Racial Fluidity in the New Immigrant Survey

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  In Refereed Roundtable 100min: Table 09. Race, Place, and Identity among Immigrants and Migrants

Abstract

In this paper I use two waves of the New Immigrant Survey to test the prevalence of racial fluidity among first-generation immigrants, focusing on the social status characteristics that may impact the odds of self-identified race change. I find that 21.4% of immigrants in the survey report a race change between waves. Immigrants who in the first wave identified as Hispanic or Latino were the most likely to change their race in the second wave. Immigrants having origins in Latin America and the Caribbean, as well as in the Middle East and North Africa, have the greatest odds of racial change. By contrast, originating from the Europe and Central Asia region is associated with decreased odds of racial change. I find that being married and increased education is associated with a decreased odds of racial change, while age, sex, employment status, and English comprehension do not significantly affect the odds of immigrant race change. I argue that immigrants are a particularly pertinent subpopulation for whom to study racial fluidity, as American racial categories are often learned by immigrants as part of the acculturation process, and immigrants may interpret race as conceptually different than their native counterparts. My research shows that racial fluidity remains a fruitful theoretical proposition, especially among subpopulations less likely to fit the American white/black binary or who must learn American racial categories, like first-generation immigrants.

Author

• Sarah Iverson, New York University