Immigrant Child Final; Jordan Turner & Isabella Maxey

Proposal

We propose that immigrant families are at greater risk of having a presence of depression within their family. The prevalence of depression within families is fueled by other behaviors that are byproducts of experiences faced as an immigrant in America. As a result, these behaviors affect their relationships with others. Nigeria is more of a tribalistic country compared to the individualistic society, and there are multiple instances of this within the Chimamanda Adichie’s novel, Americanah.

Ifemelu was depressed within her first year of immigration (Adichie Chapter 15). She goes from Nigeria where everyone essentially works together in their daily lives, to America, where everyone follows a “on their own” mindset. This is an example of the beliefs of tribalistic countries versus those of individualistic countries. Other ways depression had manifested into Ifemelu’s first year was the observation that race did not exist to her until she came to America. She describes upon returning to Nigeria that her race disappeared when she stepped off of the plane.

Ifemelu also experienced the struggles in paying for rent, felt homesick as she suffered from lack of social life/activity. Adichie writes, “Between her and what she should feel, there was a gap. She cared about nothing. She wanted to care, but she no longer knew how; it had slipped from her memory, the ability to care. Sometimes she woke up flailing and helpless, and she saw, in front of her and behind her and all around her, an utter hopelessness. She knew there was no point in being here, in being alive, but she had no energy to think concretely of how she could kill herself” (Adichie 192).

Another character who was directly affected by depression was Dike, who attempted suicide in chapter 43. Ifemelu refused to believe in the possibility that he was depressed as she said, “He looked no different from before; there were no shadows under his eyes, no funereal air about him” (Adichie 469). Dike’s depression was also fueled by his identity crisis in which he felt stressed between not knowing his father/having a positive father figure, and not understanding why he is different and treated differently by others.

Aunty Uju is another character who deals with behaviors linked to depression such as anxiety. Ifemelu notes that upon seeing her aunt in America, she had changed and become more stressed than she was before. This affects her relationships with Ifemelu and Dike as well as her relationships with her significant others.

In 2017, a study was conducted in order to whether there is a relationship between source-country individualism and depression among different immigrant groups, with results stating, “Immigrants who migrate from countries with low levels of individualism to a highly individualistic nation were found to be particularly vulnerable during their initial years after migration, highlighting the role that cultural shock may play” (Frank and Feng). The results essentially mean that those who come from a country with strong beliefs of individualism like Germany or South Africa, aren’t as depressed as those that come from a country with collectivists beliefs like Guatemala and Indonesia.

We decided our platform will follow a podcast and discuss Isabella’s family’s experience as immigrants. We chose this medium in particular because it addresses a real issue with a real story. We felt that an experience with depression and immigration would be difficult to script without a realistic perspective. We chose to do a podcast because it would answer questions directly and allow a conversational tone to relay the very real experience.

Script

Jordan: Hello everyone, welcome again to another episode of Immigrant Child! Today we have Isabella Maxey, a student at Stevenson University, with us today to talk about her family’s experience as immigrants in America. Throughout the podcast we’ll be answering the questions you all have as my faithful listeners! Isabella how’re you doing today? 

Isabella: I’m good, excited to be here!

Jordan: That sounds great! Now to kick things off, I’d like to start with the question of what are some common misconceptions that Americans seem to have about immigrants?

Isabella: So a lot of Americans tend to think that immigrants are uneducated. And that stems from the idea that most immigrants cannot speak English, when in reality many actually do, they just speak with accents or occasionally speak broken English because it is their second language. But because immigrants speak with accents or lower-level English, people assume that they also have lower-level education, and they attribute that to where they are from. Then the misconception develops into, “Oh, people from *that country* are not smart.” When if anything immigrants are smarter because they know at least two languages.

Jordan: You know the funny thing about the English language is that our language is one of the hardest to learn in the world! Now Isabella, we have a question from kwolfsheimer. “What is the hardest thing you deal with on a daily basis as an immigrant child in America?”

