"Growing Up Foreign": Race, Ethnicity, and Academic Motivation Among Ethiopian and Eritrean American Undergraduates

• In Event: Sheraton Roundtable Session 10
  In Roundtable Session: African and Afro-Caribbean Students' Experiences of Race, Ethnicity, and Education

Abstract

I examine the ways in which Ethiopian- and Eritrean-origin undergraduates in the United States self-identify in terms of race and ethnicity; how and why they make certain choices regarding their identities; and how certain identities become more or less salient according to context. These identities are shaped by the perceptions of ethnic outsiders, as well as parental anxieties surrounding "Americanization" and restrictions placed on their children as a result. My informants are (re)defining what it means to be Ethiopian and Eritrean in the United States, both online and offline. These findings disrupt the notion of a singular "Black experience" and contribute to an ever-expanding understanding of the meanings of being Black in the United States.

Author

• Edom Tesfa, Harvard University