SE 4/EP 31: Conversation with Dr. Dialika Sall Assistant Professor of Sociology, Lehman College-City University of New York on her research on children of African immigrants from low-income families

On the 4th season of my discussion, I wanted to change the gear by exploring the specifics of challenges we face at large as African immigrants abroad. As I continue to talk about the intergenerational relationship, I also want to discuss specific topics such as inequalities we experience in our community in the area of education, health disparities, language barriers, lack of applicable social services, biases, and discrimination. I was fortunate to have met Professor Dialika Sall to start the 4th season of the podcast and our conversation paved the way for an upcoming discussion on the podcast. Professor Sall is an assistant professor of Sociology at the Lehman College-City University of New York. When I learned about her previous research work, I knew we would have a solid discussion about her research. I met Dr. Sall at The African Center in NYC during a book signing and community discussion. Prof. Sall was the moderator of a book event with Prof. Boukary Sawadogo on his recently published book Africans in Harlem an Untold New York Story. Dr. Sall's research focuses on racial and ethnic identity negotiations among the children of West African immigrants in New York City. It is customary on Pánsá Pánsá podcast conversation to talk about the childhood experiences of guests during their formative years, especially if they are children of immigrants. During our conversation, we discussed immigrant identity and black experiences and Dr. Sall’s childhood experiences growing up in the Bronx. She gave an insight into the benefit and challenges of being a second-generation African immigrants child. We further talked about her experiences navigating through sometimes diverse and predominantly white spaces throughout her schooling. Dr. Sall went to boarding school in New Hampshire for high school, attended Pomona College in California for undergraduate studies, and later completed her graduate studies at Columbia University. We talked about how these experiences sparked her interest in sociology and her area of racial and ethnic identity studies. Prof. Sall's research focuses on the theory of assimilation and acculturation of African youth into the mainstream of American society. Most of our conversation centers on her research on children of African immigrants from low-income families. In her findings, African youth selectively acculturate into their American communities, and she highlighted three areas of selective acculturation: fashion, food, and language. We discussed biases and scant conclusions on previous research on African immigrants in the USA. We further discussed internalized anti-black messages that target other minorities based on ethnicity, religion, skin color, accent, food smell, etc. Dr. Sall gave a short preview of her upcoming book “Connecting Black: Second-Generation Africans in America, " based on expanding her research work. We further discussed that many African Americans are also selective sorting and un-sorting when it comes to parenting, family values, and their children moving among those of upward social mobility. For example, African Americans created elite clubs such as Grand Boule, Jack and Jill for their children, the Guardsmen, Links, black sororities, and fraternities like Delta Sigma Theta and Alpha Phi Alpha. These clubs were founded to ensure that blacks of a certain pedigree would embody and perpetuate the values of the Negro elite. As I hinted after my conversation with Prof. Sall, I hope we continue to engage in conversation with Dr. Sall in exploring many great social topics that would continue to enlighten the listers. Dr. Sall is the author of the forthcoming book, “Connecting Black: Second-Generation Africans in America,” and has been published in several academic journals. Dr. Sall earned a Ph.D. in Sociology from Columbia University and B.A. from Pomona College. She is second-generation Senegalese, raised in the Bronx, NY. Learn more about her work at www.dialikasall.com