The Construction, Negotiation, and Representation of Immigrant Student Identities in South African Schools

A volume in Education Policy in Practice: Critical Cultural StudiesSeries Editors Edmund T. Hamann, University of Nebraska-Lincolnand Rodney Hopson, George Mason UniversityThis is a ground-breaking research study on Black immigrant identities inSouth African schools. It is the first major book on racial integration andimmigrant children in South African schools. The overall aim of this study isto investigate how immigrant students negotiate and mediate their identitywithin the South African schooling context.This study set out to explain this complex phenomenon, guided by the following research objectives: One, todescribe how immigrant student identities are framed, challenged, asserted and negotiated within the institutionalcultures of schools. Two, to evaluate the extent to which the ethos of these schools has been transformed towardsintegration in the truest sense and to determine how immigrant students perceive this in practice? Three, toexplore the 'transnational social fields' in terms of social networks and cross-border linkages of immigrant studentsand how this impacts on their identity formation. Four, to determine if there are any new forms of immigrantstudent self-identities that are beginning to emerge? Five, to determine the extent to which racialdesegregation has been accompanied by social integration between immigrant and local students. Six, to determinethe impact of the South African social/schooling context on immigrant student identity formation. Andseven, to identify critical lessons and 'good practice' that could be learnt andused to accelerate the racial desegregation and social integration of immigrantstudents in South African schools.