The meanings of Blackness: Belonging and exclusion among African immigrant parents and students in US schools

Abstract

This article explores how particular understandings of Blackness among African immigrant students and parents shape their experiences of exclusion and belonging within the American educational landscape. Based on ethnographic interviews drawn from a larger mixed-methods study of African immigrant students and parents in a mid-Atlantic community, the article discusses the meanings these immigrants give to race, and the ways in which being an African Black was associated with experiences of exclusion in US society. Interviews also revealed a significant resistance to identification as African American ‘Black’, as African American Blackness was associated with styles of self-presentation and behaviour that do not conform to immigrant ideologies surrounding a good education. Lastly, African immigrants express a powerful belief in American opportunity that fuels aspirations for economic success. This analysis suggests avenues for exploring how Blackness, immigrant status and transnational identifications matter for theorizing intersections of race and belonging in diasporic populations.