Ambivalent urban, immigrant identities: the incompleteness of Lao American student identities

Abstract

In this article, the author elucidates the identity work of Lao American urban, immigrant students, highlighting ambivalent identities that do not fit into notions of bicultural or binary identities. It examines the various discourses and practices that inform and shape the experiences and identities of urban, Lao American high school students. It explores the ways that immigrant youth identities are continuously shaped by dominant discourses while at the same time are responses that modify, resist or echo these discourses. It shows that youth are creating incomplete, contradictory – ambivalent – urban, immigrant identities and are changing what it means to be ‘urban’ and ‘immigrant’ youth. By highlighting the ambivalent nature of immigrant identities, this article complicates binary notions of urban, immigrant identities as good/bad and unsettles the ancestral country/United States oppositional framing of the experiences of immigrant students.

Notes

1. New immigrants include groups from Southeast Asia, Africa, the Middle East and Latin America. See Suarez‐Orozco (2001) for further information and discussion.

2. Media forms include print media as well as television, radio and the internet, among others.

3. The names of people and places are pseudonyms.

4. Unfortunately (and problematically), the district did not differentiate between African‐American students and immigrant students from Africa. A significant number of African (e.g. Liberian, Somali) students were put in this category of ‘African‐American.’

5. Students qualify for free or reduced lunch if their family income is at or below the poverty line. For example, according to district income guidelines, a family of five with a yearly income of US$38,240 would qualify for free/reduced lunch. During the 2001–2002 school year, the cost for breakfast at Dynamic and other secondary schools was $1.10 and the cost of lunch was $1.60. The reduced prices were $0.30 for breakfast and $0.40 for lunch.

6. The percentage of students who qualified for reduced lunch at Dynamic was 75%, compared with the District’s 58%. This was also the poverty indicator.

7. I want to note that Ms Perry’s comparison of African‐American and Lao American students with different breeds of dogs is problematic. For the purposes of this paper, I will not unpack the comment further, except to say that this comment is inconsistent with Ms Perry’s awareness of students’ struggles and the existence of racism and sexism in the school and society. For a discussion of Ms Perry’s comment, see Ngo (2007).

8. The ‘rag’ that Ms. Anderson refers to is a bandana or handkerchief. Gang members wear color handkerchiefs in the back pant pockets, around their necks or on their heads to signal their gang affiliation. At Dynamic High students were not allowed to wear ‘rags’. Teachers and staff usually just asked students to put the bandana away. Repeated offenses resulted in detention or suspension.