Supporting Mexican immigrants’ resettlement in the United States: an ethnography of communication approach to building allies’ communication competence

ABSTRACT

This research explores interactions among Mexican immigrants and their U.S.- and Mexican-born allies at an immigrant support center (ISC) in the U.S. Southwest. I propose that to support Mexican immigrants in resettling, allies who work at this ISC must apply cultural knowledge about competent communication for Mexican speakers to structure their strategic actions (Sprain & Boromisza-Habashi, 2013). Taking an ethnography of communication (EOC) approach, I investigate the means and meanings of communication (Hymes, 1972) for speakers that point to cultural knowledge about competent communication. Data for this study include 7 months of observation, interviews with 37 community and staff members, and public documents collected during fieldwork. Findings reveal five means of communication that are meaningful for speakers at ISC. This research demonstrates the practical utility of the EOC in understanding how cultural expectations for communication may both assist and limit ISC’s efforts to support resettlement.

KEYWORDS:

• Ethnography of communication
• immigrant resettlement
• communication competence
• strategic action

Acknowledgements

The author wishes to thank Patricia Covarrubias and Jennifer Considine for their thoughtful comments on this manuscript.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.