Ethnicity's Shadows: Race, Religion, and Nationality as Alternative Identities among Recent United States Arrivals

In recent decades, ethnicity has received increasing academic attention—and popular acceptance—as a core aspect of identity and one that is particularly relevant to immigrants. But is this notion of ethnicity salient to the immigrants themselves? This article provides a set of quantitative snapshots of the way new arrivals to the United States identify themselves and their children. The data—a set of annual surveys of recent refugee arrivals—suggest that in response to specific questions about “ethnicity,” newcomers often provide what from American perspectives are not “ethnic” responses. In particular, race and religion are frequently offered as ethnic identity. Furthermore, nationality can also override ethnicity. Parents, for example, sometimes categorize recent United States-born children as ethnically “American” even though the rest of the family retains its previous non-United States identity. Such identity choices reveal much about the starting point of migrant adjustment. They are also invaluable for the broader analysis of the logic, history, contingencies, and internal tensions of United States—and Euro-American—notions of ethnicity.