Negotiating Belonging: Cultural Transmission among Pakistani Immigrants in the U.S. over the Life Course

• In Event: Asia and Asian American Section Roundtables Session
  In Refereed Roundtable (90 minute): Table 3: Asia and Asian America Section Roundtable - Assimilation and Transnationalism

Abstract

Periods of intensified immigration control shape not only policy, but everyday strategies immigrant and diaspora families adopt to protect themselves. Drawing on qualitative longitudinal interviews with Pakistani immigrant families in the United States, this study examines how exposure to xenophobia and social exclusion shapes cultural transmission and intergenerational identify formation. Interviews were wide-ranging and no experience is the same. Findings from these interviews show that some families respond with protective assimilation, choosing to not pass down cultural knowledge or traditions for fear of retaliation. Other interviews also showed that some may choose to strengthen cultural and community ties as a form of communal protection. This study engages cultural decision making and navigating belonging across generations. By situating these findings within frameworks of racialization and inequality, the paper highlights how structural pressures produce divergent intergenerational trajectories and sustained cultural outcomes. Findings have implications for understanding intergenerational knowledge-sharing and the long-term effects of racialized immigration regimes on identity formation.

Author

• Isabella Irtifa, University of Minnesota - Twin Cities