Discussing the transnational sociocultural system that has resulted in New York due to the influx of Caribbeans, Suttons organizes his analysis into five parts: The Caribbeanization of New York City, New York City as a Caribbean Crossroad, Caribbean Transnational cultural System, Caribbeans in New York City’s Race/Ethnic Hierarchy and Sociocultural Dimensions of Caribbean Life in New York City: Toward a Comparative Analysis. The Caribbeans are a unique immigrant group in New York City; one of their biggest claims to fame is that those from the Dominican Republic comprise the largest number of immigrants living in New York. An interesting contrast that Suttons points out is that European immigrants attempt to hide their culture and assimilate. Caribbean immigrants on the other hand, are very much public about their roots and do not attempt [as much] to blend in with their surrounding society. In fact, it would be difficult to put their past behind them and to forget their heritage because so many Caribbeans are constantly moving to New York. These fresh immigrants keep the “old” immigrants involved with and aware of the current culture of their native homeland.

It is also in their best interest to promote themselves as Caribbeans. Suttons notes that they are either characterized as Black or Hispanic. Yet both financially and hierarchically, they are doing better than the Black Americans and Puerto Ricans.

The most fascinating part of this reading for me was the description of the Caribbean women’s work. Most found themselves to be caretakers for middle class white mothers, who could then work professionally. By engaging in the informal economy, these immigrant Caribbean women are in fact facilitating the white woman’s ability to a higher paying, better job. The main point of immigrating to the United States and achieving the American dream is for them to secure these good jobs. Yet they are quite willing to work in lower paying jobs. In fact, Sutton states something that shocked me and made me feel that the Caribbeans in New York live a sad existence: “Although most of the women work dead end jobs, the majority of those interviewed regard themselves as middle class rather than working class.” I find it depressing that they are content with this way of life when they could be achieving something so much better for themselves and their families.

I found Constance R. Sutton’s “The Caribbeanization of New York City and the Emergence of a Transnational Sociocultural System to be almost a culmination of several topics and issues we’ve discussed thus far, almost like transnationalizing our class discussions. Firstly, there is then notion that Afro-Caribbean is not a represented ethnicity, therefore those who identify as such are forced to categorize themselves as either Black or Hispanic on the census. Similarly, West Indians and Indo-Caribbeans, those who were part of the “second migration,” also do not have census recognition and have to identify as Asians, as we learned at the Jerry Vattamala talk. Secondly, in reference to transnationalism, as opposed to some of the other groups we’ve studied, Caribbean embrace this pan-Caribbean pluralism to advance their own agendas and preserve their culture (in true enclave fashion), going so far as to call the city a “Caribbean crossroad.” There were a few other notable points I noticed, especially in the context of current events. In the opening, Sutton briefly touches upon the migration from the Caribbean islands to New York and the ties between colonies and their mother countries and I thought of the crisis going on in Mali right now. France is stepping in to try and appease the situation, which begs the question of whether a colony can ever truly break free from its mother country. (We had a whole war with England, yet today it is one of our greatest allies.) Also, in discussing how many Caribbean immigrants work menial jobs, I was reminded of an article explaining how the fastest growing job in America is the home health care aid, often an underpaid, overworked, immigrant woman. (This could arguable be linked to the rise in foreclosures outlines in the NEDAP report.)

What was perhaps the most interesting point Sutton brings up is why these Caribbean immigrants do not want to identify as either black or Hispanic, or Americanize in the traditional sense at all. These groups have “experienced over time more downward than upward economic mobility.” (20) (This also again lends itself to the race-foreclosure correlation.) With the lowest high school graduation rates and highest unemployment rates, it is quite understandable that Caribbeans do not want to self-identify as such: “there are few incentives to become Americanized.” Essentially, the notion of shedding a cultural heritage with no socioeconomic gain contradicts the whole idea of assimilation at its core.

Constance S. Suttons, piece “The Caribbeanization of New York” introduces several questions regarding New York’s largest third world immigrant group, Caribbean Islanders. The transnational trend which we have been discussing this semester is again reiterated here.

The Caribbean has possesses a unique element that lends itself well to transnationalism; the Islands’ prior relationship with the United States. During the age of imperialism, the United States established economic and military footholds on many of these islands. The dependence many of these countries developed towards the United States gave their populations a degree of familiarity with its culture.  But what effect does this actually have on the experience of new immigrants?

Economically speaking, most Caribbean immigrants find work in low-income jobs, both in manufacturing and service professions. The low wages many of these workers are willing to accept has made the city an attractive place to invest again. Despite the disparity in incomes, immigrants still receive more than what they would have made in their home countries.

