Reexamining Immigrant Assimilation Models Through the Lens of Nostalgia

• In Event: Roundtable Session 30
  In Roundtable Session: Beyond Knowing: Migration, Immigration, and Diaspora in the Contested World Landscape

Abstract

Using nostalgia as a lens, this paper reexamines two dominant models of immigrant assimilation: the classic assimilation model and the selective assimilation model. Findings suggest that characteristics of restorative nostalgia: (a) crafted nature of collective memories, (b) biases in the collective memories, (c) essentialization of cultures, and (d) exclusion of other cultures are present in the both models. This means that using these models in research and teaching is to enact restorative nostalgia as well as to reinforce the influence of restorative nostalgia in the lives of immigrant students. Based on this finding, the paper suggests researchers and educators to be alert to the influence of nostalgia in their research and teaching practice.

Author

• Kaoru Miyazawa, Gettysburg College