Immigrant Home Research Articles

“An Army of Little Mothers”: Progressive Era Eugenic Maternalism and the Medicalization of Motherhood

AbstractThis article explores the role of the Little Mothers’ Leagues in New York City, clubs created by public health authorities to educate working-class girls as young as eight years old who took care of their younger siblings while their parents worked. The Little Mothers’ Leagues served as an essential link between social reform and eugenic public health programming during the first two decades of the twentieth century. Eugenic maternalism, as articulated by the Little Mothers’ Leagues, distilled a sense of Americanness into a set of hygienic practices and rituals that could be easily understood and imitated. Through the Little Mothers’ Leagues, eugenic maternalist reformers addressed essential questions regarding the role of social reform in the “Americanization” process, the role of young girls as citizens and as entry points to the immigrant home, and the extent to which environmental reform could regulate the immigrant family. Examining the Little Mothers’ Leagues as a project that was both eugenic and maternalist allows us to better understand the ways that eugenic thinking permeated popular discourse through child welfare reform and domestic science.

Documents, Volume 9: December 1841–April 1842

Documents, Volume 9: December 1841–April 1842

Media exposure and language experience: Examining associations from home observations in Mexican immigrant families in the US

The current exploratory study describes exposure to digital media in young children from Mexican immigrant homes and its association with language input and output. Using multiple recordings of children’s home environments, we report on the rate (i.e., percentage of total recording time), language (Spanish or English), and type (adult- or child-directed programming) of auditory media exposure in toddlers under three years of age (N = 30; Mage = 20;3 months). We also examine total adult words and adult-child conversational turns, as indicators of child language input, and the number of child language vocalizations as a measure of early language development. Findings showed that digital media comprised approximately 14 % of the child language environment that families selected to record, with wide variability observed. Children were more likely to be exposed to media in Spanish than English and adult-directed than child-directed programming. Children’s general media exposure was negatively associated with the amount of children’s vocalizations and conversational turns but not the quantity of adult words in the environment, suggesting that the relation between media exposure and child language development is likely not mediated by a general decrease in adult input in Mexican immigrant homes. Instead, media exposure may decrease opportunities for children to engage in conversation and practice language expression, both critical mechanisms for successful language acquisition. Selection of child-directed programming may encourage child vocalizations but is less likely to be in Spanish in these homes, which may reduce opportunities for engagement with Spanish-dominant adults. Together these findings provide a window into the nature of media exposure in children from Mexican immigrant homes and into the associations between media and language input and output. Directions for future research are discussed.

Wheeling's Polonia: Reconstructing Polish Community in a West Virginia Steel Town by William Hal Gorby

Reviewed by: Wheeling's Polonia: Reconstructing Polish Community in a West Virginia Steel Town by William Hal Gorby Stephen Szabados Wheeling's Polonia: Reconstructing Polish Community in a West Virginia Steel Town. By William Hal Gorby. (Morgantown: West Virginia University Press, 2020. Pp. xv, 331.) If you have Polish ancestors, the new book Wheeling's Polonia: Reconstructing Polish Community in a West Virginia Steel Town, by William Hal Gorby, is a must-read. If your Polish ancestors lived in Wheeling's Polonia, this book could add even more material to your family history. The author conducted many interviews and extensive research that help convey the story of the early struggles of the Polish immigrants entering Wheeling's workforce and how the Poles became a powerful force in the community. It is an excellent source of Polish history in America. The book has many examples to show the initial resistance the Poles met from the German and Irish immigrants who had come before them and who feared that the "Polanders" and other eastern Europeans would take their jobs. It describes how the Poles were a factor in the rising tensions between Wheeling's workers and the industrial owners as the city grew dramatically during the 1800s with the addition of steel mills and factories. The employers at the factories, steel mills, and nearby coal mines demanded more workers and increased productivity to meet the demand, and they were greedy to create more profits. Labor conditions deteriorated with longer hours, lower wages, and higher quotas. The book also describes the unsafe working conditions causing the death or permanent injury to many workers with total disregard by the employers. In the late 1800s, the workers organized strikes to force better conditions and higher pay. The owners fought back with threats and strike-breakers. New immigrants arriving from primarily eastern Europe filled the need, first as strike-breakers but also filling new labor demands at growing factories. The Poles and other eastern Europeans were not welcome in the Wheeling neighborhoods but fought to stay. Ethnic groups laid claim to neighborhoods, and there were fights between the different groups at the borders of the ethnic neighborhoods. The author describes the rough living conditions in the immigrant neighborhoods of Wheeling. The immigrant neighborhoods had shoddy homes, tenement houses, and unsanitary conditions. There were also frequent floods, [End Page 87] which caused further damage to the immigrant homes and living conditions. The Poles endured unstable employment, loss of jobs, and poor economic conditions triggered by recurring recessions. As the city grew, there was an increase in crime and gang activities. The book further describes the illicit happenings in the many saloons and other establishments, with the immigrants losing their weekly pay. A unifying force arrived when Father Emil Musial was assigned to care for the Polish immigrants in Wheeling. He developed a Polish community that processed the social, financial, and cultural institutions to survive independently. Father Musial worked tirelessly in the building of St. Ladislaus Catholic Church and made it the epicenter of a unified Polish community. He maintained a close-knit community by unifying the diverse-thinking German, Russian, and Austrian Poles to share in Polish nationalism. The complexity of the Polish working class had competing facets, which often created a tangled identity for Wheeling's Poles. The socialism presented by the unions seemed to be very different from their Catholic life. The Poles developed a unique subculture of opposition that did not separate their ethnic, religious, or class feelings. Each tugged at their loyalties. Thus, interethnic working-class solidarity was challenged by the employers' anti-unionism, the mainstream press, and nativism during the 1890s. Still, competing forces also helped foster the politicization and class consciousness of Wheeling's Poles. Immigrant communities provided mutual assistance during periods of economic want, but by 1908 Wheeling's immigrants pushed for changes in the causes of their problems. The city's Polish and other eastern European immigrants were increasingly politicized "from the bottom up" by poor living conditions. Immigrant workers were increasingly receptive to unionization as they suffered the most from dangerous working conditions and low-paying jobs. By the start of World War I, Wheeling's Polish immigrant...

