A (Not-So-Rare) Role Reversal

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Celine Dyer

In chapters 3 & 4, Foner discusses two subsectors of the American working class that are seldom considered by the very patrons they serve: immigrant workers and female employees. Ironically, throughout American history both immigrants and women have been crucial to the survival of the US economy. Originally, immigrants were underpaid for taking on lowly tasks that the average American-born worker would refuse to do. These jobs included harsh conditions, conniving supervisors and very little room for promotions or growth. Although many immigrant works were treated as disposable entities, this was due to the fact that so many immigrants were available and desperate for work; had these immigrants not been present to support the lower tiers of the US workforce, the stagnancy they suffered would have been passed onto the native American youth as they were forced to fill these jobs rather than peruse education and more appealing careers. Women also played a similar role in completing the necessary, but unappealing or unflattering tasks, (for example, dress making in a hot, crowded factory for hours without breaks) and even continued on to fill the jobs left behind by soldiers once the US men and boys were shipped off to war.

Today, although both female and immigrant employees are still stereotyped and discriminated against, and increasing emphasis on the importance of these special interest groups is becoming more and more apparent. Many affirmative action scholarships and employment-assistance programs favor female and/or international students, to such a point that many Americans complain about feeling disadvantaged and unable to compete. In the event of a recession, when Americans are more desperate that ever to find work, more and more jobs are outsourced to foreign employees who offer a wider range of/better quality skills, often for a competitively lower price. The very groups that were originally shoved to the bottom of the employment pool are finally beginning to float.

Selective Diversity

Posted on May 2, 2013 by Celine Dyer

Chapter 6 speaks of the shifting ideas of transnationalism amongst immigrants in the US; in the past, immigrants would frequently come to the US with an intention (one generally followed through with) to return to their native country. Immigration to America was considered a means to an end, rather than the end of one’s journey all together. Now, however, it is increasingly common for immigrants to treat America as their homebase from which they evaluate and explore their native culture, rather than vice versa. In terms of political, fiscal and occupational opportunities, the United States has grown to resemble more of a tangled and overflowing rose-bush than a “salad” or “soup” or anything remotely edible. America has become a breeding ground for transnational rat-races with very unclear “start” or “finish” lines. As foreign politicians rally for support on American soil, and wannabe entrepreneurs flood Canal st., crammed into a shared office space with thousands of other start-up companies all texting/calling/e-mailing/skypeing with far-away executives in a hundred different tongues, it begins to seem as though technology has managed to raze all international (and oceanic) borders between America and its modern-day immigrants, however Chapter 7 shows that this is not in fact the case, and in fact, never has been.

In chapter 7, Foner speaks of the numerous (yet unmentioned) immigrant children who fell through the cracks in the American education system, and thus, were not granted an equal opportunity to reap the so-called “benefits” of living on American soil. Unlike the average middle-class American child at the time, most immigrant children skipped schooling altogether and looked directly to simple labor and trades, such as garment shop work, as a means of progressing in American society. Having skipped the fundamental levels of education in favor of obtainable employment, immigrant children were rendered incapable of perusing higher education and the better-paying jobs for which high education is a prerequisite. Even today, when a celebration of diversity is supposedly encouraged in public school classrooms, the option to receive ESL tutoring is made far more readily available than an opportunity to receive an (affordable) education in one’s native tongue. In my opinion, this continues to send the message that in order to succeed in America, one must sacrifice an most important facet of his or her culture–his or her language–and replace it with American English. Even the use of British English is considered to be incorrect within the American education system. Thus, the fine print below the “American Dream,” (that one must be American not by citizenship or location, but rather, by cultural assosiation in order to succeed) remains ever prevalent, even today.

Wake Up and Smell the Salad

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Celine Dyer

The interdependence (perhaps more accurately described as a co-relationship,) of the various immigrant communities mentioned in the beginning of Sewing Women is what fascinated me the most. When considering immigrant groups, I feel like prior to this reading I would consider only the particular immigrant group I happened to be studying, and the natives of the land to which they had immigrated, completely forgetting about the other. I think part of this narrow-minded approach may have originated from the habit I (and I think many other Americans as well) had of thinking that “immigrant” was a culture in itself. I didn’t consider that immigrant experiences could or would be all that different within the same time period–or neighborhood even–based on their race, ethnicity, gender or customs, let alone based on the immigration patterns of their country (ie: the Chinese who immigrated as whole families, versus the Hispanic immigrants who usually came on their own, or as child-less couples). For me, even more astounding than the in-depth insight into each unique immigrant groups’ experiences was the fact that each immigrant group was unique at all; perhaps the salad-bowl effect of New York City had me tasting a melting-pot stew after-all.