Unfortunately, rather than being sorted by their nationality or religion like most European immigrants, Islanders are generally sorted by their race/ethnicity. This relegates them to either Hispanic or black social status, forcing them into an inferior situation. As a result, many Islanders strive to preserve their identity in a very public way to differentiate themselves from these groups. Ties with their home countries are therefore often very strong resulting in transnational cultural exchange. Ironically, not only do the immigrants worry about becoming “Americanized” but their home countries do as well.

Constance R. Sutton’s writing, “The Carribeanization of New York City and the Emergence of a Transnational Sociocultural System” and the New York Times article, “Black Incomes Surpass Whites in Queens”, by Sam Roberts gives a strong example of how one can’t generalize a person’s identity based solely by race. This is evidently the case with Caribbean and other island immigrants.

Also color and physical appearances are not the only factors the Carribeanese and islanders use to identify themselves. They also have their own island identities. Essentially, the Carribeanese (like Hispanics, Asians, and other immigrants) are further diversified depending on the various islands they hail from. As Sutton writes, New York City provides the opportunity for these islanders to truly meet and expose themselves to the cultures of other islanders. As a result, there will be “…intergroup separation and association” depending on how well each island culture can relate to one another.  Factors that can affect intergroup interaction include language, physical features, and cultural values.

A question that can be posed based on Sutton’s writings is whether the islanders will merge culturally with the predominant cultural groups in the United States or maintain their unique island identities. This is also a question that can be asked for many other immigrant ethnic groups.

In my opinion, merging with predominant cultural groups stems from the loss of unique cultural and ethnic values. This can be prevented when immigrants latch onto memories of their native country and, as a result, they have a sense pride for their culture and are naturally inclined to preserve it. Merging can also be encouraged when people experience a feeling of alienation because they cannot relate to others because of cultural differences. They may feel inclined to learn the culture of their new country in order to feel as if they belong within their community. It is my belief that the preservation of culture and ethnic values comes much more easily in New York City than elsewhere because of the diversity within the city. The feeling of alienation is alleviated because of this diversity and the awareness that many others in the city are immigrants as well.

The basic underpinning of Sutton’s “The Carribeanization of New York City and the Emergence of a Transnational Sociocultural System” is that there is “life” to New York City that is affected by both it’s economic and demographic components. The change in economic and demographic components by immigrants in recent times, specifically Caribbean immigrants (the subject of this piece),  transforms and redefines the nature and boundaries of the city’s “life”.

This piece, an introduction to a larger work dealing with many subjects pertaining to the Afro-Caribbean community, seeks to preliminarily address many issues and dimensions within the Caribbean immigrant-New York City dynamic: How these immigrants fit in within the city’s larger socio-economic/racial/ethnic matrix, how Caribbean culture has transformed New York City culture and how New York City culture and attitudes has shaped Caribbean culture and self identity.

Most important to Sutton’s arguments is the idea that afro-Caribbean culture is a vastly layered and multi-dimensional entity that has been shaped by colonial, indigenous, and other forces. Therefore, it is incorrect to say that afro-Caribbean culture has brought a set of entirely new ideas to NYC because, after all, many of those ideas and cultural components were possible informed by NYC and American traditions themselves. As a result, Caribbean immigrants often find that they have to carefully shape and construct their identities upon living in America.

Sutton notes that the large part of the afro-Caribbean community defines themselves within the borders of the black-American/African American community, even though they have distinct historical and cultural backgrounds and despite the fact that Caribbean immigrants often encounter and work within socio-economic structures much differently than African Americans. Both groups have been shaped by colonial oppressions but it is also with out a doubt that both groups have distinct cultural heritages. Both groups also generally suffer from uneven economic growth in comparison to White majority groups but it can also be said that Caribbean groups have generally reached a higher socio-economic status as compared with black African Americans.

However, just as American tradition has affected Caribbean culture, so to has Caribbean culture widely impacted and transform New York City culture. In particular this change has been felt, as Sutton puts it, “on the streets”. This street-culture phenomenon has been found in trends with other immigrant groups. What is remarkable, although definitely not exclusively unique, to Caribbean immigration is that affect that afro-Caribbean culture has had on New York City’s “high culture” in addition to street culture. Caribbean culture has influenced the academic, artistic, and cultural institutions of New York City.

The city’s afro-Caribbean immigrant population has also had a huge influence on the city’s economic infrastructure and labor market dynamics. Caribbean immigrant populations have offered cheap and flexible labor that has not only stimulated stagnating economic sectors, but has also created/expanded new ones: particularly in health care and child care fields. While this has had a positive effect on employer’s labor markets and has benefited the Caribbean immigrant community in that it provides them with higher wages than they would have received at home, it has also created sharp socio-economic disparity.