Abstract
D.Litt. et Phil. (Sociology)
This thesis has investigated the perceptions of identity and integration among Nigerian second-generation immigrants in Johannesburg, South Africa. The motivation for this work is derived from the unique position of immigrant children as children confronted by two cultures, and whose identity, place, belonging and rights in both societies – host and parent origin countries - are not well defined. The core finding is that the children of immigrants are agents who take an active part in navigating and negotiating their identity and integration in the host country. As agents, the second-generation immigrant children are able to navigate multiple and intersecting identities expressed in different forms such as personal, ethnic, national, global, and hyphenated identities. A stronger tendency towards a global or advanced country identity rather than a South African or Nigerian identity found among the children shows that the younger generation, including children of immigrants, are navigating towards global citizenship. The preference for an American or Canadian national identity reflects the quest for materialism that is associated with globalisation and free trade.
Identity and integration of second-generation immigrants are found to intermingle, as both are affected by the same factors. Both are affected by the child’s interaction with other actors in the family, school and the larger societal contexts. Each of these contexts is embedded with human, social, economic, psychological, cultural and educational capital which helps the second-generation children of immigrants to process, define, understand, and interpret his or her identities and integration in the multiple environments. In particular, the study finds that, identity and integration of second-generation immigrants are interrelated concepts that are affected by the similar factors such as the host country’s immigration or integration policies, attitudes of the host community members and the experiences of the parents or group members, as well as the child’s socialisation process, and exposure to family and migrant networks and media influences. This interrelationship is a major breakthrough of the study, as it has led to the development of “Intidentity Theory,” suggested as a single and comprehensive theory in the combined study of immigrant children’s identity and integration...