The Difference Between the Sum of Their Parts

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Celine Dyer

What struck me the most throughout the second half of Sewing Women was the drastic difference between the Chinese garment shop industry and the Korean garment shop industry. For the Chinese garment workers, the employment system was based fully on referral and notions of personal and/or affiliated obligation, meaning that if one were to find a job for a relative coming over from China, that person would be responsible for training that relative, making sure that relative abided by all of the shop’s rules, and subsequently, making sure that relative made a profitable amount of product in a timely fashion. The Korean owners, however, looked to any and (almost) everyone willing to work hard for employment. Since the Korean garment shop industry depended on assembly line-style manufacturing, nearly anyone who wanted to work there was immediately qualified and capable of working. Interestingly enough, however, neither industry (the Chinese or the Korean) was immune to the racist stereotypes prevalent in America at the time, causing them to avoid Puerto-Rican and Black workers for fear of their “lazy” and “troublesome” perception leading to a lack of productivity.

Gentrification, or Bleach?

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Celine Dyer

-Immigrants vs. Our View of Immigrants

+It isn’t the same group of people refusing to learn the language; once they become

climatized they usually leave and New immigrants move in

– Discrepency btwn those who consider themselves American and those Considered to be

American by others. à Different in NY than in other states

Main Thought: Why are neighborhood gentrification and diversity considered to be mutually exclusive? The Lower East Side (around Alphabet City) is considered to be heavily gentrified, but it is still very visibly diverse. I disagree that the idea of gentrification is (literally Or figuratively) a matter of black and white, as Joe Salvo seemed to imply.

The World in a City, and Vice Versa.

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Celine Dyer

Joseph Berger’s The World in a City speaks, obviously enough, of how many cultures can be found within New York City. What I appreciate most about the text, however, is that Berger does not forget to address the symbiotic nature of New York City’s relationship with the cultures that comprise it. In the same way that the many cultures in New York have molded the city’s residents to look at a subway map much as they would a world map (with Greece, Colombia, bits of China and the West Indies in Queens, Ireland and Turkey chillin’ in south Brooklyn, and most of Western and Central Europe spread across Manhattan like butter), the city atmosphere has also begun to mold the facets of these cultures that are displayed creating a mutt-culture that eventually becomes the only culture known.
After a while, it becomes difficult to determine which shapes which more; does the city have a greater influence on the cultures within it, or is it vice versa?

If Mother Nature’s Need Blind, Why Aren’t We?

Posted on April 7, 2013 by Celine Dyer

In the Klinenberg article, the naturalization of the deaths that took place due to poor living conditions and a striated social community reminds me of (in more drastic terms, of course,) the various recovery rates that different neighborhoods, or even establishments within the same neighborhood had after Superstorm Sandy.
The Brookdale Campus, which is known for its uncommonly cheap residential prices and also houses many scholarship students who do not pay for housing at all, remained closed for approximately two months after Superstorm Sandy, whereas the Waterside Plaza apartments, which charge approximately $2500 a month was fully functional within a week of the incident. The correlation may seem obvious at first — the establishments with with more money were able to repair their damages more quickly because, well frankly, repairs are expensive — but a closer inspection will reveal that that was not quite the case.
The reason Brookdale took so much longer to reopen than the Waterside Plaza is that Brookdale’s standard of living at the time of Superstorm Sandy was much lower than that of the Waterside Plaza. Ritz and glam and frills aside, Brookdale’s electrical system was in shambles before the storm hit, finally drawing attention to the matter. While Brookdale officials did not feel the need to keep the building’s facilities up to par for the sake of a bunch of college students, the staff at the Waterside Plaza knew it would be unacceptable to their residents if they did not prepare adequately for the impending storm. Neither party knew that Superstorm Sandy would have such devastating effects on downtown manhattan, but one party did feel obligated to prepare, lest their wealthy (and notably, caucasian) residents be forced to frown.

Ripped at the Seam(stresses)

Posted on March 29, 2013 by Celine Dyer

Having grown up in the Middle Eastern rendition of the Cold War era, I thought I’d heard all there was to hear about 9/11 devastation and recovery. In retrospect, I realize that the ‘America’ popular media and fundraisers asked us to support the America, and more specifically, the New York they wished to perceive. Tons of ads on Television and on posters depicted the white wives of fallen firefighters and police officers, memorials for (upper and upper middle class) businessmen and then families, coughing children and uninhabitable schools. I don’t recall hearing or seeing a single ad rallying for the support of Asian Americans and immigrants that inhabited Chinatown, a mere few blocks away from ground zero.

