Aki Oduola grew up as the son of two immigrants—his father, Sule Oduola from Nigeria, and his mother from Finland. As a child, however, this identity was not something he consciously thought about. However, reflecting as an adult, Aki recognizes that the way he and his sister understood the world was deeply shaped by being raised by immigrant parents.
Growing up, Aki remembers that he and his sister were raised as “two American kids.” Yet their parents approached life differently than many American families. One example Aki reflects on is how he came to understand race. In a country marked by racial and class segregation, Aki says that race was never presented to him as the medium which to view the world. Instead, his parents emphasized the distinction between good people and bad people, and the importance of recognizing character in others. Because his parents did not share the same American social sensibilities around race, they never explicitly instructed their children on how to interpret it. Aki and his sister noticed racism around them, but they were left to grapple with its meaning themselves. 
Aki’s father, Sule, left Nigeria in 1967 for his education, traveling first to Europe before eventually immigrating to the United States in 1969. His experiences moving across countries and cultures shaped the worldview he later passed on to his children. In this sense, Aki’s childhood reflects the ways immigration influences the next generation—not only through language or tradition, but through the values and perspectives immigrant parents carry with them.

– SO

Relationship:  Child of im/migrant Child of im/migrant