Child Brokers in the Latino Community

linar_logoBy Vikki S. Katz, Ph.D., LIN@R

For many Latino immigrant communities, the scene is all too familiar: A situation in which immigrant needs to communicate in a different language and the only one able to do it, is a nine-year-old child.

broker-childWithout losing his/her identity as a child, many sons and daughters are, for these families, a bridge to the rest of the world. They are the “child Brokers,” as researchers call them.

Vikki Katz, Assistant Professor in the Communication Department of the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information, has conducted research on children of immigrants who are the main English-speakers in their families, and how they broker language, culture, and media for their families at home and in the community.

(Katz talked with the Latino Information Network about the different aspects of her study: The Community Builders: How Children Broker the Integration of their Immigrant Families.)

This article was first published in LIN@R.

Vikki Katz (Ph.D., University of Southern California) is Assistant Professor in the Communication Department of the Rutgers University School of Communication and Information. Her research explores the communicative challenges that Latino immigrant families face as they integrate into U.S. society, with particular interest in the roles children play in these processes and how media connections influence settlement.

[Image courtesy LIN@R]

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