Ethnic identity and Chicano literature: How ethnicity affects reading and reading affects ethnic consciousness

This article interrogates the impact of readers’ ethnicity (Latino and non-Latino) on meanings crafted from Chicano literature. This article addresses the effect of Chicano literature on ethnic identity and worldview formation. The data source is participant observation and interviews with eighteen students in a college-level Chicano literature seminar in the United States. Latino students found that the literature spoke to their experience as Latinos, inciting a sense of membership in a community that merits inclusion in a college course. This connection with the literature transmuted into ethnic validation for nearly all Latino students. Non-Latinos, hindered from relating to the course content on an ethnic level, discovered alternate entryways into the texts that allowed for identification on other particular levels. Non-Latinos ascertained how ethnic distinctions partially shape human experience and that this understanding is critical to cross-cultural appreciation and empathy. Non-Latinos additionally perceived that a common humanity tunnels beneath ethnic difference.     

The ambiguities of political opportunity: political claims-making of Russian-Jewish immigrants in New York City

Abstract

How, and as what, are immigrant minorities incorporated into the political process? A set of prominent approaches focus on the political opportunity structure that immigrants encounter. Although promising in many aspects, these approaches fail to consider the internal heterogeneity of both immigrant populations and opportunity structures. This is partly a result of taking ethnic groups rather than political entrepreneurs as the unit of analysis and of not disaggregating the political context properly. I show how Russian-Jewish immigrant political entrepreneurs in New York City used very different strategies of ethnic mobilization, each emphasizing a different ethnic cleavage: one making claims in the name of Russians, the other downplaying Russianness and highlighting the Jewish identity dimension. Both strategies had good chances at success thus illustrating that political opportunity structures may encourage different claims-making strategies at the same time. Ethno-political entrepreneurs navigate complex political landscapes that are ex-ante only partially transparent.     

The social side of ethnic entrepreneur breakout: evidence from Latino immigrant business owners

This article examines the social uses of immigrant business spaces that correspond to different stages of breakout, or the movement of a business from a limited, primarily co-ethnic customer base to a wider, primarily non-co-ethnic customer base. Using participant observation and interview data from three Latino immigrant-dominated shopping malls in the USA, we assess how the degree of breakout at each mall and the resulting degree of heterogeneity in customers is associated with different kinds of social uses of the spaces. We find that Latino immigrant business spaces that have yet to begin a transition towards breakout are important sites of bonding for Latino immigrants and serve to strengthen their ethnic solidarity. Latino immigrant business spaces that are in the midst of transitioning towards breakout facilitate casual interaction between Latino immigrant and non-Latino residents, while those Latino immigrant entrepreneur spaces that have achieved breakout act as spaces of cultural consumption by non-Latinos.     

Ethnic Identity and Positive Youth Development in Adolescent Males: A Culturally Integrated Approach

The present study examined the relation between ethnic identity and indicators of positive youth development (PYD) in a sample of low-income, urban Black and Latino male youth (N = 254; 66% Black, mean age = 14). Using structural equation modeling, a two-factor model of PYD and ethnic identity was found to provide the best fit to the data with a significant, positive relation between the two factors. At age 14, PYD was positively related to concurrent involvement in prosocial activities, and negatively related to criminal and externalizing behaviors; ethnic identity was related to lower levels of internalizing symptoms. The PYD factor was also related to higher prosocial activity involvement and lower criminal offending at age 15. The findings suggest that male Black and Latino teens living in urban poverty have intrapersonal competencies that promote healthy outcomes and that integration of culturally-relevant factors can enhance our understanding of positive youth development.     

Identities in Context: Politicized Racial Group Consciousness Among Asian American and Latino Youth

This article examines the role of context on the mobilization of politicized racial group consciousness among Asian American and Latino youth. We investigate group membership by analyzing face-to-face interview data with Latino and Asian American youth in New York and California on their responses to questions about the meaning of their race and ethnicity to politics. Next, we use survey data from a nationally representative sample of Asian American and Latino youth taken during the 2004 election. We also analyze the extent to which the contextual circumstances of systematic exposure to an experimental frame prompting racial and ethnic group pride influence racial group consciousness. The data help to illuminate the extent to which racial and ethnic identities of Asian American and Latino youth are manifest in their unique political contexts.     

Strategic ethnic performance and the construction of authenticity in urban Japan

This paper introduces the concept of strategic ethnic performance (SEP), when members of one ethnic group present themselves as members of a phenotypically similar ethnic group for economic gain. I use ethnographic and interview data focused on Sub-Saharan African merchants involved in the Hip Hop fashion boutique business in urban Japan to show how SEP develops from four interconnected areas: the opportunity structure for ethnic entrepreneurs, the physical presentation of sellers, the arrangement of the selling venue, and feedback loops between the seller and the consumer. By utilizing SEP, ethnic entrepreneurs enhance the perceived authenticity of their goods and themselves. A thorough analysis of this process illuminates the interactional nature of ethnic authenticity as it is understood by consumers within urban areas.     

