USF. Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework. Mara Krilanovich

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1 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 1 USF Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework Mara Krilanovich Introduction to Immigration, Migration, Refugees and Exiles Dr. Shabnam Koirala-Azad May 12, 2006

2 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 2 Introduction The process of immigration creates strain and stress on individuals and families, but as important to the physical stressors, immigration also creates new identities and relationships with the receiving community. In order to make sense of the new identities created in the United States by immigrants and their families, and to construct a theory of how those who are not part of the majority culture interact within the structures of the dominant society, namely the structure of education, John Ogbu and his contemporaries (both colleagues and students) constructed a theory of immigrant identity. Ogbu s theory was an attempt to understand African American students lack of success and attitudes toward schooling in the framework of a racist and caste-like society. The theory, however, has been used to interpret immigrant experiences across cultures. In order to explore more fully how the Latino immigrant experience fits in with Ogbu s theory, I interviewed two sets of siblings who immigrated from Latin America, Venezuela and Colombia respectively. Those participants are Carlos, Felipe, Isaac and Pedro David. Carlos and Felipe immigrated to the United States at very early ages. Both were born in Medellin, Colombia and are now in their mid to late 30 s. Isaac and Pedro David are more recent immigrants from Puerto la Cruz, Venezuela. Both sets of siblings are from upper-middle class families in their countries of origin. All struggled with finances when they arrived here, experiencing a significant drop in socioeconomic status, then, through industriousness and hard work, made their way back in to the middle class, although not yet reaching the same level of status as they enjoyed in their native country.

3 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 3 All of the individuals interviewed had at least some, in Carlos and Felipe s cases, all, of their formal education in the United States. Isaac spent some high school years in the United States and completed some college courses. Pedro David has experienced college-level experience in the United States and is currently attending a local law school. John Ogbu s Work John Ogbu conceptualized minority school success, or lack thereof, in the form of oppositional behavior, as a response to conditions in society that place certain minorities in a caste-like structure (Ogbu, 1992). He placed minorities in a several groups based on their immigration status and cultural frame of reference. The two categories that served as the basis for Ogbu s theory are that of voluntary minorities and involuntary minorities. He constructed two additional groups, on which he wrote little, which are autonomous minorities and refugees. Ogbu conceptualized autonomous minorities as minority groups, like the Jews and Mormons, who are culturally and may be linguistically distinct, but who have relatively high rates of student success. Refugees are neither voluntary nor involuntary minorities and are the subject of little discussion in Ogbu s framework. He simply marked them as another category (Ogbu, 1992). Voluntary and involuntary minorities, being the crux of Ogbu s work, are the two categories for discussion here. Voluntary minorities are those people, and the children of those individuals, who have move to the United States on a voluntary basis because they believed they would find a better life (Ogbu, 1992). Involuntary minorities are those who are part of the United States society through the process of conquest, colonization or

4 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 4 slavery. Ogbu includes Mexican Americans in the latter category because of the history of colonization in the Southwest (Ogbu, 1992). The importance of these classifications is that, according to Ogbu, these distinct groups have different beliefs about the presence of opportunities available to them in the United States society. The beliefs are primarily based on perceptions of race-based discrimination and the institutionalization of racism (Ogbu, 1994). These beliefs cross socioeconomic class lines and persist regardless of the economic attainment of individuals of color. For involuntary minorities, beliefs about the United States as a racist society lead to the distrust of systems and institutions that are controlled by white Americans (Ogbu, 1994). Contrarily, voluntary minorities do not perceive institutionalized racism and believe that, regardless of their status as a minority, they have an opportunity at success through hard work and educational attainment. Methodology Using a video camera with sound, I interviewed each sibling set for approximately an hour period of time. I choose to interview each sibling set together, instead of individually, because I believed that more rich information would be available. Interviews about one s past are based on the memories of the individuals who lived that experience. Elizabeth Loftus (2003) and others have found that the recall of memories are susceptible to suggestion and prompting. I wished to interview the siblings in tandem because I believed that would produce more accurate memory recall and facilitate the process of storytelling.

5 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 5 The questions were developed prior to the interview and were designed to ascertain their experiences in relation to Ogbu s framework and their reasons for immigration. The questions were sent via to the participants in advance to make sure that they were comfortable with the content of the interview. The participants had an opportunity to identify any questions that they would feel uncomfortable answering, but in the end, did not elect to have any questions edited. Despite having set questions, I did not intend to, nor in practice did I, strictly stick to the questions asked, to allow for some natural discussion to happen and for some follow-up questions. Findings Carlos and Felipe had experienced schooling in the Catholic school system in southern California after their parents settled in the area from their native Medellín, Colombia. The family immigrated to the United States from Colombia because of some difficulties there which necessitated a move. They came from a wealthy family with a tremendous amount of social and economic capital. Both Carlos and Felipe were born in Medellín, but immigrated at different times. Their mother went back to Colombia to give birth to Felipe after living in the United States for a few years with Carlos and their father. The first few years of life in the United States were difficult, but with the help of an uncle, the boy s father managed to carve out a place in the Latino business community and eventually ran a successful furniture store there. Both men perceive their childhoods to be stable and their family situation to be supportive. Felipe makes it very clear in the interview that his parents learned lessons, or gained social capital in the Bourdieu s sense of the term, which facilitated greater educational success and ease in transition from the

