Sub-Saharan African immigrants are emerging as the new model minority in the United States, excelling in education and social mobility. In African Immigrant Families in the United States: Transnational Lives and Schooling, Serah Shani examines the socioeconomic and cultural mechanisms behind their high levels of success. Shani explores the dynamics of Ghanaian transnational immigrants’ lives and portrays a complex relationship between class, context, beliefs, and cultural practices. This book is recommended for scholars of anthropology, sociology, education, and African studies.

This book examines the well-being and development of children in black immigrant families (most with parents from Africa and the Caribbean). There are 1.3 million such children in the United States. While children in these families account for 11 percent of all black children in America and represent a rapidly growing segment of the U.S. population, they remain largely ignored by researchers. To address this important gap in knowledge, the Migration Policy Institute's (MPI) National Center on Immigrant Integration Policy embarked on a project to study these children from birth to age ten. Chapters include analysis of the changing immigration flow to the United States; the role of family and school relationships in the well-being of African immigrant children; exploration of the effects of ethnicity and foreign-born status on infant health; and parenting behavior, health, and cognitive development among children in black immigrant families. Contributors include Randy Capps (MPI), Dylan Conger (George Washington University), Cati Coe (Rutgers University-Camden), Danielle A. Crosby (University of North Carolina-Greensboro), Angela Valdovinos D'Angelo (University of Chicago), Elizabeth Debraggio (New York University), Fabienne Doucet (Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development), Sarah Dryden-Peterson (University of Toronto), Angelica S. Dunbar (University of North Carolina-Greensboro), Tiffany L. Green (Virginia Commonwealth University), Megan Hatch (George Washington University), Donald J. Hernandez (Hunter College and City University of New York), Margot Jackson (Brown University), Kristen McCabe (MPI), Lauren Rich (University of Chicago), Amy Ellen Schwartz (New York University), Julie Spielberger (University of Chicago), and Kevin J. A. Thomas (Pennsylvania State University).

Arthur documents the role that Africa's best and brightest play in the new migration of population from less developed countries to the United States. He highlights how Africans negotiate and forge relationships among themselves and with the members of the host society. Multiple aspects of the African immigrants' social world, family patterns, labor force participation, and formation of cultural identities are also examined. He lays out the long term aspirations of the immigrants within the context of the geo-political, economic, and social conditions in Africa. Ultimately, Arthur explains why people leave Africa, what they encounter, their interactions with the host society, and their attitudes about American social institutions. He also provides information about the social changes and policies that African countries need to adopt to stem the tide, or even reverse, the African brain drain. A detailed analysis for scholars, students, and other researchers involved with African and immigration studies and contemporary American society.

The study investigated the impact of culture shock and conflict on immigrant families of African descent in the United States. the participants in the project consisted of 10 members of the target population and the researcher. the racial composition of the target population was 100 % people of African descent. the gender breakdown of the target population was 90 % males and 10 % females. the methods utilized consisted of depth interviewing and auto-ethnography. the in-depth interview consisted of 10 interviews administered to members of the target population. the auto-ethnography was administered using the personal experience of the researcher. the results indicated that culture shock and conflict was a problem encountered by immigrant families of African descent when they come into the United States. the conclusions drawn verified the problem statement: There has been an increase in culture shock and conflict encountered by immigrant families of African descent when they come into the United States. the research inferred that a change project (setting up an organization) is warranted to address the problem of culture shock and conflict encountered by immigrant families of African descent in the city of Philadelphia.

Immigrants and their American-born children represent about one quarter of the United States population. Drawing on rich, in-depth ethnographic research, the fascinating case studies in Across Generations examine the intricacies of relations between the generations in a broad range of immigrant groups—from Latin America, Asia, the Caribbean, and Africa—and give a sense of what everyday life is like in immigrant families. Moving beyond the cliché of the children of immigrants engaging in pitched battles against tradition-bound parents from the old country, these vivid essays offer a nuanced view that brings out the ties that bind the generations as well as the tensions that divide them. Tackling key issues like parental discipline, marriage choices, educational and occupational expectations, legal status, and transnational family ties, Across Generations brings crucial insights to our understanding of the United States as a nation of immigrants. Contributors: Leisy Abrego, JoAnn D’Alisera, Joanna Dreby, Yen Le Espiritu, Greta Gilbertson, Nazli Kibria, Cecilia Menjívar, Jennifer E. Sykes, Mary C. Waters, and Min Zhou.

