Visiting Research Fellows 2008-09

Getnet Bitew, Ph.D. (Education)

Topic: An Investigation of the College Experience of Latino Students at Goshen College

Dr. Bitew is investigated the curricular and co-curricular experiences of Latino students at Goshen College using questionnaires, interviews, observation and document analysis. Informants included not only the students, but also teachers, parents, staff and non-Latino students. Dr. Bitew sought to contribute to policy and curriculum practices through a deeper understanding of the identity factors and exclusionary forces of students’ College experiences.

Some themes emerged from his interviews, including the need to form a College Support Group for High School Latino Students in the surrounding community. This group’s focus would be to provide orientation about college, availability of opportunities and so on to Latino and other students whose parents may have little experience of higher education.

 

Lynda Nyce, Ph.D. (Sociology)

Topic: Transnational Migration in the Goshen Context: Implications for Higher Education

Dr. Nyce’s project explored the realities of transnational migrations to and from Goshen. The project contributed to the work of the Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning by providing both an increased understanding of the community and identification of constraints on the pursuit of higher education among Latinos.

Interviews with members of the community documented the frequency of transnational migrations, the social networks that facilitate both the migrations and acquisition of employment and the narratives of meaning given to these moves.

The project situated understandings of transnational migrations and educational constraints in the context of debates surrounding the enforcement of federal immigration law and of global economic realities.

Three questions guided Dr. Nyce’s research:

1. What are the experiences of migration, immigration, and transnational connections of Latinos who are settling in the Goshen and Ligonier area;
2. What are the social networks among these Latinos that support daily life;
3. How does educational decision-making operate within the life of transnational immigrant families?

The Goshen area has been going through much strain as a result of economic decline. Latino immigrants are leaving or considering leaving the area; Latino immigrant families are living in precarious situations due to the overall economic downturn (e.g. three households combine into one in which 15 people are surviving on one source of income). The informal economy, particularly among undocumented immigrants, is active but not very lucrative.

Resident Faculty Research Fellows

Jerrell Ross Richer, Ph.D., Associate Professor of Economics

Topic: The Economics of Immigration in Elkhart County, Indiana

Economic forces have been prominent in the decisions made by thousands of workers to emigrate from Mexico to northern Indiana over the past decade. The opportunity to earn much higher wages motivated people from Hidalgo and other Mexican states to seek employment in Elkhart and surrounding counties. But during 2008-2009 the national economy experienced an economic slowdown, and the local unemployment rate increased as manufacturers laid off workers and suspended production.

The economic downturn reduced immigration and could even lead to out-migration of both documented and undocumented workers. The decreasing number of Latinos residing in Elkhart County could help ease the local unemployment problem in the short run, but out-migration could also hasten the economic slowdown as the immigrant community reduces its consumption of locally-produced goods and its contribution to the local, state and federal tax base.

The purpose of Dr. Richer’s research project was to investigate how economic forces affect immigration and how immigrants contribute to the local economy in the context of the economic downturn.

Elkhart County has one of the highest Mexican-born population concentrations in the entire United States east of the Mississippi River. 9.1 percent of Elkhart County’s population in 2007 was foreign-born. 12.3 percent of the population speaks Spanish at home, second only to Lake County, a heavily-Latino area southeast of Chicago.

With nearly 40 percent of its workforce dedicated to manufacturing, Elkhart County was hit hard by the economic downturn. The September 2008 unemployment rate for Elkhart County was 9.3 percent, a sharp increase from 4.6 percent in 2007.

 

Rafael Falcon, Ph.D., Professor of Spanish

Topic: Exploring Cultural Identity and Assimilation with CITL Students

What role should ethnic identity exploration play in supporting the educational experience of Latino students? Dr. Falcon explored cultural identity and assimilation issues among Center for Intercultural Teaching and Learning students through group discussions of the book Mi Gente: In Search of the Hispanic Soul and individual interviews.

Dr. Falcon addressed in discussions such as:

1. Historical and personal understandings of the terms “Hispanic” and “Latino.”
2. Personal cultural identity. Responses to “The Reflection of My Essence” included appreciation for traditional Hispanic values, a relaxed integration into U.S. non-Hispanic culture and a comfortable multicultural balance.
3. The short story “Going Home” directed students to reflect on the challenges and aspects of life they would enjoy in returning to the country of their Hispanic origin.

 

Kevin Gary, Ph.D., Assistant Professor of Education

Topic: Teacher Interiority and Multicultural Encounters

How can teachers create a space that is hospitable while at the same time challenging students toward a genuine and meaningful intercultural encounter? Drawing on the work of philosophers Martin Buber, Emmanuel Levinas and Simone Weil, as well as the writings of multicultural theorists Sonia Nieto and Geneva Gay, Dr. Gary explicated what the dynamics of a genuine and productive intercultural encounter look like and reflected on classroom practice: how teachers nurture, avoid or resist such encounters.

The National Council of Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) asks schools of education to assess the dispositions of pre-service teacher candidates. Teacher dispositions are “in the long run, more important than knowledge and skills” for they indicate “predictive patterns of action” (Borko, Liston, & Whitcomb, 2007). Dr. Gary’s overarching aim was to substantively identify teacher dispositions that contribute to student academic success and retention, with a particular focus on Latino students.