The New American Servitude: Political Belonging among African Immigrant Home Care Workers by Cati Coe

The New American Servitude: Political Belonging among African Immigrant Home Care Workers by Cati Coe

Exploring family language policy and planning among ethnic minority families in Hong Kong: through a socio-historical and processed lens

ABSTRACT This qualitative study investigates the process of family language policy and planning among a group of immigrant mothers with south Asian backgrounds in Hong Kong, and explores the underlying cultural, socio-political and ideological reasons. Moving beyond a discrete analysis of family language policy within the home context to incorporate elements of historical time and space, the data analysis shows that family language policy is shaped by individuals’ cultural affiliations, future imaginations and their experiences across the contexts of school, community, workplace, host society and home country. Furthermore, broader social and ideological realities also impact individuals, and thereby influence family language policy. The findings suggest that South Asian families may face difficulty in maintaining their children's heritage language literacy, and that the immigrant mothers’ lack of local educational experiences and limited knowledge of the Chinese language may disadvantage their children in terms of educational opportunities. Providing an in-depth understanding of bottom-up language practices, language planning and implementation in immigrant home contexts, this study has implications for policy makers in terms of language education and provision.

The New American Servitude

Previous articleNext article No AccessBook and Film ReviewsThe New American Servitude The New American Servitude: Political Belonging among African Immigrant Home Care Workers. By Cati Coe. New York: New York University Press, 2019.Yolanda Covington-WardYolanda Covington-WardDepartment of Africana Studies and Department of Anthropology, University of Pittsburgh, 4160 Wesley W. Posvar Hall, 230 South Bouquet Street, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15260, USA ([email protected]). Search for more articles by this author PDFPDF PLUSFull Text Add to favoritesDownload CitationTrack CitationsPermissionsReprints Share onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditEmail SectionsMoreDetailsFiguresReferencesCited by Current Anthropology Volume 61, Number 2April 2020 Sponsored by the Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research Article DOIhttps://doi.org/10.1086/708442 Views: 81Total views on this site HistoryAccepted January 06, 2020 © 2020 by The Wenner-Gren Foundation for Anthropological Research. All rights reserved. For permission to reuse, please contact [email protected]PDF download Crossref reports no articles citing this article.

Meaningful Deaths: Home Health Workers’ Mediation of Deaths at Home

ABSTRACTAfter several generations in the United States in which medicalized deaths have become normal, more people are seeking to die at home. However, home deaths lead to emotional uncertainty and practical confusion, in which kin lack a cultural script. In this article I draw on interviews with patients’ kin and their African immigrant home health workers, and show that the care workers helped create a more meaningful death through their knowledge of death, familiarity with the physical processes of death, and their presence, which they used to create pathways for their patients and their kin.

Languaging among Latinx siblings in immigrant homes: Implications for teaching literacy

ABSTRACTThis article synthesizes multiple studies that we have conducted on language and literacy practices among Latinx siblings at home, and identifies implications for teaching. Examples from micro-ethnographic discourse analyses provide rich vignettes of sibling interactions within Mexican and Central American immigrant households to illustrate how siblings engage in complex negotiations as they language together at home, in English and Spanish. Older siblings provided unique scaffolds for younger children’s learning and development in ways that demonstrated broad and flexible expertise, but these practices also reflected the complex social and linguistic circumstances in which immigrant-origin Latinx children live. Findings suggest that teachers can play active roles in supporting language and literacy development inside and outside classrooms.

