American individualism and the social incorporation of unaccompanied Guatemalan Maya young adults in Los Angeles

Canizales, Stephanie L.

doi:10.1080/01419870.2015.1021263

Cited by 23 publications

(31 citation statements)

References 26 publications

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“…English language learning is widely perceived by youth as important for their participation in Los Angeles society. As unaccompanied young people, separation from left-behind family and the sparsity of local social networks can breed feelings of isolation, loneliness, and depression that can be combatted with local community participation (Canizales 2015(Canizales , 2018. Additionally, as the youth's tenure in the United States increases and they come of age, their curiosity for life beyond the workplace and the immediate ethnic enclave also tends to increase.…”

Section: Increased Community Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educational Meaning Making and Language Learning: Understanding the Educational Incorporation of Unaccompanied, Undocumented Latinx Youth Workers in the United States

Canizales

2021

Sociol Educ

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Immigration scholars agree that educational attainment is essential for the success of immigrant youth in U.S. society and functions as a key indicator of how youth will fare in their transition into adulthood. Research warns of downward or stagnant mobility for people with lower levels of educational attainment. Yet much existing research takes for granted that immigrant youth have access to a normative parent-led household, K–12 schools, and community resources. Drawing on four years of ethnographic observations and interviews with undocumented Latinx young adults (ages 18 to 31) who arrived in Los Angeles, California, as unaccompanied youth, I examine the educational meaning making and language learning of Latinx individuals coming of age as workers without parents and legal status. Findings show that Latinx immigrant youth growing up outside of Western-normative parent-led households and K–12 schools and who remain tied to left-behind families across transnational geographies tend to equate education with English language learning. Education—as English language learning—is essential to sobrevivencia, or survival, during their transition to young adulthood as workers and transnational community participants.

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Section: Increased Community Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Educational Meaning Making and Language Learning: Understanding the Educational Incorporation of Unaccompanied, Undocumented Latinx Youth Workers in the United States

Canizales

2021

Sociol Educ

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“…Compared to undocumented immigrant adults (Galli 2019) and unaccompanied teenagers (Canizales 2015) who are not apprehended and remain outside of state systems, youths categorized as UACs interact intensively with multiple state institutions since they begin their incorporation in the US (i.e. adapting to and gaining membership in the receiving state) (Brown 2011), and, in the process, their dichotomous "legal consciousness" (Merry 1990) is formed.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ambivalent U.S. Context of Reception and the Dichotomous Legal Consciousness of Unaccompanied Minors

Galli

2019

Social Problems

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This article examines the effects of contradictory U.S. immigration laws on unaccompanied minors from Central America. As children, they are considered deserving of protection, but as undocumented immigrants, they are subjected to state legal violence. Apprehended at the border, they must interact with multiple immigration agencies and finally apply for humanitarian deportation relief. Interactions in these institutional spaces teach youths about U.S. laws and behavioral norms expected of young claimants deemed deserving of humanitarian protection, which are construed in contrast to discourses that stigmatize their co-ethnics as “bad” immigrants. These interactions shape youths’ sense of belonging and commonsense understanding of the law or legal consciousness. I argue that the “legal consciousness” of unaccompanied minors is dichotomous and characterized by: (1) a combination of trust and fear in the state; (2) concurrent feelings of deservingness/rights and stigma/subordination; (3) information and misinformation about U.S. laws. This dichotomous consciousness shapes how youths claim belonging and rights in social interactions and in their applications for legal status. To signal their own belonging and deservingness, youths leverage information about their rights and normative notions about desirable teen and migrant behavior. Yet, in the process, they also inadvertently perpetuate stigmas about co-ethnics.

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“…For Los Angeles County, immigrants from Guatemala have been a steadily increasing immigrant group after Mexican and Salvadoran immigrants. That said, a large percentage of the Guatemalans in Los Angeles live in or near to the Pico‐Union district (Canizales, ). This district was once a primarily Mexican‐American area; now the Pico‐Union is characterized by businesses that cater to Central Americans such as grocery stores, restaurants and social service organizations.…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Geographic and Spatial Assimilation of Immigrants from Central America's Northern Triangle

Obinna

Field

2019

International Migration

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With declines in migration from Mexico, the countries of the Northern Triangle of Central America (NTCA) – El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala – are now responsible for some of the largest increases in the population density of Latinos in the United States. Using data from the 5‐year estimates of the 2016 American Community Survey and the Atlas of Rural and Small‐Town America, this article provides a spatial framework for settlement among NTCA immigrants in America. Findings illustrate that, unlike previous streams of Latino migration, which tended to be more agriculturally driven, NTCA immigrants are likely to choose settlement destinations in densely populated counties which support manufacturing rather than those which are farming dependent. We also find that while NTCA communities are predominant in new destinations like Prince Georges and Montgomery counties Maryland, they are also dominant in older Latino destinations like Harris County, Texas and Los Angeles county, California.

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American individualism and the social incorporation of unaccompanied Guatemalan Maya young adults in Los Angeles

Cited by 23 publications

References 26 publications

Educational Meaning Making and Language Learning: Understanding the Educational Incorporation of Unaccompanied, Undocumented Latinx Youth Workers in the United States

Educational Meaning Making and Language Learning: Understanding the Educational Incorporation of Unaccompanied, Undocumented Latinx Youth Workers in the United States

The Ambivalent U.S. Context of Reception and the Dichotomous Legal Consciousness of Unaccompanied Minors

Geographic and Spatial Assimilation of Immigrants from Central America's Northern Triangle

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