In a first-year, university-level communication course that examined issues of race, ethnicity, postcolonialism, diaspora, and coming-of-age using different points of view and modes of communication, students created graphic novel-style auto-ethnographies to reflect on their experiences with diaspora and identity creation. The assignment was an…

This article examines the aspiration-attainment gap and educational resilience among children of Mexican immigrants in the midst of the post-1965 U.S. demographic transformation. Two widespread theoretical explanations are used to understand the educational disparities faced by this subpopulation: the cultural argument, which emphasizes their…

This article presents findings from a qualitative narrative research study conducted during a journey to Ethiopia undertaken by graduates of an academic program in Israel in 2005. The study focuses on the significance of the journey as a process that helped reconstruct their identity. During the journey, twelve Ethiopian education graduates were…

This qualitative case study utilized hybridity theory, particularly the notion of third spaces, to investigate the ways Turkish immigrants (18 parents and 15 children) negotiate culture, identity, and schooling in the midwestern United States. Data were collected through in-depth interviews, observations, and artifacts, and analyzed using…

Conceptual in nature, this paper revisits the debate on the nature and ethical implication of what it means to conduct research with/in immigrant communities. The view from "inside" is different from the view from "outside," I am contending, and both are mediated by what I am calling "I-Thou Research Ethics." This is…

This article illuminates instances in which four graduate students have struggled with issues of representation--of themselves and of immigrant participants--at their research sites and in their writing. These dilemmas are situated within the literature on the politics of representation in qualitative research. Although these dilemmas are not…

This reflective essay draws on the personal experiences of the author in negotiating various tensions of engaged research and raises several troubling questions about research with immigrant populations, particularly concerning engagement, ethics, and educational contexts. Three "lenses" (or, three theoretical framings) serve as…

Little academic attention has been given to the supplementary education experience of immigrant students in the Canadian research literature, especially in a non-English speaking context such as Quebec. Yet these schools are important for understanding the influence of ethnicity as well as religion on the academic preparedness and social…

Although the notion of cultural capital (Bourdieu, 1986) has been well studied and affirmed as important in recognizing the strengths of children and developing inclusive pedagogical models (Albright & Luke, 2008), this article presents a study of transcultural spiritual literacy--an element of cultural capital that is often overlooked, seldom…

This article highlights how a community-organized language school that teaches Persian serves as a site of diasporic cultural production. Specifically, I examine how the school serves as a site to teach the Persian language, delimit cultural meanings, and facilitate a sense of belonging and community membership among a diverse group of parents and…

Many immigrant children might face challenges in maintaining their heritage languages--that is, continuing using their first languages (L1s) or the L1s of their parents. Factors such as pressure from schools and the desire to assimilate into the mainstream society might lead these children to learn a dominant language at the cost of losing their…

Asians are now the fastest growing ethnic group in the United States. And although disproportionately more likely to live in Western states, some are settling in nontraditional host communities. Focusing on one such instance in southeast Georgia, the present ethnographic case study considers a poultry processing plant's decision to recruit…

This article emerges from an ongoing exploration into how British minority ethnic communities in the London area create spaces in community-based programs to maintain or develop their languages and literacies. In London, more than one-third of the 850,000 school children speak a language other than English at home (Baker & Eversley, 2000). This…

People immigrate to other countries for various reasons. Whereas some voluntarily move to a foreign land, others are forced to do so as a result of socioeconomic, racial, political, sexual, and religious oppressions. In light of these various factors causing the voluntary or forcible exodus of people, this article traces back the author's journey…

This article describes a qualitative research study that examined the educational experiences of refugee students who have immigrated to Canada. Many children from war-affected countries have been denied basic human entitlements, and their immigration to Canada represents hope for their futures. Evidence suggests that these students are further…