University of Texas graduate student Alisa Perkins, under the supervision of Dr. Kamran Ali, will undertake research on how immigrant students adapt to school systems, the educational pathways they and their families choose, and the educational outcomes of these decisions. Immigrant youth are now the fastest growing sector of the American child population. These post-1965 immigrant children are remarkably diverse in terms of race and ethnicity, linguistic background, and socioeconomic characteristics. Across the country, schools are being transformed by these new waves of immigration. These demographic changes are introducing novel ethnic, race and cultural configurations to schools and are generating new challenges to which districts must respond, with profound implications for American society.
Perkins will investigate these issues through a systematic ethnographic study of first and second generation Yemeni and Bangladeshi students in a Muslim majority charter school in Michigan. The researcher will examine the relationship between expressions and perceptions of Muslim identity within the school and such factors as concentration of Muslim students, racial diversity, class, gender, and school organization. She will conduct her research with a twelve-month period of participant observation and structured and semi-structured interviewing within the charter school, as well as within student homes and neighborhoods.
Studies that expand our knowledge of how new immigrants are interacting within the school system will enhance social science theories of the formation of racial, ethnic and religious identity in the context of contemporary immigration. Such studies also will help to create appropriate and effective policies for diverse schools and communities. This project also will contribute to the education of a social scientist.
