Coming to America: Stories & Conversations Across Generations About Immigration – 2nd of 4 Online Community Conversations

What IF…? Online Community Conversation Series: Coming To America – Fall 2020

The Interactivity Foundation (IF) has partnered with the Friends of India Association and the Diversity Relations Council at Leisure World in Silver Spring, Maryland to organize this Coming to America series of events with stories and conversations about immigration. We are meeting monthly on Zoom for four months (September – December) to first hear stories from volunteer participants about one aspect of their immigration experience. Following the stories, we then split into breakout rooms for small group conversations for about an hour to reflect upon the stories we just heard, share our own stories, and talk about various aspects of immigration in general.  Each of the four sessions will have a different sub-topic and set of questions for participants to explore.

The 2nd session of this series will be held on Thursday, October 15, 2020, at 5:30 pm eastern time.  The sub-topic and questions for this 2nd session are–

What Does it Mean to be Part of a New Country?

• • Do you believe that most communities have their own special identities? If so, what do you think determines the identity of a community and why?
  • We often talk about immigrants ‘assimilating’. How do you think about this? Is there a better word or a different concept you’d choose? What is it—and why?
  • What do you think constitutes assimilation to a local community? And why?
  • How much assimilation is enough? And why?
  • How long does it take to assimilate?
  • What are the roles of families, employment, and education?

For additional information or any questions about this Community Conversation Series, please contact IF Fellow Ieva Notturno.