Striving for the Im/Possible “Home”: A Tale of a Foreign-Born Scholar in U.S. Academia

2021 ◽  
pp. 107780042110483
Author(s):  
Andy Kai-chun Chuang

In this essay, I utilize autoethnographic storytelling to interrogate the notion of searching for an im/possible “home” as a foreign-born, yet U.S. post-graduate educated scholar in the U.S. academy and extend the discussion of theorizing academic home to demonstrate how I am labeled as an Other within the academic arena, and to examine the constant silencing and scrutiny of my teaching, service, and research in my professional life. This essay responds to the call of using autoethnography as a legitimizing space to re-center transnational scholars’ voices and to resist master narratives of being a professional in academia.

2010 ◽  
Vol 6 (2) ◽  
pp. 286-310 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Skop ◽  
Wei Li

AbstractIn recent years, the migration rates from both China and India to the U.S. have accelerated. Since 2000 more than a third of foreign-born Chinese and 40% of foreign-born Indians have arrived in that country. This paper will document the evolving patterns of immigration from China and India to the U.S. by tracing the history of immigration and racial discrimination, the dramatic transitions that have occurred since the mid-20th century, and the current demographic and socioeconomic profiles of these two migrant groups.


2018 ◽  
Vol 677 (1) ◽  
pp. 191-202 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Lee ◽  
Karthick Ramakrishnan ◽  
Janelle Wong

Asian Americans are the fastest-growing group in the United States, increasing from 0.7 percent in 1970 to nearly 6 percent in 2016. The U.S. Census Bureau projects that by 2065, Asian Americans will constitute 14 percent of the U.S. population. Immigration is fueling this growth: China and India have passed Mexico as the top countries sending immigrants to the United States since 2013. Today, two of three Asian Americans are foreign born—a figure that increases to nearly four of five among Asian American adults. The rise in numbers is accompanied by a rise in diversity: Asian Americans are the most diverse U.S. racial group, comprising twenty-four detailed origins with vastly different migration histories and socioeconomic profiles. In this article, we explain how the unique characteristics of Asian Americans affect their patterns of ethnic and racial self-identification, which, in turn, present challenges for accurately counting this population. We conclude by discussing policy ramifications of our findings, and explain why data disaggregation is a civil rights issue.


2014 ◽  
Vol 48 (1_suppl) ◽  
pp. 149-179 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jamie Winders

This article calls for the study of new immigrant destinations in a global context. Although the term “new immigrant destinations” has been primarily associated with the U.S., migration scholars of other regions and countries are examining new or emerging immigrant destinations and the implications of immigrant settlement in places that heretofore have had no notable foreign-born populations. This article argues that expanding the frame of reference for the study of new immigrant destinations provides greater insight into the ways that new geographies of immigrant settlement around the world are re-shaping dominant understandings of contemporary migration processes.


2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (3) ◽  
pp. 24 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ernesto Castañeda ◽  
Casey Chiappetta

Research has continued to show the overall safety of the U.S. border region contrary to the widespread belief about the insecurity of the U.S.-Mexico border and frequent claims for the need to secure the border in order to prevent the spread of violence into the rest of the country. Rarely do we ask how border residents feel about safety and crime, which could shed significant light on the claims that the border is an insecure warzone posing a threat to the entire country. While calls to secure national borders are common, outsiders’ perceptions of an unsafe border are not supported by official crime rates and statistics, Border Patrol apprehensions, or the everyday experiences of people in American cities along the U.S.-Mexico border. This paper investigates the perception of crime and security, as expressed by the residents of El Paso, Texas, a large city located along the U.S.-Mexico border and directly across from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. Data come from a National Institutes of Health (NIH) funded survey that asked 919 residents about their perceptions of crime, sense of security and safety in their neighborhood and the city in general. The results show that the overwhelming majority of border city residents feel safe and that those who are undocumented and raised in El Paso are the most likely to report feeling safe or very safe. We also find that the foreign-born population had a statistically significant lower felony conviction rate than those who were U.S.-born, an important qualifier in discussions over immigration and its connection with violence and crime. Contrary to sensationalized claims about border violence, residents of El Paso do not display any of the sense of insecurity experienced in neighboring Ciudad Juárez, Mexico. We present hypotheses about possible causes for these low levels of violence in the U.S.-side of the border and discuss the dissonance between the reality on the border and perception outside of the border region.


