%0 Journal Article
%T No Longer Sojourners: The Complexities of Racial Ethnic Identity, Gender, and Generational Outcomes for Sub-Saharan Africans in the USA
%A Natasha M. Rivers
%J International Journal of Population Research
%D 2012
%I Hindawi Publishing Corporation
%R 10.1155/2012/973745
%X Through individual and group testimonies from newly arrived, 1.5 and second generation sub-Saharan Africans (For this study sub-Saharan African refers to the countries located under Northern African countries, for example, Egypt and Morocco and, includes South Africa. There are over 50 countries represented by this region; however, the most populous groups from this region in Africa in the USA are Nigerian, Ethiopian, Kenyan, Liberian, Ghanaian, Cape Verdean, South African, and Somalian.), the diversity and complexity linked to their migration and integration experiences in the USA reveal that there is a gendered and generational element to their self identity. These elements are compounded by perceptions of being African American in a racialized society and deciding whether or not to stay connected to Africa, a continent that needs their financial, political, and social resources accumulated in the USA These ¡°new¡± African Americans expand the definition of blackness in the USA. Many have created a transnational relationship to Africa and the USA, which provides important implications for Africa¡¯s potential ¡°brain gain¡± as well as socioeconomic, infrastructural, and political development. 1. Introduction International migration flows from Africa to the United States have been steadily increasing since the 1980s, with noticeable gains after 1990 [1¨C3]. Terrazas [1] states ¡°The number of African immigrants in the United States grew 40-fold between 1960 and 2007, from 35,355 to 1.4 million. Most of this growth has taken place since 1990.¡± As newly arriving Africans add to the growing foreign-born and American-born African populations in the USA, it is important to note that, first, the moves and settlement are more permanent today than in previous decades, and second, there are important gender, racial, and generational outcomes that impact how these groups relate to both continents over time in particular ways. Research suggests one essential way is that migrants are sending financial capital back to African nations [4¨C6]. Another recent trend shows that transnational relationships develop for the older migrants, but that the more recent African descendents, 1.5 and second generation, prefer to stay in the USA This outcome is related to integration and assimilation experiences. Research conducted on newly arriving African immigrant groups and their adjustment and integration in the USA is both urgent and necessary. As the number of sub-Saharan Africans increases in the USA, and becomes semipermanent or permanent residents, there will be an increase in
%U http://www.hindawi.com/journals/ijpr/2012/973745/