Isabella: So because I was born to immigrant parents, I have had two types of upbringing. It is confusing, because the traditional, Filipino values and culture that I grew up with do not always translate well into an American environment. The hardest thing I deal with is probably remembering that I am not what people think of as “American.” I was born here, I speak the language, I was raised here, but for some reason I am not “American” enough to be seen as such, because my parents were born elsewhere and because I look different. A book that describes this experience perfectly is Chimimanda Adichie’s novel Americanah, where the main character describes not knowing race until she came to America, and having the idea of ‘race’ disappear when she returns to her homeland. (Adichie, 2013)

Jordan: In 2017, a study was conducted in order to indicate whether there is a relationship between source-country individualism and depression among different immigrant groups, with results stating, “Immigrants who migrate from countries with low levels of individualism to a highly individualistic nation were found to be particularly vulnerable during their initial years after migration, highlighting the role that cultural shock may play” (Frank and Feng). This essentially means that those who come from a country with strong beliefs of individualism like Germany or South Africa, aren’t as depressed as those that come from a country with collectivists beliefs like Guatemala and Indonesia. Considering how long has your family lived in America, did this have a factor in why your parents decided to come to America? How long have they lived here?

Isabella: Since 1995, so about 24 years. They were petitioned over by my aunt who was a nurse, and America at the time was experiencing an incredible shortage of nurses, thus there was an influx of Filipino nurses coming into America. My parents said that as much as they miss Philippines, there is a secured freedom here that we don’t have back home; Philippines is still a developing country and things can change in an instant in terms of government, and many dangerous things go overlooked. In America, freedom is absolute to a certain degree, and if it is threatened there are people to fight for it. Things don’t go overlooked here, everyone seems to have a problem with everything but it contributes to us being safer, according to my parents.

Jordan: It’s wonderful that your parents knew they made the right decision for themselves. Did your family feel welcomed when you first arrived?

Isabella: My parents came over here to be nurses and I would say that they did feel welcomed, I can’t speak for all of their experiences but overall they felt welcomed enough to help petition other Filipinos to come over as nurses.

Jordan: Earlier you mentioned the book, Americanah, and it’s story of the character’s, Ifemelu, experience as an immigrant from Nigeria. When your parents first arrived, what problems or challenges did they face? Do you feel that Americanah, portrayed the journey of an immigrant in the right light, or was there something missing?

Isabella: When they first arrived, there were a lot of issues with finding places to live. They were still dating at the time, and traditionally Filipinos don’t cohabitate until marriage, so my mom stayed with my sister and my dad had to find another place to live. Also, jobs became very wishy-washy after 9/11, and everyone with an accent was questioned during job interviews. Luckily my parents were able to secure nursing jobs despite having to move to Maryland. My dad also got into the wrong crowd for a while, and fell into a lot of problems that caused a lot of financial and personal strain on my family that probably wouldn’t have happened had he been more experienced with the culture of America.

Jordan: Cross-cultural psychologists study how different cultural factors influence individual behavior, often focusing on things that are universal among different cultures of the world. One phenomenon that cross-cultural psychologists have observed is how people from individualist cultures describe themselves compared to how those from collectivist cultures (Cherry). Can you describe your experiences having both the Philippine and American culture as part of your life? Is there any distinction or connection between the individualistic culture you’ve found here in america compared to the Collectivist culture found in the Philippines?

Isabella: Being a Filipino-American is a confusing state, mostly because it feels as though there isn’t one party you belong to. Like I said, I speak English, I was raised in America, I know American culture, but I’m not seen as American. I also know Filipino culture, speak Tagalog (the Filipino language), and look Filipino, but in Philippines I am not Filipino either. You would think that being raised with two cultures would mean you belong to both, but there’s a cognitive dissonance in the sense that you actually belong to neither. You have to learn to navigate through both cultures, what is appropriate to say or do when, and what is important derives from what both cultures value. I am not a watered-down version of either culture, I am a product of their amalgam.

Jordan: The experiences your family had as immigrants and your experiences as a first generation immigrant child are very eye opening! We have time for one more question, Do you feel welcomed in America?