1998 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 127-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Ellis ◽  
Richard Wright

This paper compares characteristics of recent immigrant arrivals in the United States using two measures from the decennial U.S. census: the came-to-stay question and the migration question. We show that a little under 30 percent of immigrants who reported they came to stay between 1985–1990 on the 1990 U.S. Census Public Use Micro Sample were resident in the United States on April 1, 1985. A similar analysis of the 1980 censue reveals that 22 percent of immigrants who reported they came to stay between 1975–1980 lived in the United States on April 1, 1975. Thus among recent arrivals, defined as those who reported they came to stay in the quinquennium preceding the census, a large number were resident in the United States five years before the census date. Furthermore, the proportion of recent arrivals present in the United States five years before the census increased between 1975–1980 and 1985–1990. We show that the profile of recent arrivals is sensitive to their migration status. Generally, in both the 1975–1980 and 1985–1990 cohorts, those resident in the United States five years before the census have significantly less schooling and lower incomes than those who were abroad. Accordingly, we argue that estimates of the skill levels and hourly wages of recent arrivals to the United States vary with the way arrival is measured. Researchers who rely on Public Use samples of the U.S. census for their data should be aware that the year of entry question implies a broader definition of arrival than the migration question. We caution that immigration researchers should consider the idea of arrival more carefully to help distinguish newcomers from the resident foreign born.


2008 ◽  
Vol 64 (4) ◽  
pp. 583-609
Author(s):  
Frederick Douglass Opie

In May 2006, foreign-born workers, largely from Latin America, mobilized across the United States in response to calls from anti-immigrant groups for tougher federal policies against illegal immigrants. About 400,000 protested in Chicago, 300,000 in Los Angeles, and 75,000 in Denver. In fifty cities between Los Angeles and New York, workers organized walkouts, demonstrations, and rallies in an effort to show just how important they were to the smooth operation of the U.S. economy.


Daedalus ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 142 (3) ◽  
pp. 48-64 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marta Tienda ◽  
Susana M. Sánchez

This essay provides an overview of immigration from Latin America since 1960, focusing on changes in both the size and composition of the dominant streams and their cumulative impact on the U.S. foreign-born population. We briefly describe the deep historical roots of current migration streams and the policy backdrop against which migration from the region surged. Distinguishing among the three major pathways to U.S. residence – family sponsorship, asylum, and unauthorized entry – we explain how contemporary flows are related both to economic crises, political conflicts, and humanitarian incidents in sending countries, but especially to idiosyncratic application of existing laws over time. The concluding section highlights the importance of investing in the children of immigrants to meet the future labor needs of an aging nation.


2009 ◽  
Vol 31 (3) ◽  
pp. 301-332 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emily Walton ◽  
David T. Takeuchi

This article examines how facets of family structure and processes are linked to self-rated health and psychological distress in a national sample of Asian Americans. The authors find little support for well-established theories predicting the effects of family structure. Marital status does not affect self-rated health and has limited effects on psychological distress. The only effects of family composition are evident among men and the U.S.-born, where the presence of extended family in the home is related to lower levels of psychological distress. The authors find important gender and nativity differences in the effects of family cohesion, which protect the physical and psychological well-being of women and the U.S.-born but not men or foreign-born individuals. Findings suggest that the effects of family structure and processes on well-being are not universal. Family studies among Asian Americans that do not account for gender and nativity differences may be overlooking underlying complexity.


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