9/11 Memorial & Fundraiser

Did no one not in possession of an Anne Klein or Kenneth Cole suit go missing?!

Perhaps because it wasn’t in any of the popular 9/11 media that followed most of us through our childhood and teenage years, I was astonished when I read about the irreversible damage that the disaster had on Chinatown. I figured that stores around ground zero (thus, including the garment shops) would have been negatively affected, but I had never before considered the ripple affect that a short fiscal halt could have on such a heavily interdependent community. The fact that the loss of wages of garment shop workers and owners could in turn cripple the rest of Chinatown’s economy, rapidly turning the neighborhood into a ghost of what it once was without popular media even mentioning the collapse blows my mind (tasteless pun not intended).

United We Sprint to the Finish Line

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Celine Dyer

The idea of social capital makes me chuckle, especially in the context of competitive 21st century life. The idea of needing one another to perpetuate one’s personal “social prosperity,” seems almost oxymoronic in capitalist America, where we’re raised from young to compete with one another, amass our own wealth and protect it from anyone who may want to surpass us.

Hence, a mutual agreement of tolerance is born; something like trust, but without the risk of betrayal or any other form of social debt. We tolerate those around us, not because we’re genuinely interested in getting to know their culture or beliefs, but because when AOL and apple pies don’t quite cut it anymore, we want to be able to tap our neighbors on the shoulders and order some DimSum or purchase a Samsung smart-phone.

Perhaps trusting one’s neighbor is an unrealistic goal for America, regardless of how many new neighbors we accept into our societies simply because at the end of the day, we just don’t have to trust our neighbors, we just need to make sure they’re still there.

Welcome / Bienvenido / добро пожаловать / 欢迎

Posted on March 7, 2013 by Celine Dyer

Although I agree that New York’s “specialized” pro-immigration culture is one that functions much like a self-fulfilling prophecy, I disagree that the characteristics of New York City itself were the cause of its development as a notorious site of multiculturalism and acceptance.

It’s true that New York City has a history of receiving immigrants with welcoming arms, and began as an immigration hot-spot due to its location by the sea and abundant population (which in turn, creates an abundance of job opportunities), but in a day and age when travel into the midwest has become both simplified and industrialized, I question why New York City remains so unique.

I’ll never forget the time I walked past a NYPD-escorted ‘Illegal Immigrant Pride Parade’ going through downtown Manhattan, (and as Foner mentions, thirty-four legal and religious holidays were publicly observed in 2005 alone,) but I believe that cultural acceptance like this is propelled by first and second generation Americans looking to further propel their neighborhoods. If immigrants and their families were to move to other cities across the US, the same cultural domino-effect that that helped NYC become the multicultural Mecca that it is today would transform cities across the nation.

Smoke and Mirrors in New York and LA

Posted on March 5, 2013 by Celine Dyer

There was an exhibit within the Museum of Chinese in America that focused on American perceptions of Asian-Americans and Asian immigrants. Included in the display was the 1938 children’s book The Five Chinese Brothers by Claire Huchet Bishop and Kurt Wiese, which depicts the Chinese men to be conniving, indistinguishable crooks. Another plaque focused on Arnold Genthe, who created, through photograph editing, an illusion of exotic and isolated California Chinatowns which falsely depicted Chinese immigrants as refusing to integrate into Anglo-American society, which later earned Chinese Americans the stigma of being “The Others.” The Anglo-American tradition of stereotyping Asians surpassed its original role in theater and film, becoming deeply rooted in the everyday lives of Americans in the 1950s and 1960s, a time when Asian-American immigration was more diverse than ever.
The article by Chin, Kim, and Zhou creates a more accurate description of Asian immigrants in the 1960s; explaining that they were of many different racial, educational and socio-economic backgrounds. According to the MOCA exhibit, throughout the second half of the 1900s, there was a perception of all Asian immigrants as poorly educated, unskilled laborers from China who immigrated to the United States desperate for work, but were completely incapable of social integration. In reality, however, many Asian immigrants to the US were highly skilled professionals from Taiwan, as well as Mainland China, who were immediately given high-wage jobs. In addition, Chin, Kim and Zhou’s article further reveals the ridiculous falsity of Genthe’s doctored photos, as residential patterns suggest that many of these wealthy Asian immigrants settled outside of inner city Chinatowns and instead, settled into affluent, (arguably Caucasian,) neighborhoods. The factual depiction of Asian immigrants and the stereotypical depiction, widely accepted and recreated in media from the 1940s-1960s are in reality, nearly complete opposites.

How this discrepancy survived with the number of Asian-American immigrants rising at exponential rates in some of America’s most-watched cities remains baffling to me.