Being black, foreign and woman: African immigrant identities in the United States

Abstract

This paper contextualizes racial and ethnic identities in shaping African women's work lives in the USA. While the literature on black immigrant groups has posited that ethnic identities are often deployed to shield black immigrants from racism, my findings indicate that for a group of African women, their racial and ethnic identities are viewed as potential sources of discrimination. As black immigrant women from middle-class backgrounds in their home countries, they also articulate experiences with racism and downward social and occupational mobility. Accounting for how race and ethnicity intersect in the lives of black immigrant groups can nuance our understanding of racial identities and highlight diversity in experiences among national and regional groups. Focusing on particular health-care settings further suggests the importance of professional contexts in shaping the identity formations of recent black immigrants.

Racialized Labour Market Incorporation? African Immigrants and the Role of Education‐Occupation Mismatch in Earnings

“…Some labour market research is consistent with this assumption. Employers' preferences for non-blacks extends to immigrantsblacks have the highest unemployment rates among immigrants (Bell, Marquardt et al, 2014) and the combination of blackness and foreign-born status has been linked to professional stagnation relative to Asian immigrants (Showers, 2015). Due to their skin colour, African immigrants would unquestionably be placed on the non-white side of a white/non-white divide.…”

Denkyem (Crocodile): identity developement and negotiation among Ghanain-American millennials.

“…Moore (2013) focused on African immigrants in Texas, and Ette (2012) focused specifically on Nigerian immigrants in the U.S.; but the analysis the latter presented provides a comprehensive background for discussions related to Ghanaian Americans because he explored a variety of immigration experiences and motivating factors. Showers (2015) looked at the intersections of region of birth and gender among African immigrants in the health-care profession. These studies discuss varying influences on migration and provide personal accounts of immigration experiences and adjustment strategies.…”

“…She noted that she experienced racism and other hardships and plans to move back to Nigeria someday. Showers (2015) sought to nuance the literature around race and ethnicity with Black immigrants in the U.S. based on in-depth interviews with forty-two women from Nigeria, Ghana, Liberia, and Sierra Leone in her article "Being Black, Foreign and Woman: African Immigrant Identities in the United States." She challenged previous research related to ethnicity and added depth to the literature pertaining to experiences of Black immigrants and West African immigrants in particular.…”

“…Microaggressions may be intentional or unintentional. For example, Susan explained that if a Black woman is working in the Intensive Care Unit (ICU), "they say wow, she's smart" (Showers, 2015(Showers, , p. 1821). In the case of Susan and other Black women in her workplace, they explained that a Black woman must be "smart" to perform the duties she is trained for as a nurse covertly signals that they do not believe Black women are capable of the work and that a Black woman in that space must be exceptional even though she has the same training as the other white nurses.…”

“…Participants from different countries, describing racism that has be directed towards them and directly impacts their work, challenge some scholarship that says Black immigrants are more likely to attribute discrimination to ethnicity rather than race (e.g., Kretsedemas, 2013). Showers (2015) also discussed the significance of ethnicity in the workplace.…”