Leaving the Cultural Baggage Behind: How Second-generation Muslim Parents Negotiate Immigrant Culture

• In Event: 1284 - Section on Racial and Ethnic Minorities Refereed Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable 60min: Table 23. Migrant Generations

Abstract

This paper investigates second-generation Muslim parents who enroll their children in Islamic parochial schools, specifically how they grapple with differences between their parents’ immigrant culture and mainstream American culture when promoting success in the next generation—which includes upholding American pluralism and good citizenship as reinforced by crafting conscious Islam. Using both ethnographic and interview data collected among second-generation Muslim parents in Metropolitan Detroit, I argue that these American-born, Muslim parents frame success in religiously distinctive ways and that school, activity, and cultural choices work to support such a frame. Specifically, I introduce the concept of cultural baggage to explore cultural traits common among the immigrant generation, which second-generation parents see as detrimental to their children’s success and are therefore avoided.

Author

• Rebecca Karam, City University of New York-The Graduate Center