

The research literature reveals that the African immigrants’ youth face several challenges. They include, accessing financial aid, assimilation into the educational system of the new country (Teranishi, Suarez-Orozco, & Suarez-Orozco, 2011), economic and social progress, and professional development (Obiakor, & Afoláyan, 2007).

Teranishi, Suarez-Orozco, and Suarez-Orozco (2011) maintain that to not deal with the challenges for the immigrant youth would have significant impact on the nation both socially and economically. To combat the challenges facing immigrant youth, certain measures are appropriate for service providers, program development, program evaluation, advocacy agents, and policy development.

The findings emphasize the importance of reinforcement of the academic channel for the immigrant youth to have smooth transition through high school and postsecondary education. This would ensure successful familiarization and adjustment into the mainstream American culture (Fuligni & Witkow, 2004).

Community leaders and organizations would help themselves and their institutions by taking time to get acquainted with the African immigrant groups. An understanding of the meaning of community in their home countries would help them connect with the immigrant youth. Organizations and program developers could recreate tight-knit communities, extended family systems, and social support networks similar to that of their home country.

Designing of family learning seminars and programs should reflect the experiences of the immigrant youth. Further, there should be programs that affirm and consider the varied cultural and language needs of the African immigrant youth. This would call for counseling programs tailored for the African immigrants’ parents and their children to gain better understanding to provide better psychological guidance (Suarez-Orozco, 2001).

Many community-based and nonprofit organizations provide family enrichment programs (Rhoads & Solorzano, 1996). More often than not, the content and illustrations used are centered on the experience of developed countries. An understanding of African immigrants, the unique ethnic dissimilarities that jolt these families’ identity, and progress would inform program development, program evaluation, advocacy, policy development, organizations, and help educators better meet their needs.

The findings in this research provide the needed knowledge for higher education institutions to deem it a precedence to increase opportunities and access for the pool of growing African immigrant youth.

Institutions and organizations should provide linguistic classes, workshops on parenting skills, academic and guidance counseling, math tutoring, and cultural events, in a culture-friendly setting for immigrant students and families (Szelényi & Chang, 2002). Further educational sectors can create outreach programs that would provide information to immigrant parent and their children about where and how to find financial and education resources to aid in attending college.

Zhou (2003) postulates that accessibility and availability are the keys to help immigrant children in inner cities to excel amid the unfriendly environment in which the children find themselves. Community centers, churches, and educational institutions can develop collaborative seminars to educate immigrants on school protocols, after school programs, weekend events to provide opportunities for parents, youth, school, and community leaders to meet at school facilities to familiarize themselves.

Social Policy

As United States continues to project an image of a land of opportunity and shared mobility for global migrants, it becomes imperative to adopt policies that would facilitate smooth transition for immigrant youth to integrate into the new culture while maintaining their cultural identity.

After the passage of Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, immigration has become one major source of growth to the U.S. population. Review of the literature indicates that the trend of immigration among children and youth of immigrants contribute tremendously to the population of United States, and that by 2050, this group would make up to 82% of the total growth (Passel, 2011). While the Asian and African immigrants excel academically, the report indicates that a sizable amount of immigrants, specifically from Latin America, have difficulty in academics. This therefore paints a bleak economic future for this section of immigrants (Crosnoe & Turley, 2011).

For majority of these immigrants, the purpose of immigration is better opportunities and education appears to be the way to achieve it. While there is opportunity for immigrant youth to have free education, undocumented immigrants are allowed access to K–12. There are no federal low preventing undocumented immigrants to attend college, however, Title IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965 denies nonstatus immigrant students access to federal financial aid for college education (Drachman, 2006).

If the U.S. congress were to pass the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM Act) social policy, it would impact immigrant children and communities. The DREAM act was introduced in 2003 to help undocumented students who came into United States before they turned 16 and have continuously remained in the country for 5 years, and have completed 2 years of college or military service to qualify for a process of legalization. Further, it would protect students who are still in high school from deportation. Several states have adopted portions of the DREAM Act to reduce the cost of education for this segment of the population and to promote economic and social benefits among the immigrants (Androff et al., 2011; Crosnoe & Turley, 2011).

This policy has a potential to lighten the stress of immigration, improve the educational attainment, expand preschool programs, improve English language learning programs, and help the immigrant children to be college ready. Passage of the DREAM Act would allow immigrant youth, especially the undocumented ones, the opportunity regarding education and citizenship, boost enrollment at community colleges and pave the way for upward social mobility. Further, it would promote the academic, social, and economic status of immigrant students, thereby cutting the financial burden foisted on the nation. The DREAM Act would provide a potent motivation for immigrant youth to succeed in their education and achieve their dreams.

Poor education renders any society a miserable future and financial burden. The DREAM Act, on one hand, is for the betterment of the immigrant children and the nation as a whole. On the other hand, it may be seen as rewarding illegal immigration. The problem with the later notion is that denying the affected children would be to punish them, but the children should not be punished because their parents brought them into the country illegally.

The challenges for immigrant youth to attend college are broad and undocumented is only one aspect (Crosnoe & Turley, 2011). Giving the unique nature of the problems that face immigrant youth, there needs to be policies that would seek to recognize the unique cultures and identities of the immigrants. This means the policy makers would enact policies that would allow and promote living together in immigrant communities to nurture their identity (Berry, Phinney, Sam, & Vedder, n.d.).

Implication for Social Counselors

Many factors contribute to a person’s identity and that includes place of birth, the environment in which the person grew up, societal values, family rituals, cultural norms, and other social attachments (Allik et al., 2010). The difference between collectivistic and individualistic cultures is marked by the view of each construct. In a collectivistic culture, individuals define their identity from group perspective, such as clans, tribes, work units, nations, and families (Matsumoto, 2001). This means that the emphasis is on the group as opposed to the individual. Examples of this culture are Asian and African (Hofstede, 1980). On the other hand, the individualistic culture focuses on the individual. In this culture, the individual places his or her interest above that of the family or the society. The American and Western European cultures tend to be more individualistic (McCrae, 2002). Knowing and understanding these constructs would afford counselors the needed knowledge in providing care for the immigrant youth.