Elisabeth Sudbey ’21: The Development of the Senegalese American Pluralist Identity
Hello! My name is Elisabeth Sudbey and I am a senior at Providence College where my major is Global Studies, with minors in French and Business and Innovation. I discovered my love for research, specifically ethnographic research which is a branch of anthropology and the systemic study of individual cultures, my sophomore year after taking a case studies course on Migration with Professor Natoschia Scruggs.
Since then, research has followed me while I was abroad for the year during 2019-20. While in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam, I conducted a remote research project titled, “Culinary Tourism as Competitive Advantage: The Importance of Preserving Street Food Culture in Ho Chi Minh City.” While in Dakar, Senegal I completed a research paper titled, “Native Language as the Ultimate Sacrifice in Educational Institutions: Understanding the Development of the Senegalese and French Pluralist Identity”, and this project was the inspiration for my summer research. This report presented how the Senegalese education system faces problems of language discontinuity. Through an internship position at the organization AKAF in Dakar, this project investigated the Western impact on the education system, specifically the correlation between language, identity and success in Senegal. I learned that language connects people through religion, music, writing and cultural values that cannot always be translated into another dialect. Therefore, I was inspired to investigate the barriers to language preservation in America and discover how it affects the cultural identity of the displaced.
By doing a bit of research for one class, I learned that immigrants in the United States are caught between two-worlds: their ancestral identity and their American identity. There are many challenges minorities face when attempting to enter the mainstream of American life. The ones most affected are the youth immigrant population who are becoming the product of experiences dominated by a cosmopolitan elite America. The ability to succeed in the U.S. is limited by obstacles sustained within a climate of white supremacy, capitalism, and patriarchy. There is an invisible struggle to adopt an American identity and assimilating is preferred to finding ways to co-exist between identities. Ethnographic research has classified differences in identity structures as related to education, culture, and social levels which has led to increasing conflicts between American-born diaspora and the newest immigrants due to preconceived prejudices. However, studies show that cultural recognition, self-affirmation, and shared cultural backgrounds make it easier for students and adults to connect by creating more positive and effective encounters. Blending cultures and recognizing the different narratives within our communities can ease the process of cross-cultural adaptation for second-generation immigrants.
The goal of my project was to research the development of the Senegalese American pluralist identity among Senegalese immigrants in two locations: Harlem, New York and Providence, Rhode Island. Both locations vary in the amount of activity among displaced Senegalese in terms of embodying the dynamism and diversity of Africa and its Diaspora. My research asked how does the diglossic Senegalese immigrant identity translate in the United States, a foreign country with a strong American culture and national language?
However, as with any research, everything is subject to change. For me, the COVID-19 pandemic forced me to adjust certain aspects of my research. Keeping with the same theme of language preservation, I have broadened the scope of my research. Therefore, the goal of my projected shifted and through the lens of preserving native language I explored the social dynamics of being bilingual and how it affects the strength of immigrant’s cultural identity in the United States.
This research explores the key role for language diversity in strengthening individual’s regional identity and sustaining cultural heritage. By conducting interviews with American citizens whose first language was not English, it was cause for deep reflection on how we interact with others. This project investigates the significance in sustaining linguistic diversity despite rapidly encroaching levels of globalization. It highlights the need for accessible resources for immigrants to prevent language and ultimately cultural extinction. The goal of my project is to understand the effect of multilingualism on immigrant’s sociocultural fabric in terms of cultural, societal, and economic impact. The research addresses the following topics within the United States: English, language diversity, language extinction, cultural and language oppression the purpose of language as communication, identity, and culture, and in society.
Over the course of 10 weeks, I was able to interview seven people who live in the United States whose first language was not English including people from Cambodia, Togo, and Puerto Rico across a wide range of ages. It was a cause for reflection for the interviewees as many revealed that they have not thought about their life or background in such a way before. Despite not being able to meet in person, I tried to make the interviewees as comfortable as possible. I made sure to give them the information and questions at least a week in advance. Then, upon their agreement to be interviewed, I offered a range of dates and times to accommodate their work schedules. Before the beginning of each interview, we caught up and made small talk about a variety of subjects such as their day, the summer, COVID-19, etc. They are all either friends or the parents and relatives of my friends. In this sense I was able to establish a relationship with them before the interviews. I think this benefited my research as they were willing to share information with a deeper sense of security and trust.
This report has taken the form of an oral history research project. Additional articles, films, and documents have been supplementary to the interviews themselves. This intentionally is to ensure native voices are heard as they are often absent from these conversations. The immigrant communities in the United States are often not talked about from the perspective of the oppressed and there is a noticeable lack of scholarly representation. It is important to note that this does not mean scholarly articles have not been written by immigrants, but rather they have not been published.
A special thank you to Professor Scruggs for encouraging me to apply for research, Dr. Alonso Garcia for her time, care, and mentorship, and the Providence College Undergraduate Summer Research Program Committee for seeing the great potential in this research.
