This book explores the communication challenges faced by parents as they raise children who are bi-cultural, multi-cultural, or are adopted from a heritage other than the parents. Each contributor views the family as a site of intercultural dialogue and mediation, and uses compelling studies throughout to examine the parents who creatively balance cultural influences within their families. Using television depictions of parents on Modern Family and All-American Muslim to the everyday activities of mixed-ethnicity and international families, Mediating Cultures reports the communication strategies employed by the parents as they strive to create affirming relationships between children and their heritages. This collection brings together two largely separate literatures of family communication and intercultural communication studies with accessible yet context-driven studies to explain how families integrate multiple cultural heritages and perspectives.
Introduction: Parenting in Intercultural Contexts, Alberto Gonzalez and Tina M. Harris Section I: Interpersonal Settings and Intercultural Parenting Chapter One: Digging (in) the Playground: (In)visibility of Difference in Multicultural Parenting, Natalia Rybas Chapter Two: Cultural Ambiguity, Ethnic Identity, and the Bicultural Experience: South Asian Indian Parents and their American-born Kids, Suchitra Shenoy and Tara A. Kulkarni Chapter Three: The Trouble With Family Stories, Melissa Aleman and Carlos Aleman Chapter Four: How Caucasian Parents Communicate Identity to Chinese Adopted Daughters, May H. Gao and Deanna Womack Chapter Five: Black Parenting in The White House: The Emergence of an Intercultural Model, Kimberly Moffet Section II: Media, Social Networks and Intercultural Parenting Chapter Six: Islam in the Midwest: Parental Values in The Learning Channel's All American Muslim, Souhad Kahil Chapter Seven: Googling "Latin@": Using Technology to Construct Cultural Identity in a Bicultural Family, Jennifer Willis-Rivera Chapter Eight: Like Tiger Mother, Like Tiger Daughter: A Content Analysis of Eastern and Western Parenting Styles, Chin-Chung (Joy) Chao and Dexin Tian Chapter Nine: We're Not Like the Cleavers Any More!: Diversity and Parenting Communication in ABC's Modern Family, Candice Thomas-Maddox and Nicole Blau Epilogue: The Future and Multicultural Parenting Chapter Ten: "Dogmamis cocuga don bicmek": Visions of a Multicultural Family, Ali E. Erol and Joris Gjata
