Language, Identity, and Choice

Language, Identity, and Choice: Raising Bilingual Children in a Global Society examines the intersections of language, race, and identity within the family. It offers particular attention to the proscription of identity when language and culture have a direct impact on the understanding of race and ethnicity within the African American community.

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Language, Identity and Choice: Raising Bilingual Children in a Global Society provides scholarly insight into how foreign language acquisition influences an individual’s understanding of identity within the African American family. Rooted in sociolinguistic, communication, and bilingual theoretical perspectives, Kami J. Anderson describes how foreign language acquisition, development, and use shape how Africans and African Americans describe and proscribe their identity and, in turn, the identity of the family. Language, Identiy, and Choice looks specifically at how family language choices, in particular choosing to be bilingual, affect family communication and perception of identity from people outside of the family. Anderson combines both extensive research and her personal experience of being bilingual to challenge the existing notions of what it means to be Black when personal experiences with race and ethnicity extend beyond the boundaries of the native country or culture.