The Impact of Immigration Enforcement on the Nation’s Schools

In response to growing concerns about the impact of harsh immigration enforcement policy since the 2016 presidential campaign, we examined its overall impact on the nation’s schools, using survey data completed by over 3,600 educators across the country. Our study results show that immigration enforcement is affecting all students—both those from immigrant homes and those that are not. In particular, Title I schools are the most affected by immigration enforcement. Our results also show that the higher the percentage of White students, the more educators reported immigrant students being exposed to a hostile, anti-immigrant environment. We conclude that the current policy of immigration enforcement significantly dismantles an equitable education for all students and creates a critical threat to their futures.

Contributors

Contributors

Yesterday they marched, today they mobilised the vote: a developmental model for civic leadership among the children of immigrants

ABSTRACTThis article proposes a developmental model for the political incorporation of the adolescent and young adult children of immigrants. We assert that key politicising agents – including parents, educational institutions, civic associations, and social media – play significant roles in mediating the political incorporation of 1.5- and second-generation youth. These politicising agents help determine if the children of immigrants will exhibit depressed engagement, participate in ways similar to their peers from non-immigrant families, or exercise civic leadership roles. In particular, we highlight the recent role of social movement-affiliated civic associations that have provided this young population with an intensive civics education and formative opportunities for civic action. We also note how intersectional frameworks adopted by broader millennial movements align with the campaigns of, as well as the political socialisation that occurs within, some of these organisations. To advance our argument, we draw on data from California, the state with the largest immigrant population and home to a vibrant social movement sector.

The Influence of Risk Factors on Preschoolers’ Spanish Vocabulary Development in the Context of Spanish Instruction

ABSTRACTResearch Findings: This longitudinal study investigated the Spanish vocabulary development of dual-language-learning (DLL) children (N = 150) from Spanish-speaking, low-income, predominantly immigrant homes who were enrolled in a state-funded preschool program that provided instruction in Spanish. Children’s Spanish vocabulary trajectories were examined, as were patterns of co-occurring risk. In addition, the relation of individual and cumulative risk factors at preschool entry on Spanish vocabulary development was explored. Findings reveal that, on average, children’s receptive Spanish vocabulary skills, which started below age-level norms at the beginning of the preschool year, grew to surpass age-level norms by the end of the year. These gains were made despite children facing, on average, eight risk factors. The investigation of patterns of co-occurring risk and the effect of individual risk factors on Spanish vocabulary outcomes reveal that some social risk factors, such as having an unemployed parent, might function as a protective factor in this population. Practice or Policy: This study paves the way for future work in determining the role of native-language instruction for supporting language growth among DLL children. In addition, it expands the research literature on the nature and influence of social and economic risks in this population of children.

Immigrant home-school information flows in Finnish comprehensive schools

PurposeSchool is an institution that provides an opportunity to improve children’s equity and wellbeing and to bridge the potential disadvantage related to ethnic- or language-minority backgrounds. Information sharing between immigrant homes and school can enhance school achievement, support positive identity formation and provide early support when needed. In this paper, the perspectives of immigrant parents, school welfare personnel and school-going adolescents are analysed in order to understand how they see their respective roles in information flows between home and school. The paper aims to discuss these issues.Design/methodology/approachThe data consist of qualitative group and individual interviews of 34 representatives of school personnel, 13 immigrant parents and 81 young people who have experienced immigration, in the metropolitan area of Helsinki, Finland.FindingsDespite general goodwill, school personnel may fail to secure the flow of information. Due to structural power imbalance, school personnel are often incapable of engaging the parents in dialogical discourse. Young people of immigrant background in turn try to manipulate the information flow in order to protect their family and ethnic group and to cope with pressures from parents. The patterns of information flows in school as a social field reproduce immigrant homes as subaltern. Adolescents act in a strategically important juncture of information flows between immigrant home and school, which indicates that home-school interaction is actually a triad.Social implicationsAwareness building among school personnel is vital for equity and wellbeing of children of immigrant families.Originality/valueThis triangulated analysis of patterned information flows in school as a social field provides a fresh perspective to those working with children of immigrant families.

Longing for a House in Ghana: Ghanaians’ Responses to the Dignity Threats of Elder Care Work in the United States

AbstractHome health care is a growing occupation in the United States which calls for significant emotional labor. On the basis of interviews and participant observation with home health workers from Ghana, this article argues that home health work is different from other kinds of emotional labor in that living and working in the client's house are central to the conditions of work and the dignity assaults of workers’ experience. Among their strategies for responding to these dignity threats is to long for a house and to direct their energy toward an alternative social field through house construction “at home” in Ghana. Thus, the dignity threats experienced by immigrant home health workers raise concerns about the occupation's ability to retain workers as well as immigrants’ sense of worth and belonging in the United States.