Business strategies among East Indian entrepreneurs in Toronto: The role of group resources and opportunity structure

This article examines the class and ethnic resources used by East Indian immigrants in self‐owned enterprise and the opportunity structure within which they operate. A non‐probability sample (N=38) of East Indian entrepreneurs in Toronto is the primary data source. Major findings attest to an individualistic business strategy employed by these entrepreneurs in which class resources are more consequential than ethnic networks or communal ties.     

Clubs of culture and capital: immigrant and second-generation incorporation in a new destination school

The influx of Latin American immigrants into the US South since the early 1990s has changed the demographic face of the region, particularly among school-aged populations where the rate of growth among Latinos has been the fastest. Despite an emerging literature addressing changing racial and ethnic relations in the New US South, relatively little research has addressed the incorporation of Latino youths within southern schools. Relying on data from a four-year ethnographic and in-depth interview study in one North Carolina town, findings suggest powerful benefits of ethnic-identity based clubs for Latino youths in new immigrant destination schools. While both Latino and African American respondents faced discrimination within their community, Latino students received more formal support at school, which helped shield them from the negative impacts of discrimination.     

Understanding the Influence of Race/Ethnicity,Gender, and Class on Inequalities in Academic and Non-Academic Outcomes among Eighth-Grade Students: Findings from an Intersectionality Approach

Socioeconomic, racial/ethnic, and gender inequalities in academic achievement have been widely reported in the US, but how these three axes of inequality intersect to determine academic and non-academic outcomes among school-aged children is not well understood. Using data from the US Early Childhood Longitudinal Study—Kindergarten (ECLS-K; N = 10,115), we apply an intersectionality approach to examine inequalities across eighth-grade outcomes at the intersection of six racial/ethnic and gender groups (Latino girls and boys, Black girls and boys, and White girls and boys) and four classes of socioeconomic advantage/disadvantage. Results of mixture models show large inequalities in socioemotional outcomes (internalizing behavior, locus of control, and self-concept) across classes of advantage/disadvantage. Within classes of advantage/disadvantage, racial/ethnic and gender inequalities are predominantly found in the most advantaged class, where Black boys and girls, and Latina girls, underperform White boys in academic assessments, but not in socioemotional outcomes. In these latter outcomes, Black boys and girls perform better than White boys. Latino boys show small differences as compared to White boys, mainly in science assessments. The contrasting outcomes between racial/ethnic and gender minorities in self-assessment and socioemotional outcomes, as compared to standardized assessments, highlight the detrimental effect that intersecting racial/ethnic and gender discrimination have in patterning academic outcomes that predict success in adult life. Interventions to eliminate achievement gaps cannot fully succeed as long as social stratification caused by gender and racial discrimination is not addressed.     

Sports Participation and Positive Correlates in African American,Latino, and White Girls

The purpose of the study was to examine relations among sports participation and positive correlates across African American, Latino, and White girls. Positive correlate variables were self-perceptions (self-worth, body attractiveness, athletic competence), less depression, and participation in extracurricular activities. The sample comprised 372 girls (mean age = 12.03 years). Data were analyzed using multiple-sample structural equation models, controlling for age and income. Across all ethnic groups, greater sports participation was significantly related to higher self-worth, body attractiveness, and athletic competence, and to more extracurricular activity. Among Latino and White girls only, greater sports participation also was related to less depression. There were significant age and income influences on the positive correlates. Findings confirm the existence of significant relationships between organized sports participation and positive correlates among early adolescent African American, Latino, and White girls. Despite a few ethnic differences in relationships, the current study revealed more similarities than differences.     

Transnationalism or assimilation? Patterns of sociopolitical adaptation among Canadian business immigrants

This study analyses patterns of sociopolitical incorporation among immigrant entrepreneurs in Ontario who entered Canada under the auspices of the federal Business Immigration Program [BIP] between 1984 and 1994. The analysis focuses specifically on issues of transnationalism, adaptation to mainstream social and political institutions, and citizenship. In-depth interviews of a sample of BIP entrepreneurs reveal that, over a period of eight to eighteen years, respondents generally achieved a high level of political awareness, maintained weak transnational ties, and naturalized at an extraordinarily high rate. In the process of sociopolitical integration, respondents relied primarily on human forms of capital, especially English language proficiency and business skills, rather than on the social capital that inheres in ethnic communities and networks.     

