“All Haitians speak Haitian Creole, but because of Haiti’s legacy as a French colony, French has remained an important marker of educational status among Haitians (Zéphir 2004) […] These Haitians enjoyed the prestige associated with being speakers of French, a language that invokes images of sophistication and refinement, and they relished being nicknamed ‘Frenchies’ (Woldemikael 1989; Zéphir 1995).”

An except from Doucet and Suárez-Orozco’s “Ethnic Identity and Schooling: The experiences of Haitian Immigrant Youth” Continue reading “You talk… You speak the good French…” →

“ ‘The moment you open your mouth, they’ll know you are not one of their own’ ” (Suárez-Orozco et al, 2008, 57).

Continue reading Adolescent Immigrants or Immigrant Adolescents? →

“As the daughter of colonized immigrants, my socialization into U.S. culture began with my earliest schooling experiences—the gradual loss of my first language coupled with acquiring and
excelling at a second language.” (p. 2-3)

This beautifully written piece tackles many facets of society, from American values, to Mexican values, to perceptions of Mexicans through American eyes, to perceptions of Americans through Mexican eyes, to the values of hard working families, to the struggles faced by immigrant families, to bureaucracy favoring one race* over another. Continue reading Let’s not lose sight of who we are →

Almost every semester of my time here at NYU, I’ve had the opportunity to watch Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s TED talk on the Danger of a Single. It’s a beautiful video that articulates how we create a “single story” of particular groups of people and characterize them by x number of traits. A single story is dangerous because it cheapens the individual experiences of a diverse group of people and it’s also hurtful to be identified by just a single stereotype. Continue reading The Dangerous Stories We Tell →