[EDEQUITY Immigrant Dialogue]Breaking out of their "cultural

From: Joyce Harris (HarrisJ@nwrel.org)
Date: Thu Feb 08 2001 - 10:58:31 EST


cocoons"
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Greetings: First of all as your moderator I have been reading your comments
and thank
all of you for your thoughtful and thorough insights. I have had a family
emergency and had to fly to New York to be with a very ill mother.
Traveling
back and forth to the hospital has been hectic and to top it off I think
I'm
getting that flu bug...again. When I received the message of my mom's
illness I was in Miami attending a conference and left immediately just in
time to be caught in the snowstorm, I only had Miami (81degrees) clothing.

Many of the nurses and aides who are caring for my mother are from other
countries. Last night I talked with Agnes, who is from the Phillipines and
told her about this discussion and asked her what were some of the
challenges she faced. She said the biggest one was that people look at her
and automatically assume that she is not as qualified or as capable as her
white counteparts. She experiences interactions where individuals feel as
if they have to talk down to her in order for her to understand. In school
she often was made to feel the same way. I'm sharing this story to suggest
that one way that we can immediately identify and respond to the issues of
immigrant girls to provide opportunities for dialogue. Invite others from
the immigrant community to facillitate these dialogues. We need to listen
and let girls know that we care about their perceptions and concerns and
ask
them what they need from us.

In response to Emily's comments, I am interested in hearing from others as
to what their observations have been regarding immigrant girls who also
begin to break out of their "cultural cocoons" and also begin to adapt
"negative aspects of Americanization" to keep up with the boys. One of the
high schools I worked with had a high southeast Asian population, and it
seemed that many of the girls dressed, smoked and hung out with the boys
from their community. A counselor told me that some of the girls put on
make-up and changed their clothes when they arrived at school. She believed
that they did this becausetheir parents wouldn't approve. Finally Emily
speaks to the "feminist" in her "values the democratic ideals of speaking
one's mind". If I can refer you to Black Feminist Thought by Patricia
Collins she frames the discussion of "voice" that will give you some
insight
on the ways in which women of color use "voice." Thanks for sharing your
awareness that you need to reconsider that your expectations of how voice
is
used may vary depending on one's culture.

Joyce Harris
<HarrisJ@nwrel.org>



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