Reshaping parental ethnotheories of Dutch-Moroccan immigrant parents in the Netherlands: Networking in multiple worlds

Abstract

Ethnotheories of immigrant parents residing in the Netherlands are reshaped in response to the multiple and diverse educational practices they come in contact with after migration. Network analyses of “parenting relationships” of first generation Dutch-Moroccan parents living in the Netherlands show that they borrow from diverse resources including professionals and non-professionals in their construction of new ethnotheories. Through media as well as through interacting with family in their country of origin, with same-generation peers in the Netherlands, and with Dutch professionals and neighbors, these mothers develop “modern” notions of parenting such as stimulating child independence, while also using building blocks from traditional practices such as respect for the elderly. Individual variability is evident in parents’ processes of adaptation, with some parents seeming stuck between these alternative and seemingly contradictory practices and ideas while others learn to use them to position themselves optimally in their multi-ethnic environment. The paper argues that recognizing these parents as creative producers of their own solutions, and becoming conscious of their self-made support networks and the resources they provide, can offer professionals and policy makers a new paradigm for the design of social services and support for immigrant parents.