This book examines narratives of anti-German sentiment and language loss from German American communities in southwestern, Illinois. During World War I and II, government sponsored Americanization campaigns brought an abrupt end to German speaking practices in many communities across the Midwest. The narratives and the sociolinguistic practices around their telling detail the experiences of people who were singled out because of their ethnicity and bilingualism and the consequences these experiences had for their families. This work considers how contexts of discrimination informed constructions of the past that people could live with and the impact of these contexts on their beliefs about language and belonging. In addition to stories of past experience, this work also explores narratives of the present. New immigrants are moving to the region for work in local industries and their presence is regarded cautiously by German origin residents. Narrative constructions about new immigrants are considered in light of these shifting demographics and local histories of anti-German sentiment with significant implications for the future of social relationships in these communities.

This book contributes to the understanding of first-language loss in both immigrant and indigenous communities in (at least) three ways. First, it provides insight into the process of language loss and the factors contributing to it. Second, it attempts to define, from an insider perspective, what it means to "lose" a language. Third, it analyzes the perceived consequences of first language loss in terms of social, academic, emotional, and economic factors--an approach previously lacking in research on language loss. Most studies of first language loss are impersonal, even when they tell emotional stories. This polyphonic book about language loss and imperfect learning of heritage languages tells the inside story. Easy to read and yet academic, it gives voice to five different storytellers who relate the histories of their first language loss and analyzes themes from 21 life-history case studies of adults who had lost their first languages while learning English. The stories in this book make a compelling argument that heritage languages should be preserved, that ESL should be about developing bilinguals not English monolinguals. Important reading for researchers, practitioners, and graduate students in ESL and bilingual education, multicultural education, cultural studies, and sociology, this book will also interest qualitative researchers as an example of a unique form of both doing and writing research.

Through this qualitative research project, I investigated how immigrant mothers experience their children's heritage language loss; what emotions, feelings, and attitudes they experienced, how they navigated their children's heritage language loss, what strategies they used, and what were some of the possible consequences of not having a shared language on the maternal relationship between mother and child? Using a case study research methodology and narrative analysis, I interviewed two immigrant mothers about their children's heritage language experience in Canada. The findings of this study indicate that language is fluid, that it can be learned and lost at any age by any member of the family, online resources are an important resource that parents can utilize to aid in maintaining their children's heritage language, and the lack of a shared cultural framework and language can create an emotional divide between mother and child. Key words: Heritage language, identity, guilt, language loss, mother, colonialism, immigration, embarrassment, YouTube, accent, social group/peers.

This book gives powerful testimony to the possibilities of success, even as it attests to the psychological costs of emigration and the struggles of immigration. The necessity of creating a new cultural or national identity is a recurring theme as the authors of articles - immigrants themselves and Americans sensitive to their families' immigrant experiences - address what has become an urgent question: How can we facilitate the immigrants' passage? The U.S. culture has been forged by the influence of immigrant cultures too numerous to mention; their representatives have made recognizable, significant contributions while struggling to create a viable place for themselves in their adopted land.

“I felt like an alien who fell down to earth, not understanding the rules of the game, making all the possible mistakes, saying all the wrong things.” “Your whole life is in the hands of other people who do not always mean well and there is nothing you can do about it. They can decide to send you away and you have no control.” “The moment I enter the house, I shelve my American self and become the 'little obedient wife' that my husband wants me to be.” “The most difficult part is to find myself again. At the beginning I lost myself.” This jargon-free book documents and analyzes the experience of immigration from the female perspective. It discusses the unique challenges that women face, offers insights into the meanings of their experiences, develops gender-sensitive knowledge about immigration, and discusses implications for the effective development and provision of services to immigrant women. With fascinating case studies of immigration to the United States, Australia, and Israel as well as helpful lists of relevant organizations and Web site/Internet addresses, Immigrant Women Tell Their Stories is for everyone who wants to learn or teach about immigration, especially its female face. “It was like somebody sawed my heart in two. One part remained in Cuba and one part here.” Immigrant Women Tell Their Stories examines the nature of immigration for women through the eyes of those who have experienced it: how they perceive, interpret, and address the nature of the experience, its multiple aspects, the issues that it presents, and the strategies that immigrant women develop to cope with those issues. The women in this extraordinary book came from different spots around the globe, speak different languages and dialects, and their English comes in different accents. They vary in age as well as in cultural, ethnic, social, educational, and professional status. They represent a rainbow of family types and political opinions. In spite of their diversity, all these women share immigration experience. This book provides an understanding of the journeys they traveled and the experiences they lived to bring you new insights into what it means to immigrate as a woman and to frame effective strategies for working with—and for—immigrant women. “My father is the head of the house. When he decided to move to America [from India] my mother and us, the daughters, did not have much say. My mother and I were not happy at all, but it did not matter.” Immigrant Women Tell Their Stories provides you with historical and global perspectives on immigration and addresses: legal, political, economic, social, and psychological dimensions of immigration and its aftermath deconstructing immigration by age, gender, and circumstances major issues of immigrant women—language, mothering, relationships and marriage, finding employment, assimilation (how much and how soon), loneliness, and more resilience in immigrant women immigration from a lesbian perspective guidelines for the development and delivery of services to immigrant women “You may say that I am the bridge, the desert generation that lost the chance to have it my way. But I will do my best to raise my daughters to have more choices than I.” In this well-referenced book, immigrant women from Austria, Bosnia, Cuba, various parts of the former Soviet Union, Guatemala, India, Israel, Lebanon, Mexico, Pakistan, and the Philippines tell us their stories, recount what their experiences entailed and what challenges they posed, and teach us ways to help them cope successfully. “This was the best decision we could have made and the best thing we had ever done.”

The critical, emotional and intellectual change which every immigrant is obliged to endure and confront is experienced with singular intensity by immigrant writers who have also adopted another language for their literary expression. Concentrating on European authors of the second half of the twentieth century who have chosen French as a language for their literary expression, and in particular the novels by Romain Gary, Agota Kristof, Milan Kundera and Jorge Semprun, with reference to many others, European Literary Immigration into the French Language explores some of the common elements in these works of fiction, which despite the varied personal circumstances and literary aesthetics of the authors, follow a similar path in the building of a literary identity and legitimacy in the new language. The choice of the French language is inextricably linked with the subsequent literary choices of these writers. This study charts a new territory within Francophone and European literary studies in treating the European immigrants as a separate group, and in applying linguistic, sociological and psychoanalytical ideas in the analysis of the works of fiction, and thus represents a relevant contribution to the understanding of European cultural identity. This volume is relevant to French and European literature scholars, and anyone with interest in immigration, European identity or second language adoption.

Drawing on critical and sociocultural frameworks, this volume presents narrative studies by or about Latinas in which they speak up about issues of identity and education. Using narratives, self-identification stories, and testimonios as theory, methodology, and advocacy, this volume brings together a wide range of Latinx perspectives on education identity, bilingualism, and belonging. The narratives illustrate the various ways erasure and human agency shape the lives and identities of Latinas in the United States from primary school to higher education and beyond, in their schools and communities. Contributors explore how schools and educational institutions can support student agency by adopting a transformative activist stance through curricula, learning contexts, and policies. Chapters contain implications for teaching and come together to showcase the importance of explicit activist efforts to combat erasure and engage in transformative and emancipatory education.

No detailed description available for "Bilingualism and Migration".

The poems, personal and visual narratives in this edited book, Critical Storytelling: Multilingual Immigrants in the United States, are symbolic of the resilient, transformative experiences lived by multilingual immigrants in the United States.