Intergenerational Transmission of Ethnic Identity, Integration and Transnational Ties

Abstract

This chapter’s focus is on the patterns and mechanisms of transmission between generations. The intergenerational transmission of ethnic identity, integration and transnational ties is analysed by examining the relevant processes rather than end-state ‘outcomes’. For example, the intergenerational transmission of transnational ties goes beyond what is already discussed in the literature—that is, whether transnational ties are only a first-generation phenomenon or persist in the second generation. Far from a ‘quantifiable’ process, intergenerational transmission appears here as complex and fragmented. Its features appear to be changing over time, involving redefinitions by both parents and children of concepts, values, practices and their importance. Intergenerational transmission appears as a two-way process, largely conditioned by parents’ capital and experiences of discrimination of both the first and the second generation. Means and strategies of transmission are focused on counteracting stigmatization and are characterized by a lack of focus on ethnic identity and culture of origin, in favour of endowing the second generation with universal values and life-long lessons.