Professor Prabal De, CCNY 2014
Posts tagged immigrants
Eyes on Bangladesh Reflection
010 years
The “Eyes on Bangladesh” photography exhibition was an honest and gritty recount of the past and present events that have culminated into the current embodiment of Bangladesh. It is refreshing not to see a minimization of some of the country’s flaws, even if it didn’t outright embrace these imperfections.
The particular photographic series showing the discrepancy between and the dichotomy of treatment of house servants had a very poignant effect on me. The differences in the ways the “servants” and their “masters” presented themselves are a testament to such shortcomings of this somewhat newly formed country. For example the faces of the masters expressed contentment, satisfaction, and serenity—ones that show the enjoyment they have as a result of the way their lives have fallen into place—while on the other hand, the faces of the servants were ones of exhaust, distress, and discomfort with their situation. The story that was related of servants not being able to sit on their master’s couch is allegorical and really is symbolic of a larger problem that is presented in the Bengali culture.
Another particular photographic series, which appeared to be very sentimental and exemplary of Bangladesh, was the avant-garde art display of the phone call conversation, which takes a stance on mental health awareness. It is very disturbing in this day and age, to see the overwhelming stigma associated with persons afflicted with mental health issues, which certainly hinders the progress should be made in dealing with psychiatric issues. The artwork seemed to be presented in a nostalgic fashion, yet desiring to change the past, but I would also interpret the photographs as presenting something positive in the future.
The final photographic series expresses the sentiments and aspirations of the Bangladeshi people, which parallel the desires and hopes of the country. The curatorial intentions of this exhibit were successful in presenting an accurate depiction of Bangladesh, its people and its challenges.
The “New” New York Reevaluation
010 years
by Alexander Chait
in Census Data
There seems to be a large discrepancy between what people can earn in Manhattan versus what type of housing they can afford in Manhattan. According to the Department of Labor, the average minimum wage, as of December 31, 2013, was $8.00. According to the New York Times, as of January 18, 2013, the average Manhattan apartment costs $3,973 A MONTH. The disparity of wages to housing expenses is exorbitant. It is not seemingly possible for a person working an average amount of hours per year, which is 2,088 hours to afford to live close to where they work in New York City. Based upon the national average, a New Yorker earning the minimum wage will only earn $16,704, BEFORE TAXES. This does not even take into account other cost of other living expenses, such as food, health care, transportation, clothing, or other miscellaneous expenses. Although New York has traditionally opened its doors to “…your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free”, it will not be able to provide you with affordable housing or lifestyle
Instead of New York City being the gleaming city, that was once a symbol of freedom, opportunity and the American Dream—it has slowly been evolving into a more materialistic beast—one that does not make any provisions for those beloved low wage earners who keep the city productive and growing. The average apartment in the Bronx Costs $2258, in Queens it is $3449, in Brooklyn it is $3758, and lastly, in Staten Island it is $1888 a month. The exponentially increasing cost of living outpaces any minimum wage increase. As a result, the disparity between the rich and the poor in the city continues to expand, and the working poor cannot live a decent, simple existence within the five boroughs. New York City is certainly representative of a melting pot of religion, culture and ethnicity, but there is not the same representation in financial capability. It seems to have become a city of haves and have-nots, even if the have-nots consist of hard working families trying to achieve a better life. Have we outgrown our capacity to provide a decent standard of living for our own residents? And if so, shouldn’t we be thinking of how we can ensure that each person who contributes to our city can be able to live well enough to enjoy all that it has to offer? Maybe “breathing free” has become the only thing that most people can afford in NYC.
The Links to the articles can be found here:
The “New” New York
110 years
by Alexander Chait
in Census Data
The United States of America has long appealed to the plight of the immigrant—one that is so embedded in our culture that we even etched the sonnet, “The New Colossus” by Emma Lazarus into the Statue of Liberty. However, the ever-dynamic New York is not the same place that immigrants flocked to in hopes of a better life. Instead, a “new” New York has emerged; one that only appeals to the extraordinarily wealthy, capable of sustaining an extravagant, grandiose lifestyle. This is a new concept that has been engrained into my consciousness and what I found particularly interesting about Joe Salvo’s talk—the fact that he quotes statistics conflicting with this concept. He stated that the percent of foreign-born people of New York City is 37.6% of the total population—a figure that has increased substantially over the recent years. However, I thought that the percent of foreign-born people living in New York City would decrease due to the exponentially increasing cost of living in New York City. Usually, immigration is synonymous with poverty, and I always imagined it to be very difficult to immigrate to New York City. This has made me question the types of immigrants who are entering New York City, as well as consider whether they are not as impoverished as in previous generations. I would personally be interested in perhaps seeing what types of professions the immigrants to New York City have, what they earned before and after they immigrated, and in addition what is the cost of living both the country they came from and in the U.S.
NYC: The City of Immigrants
010 years
by Shariq Mohammad
in Census Data
Having lived in New York City for most of my life, I didn’t expect to learn much from Mr. Salvo; surprisingly, he presented an overwhelming number of facts and figures, a lot of which I didn’t actually know. For example, though I knew that New York and Los Angeles were the two biggest cities in the country, I hadn’t realized that NYC outnumbered LA by five million people. In fact, the city is so populous that each borough can really be considered its own city. On top of that, New York was said to be continuing to grow, with an influx of more than 300,000 people over the past decade–that’s more than any other top ten cities.
It’s also interesting to note that the number of immigrants coming from other countries has dropped over the past decade–or at least, more and more people are categorizing themselves as Americans. From 1995-2000, half of all New Yorkers were from the country and the other half from outside the country. From 2007-2011, two-thirds now identify as American. This drop in immigration rate may be due to a multitude of factors, but I think the best reason would probably be due to the recession, which really hurt the U.S.’s image as the golden land of economic prosperity. Immigration peaked in the 90s, and this was probably due to the post-Cold War situation that occurred with the collapse of the USSR, leaving the US as the sole superpower of the time. This attracted a lot of immigrants, especially Russians and the like.
Now, with the “bad economy” here, I wouldn’t be surprised that there is an influx into other lucrative countries that are coming up fast (like Brasil, Russia, India, and China). However, the names ‘United States’ and ‘New York’ will always attract immigrants. It’s kind of hard to imagine how New York will be like in 2040. The data claims that there will be around 9 million people at that point, which means that the city will be even more congested than it already is. However it may be, I don’t doubt that immigrants will still constitute an important part of the population.
