Event Title
Immigrant Youth’s Contributions to Families and Society as Language and Culture Brokers
Description
When we consider the relative costs and contributions of immigrants to U.S. society, the general assumption is that adults make contributions, while children are only a drain: they "take" from the educational and health systems without giving anything back. This is an assumption that bears reconsideration. In this talk I show how society benefits from the largely invisible work and unremunerated that the children of immigrants do as language and culture brokers. I argue that this is part of the labor cost equation that should be contemplated in this era of global economic restructuring. Using illustrations from ethnographic data in three immigrant communities over a decade, I show children at work in a variety of contexts and discuss how children experience their work.
About the Lecturer: Marjorie Faulstich Orellana. Professor and Director of Faculty for the Teacher Education Program, UCLA
Document Type
Event
Start Date
4-11-2009 12:00 PM
End Date
4-11-2009 1:15 PM
Location
Fairhaven College Auditorium
Resource Type
Moving image
Title of Series
World Issues Forum
Genre/Form
lectures
Contributing Repository
Fairhaven College of Interdisciplinary Studies
Subjects – Topical (LCSH)
Immigrant children--Education--United States; Translating and interpreting; Children of immigrants--Language
Type
Moving image
Keywords
Immigrant children, Culture brokers, Language brokers
Rights
This resource is displayed for educational purposes only and may be subject to U.S. and international copyright laws.
Language
English
Format
video/mp4
Immigrant Youth’s Contributions to Families and Society as Language and Culture Brokers
Fairhaven College Auditorium
When we consider the relative costs and contributions of immigrants to U.S. society, the general assumption is that adults make contributions, while children are only a drain: they "take" from the educational and health systems without giving anything back. This is an assumption that bears reconsideration. In this talk I show how society benefits from the largely invisible work and unremunerated that the children of immigrants do as language and culture brokers. I argue that this is part of the labor cost equation that should be contemplated in this era of global economic restructuring. Using illustrations from ethnographic data in three immigrant communities over a decade, I show children at work in a variety of contexts and discuss how children experience their work.
About the Lecturer: Marjorie Faulstich Orellana. Professor and Director of Faculty for the Teacher Education Program, UCLA