6 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 6 home life to the school life, which the both indicate was a sharp break in cultural norms and means of relating with the world. Carlos first experiences with education were as a confused Spanish-speaking child in an English speaking environment. He relates a tale of being labeled as learning disabled because of his lack of English skills. This, unfortunately, is a common occurrence which no doubt carries long-lasting affects on self-esteem and educational identity. Their parents, again, exercised their social capital and removed Carlos from that school environment and placed him in what they perceived to be a more caring and attentive setting at a Catholic school in the area. There, Carlos felt out of place and was labeled as a low-achieving student and the teachers had low expectations for his academic achievement. While not explicitly stated, it is clear that Carlos had internalized the racist stereotypes of Latinos as not being able to succeed and participated in the school setting in a way that met the low expectations of the teachers. Ironically, Carlos is quite well spoken, clearly quite intelligent, and has subsequently been accepted at one of the elite institutions in the United States, the University of California at Berkeley. Felipe had a different educational experience than Carlos and did not feel the same jarring, despite attending the same schools. It is interesting to note that both siblings refer to the surrounding environment as a racist one, but that because they attended private schools, they were somewhat insulated from overt racism throughout the course of their schooling. They attributed the presence of a separate ESL after school program for immigrant Latino students as providing a culturally sensitive environment. Felipe and Carlos, like many Latino families, had strong connections to their country of origin, traveling back and forth between Colombia and the United States on a

7 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 7 regular basis. This contributed to both a strong sense of identity as Colombians, not Colombian Americans, and to a youth that was marked by navigating strong social and cultural differences in the two countries. In relation to Ogbu s framework, Carlos and Felipe are considered voluntary minorities. However, their feelings about the United States as a racist society are not completely in line with Ogbu s framework. In prior and subsequent discussions on race and class, both Carlos and Felipe have discussed how racism has been an obstacle to their success. They share the belief that it is difficult, regardless of the amount of hard work one puts in, but not impossible, for Latinos to achieve high levels of success in the United States. When asked directly if they believed that through hard work and education is it possible for everyone to succeed in the United States, the response is an unequivocal no. However, they do not possess the attitude of distrust of institutions that would be a marker of involuntary minorities. Isaac and Pedro David are much different in their view of opportunities in the United States. Isaac and Pedro David immigrated to the United States somewhat recently from Venezuela. They have a large network of family members that provided sources of social and economic support and made it possible for the two brothers to move from their native costal town of Puerto la Cruz. A marked difference from the experiences of Carlos and Felipe, is that both Isaac and Pedro David made decisions as adults to immigrate based on their perception of educational and economic opportunities available in the United States. They were also pushed away from Venezuela because of the difficult economic and political situation. Neither professes the intention to return to Venezuela to live; their sole intention to return would be to visit.

8 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 8 The Venezuelan brothers are from a wealthy family in their country of origin, not unlike Carlos and Felipe, and had the opportunity for advanced study in their areas of interest: Law and Engineering. Their father is not only a successful businessman, but a prominent lawyer in their native city. This affords them a certain degree of social capital that they can exercise in the context of the United States, not unlike the social capital that was exercised by Carlos and Felipe s mother when making educational decisions for her sons. In spite of their advanced educational degrees in their respective fields, both brothers have had to re-educate themselves in order to practice in their area of interest. After several years of work that was low-paying and, in most cases, unrelated to their educational and practical expertise, both brothers are finally working in their fields. When talking about their educational experiences, both spoke about technical differences in schooling, but did not focus on any cultural differences as being an issue or an obstacle in their success. Neither Isaac nor Pedro David believes that educational institutions are inherently racist nor attribute any difficulties to racism in the United States; they attribute their difficulties to lack of English language proficiency. This is unlike the experiences of Carlos and Felipe where they attributed some educational difficulties to differences in race in culture. Both Isaac and Pedro David believe that once they attain the appropriate levels of English proficiency and the degrees and certifications, that is education, necessary they will succeed. Isaac and Pedro David do discuss having some minor difficulties because of cultural differences, but they indicate that they have overcome those challenges with the help of family and friends, and sometimes through reading books. They do not have an

9 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 9 impression that these difficulties will persist once they gain the social education necessary to not commit those cultural errors. The Venezuelan brothers both attribute success in the United States to having the desire to succeed, putting in hard work, and gaining the educational experience necessary. Both have subscribed to the master narratives of if you work hard, you can pull yourself up by the bootstraps and that the United States is the land of opportunity. These beliefs are very much in line with the tenants of Ogbu s theoretical framework. Conclusion Ogbu s theory, in relation to the experiences of Carlos and Felipe, is overly simplistic in nature and cannot account for their experiences in education and feelings about what it takes to succeed in the United States. However, for recent immigrants, like Isaac and Pedro David, Ogbu s framework does an adequate job of explaining their belief system. As Trueba (1988) indicates, social and cultural attributes, may be better markers of success than participation in one category of minority or another. In the experiences of the four participants in this small case study, the presence of social and cultural capital was significant a contribution to their success in education and in the workplace, and can better explain their success than their caste status.

10 Immigration Stories from Colombia & Venezuela: A Challenge to Ogbu s Framework 10 Bourdieu, P. ( The Field of Cultural Production. Columbia University Press: New York. Loftus, E. (2003). Make Believe Memories. The American Psychologist, 58(11), Ogbu, J. (1992). Adaptation to minority status and impact on school success. Theory into Practice, 31(4), Ogbu, J. (1994). Racial stratification and education in the United States: Why inequality persists. Teachers College Record, 96(2), Trueba, H. (1988). Culturally based explanations of minority students academic achievement. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, 19,