Mandir and visa status: purity, auspiciousness and hindu homes in the usa

Mandirs are an important part of first generation Hindu homes of immigrants from India living in the USA who adhere to the essential Hindu principles of purity and auspiciousness in the mandir’s placement and worship in their homes. This paper will argue that visa status of the immigrants plays an important role in the way these two principles of purity and auspiciousness are practiced in a diasporic setting. While the immigrants are on temporary visas with unstable jobs, the purity and auspiciousness of the mandir is negotiated within restricted spaces inside rented apartments; however, as immigrants become permanent residents and independent homeowners, they execute more control in ensuring the purity and auspiciousness of the mandir through architectural changes inside the house. The focus of this paper is not to show the two terms of auspiciousness or purity as binary opposites or as encompassing one or the other. Rather, the concentration of this paper is on highlighting the way immigrants negotiate the purity of the mandir in each stage of the immigration process—from temporary to permanent residency—in order to ensure the auspiciousness of the house.

Assessment of the role of international travel and unauthorized immigration on measles importation to the United States.

Concerns have been raised about unauthorized immigrants importing measles to the United States (US). This potential risk has not been rigorously evaluated nor compared with the potential risk of measles importation by US residents traveling internationally or international travellers coming to the US. We compared the potential risk of measles importation from each of these populations. Using a cross-sectional, ecological design, we compared country-level measles vaccination and incidence data, for top (i) US resident international travel destinations, (ii) US-bound international travellers' home countries and (iii) home countries of unauthorized immigrants to the US. In 2014, US residents made 52.5 million trips to one of the top 10 international destinations. Five of these countries (10,958,000 US resident trips) had average first-dose measles vaccine coverage below 90%, and five (9,881,000 US resident trips) had average measles incidence over 1 case/100,000 population. Two of the 10 top US-bound international travellers' home countries (5,597,259 international visitors) had average first-dose measles vaccine coverage below 90%, whereas five (13,333,545 international visitors) had average annual measles incidence over 1 case/100,000 population). In 2012, of 11.2 million unauthorized immigrants living in the US, 8.9 million (79.0%) were born in one of the top 10 unauthorized immigrant home countries. Four of those countries had average first-dose measles vaccine coverage below 90% (1.3 million unauthorized immigrants), whereas three of these countries had average measles incidence over 1 case/100,000 population (950,000 unauthorized immigrants). Overall, there are 10 times more annual US visitors to high measles incidence countries than there are unauthorized immigrants in the US from high measles incidence countries. Efforts to prevent reestablishment of indigenous measles transmission in the US should focus on evidence-based risk assessments, highlighting a greater potential measles importation risk of from US residents travelling internationally than unauthorized immigrants coming to the US.

An interesting time in my childhood: Thinking about storied experience to understand complexities of curriculum making and diversity

This paper highlights ways in which examining the storied experience of students may enhance our understanding of the complexities of curriculum making and diversity. Teachers, administrators, and other members of a diverse urban school implemented curriculum, practices, and policies that suggested a commitment to acknowledging the home cultures, languages, and religions that students brought to school. Examination of one Chinese student’s “stories of experience” (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990), however, revealed nuances and unexpected complexities of balancing integration into mainstream peer groups in school while growing up in an immigrant home. The nuances highlight ways in which schooling may contribute to shaping the ethnic identity of immigrant and minority students in ways that are much more complex than realized by teachers, administrators, and policy makers.

Do immigrants reduce bilateral trade costs? An empirical test

We use the first comprehensive estimates of bilateral trade costs to test the extensively stated, but rarely evaluated, hypothesis that immigrants reduce trade-related transaction costs. Our results provide robust and direct evidence supporting this often-posited hypothesis. We examine the period from 1995 through 2010 using data that represent 174 im-migrant home countries and 19 OECD member host countries. We find that a 10% increase in the stock of immigrants from a given home country that reside in a given host country corresponds with a 1.04% decrease in the overall bilateral trade costs between the home and host countries. While different in magnitudes, we also find that the effect of immigrants, in reducing trade costs, persists across both manufactured and agricultural products.

The Model Minority: Asian American Immigrant Families and Intimate Harm

The heart of the issue is not whether Asian immigrant families currently meet the measures of the model minority; the issue is whether they aspire to, whether they apply those metrics. And they do. The racial ideologies, the economic infrastructures, the educational paradigms of Asianness do not circle the immigrant home like vampires, held at bay by bulbs of garlic; they are invited in to dine, made part of the nuclear family. Which is to say that the immigrant nuclear family is not only busy grappling with, fending off, and challenging certain structural racisms; it is also busily reinforcing, perpetuating, and living up to certain other aspects of racist structures. Despite Asian American social-movement investments in seeing the immigrant family as a resistant space, this has not so much enabled the practice of intimate justice as it has required the disregard of intimate harm.