Isabella: It depends on which America we are talking about. The racist, confederate flag-toting Trump side of America that has shut down borders and thrown children into detention centers; or the America that provides refuge for immigrants and asylum-seekers and opportunities to speak one’s mind. So basically, it’s whether or not I am welcomed to America as it is now, or as it should be. I think it doesn’t matter whether or not I am welcomed, because I am already here. And while there are times that I don’t feel safe or welcomed by certain people, they are outnumbered by the times that I do. And that’s a product of where I am in this country and being raised middle-class, not everyone has this experience.

Jordan: Leaving the viewers with your perspective of America, I love it! Thank you very much for coming to talk with us about your experiences here! That is all the time we have, but would you like to say anything for our listeners before we sign off?

Isabella: There’s a reason immigrants are coming here; by boatloads, climbing fences, crossing borders. Just last year, there were over 319 thousand asylum-seekers pending asylum according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Division. There is something about America that tells these people they have more hope here than where they were born. Be that America, not the one that other Americans want you to be.

Jordan: Well you heard here first! Thank you again to our wonderful guest, Isabella! My name is Jordan Turner, and this stay tuned for another episode of Immigrant Child!

Bibliography

  1. Frank, Kristyn, and Feng Hou. “Source-Country Individualism, Cultural Shock, and Depression among Immigrants.” International Journal of Public Health, Mar. 2019. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1007/s00038-019-01218-z. (From school library database)
    1. This source evaluates the topic of individualism and how beliefs affect an immigrants mindset in order to determine whether or not is a relationship between source-country individualism and depression among different immigrant groups. In 2017, a study was conducted in order to whether there is a relationship between source-country individualism and depression among different immigrant groups, with results stating, “Immigrants who migrate from countries with low levels of individualism to a highly individualistic nation were found to be particularly vulnerable during their initial years after migration, highlighting the role that cultural shock may play” (Frank and Feng). The results essentially mean that those who come from a country with strong beliefs of individualism like Germany or South Africa, aren’t as depressed as those that come from a country with collectivists beliefs like Guatemala and Indonesia; “Overall, the prevalence of depression increased with years after immigration” (Frank and Feng). however, this was not the case for immigrants from countries with very low levels of individualism.. This effect was relatively large, indicating that the results varied greatly between different immigrant groups. The conclusion states that a high level of source-country individualism tends to increase the prevalence of depression among immigrants. There is also signs of a cultural shock effect, the prevalence of depression was stronger in those who migrated from countries with low levels of individualism. This source allows us to look further in how immigration affects a person’s mindset, and how someone’s place of origin can affect their mindset and emotions when they migrate/travel to a country with opposing beliefs.
  2. Thibeault, M.Alexander, et al. “Ethnic Identity in Context of Ethnic Discrimination: When Does Gender and Other-Group Orientation Increase Risk for Depressive Symptoms for Immigrant-Origin Young Adults?” Cultural Diversity and Ethnic Minority Psychology, vol. 24, no. 2, Apr. 2018, pp. 196–208. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/cdp0000174. (From school library database)
    1. This source tackles the effects of ethnic discrimination and its impact on identities; Ethnic discrimination increases risk for depressive symptoms. Sociocultural identity development is especially relevant during emerging adulthood. Studies examining impacts of ethnic identity have yielded mixed results; While the current study examines conditions under which one aspect of ethnic identity, affirmation/belonging, moderates the impact of perceived ethnic discrimination stress on depressive symptoms. This expected to vary by other-group orientation and gender, in accordance with rejection sensitivity theory. The method for this study was made of a multicultural sample of 290 non-White immigrant-origin emerging adults from mixed cultural backgrounds and generational statuses attending a college in the Southeastern United States, who went on to complete electronic self-report questionnaires. The study resulted that more robust support was provided for social identity theory rather than rejection sensitivity theory. Some results indicated a protective effect for those endorsing stronger affirmation/belonging paired with greater other-group orientation. Additionally, women with weaker affirmation/belonging demonstrated greater increased depressive symptoms compared to men with weaker affirmation/belonging. The conclusion for this sample deduced that social identity theory was relevant to the impact of affirmation/belonging on the relation between ethnic discrimination and depressive symptoms contingent on other-group orientation and gender. This finding underscores the importance of examining ethnic identity in a nuanced manner. Implications for these results  also extended to college counseling centers, where inclusion of sociocultural identity in case conceptualization would be useful.
  3. Perng, Julie. “Depression and Its Links to Conflict and Welfare in Nigeria.” Nasikiliza, 4 Feb. 2018, blogs.worldbank.org/nasikiliza/depression-and-its-links-to-conflict-and-welfare-in-nigeria. (Media Source)
