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== Working Titles ==
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== Title ==
* Crossing Many Worlds: New Media Practices, Identities, and Assimilation Trajectories of Latino/Hispanic Immigrant Youth in the U.S.
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* Navigating Many Worlds: New Media Practices, Identities, and Sociocultural Trajectories of Latino/Hispanic Immigrant Youth Growing-up in the U.S.  
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* Networked and Disconnected: Latino/Hispanic Immigrant Youths, Digital Media, and Assimilation into the U.S.
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== Author ==
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Andres A. Lombana Bermudez
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== Committee ==
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S. Craig Watkins (Chair), Mary Celeste Kearney, Kathleen Tyner, Joe Straubhaar, and Henry Jenkins.
  
 
== Abstract ==
 
== Abstract ==
  
In my dissertation project I try to understand how Latino/Hispanic immigrant youth (a sub-sample from the Digital Edge study) growing up in the U.S. actively navigate the process of incorporation into a new society in the early 21st Century.  What kind of identities are they constructing? How are they leveraging new media tools and networks? and How are they learning to move across different sociocultural worlds? Through a series of case studies of five immigrant youths with Mexican origins (2 girls and 3 boys, ages 14-19), living in the Austin metropolitan area, working class socioeconomic background, and different generational status (1.5 and second-generation), I examine the relationships between new media practices, identity construction, and the process of assimilation to the U.S. I use a transdisciplinary framework in order to understand these relationships. Drawing on sociocultural theory of identity (Holland et al. 1998; Alzaldua 1999; McCarthey & Moje 2002); media and cultural theories of new media practice and participation (Jenkins 2006a, 2006b; Ito et. Al. 2010; Couldry 2012; Carpentier 2010; Livingstone 2002; Varnelis 2008); theories of digital inequality (Warschauer 2002; DiMaggio et al. 2004; Selwyn 2004; van Dijk 2005; Chen and Wellman 2005; Hargittai 2008; Stern et al. 2009; Schradie 2011; Watkins 2012); and sociological theory of segmented assimilation (Portes & Zhou 1993; Rumbaut 1996; Portes & Rumbaut 2001; Portes et. Al. 2005), I analyze how immigrant youth construct multiple identities as they engage in mediated activities across three different contexts: home, an after-school program, and the Internet. Through the diverse new media practices immigrant youth have within these contexts they create fluid identities, participate in different sociocultural worlds, and learn to navigate the cultural norms and expectations of specific spaces.
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This study examines how a group of second- and 1.5-generation Latino/Hispanic immigrant youths navigate the uneven process of assimilation into the United States by using digital tools and networks. Understanding Latino/Hispanic immigrant youth as social actors and creative agents, I investigate how their new media practices and skills help them assimilate into multiple dimensions of the host country. For this purpose, I use a transdisciplinary framework that combines sociocultural theories of media practice, critical theories of digital inequality, and sociological theories of assimilation. Through a series of case studies of five immigrant youths with Mexican origins (two girls and three boys, ages 14-18) and working class socioeconomic backgrounds, I analyze the mediated activities they have developed in the contexts of their homes, an after-school program, and social media networked spaces.  
  
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I draw on qualitative data that I helped collect as a member of the Digital Edge project during a longitudinal ethnography (2011-2012) conducted at Freeway High School, a large, ethnically diverse, low-performing, and economically disadvantaged public school in the Austin Metropolitan Area. By revealing the local conditions and structural forces that shape how these Latino/Hispanic immigrant youths use technology in their everyday life, my analysis provides: new insights into digital divides and participation gaps; a grounded understanding of the role of new media practices and skills in the process of assimilation; and a nuanced description of the diverse media environments accessed by minority youth.
  
