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In Brief

• Immigrant groups establish ethnic associations to help with adaptation in the host country.
• Immigrant group associations provide a space for discourse on educational resources and supports for immigrant children.
• Relevant professionals can acknowledge and collaborate with available immigrant associations and networks to help parents effectively guide their children academically.

Eneh and her husband Ken (pseudonyms), along with their two children, lived in Louisiana since emigrating from Nigeria in 2001. In 2012, Ken was named a manager with his company in Texas and so the family moved. Eneh had been advised by a close Nigerian friend to find and join a Nigerian association in Texas to help with adjusting to the new city. A year later, Eneh and her family had become members of the local chapter of African Christian Fellowship. They enjoyed worship services that included songs and hymns from Nigeria and other African countries. Members typically attend birthdays, graduations, and christening parties at which music, attire, and food are very reminiscent of parties held in Nigeria. These gatherings facilitate a space for discourse on immigrant life experiences and adaptation strategies, as well as insight into shared goals and motivations for success in a new environment. Discussion topics at such gatherings include challenges of balancing family and work, politics, and, of course, the children. Members passionately discuss the road to graduation for their kids, public versus private education, and the role of extracurricular activities in their own aspirations for their children’s academics. This article addresses the potential for immigrant group associations (IGAs) to become a space for discourse on adaptation and coping strategies in general, and educational aspirations and academic choices for immigrant children in particular.

Profile of IGAs

IGAs originate with an articulation of shared needs in an identified space and a commitment to meeting those needs and accomplishing shared goals (Moya, 2005). IGAs may exist as formally registered institutions (e.g., Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association) or informal support networks without codified membership regulations (e.g., family, friends, acquaintances). IGAs are founded by new and long-term immigrants for their own ethnic community, although they can be structured as pan-ethnic entities with multiple ethnic groups identifying as members (e.g., Asian or Latin American associations in the United States; Babis, 2016). As Eneh experienced, membership is voluntary and usually facilitated through word of mouth, personal invitations, and advertising through ethnic community media (Zhou, 2009b).

The creation of group associations is not unique to immigrants. However, many immigrants voluntarily become members of such associations for purposes of acculturation. Acculturation is an adaptation process that occurs when groups of multicultural individuals come into continuous contact, leading to changes in the original cultural patterns of either or both groups (Redfield, Linton, & Herskovits, 1936). Berry (2007) provided a fourfold classification of acculturation orientation: integration (host culture is adopted and heritage culture is maintained), assimilation (heritage culture is discarded and host culture is adopted), separation (host culture is rejected and heritage culture maintained), and marginalization (both cultures are rejected). Within the milieu of IGAs, contextual discourse occurs among participants who have a particular need or shared knowledge specific to their immigration experience. Discourse related to perspectives, goals, challenges, and successes of immigration presents opportunities for choice in acculturation strategies and practices. Moya (2005) renders an expansion of immigrant group association categories that indicate the types of contextual discourse that occurs within them (e. g., rotating credit associations, mutual-aid societies, hometown associations, religious and political associations). Here, we focus on Hometown Immigrant Group Associations (Hometown IGAs), as they consist of immigrants with similar ethnic origins, provide socialization supports, as well as a space to gather, share information, explore and choose acculturation strategies, and organize social events.

            Benefits and motivation for joining Hometown IGAs include providing a space for practical guidance for new immigrants, familiar communications with coethnic members, and the maintenance of the home culture (Clarke, 2013; Cordero Guzman, 2005; Owusu, 2000). Hometown IGAs allow for the continued perpetuation of the extended family and kin framework immigrants are familiar with, for instance, within Nigerian and Chinese group associations, all adults might be referred to as uncles, aunties, or cousins (Onwujuba, Marks, & Nesteruk, 2015; Zhou, 2009a). Belizean immigrants in Chicago organize national holiday festivals and fundraisers to provide emergency aid, medical bill payments, and school scholarships (Babcock, 2006). These benefits may vary on the basis of immigrants’ needs depending on time since their immigration (e.g., new arrivals may need more help adapting to the host culture) and on socioeconomic status. In a study on immigrant neighborhoods in San Francisco, California, interactions between middle- and lower-class Asian immigrants at community and association gatherings facilitated the exchange of information and resources pertinent to their children’s educational success. Comparatively, the Hispanic community accessed fewer pertinent educational information and resources as a result of overrepresentation in the population of low-skilled and low-socioeconomic-status immigrants (Zhou, 2009b).

