Date of Graduation

Spring 5-18-2018

Document Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts in Migration Studies

College/School

College of Arts and Sciences

Department/Program

Migration Studies

First Advisor

Genevieve Leung

Abstract

In the field of migration studies, research on transnationalism has been well

established. Applying an intersectional framework of post-colonial narrative and

linguistic anthropology to transnational migration, this research allows us to better

understand how the transnational immigrant deploys language. Through a nostalgia

studies approach, this study is able to analyze how transnational immigrants place value

on their heritage and second languages, and reflexively deploy their language sets to

reflect their unique positionality. This paper is a case study examination of five adult

members of the 1.5-generation of Filipin(a/o) American immigrants, who immigrated to

the US before the age of eighteen and have academic, employment, or residential

affiliation with the Filipin(a/o) diaspora of Daly City, California. Through data analysis

of oral histories collected through in-depth sociolinguistic interviews, this study uses

these nostalgic perspectives to better understand how the relationship between language

and identity formation is affected by socio-spatial experiences. By examining the

intergenerational, post-colonial and transnational interplay of the narrators' language

ideologies, this study uses the archive to demonstrate the transformative power of

memory to project the immigrant experience. Therefore, this thesis asserts

translanguaging, or the cognizant, situational deployment of a multilingual repertoire,

reflects a transnational identity formation.

Download

Share

COinS