    1. This source focuses on welfare and how it affects depression within Nigeria, where Ifemelu is from in Americanah. Studies, according to the most recent results of the Nigerian General Household Survey (GHS) Panel, show that Chronic depression affects about 20 percent of Nigerian heads of households. Poor mental health is strongly associated with having experienced adverse events, findings show that depression is associated with lower investment in human capital and lower labor participation. Of all the adverse events, experiencing conflict in the last two years has the largest and strongest relationship with the respondent’s measure of depression, registering a nearly 26 percentage point increase in the probability of being depressed. In terms of income, it is significantly and negatively correlated with depression; Poverty and adverse events going in tandem. One of their findings stated that “Our findings show that respondents who are classified as chronically depressed (according to the CESD scale) have a lower likelihood of engaging in any form of work”. Depression amongst parents ends up affecting their children’s education, specifically how much they’re willing to spend.
  4. Cherry, Kendra. “How Do Individualistic Cultures Influence Behavior?” Verywell Mind, 22 Oct. 2018, www.verywellmind.com/what-are-individualistic-cultures-2795273. (Media Source)
    1. This media source is an article describing the behavioral attributes of individuals who grew up within individualistic cultures. This article juxtaposes the perspective of those who grew up in collectivistic cultures, which the article defines as well in order to draw comparisons between the two. The article defines individualistic cultures as those that stress the needs of the individual over the needs of the group as a whole. It defines collectivistic cultures as those that stress the importance of the group and social cooperation. We used this article as the novel we read in class and utilized within our script and podcast, Americanah, capitalizes on immigration from Nigeria to the United States. While Nigeria is a collectivistic culture, the United States is an individualistic one. Going off of this information, we were able to conduct a thorough analysis using the research from this media source in order to properly create our script for the podcast. The article source is thorough in describing the aspect and allowed us to utilize the similar terms and define them within our script.
  5. Adichie, Chimamanda Ngozi. Americanah (Ala Notable Books for Adults). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. (Book source)
    1. Chimimanda Adichie’s novel, Americanah, centers on two perspectives of immigration from two different narratives between characters. The book narrates immigration from the perspective of a woman who immigrated from Nigeria, began a new life in America and willingly chose to go back; and simultaneously narrates immigration from the perspective of a man who illegally immigrated from Nigeria to England and is forcefully deported. The instances of racism they face, the cultural norms that they learn, as well as the hyper-awareness of their differences within the structures of Western society contribute to the breakdowns and character development that further the plot. The source presents an accurate and first-hand depiction of the immigrant experience, both in a legal perspective as well as an illegal one. The distinction between those two experiences is of great importance, as both aspects change the entirety of the course of the characters’ actions. The experience of immigration is never the same for anyone, but the ones that Adichie has described are two of the most common. The novel is a good source because of the multiplicity of perspectives it presents, as well as from two differing gender standpoints. The fact that Adichie has chosen to use two different genders to display the experiences of immigration presents a more accurate portrayal as there are experiences that are only unique to certain genders. We used this source to draw comparisons and similarities between the “immigrant narrative” in our podcast.
  6. Phiri, Aretha. “Expanding Black Subjectivities in Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon and Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie’s Americanah.” Cultural Studies, vol. 31, no. 1, Jan. 2017, pp. 121–142. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/09502386.2016.1232422. (Literary Source)
    1. This literary analysis draws comparisons and ideas from Chimimanda Adichie’s book, Americanah, and Toni Morrison’s Song of Solomon. Despite not reading Morrison’s novel in class, one can conclude from the analysis that both presented ideas versed in blackness versus Africanness. The analysis said of Americanah, “Americanah thus provides a contemporary disruption to, and de-romanticization of, the African-American Africanist, signifying myth of Africa as the ‘great aporia’ which lies at the centre of, and gives meaning to, black cultural identity.” The source is stating that Adichie’s novel is able to present the idea that race is separate from ethnicity, in that black culture does not necessarily mean nor is married to the label “African.” The novel capitalizes on this fact, and de-romanticizes the idea that blackness and African are one in the same despite others’ best efforts to marry the two. The literary source is a close, comparative analysis of the ideas presented in both novels and how they compare and contrast with one another in terms of ideas concerning black/African culture as well as immigration being the most defining and visual difference. “In particular, Adichie has, in conversation and in her most recent fiction, suggested that Africans (in the diaspora) articulate themselves differently from African-Americans. Problematized and politicized thus as contested, rather than universally accepted, subjective terrain, blackness more significantly points to the diversity and dynamism of black culture and testifies, in the current socio-political/-historical moment, to recognition of the enduring complexity of black subjectivity.” We used this source to help describe Adichie’s depiction of immigration and how accurate it is when describing the immigrant experience within our podcast.

