Full Citation

Title: Making Americans: Schooling, diversity, and assimilation in the twenty-first century

Citation Type: Journal Article

Publication Year: 2018

ISBN:

ISSN: 23778261

DOI: 10.7758/rsf.2018.4.5.05

NSFID:

PMCID:

PMID:

Abstract: How do schools teach American identity in light of immigration-driven diversity? This ethnographic study focuses on everyday nation-making at Castro Middle School, located in a city transformed by immigration. Building on theories of bidirectional assimilation, I show how assimilation can produce new definitions of Americanness more recognizable to immigrant communities, facilitating their national identification. At Castro, bidirectional assimilation supported African American students' descriptions of Americans in multicultural terms and their own identification as American. Assimilation between the school and the larger Latino and Asian student populations, however, was limited because of a binary racial paradigm that excluded them from the national community. This study thus nuances the role of race as a barrier in the assimilation process, particularly as it unfolds in schools.

Url: https://www.rsfjournal.org/content/4/5/99.abstract

User Submitted?: No

Authors: Lash, Cristina L.

Periodical (Full): RSF

Issue: 5

Volume: 4

Pages: 99-117

Data Collections: IPUMS USA

Topics: Education

Countries: