Although the rapid immigration, migration waves, and population movements that are occurring at the beginning of this millennium are not a new phenomena, what is new are their magnitude and the adaptive strategies of immigrants and migrants. The position is that immigrants must possess a unique skill and flexibility to acquire and manage different identities so they can co-exist and function without conflicts in different contexts simultaneously. Latino immigrants, especially, used to be conceived as "handicapped" because of their experience of oppression and their low economic status. They were seen as lacking the necessary cultural capital to succeed at the level of mainstream populations. However, as demographics change, those individuals who can best function in a diverse society will have a large cultural capital and greater ability to function effectively. The mastery of different languages, the ability to cross racial and ethnic boundaries, and a general resiliency associated with the ability to endure hardships and overcome obstacles will clearly be recognized as a new cultural capital that will be crucial for success in a modern diversified society, not a handicap. The hypothesis is that oppression and abuse can also generate precisely the opposite-resiliency and cultural capital to succeed. Often, these create the psychological JOURNAL flexibility necessary to assume different identities in order to survive. That is, the mechanisms that marginalize certain persons of color may turn into a cultural capital in other settings.What does it imply to have more than one identity? Is there a cultural conflict, a conflict of values? Our identity as members of the human species should bring together diverse racial, ethnic, and cultural groups that may see each other as enemies, or even as subhuman, genetically inferior, and undesirable. Yet, our capacity to conceive and create new knowledge; to reflect, accumulate, and transfer information and experiences from one generation to the next (the quintessence of homo sapiens sapiens) separates human beings not only from each other, into opposite sociocultural groups, but also from other primates. Chimps, gorillas, and other primates and mammals can feel, recognize, and mimic symbolic codes taught by others, and even generate certain symbols. Yet, humans can create or overcome social barriers. The acquisition of human communicative competence with mastery of codes and concepts requires a clear understanding of one's own position in a given cultural setting (i.e., a clear definition of the self). A person's ability to define their identity in different ways in order to function effectively in different settings and cultural contexts is clearly related to their quest for survival and success. I want to argue here is that there is an intimate relation between people's capacity to endure hardships, challenges, and difficult situations in life (that is what we call resilience), and their ability to redefine themselves in order to function effectively in new social, cultural...
Some cultural ecologists have proposed a classification of minority groups as "autonomous," "immigrant," or "castelike," and have defended the dichotomies between "macro" and "micro," "explanatory" and "applied" ethnography. Other scholars, arguing against this position on both theoretical and empirical grounds, suggest that culture is crucially important at the collective and individual levels for the academic achievement and overall psychological adjustment of immigrant, refugee, and other minority children. The construction of learning environments guaranteeing academic success for all children requires theoretical and practical approaches that (1) recognize the significance of culture in specific instructional settings, (2) prevent stereotyping of minorities, (3) help resolve cultural conflicts in school, (4) integrate the home and the school cultures, and (5) stimulate the development of communicative and other skills that children need in order to participate meaningfully in the instructional process. These approaches have permitted applied ethnographers to rapidly turn failure into success. CULTURAL EXPLANATlONS OF MI-GRAPHlC RESEARCH NORITY ACHIEVEMENT, TAXONOMlES OF MINORITIES, ETHNO-
Some cultural ecologists have proposed a classification of minority groups as "autonomous," "immigrant," or "castelike," and have defended the dichotomies between "macro" and "micro," "explanatory" and "applied" ethnography. Other scholars, arguing against this position on both theoretical and empirical grounds, suggest that culture is crucially important at the collective and individual levels for the academic achievement and overall psychological adjustment of immigrant, refugee, and other minority children. The construction of learning environments guaranteeing academic success for all children requires theoretical and practical approaches that (1) recognize the significance of culture in specific instructional settings, (2) prevent stereotyping of minorities, (3) help resolve cultural conflicts in school, (4) integrate the home and the school cultures, and (5) stimulate the development of communicative and other skills that children need in order to participate meaningfully in the instructional process. These approaches have permitted applied ethnographers to rapidly turn failure into success. CULTURAL EXPLANATlONS OF MI-GRAPHlC RESEARCH NORITY ACHIEVEMENT, TAXONOMlES OF MINORITIES, ETHNO-
Adjustment difficulties have serious impact on children's academic achievement. Using an anthropological approach to data collection and analysis, the nature of Mexican and Mexican-American children's adjustment problems in school was investigated based on the hypothesis that their maladjustment stems from their inability to communicate and understand the school as a cultural unit. The focus was on specific manifestations of adjustment problems and the mechanisms used by the subjects to cope. A total of 16 distinct characteristics of maladjustment were identified. Coping mechanisms generally fell in three categories: underparticipation, overparticipation, and selective participation in academic tasks under protest. However, students were found to modify their behavior in response to different interactional contexts. A major influence on the children's responses to stressful situations and demanding tasks was found to be home socialization. Implications of the findings are drawn for school practices and future research directions. Basic to the suggestions to school personnel is the need to create humane and appropriate learning environments for Hispanic and other minority students including shared decision-making and closer home-school ties. Educational recommendations also include more effective teacher training at both the preservice and the inservice level as well as increased availability of aides. Identified research needs center around effective learning environments, impact of home environment, and basic skills acquisition.
This paper summarizes the ethnohistorical development of modern ethnography and assesses the potential of this research methodology for the study of bilingual classroom interactions. The focus of the summary and assessment is on the emic use of "context" as a tool for interpreting behaviour.Not until very recently did ethnographic research methods begin xo be used on the study of classroom interactions. A closer look at the ethnohistorical development of ethnographic research with the schools from the early 1950's to today reveals a common emic approach, and a highly eclectic use of diverse psychological, anthropological, sociological and linguistic theoretical frames. Ethnographic research in the classrooms does not only consist of new observational methods and new audio-or video-tape based analytical techniques. In addition, these new methods and techniques are specifically designed to study the context of social interaction on the assumption that context is a crucial factor determining behaviour.The application of ethnographic methods to the study of bilingual classroom interactions is here reviewed in its diverse methodological and theoretical settings. The bilingual classroom is looked at from the standpoint of the conceptual and analytical problems that the researcher must face in dealing with a bilingual and a bicultural population, particularly that of making appropriate inferences about the intended meaning in interactional events from the data gathered.
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