Proposal: Isabella and Jordan

 

 

We propose that immigrant families are at greater risk of having a presence of depression within their family. The prevalence of depression within families is fueled by other behaviors that are byproducts of experiences faced as an immigrant in America. As a result, these behaviors affect their relationships with others. Nigeria is more of a tribalistic country compared to the individualistic society, and there are multiple instances of this within the Chimamanda Adichie’s novel, Americanah.

Ifemelu was depressed within her first year of immigration (Chapter 15, pg 193). She goes from Nigeria where everyone essentially works together in their daily lives, to America, where everyone follows a “on their own” mindset. This is an example of the beliefs of tribalistic countries versus those of individualistic countries. Other ways depression had manifested into Ifemelu’s first year was the observation that race did not exist to her until she came to America. She describes upon returning to Nigeria that her race disappeared when she stepped off of the plane.

Ifemelu also experienced the struggles in paying for rent, felt homesick as she suffered from lack of social life/activity. Adichie writes, “Between her and what she should feel, there was a gap. She cared about nothing. She wanted to care, but she no longer knew how; it had slipped from her memory, the ability to care. Sometimes she woke up flailing and helpless, and she saw, in front of her and behind her and all around her, an utter hopelessness. She knew there was no point in being here, in being alive, but she had no energy to think concretely of how she could kill herself” (Adichie, 192).

Another character who was directly affected by depression was Dike, who attempted suicide in chapter 43. Ifemelu refused to believe in the possibility that he was depressed as she said, “He looked no different from before; there were no shadows under his eyes, no funereal air about him” (Adichie, 469). Dike’s depression was also fueled by his identity crisis in which he felt stressed between not knowing his father/having a positive father figure, and not understanding why he is different and treated differently by others.

Aunty Uju is another character who deals with behaviors linked to depression such as anxiety. Ifemelu notes that upon seeing her aunt in America, she had changed and become more stressed than she was before. This affects her relationships with Ifemelu and Dike as well as her relationships with her significant others.

In 2017, a study was conducted in order to whether there is a relationship between source-country individualism and depression among different immigrant groups, with results stating, “Immigrants who migrate from countries with low levels of individualism to a highly individualistic nation were found to be particularly vulnerable during their initial years after migration, highlighting the role that cultural shock may play” (Frank and Feng). The results essentially mean that those who come from a country with strong beliefs of individualism like Germany or South Africa, aren’t as depressed as those that come from a country with collectivists beliefs like Guatemala and Indonesia.

