Intersectionality of Language and Ethnicity/Race in Identity Construction of Burmese Diaspora Youth in U.S. Schools

• In Event: Marriott Roundtable Session 19
  In Roundtable Session: Stories of Immigration, Migration, and Education

Abstract

This paper is based on the ethnographic multiple case study on identity construction of refugee-background Burmese youth in and out of school. The study finds that the focal youth’s identities were shaped by sociocultural factors across home and school in diverse and mutually influencing way (Collins and Bilge, 2016). Moreover, their schools identified (non)commonality of assumed values of their home backgrounds with the mainstream American sociocultural values and practices (Omi and Winant, 1994). The focal youth’s inclusion in class was then contingent upon their language use and how their home background was perceived by their teachers and themselves. The paper finally argues that this all led to the diaspora youth’s mediation of their ethnic and racial identities.

Author

• Kyaw Win Tun, University of Wisconsin - Madison