The African immigrant population in the U.S. has roughly doubled every year since 1970 (U.S. Census Bureau, 2014). The increase in African immigrant families in the U.S. coincides with a rise of African immigrant families interacting with U.S. institutions such as the educational and healthcare systems. African immigrant cultures may hold different values, attitudes, norms and beliefs about educational success and what makes a person emotionally well. Comparatively little is known about the cultural meaning of education, parent's educational expectations and emotional distress among African immigrant families. One way to better understand the cultural meanings of these concepts among African immigrant families is to compare other immigrant groups present in the U.S and to look at within cultural group differences inside this population. Research is needed to explore the culture of African immigrant families in hopes of informing practice for service providers and intervention development. Thus, my overall study goal is to improve understanding of the role of culture in shaping the daily lives and experiences of educational expectations and emotional distress among African immigrant families. This goal was accomplished by conducting a two study, dissertation where both study methods complement each other. My first study was a quantitative, secondary data analysis of the CILS dataset (Portes & Rumbaut, 2006). The purpose of the first study was to determine if culture influences parent educational expectations and child emotional distress across Latin American, Asian and African immigrant families in the U.S. Family systems theory (Broderick, 1993) and self-discrepancy theory (Higgins, 1987) theoretically supported this study by explaining the regulatory nature of family systems and explaining what happens when those regulations are not met. Study participants included N = 1,308, Cuban (58.3%) and Philippine (41.7%) children of immigrants from Southern states in the U.S. Participants were on average age 13.94 years, mostly male (62.8%) and had an average GPA of 2.64. Data analyses included descriptive statistics and Ordinary Least Squares Regression. I found Philippine children experienced .587 units of emotional distress more than Cuban children. I also found significant group mean differences in the interaction of parent help with homework, and child perception of parents' educational expectations across immigrant cultural groups. Lastly, the interaction between parent help with homework and child cultural group predicted emotional distress for Cuban and Philippine children. My second study was a qualitative, primary data analysis using a narrative design (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). The purpose of my study was to explore the cultural meaning West African immigrant families' have about education, parent's educational expectations and emotional distress in the U.S. This study was grounded by an explanatory models approach (Kleinman, Eisenberg, & Good, 1987). Study participants included N = 22 individuals (n = 11 parent-adult child dyads). Parent participants were West African immigrants that have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years. Adult child participants were children of immigrants with (2) West African immigrant parents that have lived in the U.S. for at least 10 years. Participants were recruited using purposive sampling (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2011). There were two components to this study: (1) Semi-structured, individual interviews conducted in-person, over-the-phone, or video conference; and (2) a survey packet with informed consent and demographic questions. Data analyses included using a phenomenological coding process (Creswell, 2013). Demographically, most immigrant parents were female (72.7%) and on average 53.27 years. Most adult children were female (81.8%) and on average 21 years. Rich themes emerged from the data. For education, I found two themes: Education is the primary route to success, and Education is power. Two themes concerning parent's educational expectations emerged from the data: Child's education is parents' security, and Child shares parent's educational expectations. Emotional distress themes were reported following the explanatory models approach (Kleinman, Eisenberg, & Good, 1978): Description of emotional distress, What causes emotional distress and Ways to handle emotional distress. Lastly, I found one theme that answered the research question: Does culture influence how adult children emotionally respond to parent's expectations for their education? The theme was: Yes and no. Overall, these studies underscored the importance of using appropriate parent educational expectations for different children of immigrants, and there is consensus that culture influences the relationship between parent's educational expectations and emotional distress in immigrant families. Implications of this study are to inform immigrant parents, scholars, and service providers about the differences in parent's educational expectations and child emotional distress across immigrant cultural groups. Also, the way we think of the expectation-distress relationship is fundamentally reframed for West African immigrant families.

Immigrant children and youth are the fastest growing segment of the U.S. population, and so their prospects bear heavily on the well-being of the country. However, relevant public policy is shaped less by informed discussion than by politicized contention over welfare reform and immigration limits. From Generation to Generation explores what we know about the development of white, black, Hispanic, and Asian children and youth from numerous countries of origin. Describing the status of immigrant children and youth as "severely understudied," the committee both draws on and supplements existing research to characterize the current status and outlook of immigrant children. The book discusses the many factorsâ€"family size, fluency in English, parent employment, acculturation, delivery of health and social services, and public policiesâ€"that shape the outlook for the lives of these children and youth. The committee makes recommendations for improved research and data collection designed to advance knowledge about these children and, as a result, their visibility in current policy debates.