Onoso Imoagene
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520292314
- eISBN:
- 9780520965881
- Item type:
- book
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292314.001.0001
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
More Than Just Black delves into the experiences of second generation Nigerian adults in the United States and Britain, examining how race, ethnicity, and class (both parental and individual) affect ...
More
More Than Just Black delves into the experiences of second generation Nigerian adults in the United States and Britain, examining how race, ethnicity, and class (both parental and individual) affect their identities and assimilation trajectories. I pay particular attention to how their relations with their proximal hosts, African Americans in the United States and Black Caribbeans in Britain, affect how they identify. I conclude that the Nigerian second generation have more in common with fellow immigrants than they do with their proximal hosts.
OR
Focusing on questions of identity, More Than Just Black examines the nature of second generation Nigerians incorporation in the United States and Britain. I investigate how, in combination, race, ethnicity, and class (both parental and individual) affect the identity formation process and assimilation trajectories of the adult second generation of Nigerian ancestry in both countries. I find that despite living in countries where people are categorized by race and where race and racial categorization still hold great social and political power, the Nigerian second generation in both countries are not defined through the prism of race. They have formed a nuanced identity that balances race, a Nigerian ethnicity (which includes an achievement orientation akin to “model minority” groups), a pan-African identity, and, depending on structure of national identity and perceptions of thoroughness in redressing past ethnoracial traumas, identification with the country of destination.Less
More Than Just Black delves into the experiences of second generation Nigerian adults in the United States and Britain, examining how race, ethnicity, and class (both parental and individual) affect their identities and assimilation trajectories. I pay particular attention to how their relations with their proximal hosts, African Americans in the United States and Black Caribbeans in Britain, affect how they identify. I conclude that the Nigerian second generation have more in common with fellow immigrants than they do with their proximal hosts.
OR
Focusing on questions of identity, More Than Just Black examines the nature of second generation Nigerians incorporation in the United States and Britain. I investigate how, in combination, race, ethnicity, and class (both parental and individual) affect the identity formation process and assimilation trajectories of the adult second generation of Nigerian ancestry in both countries. I find that despite living in countries where people are categorized by race and where race and racial categorization still hold great social and political power, the Nigerian second generation in both countries are not defined through the prism of race. They have formed a nuanced identity that balances race, a Nigerian ethnicity (which includes an achievement orientation akin to “model minority” groups), a pan-African identity, and, depending on structure of national identity and perceptions of thoroughness in redressing past ethnoracial traumas, identification with the country of destination.
Onoso Imoagene
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520292314
- eISBN:
- 9780520965881
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292314.003.0003
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
Chapter 2 shows how the proximal host is a crucial actor influencing how the second generation of Nigerian ancestry identify. How the presence of the proximal host affects identity formation among ...
More
Chapter 2 shows how the proximal host is a crucial actor influencing how the second generation of Nigerian ancestry identify. How the presence of the proximal host affects identity formation among the black second generation is generally overlooked in segmented assimilation theory and is a key factor emphasized in beyond racialization theory. The chapter details how relations with the proximal host in childhood, particularly feelings of rejection and exclusion based on perceived physical and cultural differences, laid the foundation for developing a distinct ethnicity in adulthood. I discuss the responses of the proximal hosts in the United States and Britain to the Nigerian second generation when they were young. What was viewed as discriminatory responses by members of the proximal host by the Nigerian second generation fostered a feeling of being black but different among the Nigerian second generation. The tense relations between proximal hosts and the African second generation required the young Nigerian second generation to start the process of defining what being black meant to them and defining a diasporic ethnic identity differentiating them from their proximal hosts.Less
Chapter 2 shows how the proximal host is a crucial actor influencing how the second generation of Nigerian ancestry identify. How the presence of the proximal host affects identity formation among the black second generation is generally overlooked in segmented assimilation theory and is a key factor emphasized in beyond racialization theory. The chapter details how relations with the proximal host in childhood, particularly feelings of rejection and exclusion based on perceived physical and cultural differences, laid the foundation for developing a distinct ethnicity in adulthood. I discuss the responses of the proximal hosts in the United States and Britain to the Nigerian second generation when they were young. What was viewed as discriminatory responses by members of the proximal host by the Nigerian second generation fostered a feeling of being black but different among the Nigerian second generation. The tense relations between proximal hosts and the African second generation required the young Nigerian second generation to start the process of defining what being black meant to them and defining a diasporic ethnic identity differentiating them from their proximal hosts.
Onoso Imoagene
- Published in print:
- 2017
- Published Online:
- September 2017
- ISBN:
- 9780520292314
- eISBN:
- 9780520965881
- Item type:
- chapter
- Publisher:
- University of California Press
- DOI:
- 10.1525/california/9780520292314.003.0008
- Subject:
- Sociology, Migration Studies (including Refugee Studies)
In the conclusion, I rearticulate the main points of beyond racialization theory. I discuss what the experiences of the adult second generation of Nigerian ancestry in the United States and Britain ...
More
In the conclusion, I rearticulate the main points of beyond racialization theory. I discuss what the experiences of the adult second generation of Nigerian ancestry in the United States and Britain reveal about the intersections of race, class, national origin, and ethnicity in these countries. I discuss what their experiences tell us about the future of the color line and understandings of blackness in the United States and Britain. The experiences of the second generation of Nigerian ancestry show that the ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic diversity among black people is being recognized and increasingly so. Their experiences suggest that their presence in the black middle class in both countries has the potential to change the largely negative ways black people are viewed and possibly help redefine what it means to be black in these two countries.Less
In the conclusion, I rearticulate the main points of beyond racialization theory. I discuss what the experiences of the adult second generation of Nigerian ancestry in the United States and Britain reveal about the intersections of race, class, national origin, and ethnicity in these countries. I discuss what their experiences tell us about the future of the color line and understandings of blackness in the United States and Britain. The experiences of the second generation of Nigerian ancestry show that the ethnic, cultural, and socio-economic diversity among black people is being recognized and increasingly so. Their experiences suggest that their presence in the black middle class in both countries has the potential to change the largely negative ways black people are viewed and possibly help redefine what it means to be black in these two countries.
