Heritage across Horizons: Role of Socializing Entities in Nurturing African Ethnic Identity

Introduction. Emigration by Africans raises important questions about the preservation of cultural heritage and ethnic identity among African diaspora. This study examines the role of familial socialization and social resilience in shaping the ethnic identities of African adolescents born abroad. Methods. The study adopted a cross-sectional survey design in which data was obtained via an online survey among adolescents from Nigerian migrant families in the United Kingdom. Data from a sample of 212 college students were obtained via Google forms. Snowballing techniques were adopted in reaching eligible participants for the study. The distribution of participants showed that 57% were female while 43% were male. In terms of the African heritage, majority (47%) of the participants were from Yoruba ethnicities, 34% were from Igbo related tribes while 19% were from Hausa related ethnicities. Results. Results obtained suggest that both covert and overt dimensions of familial socialization have a statistically significant predictive relationship with ethnic identity [F(2, 209)=3.842; p<.05]; with the covert dimension having a slightly stronger predictive strength (β=0.212; p<.05) compared to overt dimension (β=0.203; p<.05). Furthermore social resilience emerged as a significant moderator in the relationship between familial socialization and ethnic identity (ΔR2 of 4.2%). Discussion. These findings underline the importance of both familial and community support in nurturing and preserving ethnic identities within diaspora communities. Recommendations were made towards the production of an ‘African Heritage Kit’, tailored to teach and recommend familial socialization practices for preserving African cultural heritage across generations.