Migration Studies Commons^™

Paths To Belonging: How Chinese Parachute Kids Construct Identity Across Borders, Huiying Chen

Pitzer Senior Theses

Chinese parachute kids, defined as unaccompanied minor who study in foreign countries alone while their parents remain in China, represent a unique segment of international students.This research specifically focusing on Chinese parachute kids studying in the U.S. Grounded in interviews with nineteen individuals who were once parachute kids, this study challenges the popular view that all international students have monolithic experiences especially within the assimilationist framework.

I propose a typology of three orientations (the heritage, the instrumental, and the global) and argue that Chinese parachute kids’ orientation determines their sense of belonging and their approaches to embeddedness in American educational …

Exploring The Acculturation Preferences Of Bangladeshi-Muslim Second-Generation American Immigrants In New York City., Jakir Hossain

Senior Projects Fall 2019

The purpose of this study is to apply previous frameworks of acculturation to evaluate the acculturation preferences of the Bangladeshi-Muslim second-generation American immigrant population in New York City. This thesis attempts to understand the acculturation preferences of the aforementioned population by analyzing how they view their Bangladeshi ethnic identity and their Islamic religious identity in relation to their American immigrant upbringing. To do this, participants have been organized into acculturation preference tracks based on John Berry’s acculturation preference model. This thesis will then explore possible explanations for why differences between these acculturation preferences exist and why certain individuals found themselves …

The Sin Of Skin: Color And ‘Other’ In The Greco-Roman World, Grace Gill

Senior Theses and Projects

Many Scholars have denied the presence of racial categorizing in European Antiquity. Though there was no institutionalized system of ‘racial oppression’ like we are familiar with in today’s society, I contend that there are cultural precursors of ‘race’ in the Greco-Roman world, otherwise known as ‘proto-race’. All societies have means to categorize people and put them into hierarchies - this is a major focus in the field of sociology. I propose that color-symbolic language was used to make distinctions amongst and between people; further that by analyzing the context within which these ‘color- words’ were referenced, it illuminates the importance …

Naturalization Ceremonies And The Role Of Immigrants In The American Nation, Sofya Aptekar

Publications and Research

Although immigration is an essential element in the American national story, it presents difficulties for constructing national membership and national identity in terms of shared intrinsic values. In this article, I analyze speeches made at naturalization ceremonies during two time periods (1950 – 1970 and 2003 – present) to examine the evolving roles of immigrants, as articulated to immigrants themselves. Naturalization ceremonies are a unique research site because the usually implied nationalist content is made explicit to brand new members of the nation. I find a shift in the framing from immigrants as potential liabilities and weak links in the …