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Tri-level Identity Crisis. Группа авторов
Читать онлайн.Название Tri-level Identity Crisis
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isbn 9781725249240
Автор произведения Группа авторов
Жанр Социология
Издательство Ingram
In the resistance stage the minority realizes he has been sold a “bill of goods” and that what s/he has been taught about minorities in general (he or she included) is not true especially as it pertains to the stereotypes. The focus and energy at this stage is more on the dismantling of the unjust system rather than individual prejudices. The person in this stage realizes that there is power in numbers and so joins other minorities of like minds who are willing to work against injustice and inequality in any form. A reference group that validates a sense of self and provides a place of belonging may become increasingly critical during the adolescent and young adult years. Some individuals in the resistance stage may express anger, sourced in part in the sense of having sold out especially in the conformity stage. How could they have been so blind to buy into or want to join such a system that is so oppressive to one? The anger is both at the self and those who have created such a system. Individuals in this stage rely on their minority group for support yet the energy that drives them in that group is based on anger, even though it is anger at the system. As much as the anger is against an unjust and unequal system, this can be very draining for someone to fight a system that has been in place for over 400 years.
The next question then is; for these individuals to survive in such a system, how can they spend energy fighting to transform the system and yet be able to make an everyday living? In addition, some individuals also find themselves in situations where they feel they can work in changing the system yet have friends who are White, without experiencing any guilt feelings about those relationships. However, to please one’s own group, and having a relationship with Whites may appear as “selling out.” In other words, the minority group starts questioning how someone who is committed to change is able to “sleep with the enemy,” so to speak. This is the introspection stage, of which Sue and Sue say:
The individual begins to discover that this level of intensity of feelings (anger directed toward White society) is psychologically draining and does not permit one to really devote more crucial energies to understanding oneself or one’s own racial-cultural group. . . . Often, in order to please the group (own group), the individual is asked to submerge individual autonomy and individual thought in favor of group good. A Latino/a individual who may form a deep relationship with a White person may experience considerable pressure from his or her culturally similar peers to break off the relationship because that White person is the “enemy.” However, the personal experiences of the individual may, in fact, support this group view.21
In the introspection stage the individual has to balance the sense of the need for justice and yet maintain being in relationship with those who may look like the ones perpetuating the unjust system. One realizes that as much as Whites benefit from the racist system in place, not all Whites are supportive of the system. These minorities have to learn to bridge between the two worlds. They have to start learning to negotiate between two differing cultures that hold conflicting values. To feel grounded again, one has to go to the “internal self,” to get a sense of who s/he is in such a conflicting world. Hence the stage calls for introspection—accessing one’s internal world and examining one’s own mental and/or emotional state. In the introspection stage the individual is trying to resolve some of the dissonance created by the reality of a racist and unjust system; and the fact that they have friends and have been in relationship with some kind and justice-loving White people.
The process of introspection moves one to the next level of the integrative awareness stage, the balancing of a sense of the inner-self and security in light of an unjust society one has to exist. Sue and Sue say about the stage:
Minority persons in this stage have developed an inner sense of security and now can own and appreciate unique aspects of their culture as well as those in US culture. Minority culture is not necessarily in conflict with White dominant cultural ways. Conflicts and discomforts experienced in the previous stage become resolved, allowing greater individual control and flexibility. There is now belief that there is acceptable and unacceptable aspects in all cultures and that it is very important for the person to be able to examine and to accept and reject those aspects of a culture that are not seen as desirable. . . . The minority person has a strong commitment to eliminate all forms of oppression.22
One of the key issues at this stage is that the minority person is not just focused on injustice to his/her own group, but is concerned about all forms of injustice. The individual is able to accept his/her own minority cultural values and aspects of the White cultural values without necessarily experiencing conflict. There is the realization that all cultures have aspects that are undesirable.
When the active exploration of these meanings leads to the acquisition of a clear, internalized, and confident sense of one’s own ethnicity, identity achievement is said to have occurred. Preliminary studies show that young adult students who have integrated ethnic identity into an achieved ego identity report more positive psychosocial competencies that predict favorable outcomes in occupational, educational, political, and religious domains.23 An immigrant child, or a child born to immigrant parents may wrestle with these issues of identity development at two conflicted levels. At one level, they have to live at home with parents who may be pushing the child to assimilate, while the same child is facing a racist environment in school, work, etc. How does one assimilate in a racist system? The child is caught in between the dilemma of respecting the parents’ views over against standing up to an unjust system.
In the next chapters, we provide a more personal look into the life of immigrant families in the USA. This chapter then segues to the middle section of this book where we have assembled a group of scholars, asked them to conduct interviews and do research on those in their ethnic group who have immigrated to North America. Where possible we have asked each writer to: describe main avenues of migration to the United States, explore religious values and cultural traditions specific to their group, analyze unique challenges the group experienced in navigating Western culture (e.g., language, barriers, symbolism, immigration papers, stereotypes), and provide a window into the effects such challenges have had on their general life in the United States (financial, marital, familial, communication with children, community relationships, etc.). Through this examination we have tried to surface unique identity challenges from the family and society that contribute to an understanding of the multi-layered ways that immigrants establish an identity in America.
It is important that we offer a distinction made so well by Agwu Chinaka24 regarding first generation, 1.5 generation and second generation children. First generation immigrants are those who migrated to North America once they were already formed in their country of origin identity. Usually those who migrate at college age and above will fall under this definition. According to Rumbaut and Ima, the 1.5 generation immigrants refer to those who immigrated to North America after school age.25 The implication here is that they already have some social cultural influence of their country of origin in their formative years—an aspect that plays a major role when they experience tri-level identity crisis for better adjustment. The most known group is the second-generation immigrants who are mainly children of first generation immigrants born in North America. Though pre-school children born outside of north American may technically be termed as second-generation immigrants because of lack of influence of their cultural heritage, the reality of their immigration status has huge impact on their identity formation, especially towards their sophomore high school year as they begin to think of college opportunities. Those born in the US have access to whatever college they choose and do not have to think of immigration status or educational finances. They can easily get college loans through FAFSA. Those who came as children must now contend with these major differences and in some cases issues of deportation. While these might look like harmless differences, the ramifications are huge with regard to their still forming cultural and social identity. Such differences