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Negotiating Ethnic and Transnational Identities in the African Diaspora
Second-Generation Igbo Americans
Negotiating Ethnic and Transnational Identities in the African Diaspora
Second-Generation Igbo Americans
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Description
Examines how young adult second-generation Igbo Americans construct their ethnic and transnational identities in a multicultural society.
Drawing on interviews, cultural narratives, and thematic analysis, this book foregrounds the voices of SGI individuals as they navigate intergenerational tensions, cultural expectations, code-switching, gender roles, and identity formation. It explores identity clashes between Nigerian-born (Igbo) parents and their U.S.-raised children, revealing generational divergences and emergent commonalities.
Uchenna Onuzulike develops an Ethnic Communication Theory (ECT) to show how ethnic identity shapes communication styles within diasporic contexts. He unpacks theories of ethnicity, transnationalism, and emotional belonging and discusses the future of the Igbo language and cultural continuity.
This book contributes to anthropological understandings of African diasporic identity, cultural transmission, and the dynamic interplay between tradition and modernity in immigrant communities.
Table of Contents
Foreword by Ada Uzoamaka Azodo
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Transnational Mindset
1. Ethnic and Transnational Identity Negotiation: Lived Experiences of the Children of Immigrants
2. Identity Clashes between the Parents and Their Children
3. Schooling Experiences, Cultural Functions, and the Impact of the COVID-19
4. Heritage Language: Challenges, Pressures, and Shame for not Speaking Igbo
5. Ethnic Communication Theory and Group Dynamics of Pan-African, Pan-Igbo, Intra-Igbo, and Young Igbo
6. Negotiating Igboness: Social Media Impact and Cultural Sustenance
7. The Reception of Nollywood: Americanization, Quality, and Uncertainty of Igbo-Language Films
Conclusion: Overview, Suggestions, and Practical Considerations
Glossary
References
Index
About the Author
Product details
| Published | Aug 06 2026 |
|---|---|
| Format | Ebook (Epub & Mobi) |
| Edition | 1st |
| Pages | 176 |
| ISBN | 9781978764286 |
| Imprint | Bloomsbury Academic |
| Illustrations | 1 table |
| Publisher | Bloomsbury Publishing |
About the contributors
Reviews
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This brilliant exploratory investigation is a masterclass in migration literature. Probing into the 'life-worlds' of second-generation Igbo (SGI) Americans, Onuzulike captures the complex identity negotiations of one of Africa's most mobile ethnic groups. From the 'transnational mindset' to the cultural impact of Nollywood, this book capably threads personal interviews and focus groups into a sophisticated analysis of dual loyalties. It offers a vital, under-researched perspective on how upwardly mobile immigrants navigate belonging and acculturation. Essential for scholars of migration studies and related disciplines, this is a solid, 'insider-informed' contribution to understanding modern ethnic identity in America. A definitive scholarly achievement.
Chikezie E. Uzuegbunam, Senior Lecturer of Journalism and Media Studies, Rhodes University, South Africa
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If you want to understand why a ritual like Halloween can cause mixed reactions in an African immigrant household, this book is for you. Centering identity as a fluid developmental product of context, history, culture, philosophy and more, this book allows the reader to grapple with the multiplicity of views and interpretations of interactions between children and parents. It accounts for sustenance efforts of Igbo culture and disrupts a monolithic view, one might have about immigrants from Africa.
Dorothy Owino Rombo, Associate Professor of Human Development and Family Studies, State University of New York, Oneonta, USA
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In Negotiating Ethnic and Transnational Identities in the African Diaspora, Uchenna Onuzulike employs a hermeneutic phenomenological approach to analyze how second-generation Igbo immigrants in the United States articulate their ethnic and transnational identities. The reflective self-images of these young adults unearthed in this study, including their negotiation of cultural, ethnic, and transnational identities and associated cultural tensions, offer critical lessons in effective intergenerational communication. This is a significant original contribution to migration and intercultural communication studies.
Wanjala S. Nasong'o, Professor of International Studies, Rhodes College, USA
