We decided our platform will follow a podcast and discuss Isabella’s family’s experience as immigrants. We chose this medium in particular because it addresses a real issue with a real story. We felt that an experience with depression and immigration would be difficult to script without a realistic perspective. We chose to do a podcast because it would answer questions directly and allow a conversational tone to relay the very real experience.

Infusing sociocultural perspectives into capacity building activities to meet the needs of refugees and asylum seekers.

It’s estimated that 1 out of every 230 persons is or was a child or adolescent who has been forced to his or her home. According to the United Nations there are currently close to 55.2 million forced migrants globally, the majority of victims being woman and children with half of those displaced are children and adolescents. By mid-2015, the number of new refugees and asylum seekers had reach an estimated 15.1 million globally; For the purpose of the review, the POI (population of interest) comprised of refugees affected by conflict and violence. One immediate consequence of forced migration is the effect it has on the family, who has no choice but to leave behind everything and be separated from loved ones. These are not voluntary migrations; they’re force to leave due to extreme conditions. In 2016, the Thai gov’t began providing educational materials to improve the experience of refugees, in order to provide a successful integration. Some of the challenges of social integration are the linguistic barriers and cultural incongruences, school-age children face adaptation to school-life that affect their academic achievement. Another challenge is mobility, due to the frequent moves from place to place, migrant families have problems forming relationships with their peers.

In order to deliver effective services to them, the review details different elements needed. Capacity Building Activities, Promoting Multiculturalism, Leadership development in the community, and youth-development programs are elements that would greatly improve the social integration of migrant families. Successful integration and functioning within each refugee community cannot be achieved without sociocultural congruent practices that lead to meaningful teaching and activities

 

Rivera, Hector, et al. “Infusing Sociocultural Perspectives into Capacity Building Activities to Meet the Needs of Refugees and Asylum Seekers.” Canadian Psychology/Psychologie Canadienne, vol. 57, no. 4, Nov. 2016, pp. 320–329. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1037/cap0000076.

Should States Have To Pay For Refugee Resettlement They Don’t Want

Tennessee makes its mark as the first state to tell the federal government that it can’t be forced to pay for the federal refugee resettlement program. It’s even suing them for its continuation of the program after the state withdrew from the program. Most costs fall to state taxpayers from the settlement, but they assert their right not to pay the state portion of the Medicaid bill for the refugees placed in Tennessee. Its General Assembly filed suit against the federal agencies responsible for the resettlement program over the right to enact the state’s annual budget without diverting Tenn Care funds to the federal government for refugees. However, the suit was dismissed on the grounds that the state legislature “lacked standing.”

When the act was passed, it was intended for the federal government alone to fund the program they created, but the costs shifted to state governments after Congress reduced funding for the refugee resettlement program. Regulations issued during the Clinton administration make it impossible for a state to stop paying program costs by withdrawing from the program, as in Tennessee, resulting in the state continuing to pay certain costs that were once the responsibility of the federal government. In 2016, after the Obama administration raised the annual refugee quota, more states asked to withdraw and sued the federal government in an effort to halt the planned large-scale Syrian resettlement. As of today, apart from Tennessee’s, there are no state refugee lawsuits are active today, as a result of Trump administration cuts to the refugee quota.

 

Article: https://thefederalist.com/2019/04/02/states-pay-refugee-resettlement-program-dont-want/

Refugee Employment at the Margins

In January, a parliament was ratified in Ethiopia, giving refugees rights, including the right to seek employment and education; Other countries should follow their footsteps by giving refugees better access to formal jobs and schooling, which would in turn also benefit host countries. According to the UNHCR, The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a record of 68.5 million people worldwide, including 25.4 million refugees, have been forcibly moved as a result of persecution or generalized violence. Even though hosting large numbers of refugees is a challenge, there is increasing evidence of the economic benefits that the policies bring to the table. For example, Uganda’s Refugees Act of 2006 allowed them the right to work and access schools and hospitals, which stimulated economic growth by creating small businesses serving the wider community; Even going as far as to improve social integration and cohesion.

