Date of Award

Fall 2022

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Sociology

Abstract

How does immigration affect perceptions of self? In this study, I explore the processes by which immigrants construct ethnoracial self-identities in sending societies, an individual’s country of origin, and receiving societies, an individual’s country of destination. For my exploration, I conduct eleven life history and cognitive interviews of immigrant women from Spanish-speaking countries located in Latin America. Mainly, I find that the women in my study construct ethnoracial self-identities throughout their lives informed by their socialization into myths of racial democracy present in both locations and contradicting interactions, which take place in local organizations such as families, schools, and workplaces. I also find that they contest ethnoracial self-identities during interactions with organizations such as the Census Bureau. Bridging transnational and organizational sociology, I argue that the women in my study construct ethnoracial self-identities in recursive relationships. These recursive relationships are comprised of institutions of race shaping individuals through interactions, which occur in organizations. Through interactions with organizations, individuals also shape institutions of race. By showing how immigration affects perceptions of self, this study improves our knowledge about how immigrants construct ethnoracial self-identities in the U.S., giving proper weight to how people give meaning to experiences of race in their countries of origin and destination.

Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 License.

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