WWU's Center for Cross-Cultural Research to host Dalal Katsiaficas Oct. 16

WWU's Center for Cross-Cultural Research will host Dalal Katsiaficas, assistant professor of Educational Psychology at the University of Illinois at Chicago from 4-5 p.m. on Monday, Oct. 16 in Academic West 210, for “Coming of Age in America:  The Contributions and Resistance of Immigrant-Origin Students.” 

The presentation is free and open to the public.

Immigrant-origin college students (those who have immigrated to the U.S. themselves and children of immigrants) are a growing population. Currently, a third of all college-age young people in the U.S. are first- or second-generation immigrants (Rumbaut & Komaie, 2010). As immigrant-origin students come of age, they become keenly aware of the social and cultural reflections of themselves in the “social mirror” (Suarez-Orozco, 2004). With xenophobia, racism and discrimination on the rise, especially as directed towards immigrant groups in the US (Chavez, 2008), it is critical to understand how these students develop within contexts that give them complicated messages about how to belong.

Utilizing a strengths-based perspective, we will explore the ways in which immigrant-origin youth respond to such discrimination and how this might impact their developmental experiences. Drawing on a number of mixed-methods studies of immigrant-origin college students, this presentation will highlight the contributions of immigrant-origin youth to their families and communities as well as the ways in which they conceptualize and engage in resistance to social inequality.

For more information on this event, contact the Center for Cross-Cultural Research at x3570.