Evidence from the Center for Global Development indicates that giving refugees access to the formal labor market boosts growth, potentially creates new jobs for host-country citizens, and reduces reliance on aid. The UNESCO’s 2019 Global Education Monitoring Report emphasizes that migrants and refugees have skills that can help transform the economies and societies of both their host and home countries. The governments can start by allowing them to attend local community schools, which would give them a better understanding and appreciation for the local culture and would increase their chances of finding a job in the formal sector. Many are working to debunk the notion that refugees are a burden on host countries, when actually, it’s the opposite that is true.

 

Article: https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/inclusive-refugee-policies-jobs-education-by-karen-meyer-1-and-peter-materu-2019-04

Carlos Hernandez: Reflection

Mr. Hernandez’s visit was very eye opening and helpful to me; I’ve wanted to be a writer since I was in third grade, so a lot of his tips and advice really spoke out to me. I had the following questions for him:

Where’d did you get inspiration for the theme of death?
Do you relate anything from your poems to your actual daily life?
What inspired you to take up writing?

Hearing his advice on how we should just go for it and shoot our shot of having something published showed me that having rejection letters wasn’t a bad thing, but showed progress and shows that you’ve made an effort. Out of the three poems, my favorite was the one that spoke on the theme of death a bit, In Lieu of the Stories My Santera Abuela Should Have Told Me Herself, This Poem.

Grant proposal for T. Rowe Price Foundation

My idea for the grant proposal is a yearly employment program for young teens, preferably those in high school. Working with LIRS, these teens can work/volunteer to help coordinate and run events or programs within LIRS. The goal of this project is to bring about more awareness for their cause, while also educating young minds about what it takes to run an organization like LIRS. This proposal can be run yearly, having students help throughout the year, or have two groups of students help, alternating at the half point of the year. This event could possibly be extended to college students as well, helping during the Winter and Summer while high school students work with LIRS during the Fall and spring. The reason I chose High school students as the primary audience is to help them develop leadership and team skills that will help them, both in their college years and in their future endeavors, the grant money would go towards keeping the students involved, transporting them, etc. However, this program could also be held during each summer, and we could potentially pay the students a stipend to work, building up their resumé with a job opportunity or treat it as an internship.

What digital publishing can do for me

Having a one-on-one meeting with a career counselor showed me the different ways I can broaden my horizons on what digital publishing can do for me. Ms. Fewster showed me how my major, graphic design, actually provides me with a variety of possibilities when it comes to implementing the use of digital publishing. By using Handshake, I can find jobs and internships that will allow me to get a feel for how digital publishing and what I learn in my field go hand-in-hand. By meeting with Ms. Fewster helped give me the insight for how I can further my education and my experience in the field that I would like to go in.

Apart from just graphic design, I want to become a novelist in the near future. I believe that this course could help teach me what I need to know about analyzing a target audience and how to format my words in a way to keep their attention. However, in terms of graphic designing, I would like to go into the advertising world; pitching ideas and leading campaigns for a target audience. I learned that digital publishing isn’t about just writing blogs, but it’s about analyzing text, the audience, and the author of said text.

The analysis of the Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service

Jordan Turner
Professor Licastro
English 256
11 February 2019

The “Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service”, LIRS for short, is an non-profit organization in support of refugees and immigrants entering the states. In my analysis of the LIRS’ website, we’ll be going over the five different areas of a rhetorical analysis, “a method of describing the context in which an author wants to communicate his or her purpose or call for action to the intended audience in a genre” (Arola, Sheppard, Ball 22). The different areas we’ll be analyzing are the audience, purpose, context, author, and genre of the website, along with an analysis of the media included.

When understanding the intent, it’s good to start with who the content is intended for, I.e the audience. By taking a look at their navigation bar, the first thing that draws the reader’s eyes, is their orange DONATE button, located on the far right of the navigation bar. This is their primary audience, those who want to help their cause, AKA donators.

