Chapter 1: Multivocal Storylines: One Pakistani Immigrant Mother’s Pursuit to Understand Her Children’s Schooling

Studies have shown that how a mother relates to her children’s education and supports their academic work directly impacts their academic trajectory (Gonzalez, 2005; Simpkins, Fredricks, & Eccles, 2012). As the immigrant population in the United States is over 44 million and the immigrant population of children under 18 years old is over 18 million (Zong, Batalova, & Burrows, 2019), there is an increasing number of immigrant mothers interacting with U.S. local schools. Although research is replete with findings demonstrating the vital importance of the parents’ roles in their children’s academic success (Castro et al., 2015), mothers’ voices are relatively absent in education research (Adair & Tobin, 2008). Such maternal silence is particularly noted within the immigrant population. Between 2000 and 2010 the U.S. South Asian population—those from Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, the Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, or Sri Lanka—grew by 81% to 3.4 million (SAAL, 2013). During that same time frame, the South Asian Pakistani population grew 137%—the largest ethnic minority growth in the United States (SAAL, 2013). As this immigrant population continues to increase, how these immigrant mothers perceive the American schools and their role in the academic lives of their children cannot be ignored. To date, few studies have listened to the voices of immigrant mothers and even fewer, if any, have listened to the voices of South Asian mothers.