Roundtable

Peter Guarnaccia organized a Roundtable for the upcoming SfAA Meetings in Portland on his new book on Immigration, Diversity and Student Journeys to Higher Education (Peter Lang, 2019). The Roundtable will take place on Wednesday, March 20, 2019 from 3:30-5:20 pm. The panelists include Yolanda Moses, Jean Schensul and Alex Stepick.

Immigration, Diversity, and Student Journeys to Higher Education presents an in-depth understanding of how immigrant students at a major public research university balanced keeping their family cultures vibrant and learning U.S. culture to get to college. A revitalized anthropological understanding of acculturation provides the theoretical framework for the book. The book builds its analysis using extensive quotes from the 160 immigrant students who participated in the 21 focus groups that form the core of this study. The students’ families came from Africa, Asia, the Caribbean, Europe, and Latin America and reflected a wide diversity of experiences and insights into how students successfully pursued higher education. A key theme of the book is the “immigrant bargain,” where students repay their parents’ sacrifices in migrating and working extremely hard by excelling in school. A large majority of the parents made clear that a major motivation for immigrating was so that their children could have better educational opportunities; these parents had the original dreams for their children. Immigration, Diversity, and Student Journeys to Higher Education ends with a series of recommendations about how to improve acculturation research and how to facilitate immigrant students’ journeys to educational success.

This Roundtable engages issues of immigration and higher education, which is timely in these turbulent times where immigrants are regularly mischaracterized and stigmatized. Participants will think together about how to support the high aspirations of immigrant students and their families to achieve higher education. The session will also discuss how studies of immigrant students can further anthropological thinking about culture change.

(W-125) WEDNESDAY 3:30-5:20
Broadway IV
Immigration, Diversity and Student Journeys to Higher Education 

CHAIR:GUARNACCIA, Peter (Rutgers U)

ROUNDTABLE PARTICIPANTS: GUARNACCIA, Peter (Rutgers U), MOSES, Yolanda (UCR), SCHENSUL, Jean (UConn), STEPICK, Alex (Portland State U)

GUARNACCIA, Peter (Rutgers U) Immigration, Diversity and Student Journeys to Higher Education. This Roundtable will examine how immigrant students balance keeping their family cultures vibrant while learning U.S. culture on their journey to college. Panelists will respond to a new book focusing on immigrant students in higher education and on their own research in this area. Engaging issues of immigration and higher education is timely in these turbulent times where immigrants are often mischaracterized and stigmatized. Participants will think together about how to support the high aspirations of immigrant students/families to achieve higher education. The session will also discuss how studies of immigrant students can further anthropological thinking about culture change.