Screenshot from https://www.lirs.org

While the audience is who the text is intended for, there may be more than one intended/actual audience (Arola, Sheppard, Ball 22). Their second intended audience are advocates to help stay up-to-date with the legislative issues, while their third intended audience are volunteers. Detailed on the “take action” tab, LIRS goes into depth about how their readers/audience can help.

screenshot from https://www.lirs.org/take-action/

 

 

 

By placing the option to learn more under each, it influences the audience to support and aid LIRS in their mission by doing research and participating in any of these options.

After understanding the intended audience, “it’s important to also consider the range of intentions”(Arola, Sheppard, Ball 23) or their purpose for showing us this information. Considering the information given to us, it’s safe to say that their overall intention for the text is to spread the word about their work and inform the public of their cause. This is further supported by the navigation bar, displayed on each separate page, holding multiple opportunities for the audience to either donate, volunteer, or read more information about their mission and purpose. In a sense, their website is essentially a huge advertisement for their history and what they do

 ..

Screenshots from https://www.lirs.org

and communicates multiple ways that others can help through becoming a volunteer and/or an advocate to help battle legislative issues through their medium/context.

It’s time to now consider the context, “which generally refers to where the text is located, how it is meant to be read, what surrounds it” (Arola, Sheppard, Ball 24). It’s important to think about why the author chose this medium, a website, in comparison to other ones available. After we we’ve gather about the audience and the purpose, the reason why the author chose this medium could’ve been in order to get their intention/purpose across as visually possible without having to bore the audience with multiple paragraphs, running the risk of losing their attention; this is supported by how on each page, there is an image or video.

screenshot from https://www.lirs.org/about/

Before considering the genre of the context, the way the author (implied or actual) establishes credibility, is also something to note when conducting a rhetorical analysis. By including a sub-section within the “about us” tab, the author(s), or the people who run LIRS, establish credibility; Even though it does not go in depth about who they are or their backgrounds, it does include their beliefs.

screenshot from https://www.lirs.org/our-leadership/

It’s important to note that the author(s) established a big reputation as “a champion for refugees and migrants from around the globe” (“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.”). for almost 80 years. They go into depth about this by saying that they’ve helped over 500,000 refugees and immigrants.

The final part of the rhetorical analysis, is the genre of the context. The text can be defined as a newspaper as a broad definition, but in more specific terms, it can be defined as either journalism, realistic fiction, or as a documentary. It’s defined as a journalism/documentary in the sense that the context details LIRS’ work, mission, and the inclusion of credible news articles to support their information.

Screenshot from https://www.lirs.org/press/

While it’s defined as realistic fiction in the sense that everything that is happening is true to life, from the struggle of being a refugee/immigrant to their work and vision of helping them. The key features that support the genre’s I’ve identified are their inclusion of a blog, press room, and their history.

After finishing the analysis of the website, it’s time to analyze its media and the interface. The most important thing when analyzing the media is to consider the modes and affordances, including: color, font, information architecture, and user experience.

The color of the media presented to us follows a small range throughout (Light blue, Dark blue, orange, and white). the most noticeable is that their navigation bar highlights the DONATE button, drawing their reader’s attention instantly to that. Meanwhile, their font is consistent throughout the website, using only two fonts to keep the reader from getting confused or lost among a possible wide variety of fonts.

Screenshots from https://www.lirs.org

The information architecture is what keeps everything organized and neat in the media. LIRS keeps their information organized in a neat manner, everything is organized until the reader enters different section, each section holding information similar to each other in order to keep the same generally topic of the section consistent. This makes the User experience simple, creating a website that is fairly easy to navigate through, making it simple for reader’s of all ages to use.

Screenshots from https://www.lirs.org

In conclusion, The website of the non-profit organization, “Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service”, gets the author’s point across is a smooth, organized manner. Each section has enough media and information to keep their audience intrigued and influences them to help or provide their services to the cause. By analyzing their website, a reader can effectively understand the purpose and context that the author(s) is educating them about.

Works cited

Arola, Kristin L.; Ball, Cheryl E.; Sheppard, Jennifer. Writer/Designer (Page 22). Bedford/St. Martin’s. Kindle Edition.

“Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service.” LIRS, 6 Feb. 2019, www.lirs.org/.