Adolescent Arrivals

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Unfamiliar with both the English language and the cultural norms of their new host country, immigrant teenagers in the United States face unique challenges as they adapt to the simultaneous physical and emotional changes associated with adolescence. These intersections impose specific constraints upon their agency but also provide them with a distinctive vantage point, setting their experiences apart from those of both younger and older immigrants. 

Drawing on two years of ethnographic data with adolescent arrivals, who began learning in educational settings during highly contested political times, Liliana V Rodriguez theorizes the overlapping dynamics of their experiences. Through their voices and narratives, Rodriguez shows how these youth create vibrant spaces of belonging through joy and humor as they craft their identities, find reasons to laugh, and build communities on their own terms. Adolescent Arrivals reveals that for immigrant teenagers, survival is not just passive adaptation but an active and creative process of world-making.

Liliana V Rodriguez is a sociologist and Assistant Professor of Chicanx/Latinx Studies in the Department of Ethnic Studies at the University of California, Berkeley. 

Contents

List of Illustrations
Acknowledgments

Introduction

Part One. The Beginning: Crossing More Than Borders
1. Traspasando Fronteras (Crossing Borders)
2. “¡Yo no soy de aquí!” (I am not from here!): Identity and Place

Part Two. Language and Racial/Ethnic Relations
3. “Te quieren hacer menos” (They want to make you feel inferior): Language as a Master Status in Educational Settings
4. “Los que son de aquí, de aquí, de aquí” (The ones that are from here, from here, from here): Inter- and Intragroup Relations

Part Three. Humor, Agency, and Belonging
5. Humor, Jokes, and Puro Relajo
6. Self-Created Havens: Belonging, Surviving, Existing

Conclusion: Moving Forward
Epilogue: Where Are They Now?

Notes
References
Index