Learning to Mother in a New Land: Identity, Ideology, and Agency of an Immigrant Mother

• In Event: Roundtable Session 111
  In Roundtable Session: Globalization, Identities, and Lives on the Margins

Abstract

This case study examines how the life stories of an immigrant working-class mother are linked to the wider political, social, and economic processes. This study is guided by Smith’s (1987) sociology of women which begins in the actual life experiences of women and explores the social relations in which those experiences are given meaning. The researcher uses social psychological theory (Côté & Levine, 2002) of identity development to analyze how Rosi imagines herself to be, what she wants for their children, and in what ways her identity shapes home literacy practices. This study aims to shed light on the role that ideologies emerging from literacy education policy and practice can foster and/or hinder the agency of working-class immigrant mothers.

Author

• Belén Hernando-Lloréns, University of Iowa