Immigrant generations

Immigrant generations are terms used to classify an immigrant's relationship to the country in which he or she is relocated. An immigrant is a person who moves to a new country, usually with the intention of remaining there. A generation is a collection of people born at the same time or, in this case, into the same circumstances. Immigrant generations are defined by whether the person was born in their new country or moved here, and how many generations have passed since the first immigrant in the family arrived in the new country. These generations are generally defined as first generation, second generation, and third or more generation. In more recent years, attention has been given to generation 1.5 and several variations because the experiences of these immigrants, who travelled to the new country as young children, offer differ from those of other generations.

Background

While immigration is a topic that garners a lot of attention in the twenty-first century, it is not a new topic. Immigration has happened around the world for as long as countries have been defined and people have been able to travel. The United States has experienced multiple waves of immigration from other countries, beginning with the country's founding by European immigrants.

The nineteenth century saw many Asian immigrants, particularly people from China, immigrate to the Western United States during the Gold Rush. In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, many Europeans from Ireland, Italy, Poland, Germany, and other countries journeyed to the United States in search of better opportunities. Others, including many European Jews, migrated to avoid persecution. In the mid- to late-1940s, many immigrants fled World War II-ravaged Europe for the United States; a similar but smaller influx of immigrants from Vietnam occurred in the 1970s.

The latter decades of the twentieth century and early part of the twenty-first century have seen in increase in the number of immigrants from Mexico and Central America as well as countries experiencing war or other hardships, such as some Middle Eastern and African countries. Some of these people are considered refugees as opposed to immigrants. Immigrants are people who intentionally set out to relocate to a specific new country. Refugees are generally not moving by their own choice but rather to escape some specific circumstance, often one that is life-threatening, such as religious persecution or civil war.

Overview

An individual who moves to a new country is classified as a first-generation immigrant. This means that this person and their contemporaries who move with them—including siblings, spouses, and cousins—are the first generation of the family to live in the new country. Children born in the new country to a family in which at least one parent is foreign-born is considered to be a second-generation immigrant. The children of these children born in the new land are considered third-generation immigrants, while subsequent generations are classified as fourth-generation, etc.

In Asian cultures, these generations are often defined slightly differently. They consider the new immigrant to be generation zero, the children born in the new country to be generation one, the grandchildren of the immigrants to be generation two, and so on. This is simply a cultural difference in how people of Asian descent choose to number the generations.

Each generation has a specific and different experience related to both the former and the new country. First generation immigrants can sometimes feel torn between their former home and their new country. Life is full of changes, which may even include a change in the person's status and prestige. For example, an immigrant who was a doctor in the country of origin may find that the credentials earned there are not recognized in the new country, and will be forced to find other employment or gain additional education. First generation immigrants often maintain a significant interest in the culture, language, customs, and events of their former homelands. They also have to decide how much to acclimate to the new country and whether to seek citizenship.

Second generation immigrants are a step closer to the new country. They often grow up speaking the language of the new country if it is different from their parents' language; they may not retain the ability to speak the language of the parents' country of origin. They are educated in the culture and social norms of the new country; this can make them more anxious to fit in and may cause conflicts with parents if children reject the customs, language, and behaviors of the former country.

Third generation immigrants feel less of the stress felt by their parents. They are more firmly assimilated into the new culture and have little contact with the culture of their grandparents' country beyond what they might experience through family members or holiday traditions. However, they may feel an attachment to the country of their ancestry and enjoy certain aspects of it in a nostalgic way.

In recent years, a special category has been established for children born in another country who moved to the United States as young children or adolescents. They are sometimes referred to as generation 1.5. This is because their circumstances are different from those of both first and second generation immigrants. They may have memories of their homeland but they grow up in the new country; because of school and friends in their new country, these children often assimilate far more quickly than adult first-generation immigrants. Koreans call this generation ilchom ose, a term that is sometimes used by immigrants from other countries to refer to the one-and-a-half generation.

Several subdivisions of this generation 1.5 are recognized by some with an interest in immigrant issues. Children brought to a new country before the age of five are sometimes referred to as generation 1.75 because their experience is much closer to a true second-generation immigrant. Their memory of their homeland is very scant and they very easily assimilate into the new culture. On the other hand, those who immigrate as teens are sometimes considered to be generation 1.25 because their experience is much closer to that of a first-generation adult; they have many memories of life in the previous country and will have some of the same cultural adjustments. However, their young age and schooling will often make it easier for them to adjust to the new country than a typical first-generation adult.

Bibliography

"Immigrant Generation." University of Washington, depts.washington.edu/uwbhs/pdf/Immigrant%20Generation.pdf. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.

"Immigration." University of Wisconsin-Madison, www.ssc.wisc.edu/~oliver/wp/wp-content/uploads/2015/06/ImmigrationSlides.pdf. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.

Lu, Chin. "The Not-Quite-American Feeling of Being a 1.5 Generation Immigrant." Vice, 13 Apr. 2016, www.vice.com/en‗us/article/the-not-quite-american-feeling-of-being-a-15-generation-immigrant. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.

Rojas, Leslie Berestein. "Gen 1.5: Where an Immigrant Generation Fits In." Southern California Public Radio, 21 Mar. 2012, www.scpr.org/blogs/multiamerican/2012/03/21/7963/what-is-a-1-5-where-an-immigrant-generation-fits-i/. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.

"Second-Generation Americans." Pew Research Center, www.pewsocialtrends.org/2013/02/07/second-generation-americans/. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.

Shenoy, Rupa. "First Generation? Second? For Immigrants and Their Children, a Question with Meaning." Public Radio International, 6 Jan. 2016, www.pri.org/stories/2016-01-06/first-generation-second-immigrants-and-their-children-question-meaning. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.

"Struggling with Cultural Identity in the 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 Immigrant Generations." Georgetown University, apps.cndls.georgetown.edu/projects/borders/exhibits/show/cultural-identity-immigrants/defining-immigrant-generations/defining-immigrant-generations. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.

"US Immigration Before 1965." History Channel, www.history.com/topics/u-s-immigration-before-1965. Accessed 22 Apr. 2017.