Belonging to Puerto Rico and America : New York Puerto Rican Children's Developing Conceptualization of Their Own Cultural Group

This book is based on a study which investigates the developing conceptualization of twenty-four first, third, and fifth-grade New York Puerto Rican children of their own cultural group. Unique to the study is the notion that children are developing a conceptualization of a cultural group and that this conceptualization begins quiet early, within the first decade of life. While the study focuses on one group, it raises the probability that the immigrant children of other cultural groups are also developing a conceptualization of their group as they reconcile two primary, but different cultures. The study may stimulate similar studies with children of other cultural groups as they immigrate to a new country. The twenty-four children were individually asked to respond to interview questions aimed at eliciting their conceptualization of'Puerto Ricaness'. Given the young age of the children, oral questions were often supported with manipulatives including miniature dolls and photographs representing different cultural groups, marker and paper for drawing. The study focused on nineteen domains and their content which emerge as relevant organizers of children thinking about their cultural group: twelve domains relevant to Puerto Rican people, six domains relevant to the country of Puerto Rico, and one domain relevant to the dual life of Puerto Ricans as they live in the United sates while maintaining physical and/or psychological contact with Puerto Rico. Analysis of the data was organized around patterns in the children's responses related to frequency of reference to each of the nineteen domains (Global Conceptualization, Differentiated Conceptualization, Integrated Conceptualization, and Hierarchically Integrated Conceptualization), and emerging themes in the children's conceptualization. Belonging to Puerto Rico and America: Children's Developing Conceptualization of Their Own Cultural Group 3 Contents 7 Preface 9 An Introduction 13 Background 13 Children as Cultural and Ethnic Beings 19 Culture and Ethnicity 19 Conceptualizing Oneself 29 Conceptualizing Others 32 Focus of This Research 35 Children of Immigrant Families 37 Children of Immigrant Families Are a New Second Generation 37 Children as Conceptual Thinkers 47 Consciousness 47 Conceptual Development 48 Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 63 Asking Puerto Rican Children about Puerto Ricanness 65 Questions which Focused the Study 65 Pilot Study 1: Adult and Child Focus Groups to Identify Cultural Group Domains 66 Pilot Study 2: Individual Children's Interviews to Identify Methodologies 67 The Study: Individual Interview Methodologies 68 Country (Puerto Rico) 71 Patterns in the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 75 General Patterns in the Children's Conceptualization 76 Frequency of Referencing Incidents (FRIs) 77 Conceptual Level (CL) 77 Global Levels of Conceptualization 78 Differentiated Level of Conceptualization 78 Integrated Level of Conceptualization 78 Age-Related Patterns in the Children's Conceptualization 78 First Grade 80 Third Grade 80 Fifth Grade 81 Gender-Related Patterns in the Children's Conceptualization 81 The Development of Children's Overall Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 85 Conceptual Levels 86 Global Conceptualization 86 Differentiated Conceptualization 87 Integrated Conceptualization 91 Hierarchically Integrated Conceptualization 95 Emergent Themes in the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 108 Emergent Themes in the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 111 The Importance of Homeland in the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 113 The Children's Thinking About the Importance of Homeland 113 Theory and the Children's Thinking about the Importance of Homeland 124 Level I: Pre-Political 131 Level II: Quasi-Political 131 Level III: Political 131 The Importance of Family Ties in the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 135 The Children's Thinking about the Importance of Family Ties 135 Theory and the Children's Thinking about the Importance of Family Ties 139 The Importance of Physical Appearance in the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 145 The Children's Thinking about the Importance of Physical Appearance 145 Theory and the Children's Thinking about the Importance of Physical Appearance 150 The Importance of Language in the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 155 The Children's Thinking about the Importance of Language 155 Theory and the Children's Thinking about the Importance of Language 160 The Importance of the "Specialnes" of Puerto Rican People in the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 165 The Children's Thinking about the Importance of the Specialness of Puerto Rican People 165 Theory and the Children's Thinking about the Importance of the "Specialness" of Puerto Rican People 171 The Importance of Prejudice in the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 175 The Children's Thinking about the Importance of Prejudice 175 Theory and the Children's Thinking about the Importance of Prejudice 180 The Importance of Safety in the Children's Conceptualiztion of Puerto Ricanness 185 The Children's Thinking about the Importance of Safety 185 Theory and the Children's Thinking about the Importance of Safety 191 Thinking about the Children's Thinking and Thinking about Application 195 Cultural Group Domains in Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 196 The Development of the Children's Conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness 199 The Children as Conceptual Thinkers 200 Thinking about Application 222 A Word about a Word about Methodology 223 Appendices 227 Appendix A. 227 Appendix B. 228 Phase I 228 Phase II 232 Appendix C 233 Appendix D 234 Appendix E 234 Appendix F. Frequency of Referencing Incidents for Each Domain for Each Child 243 Appendix G. Conceptual Level for Each Domain for Each Child 249 Appendix H. 254 Appendix I. Selected Children's Profiles 255 References 269 Index 287 Children as cultural and ethnic beings Children of immigrant families Children as conceptual thinkers Childrens' conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness Asking Puerto Rican children about Puerto Ricanness Patterns in the children's conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness The development of the childrens' overall conceptualization of Puerto Ricanness The importance of homeland The importance of family ties The importance of physical appearance The importance of language The importance of the "specialness" of Puerto Rican people The importance of prejudice The importance of safety Thinking about the children's thinking and thinking about application. Based on a study which investigates the developing conceptualisation of 24 first, third, and fifth-grade New York Puerto Rican children of their own cultural group, this title provides the notion that children are developing a conceptualisation of a cultural group and that this conceptualisation begins quiet early, within the first decade of life.