African Immigrants, the “New Model Minority”: Examining the Reality in U.S. k-12 Schools

Ukpokodu, Omiunota Nelly

doi:10.1007/s11256-017-0430-0

Cited by 24 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 27 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…While it is possible that some Black American as well as immigrant youth do deploy such strategies (we know now, based on the literature discussed earlier, that there is tremendous heterogeneity within and across subpopulations of Black youth), recent evidence challenges the homogeneous notion of “high-achieving” Black African immigrant youth. This evidence suggests that these youth, much like their Black American peers, face significant challenges with overall academic performance and achievement, which can easily go unnoticed and unaddressed, thus, raising questions about the “new model minority” status typically ascribed to Black African immigrant youth (Upkopodu, 2018).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking “(Under) Performance” for Black English Speakers: Beyond Achievement to Opportunity

Smith

Kumi–Yeboah

Chang

et al. 2019

Journal of Black Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

We draw on the concept of the opportunity gap explanatory framework in this study to problematize the notion of “(under)performance” of Black American (i.e., African American) and Black immigrant youth. Examining reading literacy achievement results of Black American and Black immigrant youth using a corpus of data from the 2012 Program for International Student Assessment (PISA), we demonstrate the ways in which these youth self-identified as language speakers on the PISA reading literacy assessment measure, the influence of this self-identification on interpretations of their reading literacy, and the influence of other demographic factors on this achievement across subgroups. We suggest that the disaggregation of data for Black subpopulations can allow for a better understanding of the ways in which demographic, social, and cultural factors impact achievement within specific Black subgroups. We also highlight the need for reframing examinations of Black students’ literacies in ways that are humanizing. Implications for research, practice, and policy are provided.

show abstract

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Rethinking “(Under) Performance” for Black English Speakers: Beyond Achievement to Opportunity

Smith

Kumi–Yeboah

Chang

et al. 2019

Journal of Black Studies

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“… Anwaruddin (2016) recommends that “teachers and students interrogate popular culture and media texts to identify which emotions are renamed for particular predefined effects” (p. 391). For instance, the continent of Africa is frequently portrayed in the media as a place shaped by tribalism and ethnic conflict, poverty and malnutrition, and wilderness and exotic animals ( Ukpokodu, 2017 ; Watson & Knight-Manuel, 2017 ). Following the 2014 outbreak of Ebola in parts of West Africa, Newsweek published an issue with a racist photo on its cover, featuring a chimpanzee and the heading “A Back Door for Ebola” ( Flynn & Scutti, 2014 ).…”

Section: Critical Affective Civic Literacymentioning

confidence: 99%

Critical Affective Civic Literacy: A Framework for Attending to Political Emotion in the Social Studies Classroom

Keegan

2021

The Journal of Social Studies Research

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Heightened political polarization challenges civic educators seeking to prepare youth as citizens who can navigate affective boundaries. Current approaches to civic education do not yet account for the emotional basis of citizenship. This paper presents an argument for critical affective literacy in civic education classrooms. Drawing from concepts and theories in critical emotion studies, affective citizenship, and agonistic political theory, critical affective civic literacy challenges the rationalistic bent of civic education, and offers instructional strategies for educating the political emotions of students. The voices of late-arrival migrant youth enacting affective citizenship are featured in order to help illuminate the contributions of critical affective literacy to social studies research and practice.

show abstract

“…Given the foregoing insights, it is no surprise then, that Ukpokodu (2018) challenges the notion of Black African immigrant youth as the new model minority , citing a lack of aggregated and disaggregated data to support the notion of superior academic achievement often ascribed to African immigrant K–12 youth in U.S. schools (see Waters, Kasinitz, & Asad, 2014). These indications, coupled with the dearth in research regarding African immigrant students’ K–12 academic achievement, raise questions regarding the established notion that Black immigrant youth naturally perform well on literacy measures and demonstrate how the needs of Black immigrant youth can easily be overlooked in literacy classrooms.…”

Section: Understanding the Tensions Surrounding Black Immigrant Litermentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Black immigrants, defined as first-, second-, or third-generation immigrants to the United States who identify as Black, and who migrate to the United States from Africa, the Caribbean, or elsewhere, are a typically overlooked and invisible population who tend to be regarded as a “new model minority” and as “designer immigrants” (Kperogi, 2009; see also Louis et al, 2017; Simmons, 1999). Despite the heterogeneity within this population, Black immigrant youth tend to be considered a new model minority because of the perception that they perform academically better than their African American peers (Kperogi, 2009; Simmons, 1999; Ukpokodu, 2018). Yet, Black immigrant youth face challenges with their academic, and specifically, literacy performance that often go unnoticed by teachers in schools (Kumi-Yeboah, 2018; Smith, 2019; Ukpokodu, 2018).…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Despite the heterogeneity within this population, Black immigrant youth tend to be considered a new model minority because of the perception that they perform academically better than their African American peers (Kperogi, 2009; Simmons, 1999; Ukpokodu, 2018). Yet, Black immigrant youth face challenges with their academic, and specifically, literacy performance that often go unnoticed by teachers in schools (Kumi-Yeboah, 2018; Smith, 2019; Ukpokodu, 2018). These nuanced and complex challenges of literacy performance often occur because (a) race becomes central to their literacy practices when they migrate to the United States (Smith, 2020b); (b) they are required to (re)position themselves in relation to race when using literacies to interact with others in the new environment of the United States and to perform academically in classrooms (Smith, 2019; Smith et al, 2019); and (c) they are expected to negotiate how they will use and re-appropriate literacies as they “become Black” (Ibrahim, 1999) in this context.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

The Case for Translanguaging in Black Immigrant Literacies

Smith

2020

Literacy Research: Theory, Method, and Practice

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Black immigrant youth in the United States tend to be considered a new model minority because of the perception that they perform academically better than their African American peers. Yet, Black immigrant youth face challenges with literacy performance that often go unnoticed by teachers, which amplifies the invisibility of their literacies. I assert that nuances presented in the literacies of Black immigrant youth as they become Black, become immigrants, and become speakers of racialized Englishes, necessitate the use of a theoretical lens that allows researchers to foreground race and mediate the linguistic and cultural expectations of these youth. To demonstrate, I propose the lens of translanguaging premised on an integrated model of multilingualism. This perspective provides a basis for foregrounding racialized language to facilitate an ideological understanding surrounding how Black immigrant youth leverage Englishes in their individual linguistic repertoires (i.e., I-languages) to enact literacies. At the same time, it provides an opportunity to understand how these youth engage the often-imposed structural rules of shared grammars within and across these Englishes (i.e., E-languages) in ways that influence these literacies. By presenting Black Caribbean immigrant youth’s literacies as a unique example to foreground racialized language via translanguaging for examining the Englishes of bidialectal youth, I encourage researchers to empower youth to navigate theoretical tensions that remain central to translanguaging research. More broadly, I invite researchers to think beyond dichotomies while clarifying what it means for youth of color from varied backgrounds to leverage their literacies and thrive.

show abstract

African Immigrants, the “New Model Minority”: Examining the Reality in U.S. k-12 Schools

Cited by 24 publications

References 27 publications

Rethinking “(Under) Performance” for Black English Speakers: Beyond Achievement to Opportunity

Rethinking “(Under) Performance” for Black English Speakers: Beyond Achievement to Opportunity

Critical Affective Civic Literacy: A Framework for Attending to Political Emotion in the Social Studies Classroom

The Case for Translanguaging in Black Immigrant Literacies

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About