Exenatide once weekly treatment maintained improvements in glycemic control and weight loss over 2 years

Background

Latinos in the United States have a higher prevalence of type 2 diabetes than non-Latino whites, even after controlling for adiposity. Decreased adiponectin is associated with insulin resistance and predicts T2DM, and therefore may mediate this ethnic difference. We compared total and high-molecular-weight (HMW) adiponectin in Latino versus white individuals, identified factors associated with adiponectin in each ethnic group, and measured the contribution of adiponectin to ethnic differences in insulin resistance.

Methods

We utilized cross-sectional data from subjects in the Latinos Using Cardio Health Actions to reduce Risk study. Participants were Latino (n = 119) and non-Latino white (n = 60) men and women with hypertension and at least one other risk factor for CVD (age 61 ± 10 yrs, 49% with T2DM), seen at an integrated community health and hospital system in Denver, Colorado. Total and HMW adiponectin was measured by RIA and ELISA respectively. Fasting glucose and insulin were used to calculate the homeostasis model insulin resistance index (HOMA-IR). Variables independently associated with adiponectin levels were identified by linear regression analyses. Adiponectin's contribution to ethnic differences in insulin resistance was assessed in multivariate linear regression models of Latino ethnicity, with logHOMA-IR as a dependent variable, adjusting for possible confounders including age, gender, adiposity, and renal function.

Results

Mean adiponectin levels were lower in Latino than white patients (beta estimates: -4.5 (-6.4, -2.5), p < 0.001 and -1.6 (-2.7, -0.5), p < 0.005 for total and HMW adiponectin), independent of age, gender, BMI/waist circumference, thiazolidinedione use, diabetes status, and renal function. An expected negative association between adiponectin and waist circumference was seen among women and non-Latino white men, but no relationship between these two variables was observed among Latino men. Ethnic differences in logHOMA-IR were no longer observed after controlling for adiponectin levels.

Conclusions

Among patients with CVD risk, total and HMW adiponectin is lower in Latinos, independent of adiposity and other known regulators of adiponectin. Ethnic differences in adiponectin regulation may exist and future research in this area is warranted. Adiponectin levels accounted for the observed variability in insulin resistance, suggesting a contribution of decreased adiponectin to insulin resistance in Latino populations.     

Becoming Italian,becoming American: ethnic affinity as a strategy of boundary making

Based on the case study of Albanian immigrant incorporation in a Little Italy in the Bronx, this paper develops the concept of ethnic affinity. It argues that boundary-work between ethnic Italians and Albanian immigrants resulted in intergroup relations that coupled Albanian occupational incorporation with the (re)construction of respective group identities as culturally similar – and distinct from Latino and African-American groups in the neighbourhood. Engaging recent literature on ethnic boundary making, I argue that ethnic affinity constitutes a new strategy of boundary reinforcing, in addition to established strategies of boundary crossing, blurring, and shifting (Zolberg and Woon 1999; Wimmer 2008). Developed in the context of shifting ethno-racial neighbourhood makeup, this affinity between ethnic Italians and Albanian immigrants relied on American constructions of shared European whiteness, overturning contemporary divides between Italians and Albanians in Europe. Ethnic affinity provides a conceptual framework that goes beyond notions of ethnic succession, passing, or assimilation.     

Elevated asthma morbidity in Puerto Rican children: a review of possible risk and prognostic factors

Latino children represent a significant proportion of all US children, and asthma is the most common chronic illness affecting them. Previous research has revealed surprising differences in health among Latino children with asthma of varying countries of family origin. For instance, Puerto Rican children have a higher prevalence of asthma than Mexican American or Cuban American children. In addition, there are important differences in family structure and socioeconomic status among these Latino populations: Cuban Americans have higher levels of education and family income than Mexican-Americans and Puerto Ricans; mainland Puerto Rican children have the highest proportion of households led by a single mother. Our review of past research documents differences in asthma outcomes among Latino children and identifies the possible genetic, environmental, and health care factors associated with these differences. Based on this review, we propose research studies designed to differentiate between mutable and immutable risk and prognostic factors. We also propose that the sociocultural milieus of Latino subgroups of different ethnic and geographic origin are associated with varying patterns of risk factors that in turn lead to different morbidity patterns. Our analysis provides a blue-print for future research, policy development, and the evaluation of multifactorial interventions involving the collaboration of multiple social sectors, such as health care, public health, education, and public and private agencies.     

