As the Black immigrant population in the United States continues to grow, new research is shedding light on how immigrants understand and share their racial and ethnic identity options as they move through American society. Postdoctoral Associate Beka Guluma of the Department of African American and Africana Studies published research in the journal Sociology of Race and Ethnicity that shows the interwoven nature of immigrants’ ethnic identities and their Black racial identity.
In the past, sociological research on immigration and Blackness has often focused on how immigrants from majority-Black sending countries negotiate between their racial and ethno-national identities. Because the current size of the Black immigrant population in the United States has grown considerably—and because that population now includes first- and second-generation members—Guluma was able to provide novel analyses that drill down to specific national and sub-national groups.
Guluma conducted 30 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with first- and second-generation Oromo immigrants to see how they situate their ethnic and racial identities in the context of integration into American society and continued homeland ethnic conflict. The Oromo people are historically native to Ethiopia and Northern Kenya.
“Two themes emerge in how my respondents articulate their ethnic and racial identities. First, respondents draw a sharp distinction between Oromo and Ethiopian as both separate national and ethnic identities. Second, respondents embrace their Black identity in part by relying on narratives of Blackness rooted in a shared history of anti-Black oppression that draw on the language of linked fate,” Guluma said. “Together, these findings demonstrate how Black immigrants’ identity can inform and be informed by notions of Blackness in both the United States and homeland contexts, and the importance of attending to subnational ethnic diversity in studies of immigration.”
Guluma asserts that beliefs about racial and ethnic identity are complex, and when researchers drill down below the level of region (or even country) to sub-national groups, nuance emerges that can help improve our understanding of the process of racial and ethnic identity formation, and the meaning that people draw from that formation.
In this way, Guluma’s focus on Oromo immigrants from Ethiopia is a methodological advancement that builds on previous generations of research on Black immigrants and immigration.
“Whereas previous research may have examined West Indian or African immigrants, my research is joining a growing body of work that moves scholarship forward by unpacking the complexities inherent in such large, pan-ethnic labels,” Guluma said.
Guluma’s article also shows how Oromo respondents are situating their Oromo ethnic identity alongside their Black racial identity.
“In short, their two identities are co-constructed and co-dependent,” Guluma said. “This is most beautifully articulated by one of my respondents who described his two identities as ‘weaving into each other.’”
The research presented in this article is part of a larger project that Guluma plans to publish as a book, including a revised version of the article. The book will examine how Oromo immigrants are navigating their identity in transnational space—as immigrants in the U.S. and emigrants still deeply rooted in the homeland.
“I will also examine the intersectionality of various axes of identity—namely, ethnicity, race, and indigeneity—unpacking how and why they converge and diverge, and rise and fall in salience,” Guluma said.
Photo courtesy of Beka Guluma
Cross-posted from BSOS featured content. Published on Wed, Apr 24, 2024 - 2:47PM.