== Table of Contents ==
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My findings suggest that Latino/Hispanic immigrant youth use digital media technology to assimilate into cultural, linguistic, and social dimensions of U.S. society. Particularly, as the five youths developed new media practices and gained new media skills, their process of adaptation to the culture and language of the host country accelerated. However, although they obtained skills that helped them to advance in their process of assimilation, their abilities were not developed to high levels of expertise and their participation in new media cultures often remained peripheral. Evidence reveals that digital inequalities and participation gaps persist and continue to evolve in complex ways.
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== Index ==
 
* [[Introduction]]
 
* [[Introduction]]
* [[The Site]]
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* [[Chapter I. Methods]]
* [[Participants]]
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* [[Chapter I. Theory]]
* [[Methods and Data]]
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* [[Chapter II. Family/Home]]
* [[Literature Review]]
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* [[Chapter III. After-school]]
* [[Home Chapter]]
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* [[Chapter IV. Social Media Networked Spaces]]
* [[After School Chapter]]
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* [[Chapter V. Moving Forward]]
* [[Internet Chapter]]
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* [[Conclusion]]
 
* [[Conclusion]]
 
* [[Appendix]]
 
* [[Appendix]]
  
== Core Themes ==
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== Published Version ==
 
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The theoretical framework that constitutes this project is composed of 7 major concepts:
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* [[Participation]]
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* [[Networked and Convergence Culture]]
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* [[Social, Cultural and Economic Capitals]]
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* [[Latino/Hispanic label]]
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* [[New Literacies]]
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* [[Digital Inequalities]]
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* [[Youth]]
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* [[Creativity]]
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* [[Media Practices and literacies]]
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* [[Digital Divide]]
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* [[Identity]]
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* [[Segmented Assimilation]]
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* [[After school programs]]
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* [[Home and family]]
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* [[Internet]]
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== Prospectus ==
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* [[The Final Proposal]] (defended)
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* Working [[Table of Contents]]
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* Earlier and messy versions of the [[proposal process]].
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* [[Hypothesis]]
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== Journal ==
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* Everyday writing [[thesis log]]
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* [[Academic Journals]] to publish the chapters.
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* [[Schedule]]
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== Getting started ==
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The published dissertation can be downloaded in PDF format from The University of Texas Library repository by going to this [https://repositories.lib.utexas.edu/handle/2152/31666 link].
* [[other projects]]
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* [//www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:Configuration_settings Configuration settings list]
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* [//www.mediawiki.org/wiki/Manual:FAQ MediaWiki FAQ]
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* [https://lists.wikimedia.org/mailman/listinfo/mediawiki-announce MediaWiki release mailing list]
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Latest revision as of 11:15, 7 February 2016

Title

  • Networked and Disconnected: Latino/Hispanic Immigrant Youths, Digital Media, and Assimilation into the U.S.

Author

Andres A. Lombana Bermudez

Committee

S. Craig Watkins (Chair), Mary Celeste Kearney, Kathleen Tyner, Joe Straubhaar, and Henry Jenkins.

Abstract

This study examines how a group of second- and 1.5-generation Latino/Hispanic immigrant youths navigate the uneven process of assimilation into the United States by using digital tools and networks. Understanding Latino/Hispanic immigrant youth as social actors and creative agents, I investigate how their new media practices and skills help them assimilate into multiple dimensions of the host country. For this purpose, I use a transdisciplinary framework that combines sociocultural theories of media practice, critical theories of digital inequality, and sociological theories of assimilation. Through a series of case studies of five immigrant youths with Mexican origins (two girls and three boys, ages 14-18) and working class socioeconomic backgrounds, I analyze the mediated activities they have developed in the contexts of their homes, an after-school program, and social media networked spaces.

I draw on qualitative data that I helped collect as a member of the Digital Edge project during a longitudinal ethnography (2011-2012) conducted at Freeway High School, a large, ethnically diverse, low-performing, and economically disadvantaged public school in the Austin Metropolitan Area. By revealing the local conditions and structural forces that shape how these Latino/Hispanic immigrant youths use technology in their everyday life, my analysis provides: new insights into digital divides and participation gaps; a grounded understanding of the role of new media practices and skills in the process of assimilation; and a nuanced description of the diverse media environments accessed by minority youth.

My findings suggest that Latino/Hispanic immigrant youth use digital media technology to assimilate into cultural, linguistic, and social dimensions of U.S. society. Particularly, as the five youths developed new media practices and gained new media skills, their process of adaptation to the culture and language of the host country accelerated. However, although they obtained skills that helped them to advance in their process of assimilation, their abilities were not developed to high levels of expertise and their participation in new media cultures often remained peripheral. Evidence reveals that digital inequalities and participation gaps persist and continue to evolve in complex ways.

Index

Published Version

The published dissertation can be downloaded in PDF format from The University of Texas Library repository by going to this link.