Full Citation
Title: Identity Matters: Immigration and the Social Construction of Identity in Garifuna Los Angeles
Citation Type: Dissertation/Thesis
Publication Year: 2004
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Abstract: This dissertation examines the social construction of ethnic and racialidentities in the Garifuna immigrant community of Los Angeles by drawing onethnographic and survey data obtained during fieldwork carried out between 1999and 2001.Beginning with the melting pot theories of Robert Park and continuingwith contemporary segmented-assimilation theories, much of the literature onimmigration has argued that immigrants go through a multi-stage process ofacculturation, and eventual assimilation, into the culture of the host society.While many immigrants struggle to maintain their pre-existing cultural practicesand national identities, over time, generational changes exert steady pressure onthe children of immigrants to accept the identities and values of the larger society.xSome immigrant groups tenaciously resist the acculturation processhowever. Immigration research has shown that sub-national, or diasporaidentified, populations such as Jews, Mixtecs and Yaquis in the United States andEast African Sikh's in Great Britain tend to have different acculturationexperiences than their nationally identified co-migrants.The thesis of this dissertation is that Garifuna immigrants from CentralAmerica have a distinctive acculturation pattern that differs from black, nationallyidentified immigrants such as Jamaicans, Haitians and Belizean Creoles. Bydocumenting and analyzing the Garifuna experience with immigration incontemporary Los Angeles, this dissertation argues that differences in Garifunaacculturation patterns can be explained by reference to cultural sovereigntystruggles taking place 'back home', the politics of racial and national identity inthe U.S. and the institutionalization of Garifuna identities and cultural practicesinto intergenerational voluntary associations. A key finding of this researchproject is that, contrary to much of the research on contemporary blackimmigrants, Garifuna voluntary associations are abundant and serve as the keyinstitutional mechanisms by which immigrant identities have been maintained andtransformed since the mid 1960's.
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Authors: DeFay, Jason B.
Institution: University of California, San Diego
Department: Sociology
Advisor: Yen Le Espiritu and Ivan Evans
Degree: Ph.D.
Publisher Location: San Diego, CA
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Data Collections: IPUMS USA
Topics: Migration and Immigration, Other, Race and Ethnicity
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