            The proposed benefits of Hometown IGAs do not guarantee interest in membership, however, as some immigrants may choose not to participate for a variety of reasons. Some are disinclined to engage in “gossip” or dislike the time commitment and excessive fees required to participate in celebrations (Onwujuba et al., 2015). Some choose not to join because of the history of forced group participation in formerly communist societies and a distrust in organized religious institutions that served as an instrument of the state’s control over citizens in their countries of origin (Nesteruk, 2007). Instead, some immigrants would rather form close relationships with fellow immigrants irrespective of country of origin or create new friendships with host country citizens. This is especially the case for immigrant professionals, who are not as dependent on coethnic networks for jobs and relocate throughout the country following professional opportunities (Portes & Rumbaut, 2014). Decisions to detach from coethnic immigrant-group affiliations can indicate an assimilated form of acculturation strategy that enables immigrants to adopt host country values and practices without making much effort to keep the old (Berry, 2007).

IGAs and Educational Supports

Studies with immigrant parents from various countries of origin indicate that they modify their parenting practices to accommodate their pre-migration core values and develop characteristics they deem important for their children`s success in the new context (e.g., self-esteem, assertiveness). This evaluative attribute denotes a dual frame of reference (Suárez-Orozco & Suárez-Orozco, 2002) that immigrants use to compare host culture experiences with those of the heritage culture in order to find the most adaptive fit, and to decide which host country cultural domains to adopt and which to reject (Cheah, Leung, & Zhou, 2013).

            Following immigrant parents’ view of education as a gateway to occupational security and an ascendant social status for their children (Lee & Zhou, 2014), immigrant gatherings allow for a space that encourages discussion and perspectives on applying a dual frame of reference to negotiate host country educational challenges and experiences. Immigrants weigh the experiences of a devaluation of their heritage country’s educational and professional credentials, the need to retrain or requalify for professional opportunities (Tharmaseelan, Inkson, & Carr, 2010), and the benefits of improved labor market options and a higher socioeconomic standing that education and professional occupations bring (Pew Research Center, 2020). These motivations have an impact on the effort individuals place on providing educational support and guidance for their children. For example, the Nigerian Women Association of Georgia (2020) identifies influencing school and community policies and practices as one of the benefits of membership; Asian immigrants in Chinatown and Koreatown in Los Angeles organize youth and early childhood classes centered on academic enrichment, tutoring and college prep, music, dance, art, martial arts, and sports (Zhou, 2009b); and Latino immigrant parents in the Bay Area utilize their ethnic social network to pursue educational benefits for their children (Poza, Brooks, & Valdez, 2014).

Implications for Practitioners

Within the familiarity and low-risk environment of Hometown IGAs, parents can construct opinions and perspectives about occupational choices and pathways that would be in their children’s best interest and aligned with pre-migration values (Zhou, 2009b). In recognition of the strength and driving motivation of these constructs, teachers, Family Life Educators, and practitioners can effectively serve children and families by acknowledging ethnically driven success indexes. Further, relevant ethnic community members can be involved in schools as conduits for information and resources that might be inaccessible to immigrant parents otherwise.

            IGAs exist to serve immigrants’ needs for identity, support, and belonging. Negotiating the opportunities and challenges of a host country require nuanced and contextual perspectives that are both personally acquired and vicariously experienced through others. There is a saying among the Igbo of Nigeria, Ora n’ azu nwa, meaning that the village raises the child. This belief is carried into the immigrant experience and maintained by coethnic relationships found in IGAs. The recognition of immigrants’ evaluation of bicultural experiences can provide insights to relevant professionals about parents’ motivations in setting high expectations of academic achievement for their children.

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