Immigrant Youth as Linguistic and Cultural Brokers in Parent-School Interactions

Este texto se presentó como comunicación al II Congreso Internacional de Etnografía y Educación: Migraciones y Ciudadanías. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, 5-8 Septiembre 2008.In this paper I examine the transcultural negotiations that the children of immigrants from Mexico to the United States engage in when they serve as "language brokers" (Tse, 1996), "family interpreters"(Valdés, 2003), or "para-phrasers" (Orellana, Reynolds, Dorner and Meza, 2003) between their families and the English-speaking world. Translation events represent a kind of "contact zone" (Pratt, 1991), a meeting ground between people from different cultural and linguistic perspectives. Within these contact zones, youth position themselves in particular ways vis a vis their different audiences, even as they are positioned and repositioned by others. This involves a process that Guerra (in press) calls "transcultural repositioning."The transcultural repositioning that happens in translation events is shaped in particular by immigrant youths? paradoxical positionalities within relationships of power. On the one hand, as children (and as the children of immigrants in particular), youth translators constitute subaltern others (Spivak, 1988) who are not authorized to speak as adult, English-speaking citizens are, but at the same time they must speak if their parents? voices are to be heard. Their positions are complicated by the fact that they may speak for interlocutors who hold very different beliefs about what children should do, what they need, how they should be have, and how adults should interact with them. They may also be evaluated by these adults by very different criteria. Immigrant youth translators? positions are further paradoxical in that they give voice to subaltern others whose words and ideas are often not represented in public spaces; but they simultaneously take up the voices of authority figures and institutional representatives as they speak to their families. Davidson (2000) notes how hospital interpreters become complicit in power relations, inadvertently acting as sociolinguistic gatekeepers for the medical establishment. Youth translators? work is not just one of service to their families, but of surveillance of them, and thus, of themselves (Wadensjö, 1995). Urciouli (1998) writes: "When people migrate, become political minorities, or become colonized, they find their lives structured in ways that force them to work across languages and place on them the burden of understanding and responding correctly." And the children of immigrants may especially shoulder this burden for their families. But understanding and responding "correctly" is particularly problematic given their positions as children of immigrants, in a place and time where there is great ambivalence about immigrants in general and about Mexican immigrants in particular (Santa Ana, 1999; 2002). Speaking English is essential for being seen as "American," but it is not enough - who one is seen to be while speaking also matters. Translation encounters, which mark families as immigrants, may serve to heighten racializing discourses (Urciouli, 1998), placing youth translators in the paradoxical position of being needed for their English skills but not being seen as "American.

Adolescents' and young people's experiences of social relationships and health concerns during COVID-19

Purpose: To illuminate the meaning of social relationships and health concerns as experienced by adolescents and young people during the COVID-19 pandemic. / Methods: A longitudinal qualitative study was conducted. Data reported from 172 adolescents and young people aged 12–24 years in five countries; Chile, South Africa, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States collected from May 2020 to June 2021 were analysed via thematic analysis. / Results: Adolescents and young peoples’ experiences of social relationships and health concerns were described in seven themes: Family proximity, conflicts and frustration; difficulties and challenges related to limited living space; peer relations and maintaining friendship in times of social distancing; the importance of school as a place for interaction; vulnerability, emotional distress and uncertainty about the future; health concerns and sense of caring for others; and worries and concerns related to financial hardship. These reports show that the changes to everyday life that were introduced by public responses to the pandemic generated feelings of loneliness, vulnerability, and emotional distress, as well as increased sense of togetherness with family. / Conclusions: The everyday lives of adolescents and young people were restricted and affected more by the consequences of the pandemic than by the COVID-19 virus. These experiences had various impacts on well-being and mental health, where some individuals felt more exposed and vulnerable to emotional distress and loneliness than others. Family and peer relationships could be protective and support a sense of togetherness and belonging. Hence, social relationships are important to provide emotional support. Support for adolescents and young people should be tailored accordingly around social and emotional concerns, to encourage health and well-being

Immigrant Youth’s Contributions to Families and Society as Language and Culture Brokers

When we consider the relative costs and contributions of immigrants to U.S. society, the general assumption is that adults make contributions, while children are only a drain: they take from the educational and health systems without giving anything back. This is an assumption that bears reconsideration. In this talk I show how society benefits from the largely invisible work and unremunerated that the children of immigrants do as language and culture brokers. I argue that this is part of the labor cost equation that should be contemplated in this era of global economic restructuring. Using illustrations from ethnographic data in three immigrant communities over a decade, I show children at work in a variety of contexts and discuss how children experience their work. About the Lecturer: Marjorie Faulstich Orellana. Professor and Director of Faculty for the Teacher Education Program, UCL

Immigrant Youth as Linguistic and Cultural Brokers in Parent-School Interactions

Este texto se presentó como comunicación al II Congreso Internacional de Etnografía y Educación: Migraciones y Ciudadanías. Universidad Autónoma de Barcelona, Barcelona, 5-8 Septiembre 2008.In this paper I examine the transcultural negotiations that the children of immigrants from Mexico to the United States engage in when they serve as "language brokers" (Tse, 1996), "family interpreters"(Valdés, 2003), or "para-phrasers" (Orellana, Reynolds, Dorner and Meza, 2003) between their families and the English-speaking world. Translation events represent a kind of "contact zone" (Pratt, 1991), a meeting ground between people from different cultural and linguistic perspectives. Within these contact zones, youth position themselves in particular ways vis a vis their different audiences, even as they are positioned and repositioned by others. This involves a process that Guerra (in press) calls "transcultural repositioning."The transcultural repositioning that happens in translation events is shaped in particular by immigrant youths? paradoxical positionalities within relationships of power. On the one hand, as children (and as the children of immigrants in particular), youth translators constitute subaltern others (Spivak, 1988) who are not authorized to speak as adult, English-speaking citizens are, but at the same time they must speak if their parents? voices are to be heard. Their positions are complicated by the fact that they may speak for interlocutors who hold very different beliefs about what children should do, what they need, how they should be have, and how adults should interact with them. They may also be evaluated by these adults by very different criteria. Immigrant youth translators? positions are further paradoxical in that they give voice to subaltern others whose words and ideas are often not represented in public spaces; but they simultaneously take up the voices of authority figures and institutional representatives as they speak to their families. Davidson (2000) notes how hospital interpreters become complicit in power relations, inadvertently acting as sociolinguistic gatekeepers for the medical establishment. Youth translators? work is not just one of service to their families, but of surveillance of them, and thus, of themselves (Wadensjö, 1995). Urciouli (1998) writes: "When people migrate, become political minorities, or become colonized, they find their lives structured in ways that force them to work across languages and place on them the burden of understanding and responding correctly." And the children of immigrants may especially shoulder this burden for their families. But understanding and responding "correctly" is particularly problematic given their positions as children of immigrants, in a place and time where there is great ambivalence about immigrants in general and about Mexican immigrants in particular (Santa Ana, 1999; 2002). Speaking English is essential for being seen as "American," but it is not enough - who one is seen to be while speaking also matters. Translation encounters, which mark families as immigrants, may serve to heighten racializing discourses (Urciouli, 1998), placing youth translators in the paradoxical position of being needed for their English skills but not being seen as "American.