Dissertation Research: Ethnic Identity Switching Among Latinos in Two Queens, NY Communities

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As the nation's ethnic diversity continues to grow, the distribution of resources, ethnic conflict, and assimilation cannot be understood in terms of neatly packaged identities in competition. Advances in communication and transportation allow immigrants to maintain ties in both their country of origin and in the countries where they settle. The great concentration of people from diverse racial, ethnic and national backgrounds characteristic of urban centers like New York City promotes the formation of inter-ethnic group networks and inter-ethnic unions. An increasing number of people report being of mixed-racial or mixed-ethnic ancestry in population surveys like the census. Taken together, these factors suggest that more people can lay claim to multiple ethnic identities. This dissertation project by a cultural anthropologist will examine how Latinos in Queens, NY negotiate between multiple ethnic identities in everyday contexts. The research builds on the proposition that an increasing number of people regularly switch from ethnicity to ethnicity in normal discourse, in an attempt to maximize their economic and political interests. Close observations of participants' verbal interactions, interviews, discourse analysis, social network assessment questionnaires, and household surveys will be used to determine the contexts under with ethnic identity switching occurs and how switching is done. While ethnic identity has long been understood by anthropologists to be a contextual phenomenon, less is known about how the process of ethnic identity switching works. The broader significance of the project, in addition to contributing to the education of a doctoral student, includes its contribution to an understanding of how people choose among ethnic identities in day-to-day contexts. The research will specifically examine language use among Spanish-bilinguals as an ethnic identity marker. The findings will have practical applications for policy makers interested in refining current methods for collecting and categorizing data on ethnic identification; and educators interested in incorporating a bilingual approach in their classrooms.