African and Global Issues Quarterly

Identity formation and preservation have become pressing issues citizens across the globe are confronted with as they move from one place to another in search of better life opportunities. Specifically, citizens across the globe have battled with preserving some of their core identities, ranging from religious, ethnic, national, cultural, and even regional identity. Though maintaining these forms of identity has proven much more difficult for migrants or settlers, either due to some formal or informal rules, citizens across the globe have continued to rely on songs, music, dance, language, religion, cultural values, dressing, and other things to show their distinctiveness as well as maintain and preserve their identities. While this process appears easy for the older generations, children born in the Diaspora have persistently struggled with maintaining their inherited identity due to the growing influence of peer groups, the environment, socioeconomic factors, and other emerging factors.