Murdering the Alphabet: Identity and Entrepreneurship among Second Generation Cubans, West Indians, and Central Americans

Nearly a decade ago the notion of segmented assimilation was first introduced to elucidate the differential patterns of incorporation of recent immigrants into American society (Portes 1995). The concept took stock of two concomitant trends (a) the rapid increase in migration to the United States, particularly from Asia and Latin America since the 1970s and (b) sensible changes in the character and quality of employment resulting from industrial re-composition and global integration during the same period. Segmented assimilation called for a nuanced understanding of immigrant prospects showing that absorption into the receiving society does not occur monolithically—it is affected by factors such as immigrants’ knowledge and skills, the type of their reception in areas of destination, and even the proximity of specific groups with which immigrant children relate at the local level. Variations resulting from the interaction of such factors matter especially in the age of globalization when employment alternatives are significantly different from those that were available to newcomers in the late 19th or early 20th centuries.