Becoming Bicultural: Latino Immigrant Mothers Raising American Children RIG

This research interest group addresses cross-cultural issues confronted by Latino immigrant mothers who are raising their children in the United States. In bringing Latino mother/ professionals together in a group setting, we produce feelings of empathy, shared convictions, and cohesiveness among the group participants-creating a sense that we are not alone here raising bilingual bicultural kids. In this climate of mutual respect, validation, and encouragement from peers, we bring our cultural traditions to the assess real life situations, to better understand the issues, and develop future research projects.

Our purpose is to research the complexities of “becoming bicultural” and discuss the effects of this transformative process. Biculturalism (paired with bilingualism) affects immigrant parents and their children differently. For example, our group discusses how group members handle family life in adjusting to the new culture-including discrimination, and racism. We explore the challenges that these processes create for social service interventions, psychological support, school counseling, and the provision of other services. For example, our research group discusses the following questions:

What do we see as the differences between the United States and our own countries of origin regarding child rearing?
How was our own lifestyle as children and adolescents different from that of our children?
What does an immigrant family need to achieve a feeling of satisfaction and cohesion in the new country?
What type of services/ assistance that are culturally appropriate would immigrant mothers in distress need?
How could we (professional women) communicate the needs and concerns of Latino immigrant mothers more effectively?

Because all of our members work with immigrants in the community, our group combines scholarly research with service projects. In this vein, we brought invited speakers to campus and organized a series of three workshops for Latino immigrant parents at Springfield High School, sponsored by SELCO Community Credit Union. Our members also made presentations at conferences and school events on issues of biculturalism and parenthood that we have been discussing during our monthly meetings. We produced a Directory of Bilingual Social Services in Eugene and Springfield that we have distributed widely.

Contacts for more information

Marcela Mendoza (co-coordinator)
mmendoza@uoregon.edu

Ruth Vargas-Forman (co-coordinator)
forman@ohsu.edu, 541-349-0301

See related links:

“Advocating for Control with Compassion: The Impacts of Raids and Deportations on Children and Families,” by Marcela Mendoza and Edward Olivos (Oregon Review of International Law, Vol. 11, Mo. 1, 2009)

“Directory of Bilingual Social Services” (to view).  Print version, click here.

“Crossing Borders: Latin American refugee mothers reunited with their children in the United States,” by Ruth Vargas-Forman (paper presented at the conference on Philosophical Inquiry into Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Mothering.  University of Oregon, Eugene, May 16, 2009.)

Parenthood in a Foreign Land: An interdisciplinary look at the challenges faced by immigrant mothers and fathers raising bicultural children,” by Marcela Mendoza(paper presented at the conference on Philosophical Inquiry into Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Mothering.  University of Oregon, Eugene, May 16, 2009.)

“Parenting in a Foreign Land: The Known Factors and Experiences,” by Judith Rocha (paper presented at the conference on Philosophical Inquiry into Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Mothering.  University of Oregon, Eugene, May 16, 2009.)