I’m Not Habesha, I’m Oromo: Immigration, Ethnic Identity, and the Transnationality of Blackness

Abstract

Sociological research on immigration and Blackness has often focused on how immigrants from majority-Black sending countries negotiate between their racial and ethno-national identities. But as the Black immigrant population continues to grow, so too does the salience of subnational ethnic diversity. This begs the question: how do immigrants negotiate between their various racial and ethnic identity options as they integrate into American society? To tackle this question, I draw on 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with first- and second-generation Oromo immigrants to see how they situate their ethnic and racial identities in the context of integration into American society and continued homeland ethnic conflict. Two themes emerge in how my respondents articulate their ethnic and racial identities. First, respondents draw a sharp distinction between Oromo and Ethiopian as both separate national and ethnic identities. Second, respondents embrace their Black identity in part by relying on narratives of Blackness rooted in a shared history of anti-Black oppression that draw on the language of linked fate. Together, these findings demonstrate how Black immigrants’ identity can inform and be informed by notions of Blackness in both the United States and homeland contexts, and the importance of attending to subnational ethnic diversity in studies of immigration.