This article explores the naming patterns of a new African immigrant group in the United States to discuss the creative ways that Black immigrants navigate their racialized immigrant identities and their positioning vis-à-vis their ethnoracial compatriots, African Americans. I argue that the significant contention around Black names and immigrant names demonstrates that personal names are a subject worthy of in-depth investigation. Through the case study of the naming practices of first generations of Ethiopian-Americans, I examine the relevance Black immigrant parents attach to first names, their various connotations, and modes of immigrant incorporation into the dominant host society. I highlight the importance of race, ethnicity, and immigration status in naming.
Return migration warrants special attention as a growing trend in our current globalized environment wherein migration can no longer be assumed to be a one‐way journey. As studies of return migration are burgeoning, this article argues for the salience of taking socially constructed ideas of gender as a central analytical factor in order to understand the complexities of human movement. It is imperative to take up gender both as a category of analysis and as a means to expand our theoretical understanding of migration. The process of return migration is overshadowed by gendered ideologies both in the home and in the host nation, as migrants leave and return to gendered societies. Through a review of recent literature, this paper will argue the multifaceted benefits of incorporating a gendered perspective in return migration research.
Using in-depth qualitative interviews with French Caribbeans of African descent (N=52) in the Paris region, this study examines minority perspectives on the possibility of racial or ethnic affirmative action in France. Through a narrative analysis of their justifications for supporting or criticizing affirmative action, we find that the majority of our respondents expressed reservations over the possibility of quotas and other affirmative action initiatives, with many describing ambivalent views and mixed emotions. In explaining their discomfort with the idea and implementation of affirmative action, respondents point to concerns over the efficacy and legitimacy of such policies, a moral defense of meritocracy, and their own reluctance to admit the failures of French Republicanism. Critics of affirmative action combine race-conscious and colorblind discourse, expressing both a challenge to colorblind notions of universalism and a nostalgic appeal to its rhetoric. With regard to migration status, we find that members of the second-generation express more ambivalent views, while members of the first generation are more emphatic in their opposition. Finally, we argue for greater attention to the dynamics of racial ambivalence in the study of anti-racism and affirmative action.
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