Participation in organized activities among Mexican and other Latino youth in Los Angeles: Variation by mother’s documentation status and youth’s age

Abstract

Although organized activities promote positive youth development, Latina/os are least likely to participate among ethnic minority youth. This study tested whether an indicator of social stratification, namely mothers’ documentation status (i.e., nativity, citizenship, and legal status), explained low activity participation rates among Mexican and other Latino youth. As a secondary goal, this study tests competing hypotheses about whether the relation between documentation status and participation varied by youth age. Using Los Angeles Family and Neighborhood Survey data, regression results indicated that Latino youth with unauthorized immigrant mothers were significantly less likely to participate in organized activities than those with native-born mothers, controlling for other variables. Post-estimation analyses indicated that participation gaps associated with mothers’ documentation status were larger for older than younger Latino youth. These findings suggest that documentation may function on a developmental continuum and that there was a developmental amplification of the effects of parents’ documentation status on youth activity participation.AQ3     

Racial/ethnic differences in post-migration education among adult immigrants in the USA

Despite the extensive scholarly interest in racial/ethnic differences in education among immigrants in the USA, limited research has examined the determinants of racial/ethnic gaps in post-migration adult education. Most immigrants, however, move to the USA as young adults, when education is decisive in shaping their incorporation. We use the National Household Education Survey (NHES) to examine whether pre-migration human capital and post-migration socio-economic circumstances can account for racial/ethnic differences in post-migration schooling. The results reveal that Latino/a immigrants are less likely than white and Asian immigrants to attend advanced and career-related educational programmes, but they seek general education more than Asians. These differences can be explained by racial/ethnic disparities in pre-migration human capital and post-migration employment, with pre-migration education and language training being particularly important. We conclude that education has a tendency to reproduce class structures across borders, and that social policy should counteract these cumulative disadvantage processes.     

The prevalence of obesity in ethnic admixture adults

Objective: To determine whether the prevalence of obesity in ethnic admixture adults varies systematically from the average of the prevalence estimates for the ethnic groups with whom they share a common ethnicity. Methods and Procedures: The sample included 215,000 adults who reported one or more ethnicities, height, weight, and other characteristics through a mailed survey. Results: The highest age‐adjusted prevalence of overweight (BMI ≥ 25) was in Hawaiian/Latino men (88%; n = 41) and black/Latina women (74.5%; n = 79), and highest obesity (BMI ≥ 30) rates were in Hawaiian/Latino men (53.7%; n = 41) and Hawaiian women (39.2%, n = 1,247). The prevalence estimates for most admixed groups were similar to or higher than the average of the prevalences for the ethnic groups with whom they shared common ethnicities. For instance, the prevalence of overweight/obesity in five ethnic admixtures—Asian/white, Hawaiian/white, Hawaiian/Asian, Latina/white, and Hawaiian/Asian/white ethnic admixtures—was significantly higher (P < 0.0001) than the average of the prevalence estimates for their component ethnic groups. Discussion: The identification of individuals who have a high‐risk ethnic admixture is important not only to the personal health and well‐being of such individuals, but could also be important to future efforts in order to control the epidemic of obesity in the United States.     

Latino racial choices: the effects of skin colour and discrimination on Latinos’ and Latinas’ racial self-identifications

Abstract

Are predictions that Hispanics will make up 25 per cent of the US population in 2050 reliable? The authors of this paper argue that these and other predictions are problematic insofar as they do not account for the volatile nature of Latino racial and ethnic identifications. In this light, the authors propose a theoretical framework that can be used to predict Latinos’ and Latinas’ racial choices. This framework is tested using two distinct datasets – the 1989 Latino National Political Survey and the 2002 National Survey of Latinos. The results from the analyses of both of these surveys lend credence to the authors’ claims that Latinas’ and Latinos’ skin colour and experiences of discrimination affect whether people from Latin America and their descendants who live in the US will choose to identify racially as black, white or Latina/o.     

Localizing ethnic entrepreneurship: “Chinese” chips shops in Belgium, “traditional” food culture,and transnational migration in Europe

This article explores the causes, dynamics, and theoretical implications of the “localization” of ethnic entrepreneurship through “traditional” food businesses in Europe. Based on fieldwork conducted in 2014 and 2017, it analyses the emergence of “Chinese” chips shops in the Flemish province of Antwerp, Belgium. Highlighting the history of Chinese migration to Europe, it argues that a specific set of “contexts of exit” and “contexts of reception” explain this development. Important among these are Dutch language skills and long-term residence or citizenship in the Netherlands and Belgium, market saturation, and the global financial crisis of 2007–2008. The article posits that these Chinese entrepreneurs are neither “enclave entrepreneurs” nor a “middleman minority”: entering a “traditional” food sector, they must leverage on their “integration capital”. However, with this, they also become entangled in Belgian gastronationalism and gastropolitics. Finally, this “localization” also has a transnational dimension as many of these entrepreneurs re-migrated from the Netherlands.