Toward an improved understanding of immigrant adaptation and transnational engagement: the case of Cuban émigrés in the United States

摘要

Abstract The article compares the explanatory power of assimilationist and transnational frameworks with a historically informed generation (historical cohort) thesis that addresses the long-term cross-border impact of premigration experiences on immigrant new country adaptation. It tests the utility of the thesis with respect to immigrant remittance-sending among different waves of Cuban émigrés to the United States, who had different homeland experiences before uprooting. Regression analysis is used to assess the relative import of premigration experiences and factors immigration studies have found to be associated with assimilation and transnationalism. The article concludes with a discussion of the applicability of the historical cohort thesis for improved understanding of other immigrant group adaptation and homeland engagement.