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Seminar Series: Onoso Imoagene, Sociology, University of Pennsylvania

On the Horns of a Racial Dilemma: The Experiences of Second Generation Nigerians in the United States and Britain
When Mar 09, 2015
from 12:00 PM to 01:00 PM
Where 1101 Morrill Hall
Contact Name
Contact Phone 301-405-6403
Attendees Arielle Apfel
Chris Bachrach
Luoman Bao
Joey Brown
Melissa Brown
Feinian Chen
Jocelyn Coates
Chrissy Getrich
Sharon Harley
Mary Jung
Joan Kahn
Jeehye Kang
Theresa Kim
Tyler Myroniuk
Amanda Nguyen
Julie Park
Michael Rendall
Basheer M. Saeed
Liana Sayer
Megan Wilhelm
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About the Talk

In this talk, I examine the key factors that impact the experiences of second generation adults of Nigerian ancestry in the United States and Britain. I discuss how several structural factors - national identity,  each country's history with black people - from slavery, to colonialism, and the resultant racial hierarchy, parental resources, and the adult second generation own class positions - affect their experiences and identity formation processes. My findings lead me to make two key arguments. First, that being black is not a disadvantage as theorized by two key second generation assimilation theories (segmented assimilation and racialization), and thus, these theories have to be complexified. Second, that national context affects ethnic identities and identificational assimilation of the second generation.

About the Speaker

Onoso Imoagene

Onoso Imoagene is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of Pennsylvania. She received her Ph.D. in Sociology from Harvard University. Her research examines the experiences of Black immigrants in the U.S. and other contexts. At present, she is wrapping up a project that analyzes the experiences of second generation African adults in the U.S. and Britain. This project examines how the African second generation negotiate what it means to be black within the racial and ethnic contexts of these countries and how national identity and national myths affect ethnic identification. More broadly, it seeks to understand what the experiences of the African second generation reveal about race and racism and the intersections of race, class, culture, and gender in the U.S. and Britain. She has also started a new project on diversity visa lottery winners. It is a multi-site project that studies diversity lottery winners before they leave the home country and after they arrive in the United States. Her other research focuses on educational attainment and social mobility among immigrants.

Visit Professor Imoagene's webpage

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