The DOI matches its Crossref record; 40 of the 41 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Not black, but Habasha: Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants in American society
Abstract
In this article, I examine the identity choices of Ethiopian and Eritrean immigrants of Amhara, Tigrayan and Tigrinya ethnicity within the context of the larger debate on how non-white immigrants are being incorporated into American society. I argue that these immigrants resist racialization even while their actions and attitudes potentially reinforce America's racial divide. They implicitly challenge American racial categories by thinking of themselves as Habasha, which they view as a separate non-black ethno-racial category that emphasizes their Semitic origins. Meanwhile, they often distance themselves from American blacks through pursuing transnational connections, producing Habasha spaces, displaying the attributes of a ‘model minority’ and preserving Habasha beauty through endogamy. By remaining relatively isolated within their ethnic communities in Washington, DC, which is the focus of this study, they may succeed in differentiating themselves from American blacks, but they are not likely to join the American mainstream on a par with whites.
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“As Habecker (2012) observed, some Black African immigrants reject even the 'Black label as a way of asserting their distinctive ethnic and cultural roots (Habecker 2012).”
From Conceptualizing the Differences in the Perception and Internalization of Racism Between Black African Immigrants and African Americans in the United States (2025) · cites this paper as Habecker (2012)
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- Habecker , Shelly 2009 African immigrants in Washington, DC: seeking alternative identities in a racially divided city , DPhil dissertation , Department of Development Studies, Oxford University , Oxford, UK
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- Mohammed , Hamid Mohammed 2006 Imagining and performing Habasha identity: the Ethiopian diaspora in the area of Washington, DC , PhD dissertation , Department of Performance Studies, Northwestern University , Evanston, IL
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Metadata
- Authors
- Habecker, S.
- Corresponding author
- Habecker, Shelly
- Venue
- Ethnic and Racial Studies
- Publisher
- Informa UK Limited
- Published
- 2012-07
- Volume
- 35
- Issue
- 7
- Pages
- 1200-1219
- ISSN
- 0141-9870 (ISSN-L)
- 1466-4356
- OpenAlex
- W2058708643
- Cited by
- 73
- References
- 41
- Citations by year
- 2026: 6 · 2025: 8 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 3 · 2022: 8 · 2021: 7 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 6 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 1 · 2015: 5 · 2014: 3 · 2012: 1
- FWCI
- 4.28
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Ethnic and Racial Studies (publishedVersion)
- Opus: Research & Creativity (Indiana University – Purdue University Fort Wayne) (submittedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Migration, Refugees, and Integration
- Social Sciences › Demography › Diaspora, migration, transnational identity
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Keywords
- Ethiopian immigrants, Eritrean immigrants, racialization, ethnic-racial identity, non-white immigrants, model minority, endogamy, transnational connections, racial classification, Washington, D.C., immigrant integration, Amhara, Tigrinya
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