These next four chapters of “Sewing Women” shed more light on the ways the Korean and Chinese factories were run and the methodology behind their respective systems. The Chinese factories’ emphasis on cultivating an environment populated with other Chinese workers resonated well with me because in my culture, this is a very common tendency, as well. My Bengali culture appreciates, embraces, and yearns for community the same way these Chinese workers did. Often times, when one is placed in a new environment, it is natural to wish to surround oneself with people who are alike in many ways. The Chinese factories thus fostered an environment that closely resembled home, in which they were able to nurture a similar sense of community, almost like a microcosm of their homeland in China. Like the Chinese, the Bengali culture also places immense significance on culture and maintaining one’s roots. For this reason, the culture often advocates immersion into communities and activities that help build even stronger ties with other people from the same culture.
While, initially, this homologous immersion is a good thing in that it eases transition and allows for a comfortable environment, I think that this is a strategy that should not be extensively clung to so dependently. At some point, it is important to interact with people of other cultures, especially in a place as diverse as New York City, in which such interactions are impending and inevitable. If people constantly stick to others that are really similar to them, they will have a hard time adjusting to the new lifestyle outside of their culture. I think this really defeats the purpose of seeking a new life in a new country, too. While maintaining your culture is important, it is just as important to embrace the new, as well as the old.
The way that the Korean factories were run came to me as very dehumanizing. Their racist strategies in hiring workers was very disreputable, but at the same time, I was not surprised, as such strategies have long been implemented in society. The desensitizing tactics of hiring workers based on superficial assumptions made according to certain races, skin colors, and ethnicities were pathetic to read about. I was also surprised by the sheer differences that came in expectations based on the various Hispanic ethnicities; for example, the expectations of a Mexican worker differed greatly from the expectations of an Ecuadorian worker. Yet still, these tactics persisted and seemed to be successful for the factories. Although today, such brash generalizations and curricula for hiring workers are not existent here, these racist tendencies do exist, simply in a subtler form.
As noted in my previous entry, both systems had their benefits and disadvantages. While the Chinese workers had a welcoming environment at which they could feel at home, they also had lower wages and were confined to their own community, excluded from the diversity around them. In contrast, the workers that worked for the Koreans had harsher working conditions, harsher hiring procedures to pass through, yet had better wages. This gave-and-take dogma of the working world has become inherent in our society.
