Across Generations: Immigrant Families in America

Introduction: Intergenerational Relations in Immigrant Families

1 Introduction Intergenerational Relations in Immigrant Families Nancy Foner Immigration is one of the most pressing issues in the United States. The foreign-born now represent about 13 percent of the nation’s population. Together with their American-born children, this group constitutes nearly a quarter of the United States—more than 65 million people. This is an astonishing figure. If today’s foreign-born and their children were to form a country, it would have approximately twice the population of Canada and slightly more than that of France or Italy. The numbers are critical, but their implications are even more significant . Much has been written about immigrants in the labor market, in the educational system, and in neighborhoods in the United States. Much less scholarly attention has been paid to what happens in the privacy of their families, although understanding family dynamics is essential for appreciating the first- and second-generation immigrant experience. This volume puts the spotlight on a key aspect of immigrant family life: intergenerational relations. The primary concern is relations between immigrant parents and their children, many of whom were born or largely raised in the United States, although relations between immigrant grandparents and their grandchildren are also investigated. Intergenerational relations—so central in immigrant families—are characterized by an intricate tangle of attachments and divisions. Intergenerational dynamics in immigrant families help shape the contours and trajectories of individual lives and also affect involvements outside the confines of the family. It has become a cliché to talk about immigrant children in pitched battles against tradition-bound parents from the old country, but the essays 2 Nancy Foner in this book offer a more nuanced and complex view of intergenerational relations. As one might expect, one major theme is the sources of tensions and conflicts—for example, about parental discipline, children’s marriage choices, and educational and occupational expectations for children. But intergenerational relations are not just about strife and strain. The essays also point to the ties that bond and bind immigrants and their children, and the way they work out accommodations and compromises. Immigrants often leave children behind in the home country when they head for the United States, and a central theme of several of the chapters is relations in transnational families—when parents and children are apart, when they see each other on visits, and when, as happens in many cases, they reunite in the United States. Even when children are not left behind, intergenerational relationships, as many of the chapters make clear, are often embedded in transnational extended-family networks. Indeed , in some cases, separation involves parents or grandparents who return to the country or community of origin while children or grandchildren remain in the United States. While the essays are concerned with intergenerational relations as they develop and play out within immigrants’ families and households, these relations have an impact well beyond the household and family arena. Among other things, family intergenerational dynamics can affect how the children of immigrants fare at school and at work and their experiences in a host of other institutional settings. By the same token, what goes on at work, at school, and in the wider immigrant community—and in the home country—can have consequences for relations within the immigrant family in the United States. As several of the authors emphasize, U.S. immigration policy also affects family dynamics, particularly as it determines whether—and how—immigrants can establish authorized or legal status. Moreover, U.S. policies with regard to welfare benefits provide economic and other resources that can affect intergenerational relations. The immigrant family, in short, cannot be viewed in isolation. In exploring these themes, the eight chapters in this volume draw on in-depth ethnographic research that captures the complexities of interactions between immigrant parents and their children and gives a flavor for the everyday lives of immigrant families. The broad range of national-origin groups represented—Latin American (Mexicans, Guatemalans, and Salvadorans), Asian (Bangladeshis, Chinese, and Filipinos), African (Sierra Leoneans), and Caribbean (Dominicans and West Indians)—provides a window into the dynamics of intergenerational relations in immigrant Introduction 3 families from different regions, countries, and cultures. Moreover, the studies are based on research in a variety of settings in the United States, from New York City and Washington, DC, to Los Angeles and Phoenix. The inclusion of chapters on diverse immigrant populations underscores the role of home-country cultural and...